Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126325
Team Honda's Marty "Typhoon" Tripes put together a 2·2 day to take the Unadilla 250cc USGP. where American machines were far superior in the rough. Tripes, Ellis 1-2 Unadilla's 250cc USGP, Maisch top European in fourth By Jim Gianatsis NEW BERLIN , NY, J ULY 30 The 250cc World Championship MX circuit paid its first-ever visit to America with 12 of the best 250cc class riders in the world, including the Russian KTM team with World Champion and present series po ints leader Genn ady Moiseev . Po litics be damned, the Russians weren't . hi h ghom~ tlo stay hOII?e t IS week wit t e tlt e on the me. 8 But when the loam stopped flying at Unadilla- Valley Sports Center aft er two grueling 45·minute motos, it was the Americans, spearheaded by Team Honda's dynamic d uo of Ma rty Tripes '" • • and j immy Ellis and ta iled by Yamaha's B,:,b Hannah in third place, who led Moiseev a ~d t~e r~t of th e world across the fin ish line In overall victory . In their first ever confrontation with the Europeans in the 250cc World Championship class , America came out on topl Actually, Marty "T yphoon" Tripes with 2-2 moto scores and jimmy "Captain Cobalt" Ellis with his 1·3 '. I' ,. race placings were tied on points for the overall victory with th e decision going to Marty based on the lower overall elapsed times for both motos per FIM rules. The difference in time for both motos between Marty and jimmy which de cided the overall victory was a scant 0.73 secondl Hardly a large enough difference to be meaningful, but enough to make up for all th e problems Marty and mechanic Merl e Anderson have been ha ving th is season in trying to beat out Bob Hannah at the winner's circle. The hill y, gr een grass and loam y Unadilla course once ag ai n proved itself to be th e best motocross cou rse in America . Federation International Pr esident Rene Bruneel declared it, " .. . one of the best cou rses in th e world. " He also described th e American factory team riders .- "We already know in Europe th at Yam aha and Honda has faster ride rs and bikes her e than we do ." Bruneel was referring to the fact that the Russian KTM team in particular were us ing basically produc tion bikes, with less than production susp ension. Both Moiseev and teammate Vladimir Kavinov were st ill us ing 225m m straight legged Marzocchi front forks with sim ilar travel rear suspension that proved to be successful in Europe. But on the rough American tracks against the latest works equipment from japan, it was a whole different ballgame. While Tripes and Ellis reaped the spoils of victory, it was Bob " Hurricane" Hannah who garnered the majority of roars, screams and arm waving of th e fa ns. Living up to his re pu tation of winning or break ing , Ha nnah pu lled anot her one of his come-from-behind cha rges in rnoto numbe r' one to place fifth . T he second moto was all Hannah's as Marty T ripes pu lled over and waved Bob past for the win . Moto One Tall and lanky Hans Mais~h , development engineer and heir to the German Maico factory dynasty , proved in moto one why he had the ability to gamer the da y's top placing over th e rema ining European contingent which actually outnumbered the American ent ries. Hans flung his lightweight magnesium prototype works machine into the lead off the start ahead of Husky 's Chuck Sun , then Ellis, CZ's jaroslav Falta, KTM 's Val ery Korneev , Suzuki's DiStefano, Tripes and Torleif Hanson of Sweden on a factory Kawasaki. T he Hurricane, meanwhile, nearl ended his day in tum one along with jim Wein ert and Gennady Moiseev. ~' I na iled someone who went down ," said Hannah. " It broke the front brake cable mount on the front wheel backing plate. Without a front brake for th e downhills I rode around slowly for five laps , It took me that long to figure how to get around th e track without crashing , Then I picked my pace back up ." Hannah got back in the race just ahead of Moiseev and Weinert who brought up the rear. Up front , Maisch continued to hold his lead into 'the seventh lap as Sun dropped ba d to fourth , Ellis moved up to a close second place with Falta breathing the works CZ down jimmy's neck in reo peated bids to get by. Up to fifth "was England's new young star on anothe fac to ry-spo nso re d \ Maico , Neil Hudson , with Tripes and Howerton not far behind . , . On lap seven the partisan Ameri can cro wd went wild a s Ellis cla nked