Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

GP ~n~fng' ~~rKs' • Yamaha . Just behind were Ron Turner on the Luft factory Yamaha, Gregson, Mosier, Reid and Denton in the heat of things a~in. Warren Reid tried to tangle with Mosier for his position, but Gaylon wasn't about to give ground. A paint. trading confrontation developed which ended as quickly as it happened with Warren parking his new pre. production 125cc Honda in a mudhole at the side of the track. A few laps later Warren was out when another crash took its toll. The DNF list continued to grow as first Ron Turner was added to it when his rear wheel exploded, then Glover. At the halfway point the slight lead , which Marty Moates had been enjoying over Jeff Ward began to shrink. The 16·year·old pint-sized kid from Yamaha who could barely touch the foorpegs, let alone the ground, was closing on the LOP rider. Just as the ~o --:heeled d~wn the. track by the signaling area, side-by-side, Marty lost control. of his Suzuki .goiit~ into the upcommg tum and nailed himself to a tr~. . . . ~omeone m.lS5ed theIr. rider and sq~lrte? m~. instead with a fi~e exun~lIsh~r, moaned Marty. later in the pits . ~y handle!>ar gnps were ~et , and I didn't know II. When I.went l~tO the next ~urn my hands sl~pped right off the gnps and I crashed mto a tree. " ' . . Marty was ~ut: the .VlCtl!? of a carel~ mechanic m the sl~ahng ~rea who tn~ to cool down his own nder nd missed. Jeff Ward was now - eading ~is first Natio~al ever ,.hold ing down a sll~.sec~?d b~t , naITOWln§ lead o:'e.r MOSler. Gassm Gaylon was nding too ~ot to . settle .for second p!ace, .espec lally smce hIS tast.e of vi ct ory m round one. At the 40·mmute mark, he closed on W~rd , took half a 1 3R to fin~ a clear line .pas~. then gassed th~ lime green machine mto the lea~ f?r ,?ctory. . Finishing out the moto behind Gaylon and Jeff were Brian Mye.rscough. col~ecting his highest National finish W!th second .overall on the Team Suzuki. Steve WIse on the works Honda was third ?verall f~llowed by Gregson , pnvat.eer Richard Coon, Denton, Tod Perkins, Toyama and Bob Collie. 500cc National Once again the Open class was a Team Yamah~ benefit preformance, The Lumberjack. Rick Burgett, led ~ nearly every lap from start to finish, ' trailed a couple of seconds back by : Rocket Rex" Staten. The big ' news was that because of his win the week before in Missouri over Burgett , Bassett Racing would see Rex riding a Yamaha works bike in this fall 's Trans. AMA Series as well -.J The first moto ';"as more a parade than a race as little Ricky led the way ahead of Staten, Tommy Croft , D arreII Sh u Itz , P at M oroney, Mick ey I Kessler and Tony DiStefano. Marty . Srmt h .went d own . t h e e,xpect ed fi m irst turn pile up and was left m last place. • t hi b k rnan:tgm g 0 recover IS way ac up to ninth by the checkered flag. The orily exciting move was when Shultz ~ , hi S' 1M ' d C f' put IS IS er aico aroun ro t s factory RC 450 Honda to take over third position just a couple of laps after the start. Mickey Boone kept his local fans • pumped a little as the tobacco~ cheW1 ng hilflbillY onI the Suzuki fite~mh ed mov up rom a s ow start to nus seventh behind Burgett Staten "" Sh u IlZ, C ro f t, DiS k.ano and' L a P orte. , Kawasaki's Steve Stackable was ha ving a hell of a day riding in pain , • because of a badly spramed and cut leg from a tangle with a crashed rider H h Id' h '- -'- be r t h e w=-.ore. e s ou n t ave been racing at all . but he said he GI~~r~s- Mid·ohio· • 'need: d tlie. pomti •arid finished ' a e ~~Itable eighth overall despite the II1JUry. . . • After having ml~d much of the first m~to because his fa~tory. Can-Am wou~dn t run on the starting line, Gary Semics charged back for round two. to become part of a Yamaha sa~dWIch betw~n Burgett and Staten 111 the opem?g laps. Soon t~e works Yamahas w~re m the lead agam, but round two still proved to be the be;>t.of.the day as Gary dropped back to Jom m a battle over fourth s~t that was !?ore of a free-for-all with Marty Smith, Tony D. , Denny Swartz with the Aaen Engineering Maico, LaPorte, and Kessler. The group bounced and careened off each other for 15 minutes before attrition began taking its toll . dropping the factory riders out like they were flies. Almost unnoticed because of the battle behind him was Darrell Shultz who was charging along strongly in third position. But by the halfway point in the race when the entire Suzuki team had dropped out (Mickey with a thrown rear chain, Tony, "T he clutch went out, 1 lost second gear, and one of the rear shocks was falling off anyway .. . it was all just a matter of time." Danny, "A flat tire. 1 wouldn't have any luck at all if I wasn 't having bad luck.") . Smith was complaing about his bad luck too, which seemed to be striking all the factory teams in the 500cc Nationals with the exception of Team Yamaha. "A lapped rider fell in my path, and I went down. I still got back up to finish fourth . " Bu t luck has more to do with racing than anyone thinks, " Marty continued. " It's probably a th ird of racing, together with a rider and his bike. Last year luck was in my favor , this year it's running against me ." No one was smiling but Rick Burgett. " I passed Rex right in the same spot I passed him in the first rnoto. This time though, I passed him on the opposite side because I knew he'd be looking for m e on the other side," Rocket Rex thought he could hold , off Shultz for second place in the final run but Darrel had reeled in Rex for ' the 'closing laps and Rex was feeling the pressure. They were rubbing tires in every tum as Darrell tried to get around, but couldn't find the room . Suddenly, Rex dropped the Yamaha on the last lap as Darrell stuffed the M~ico by for second overall! " . That was a har~ ~oto , claimed Darrell afterwards. FI':St I had to get through ~hose guys behl?d me, then I was hopmg my battle WIth Rex would move me up to Burgett. If I got close to Rick , .1 f~lt I .could pass them both for t~e wm. Still , second overall was good enough for the hottest privateer on the National circuit in years. • 00 l' 0') IAbove) Rick Burgett won his third 500cc National.lBelow) Tommy Croft scored 'a 4-8 fourth overall in the 500cc.IBottom) Warren Reid heeds for the ground lis 125cc winner Gaylon Mosler tries to slip by . Results 125c:c NATIONAl.: 1. GeYlon Mosier 1·1 CKawl; 2. BrionMy~~~1~1~~~~~~~1J~ Ken : AMAIMR. PiBB 125c:c NATIONAl CHAMPIONSHIP MXSERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. BrocG_C369); 2. GeyIon Mosier C302); 3. Brien Myerscough l238l ; 4 . Denny Turner l23O) 5. S _ Woae l227l; 6. Wenen ; Reid a121; 7. M.x Bernett1185) 8. Jeff WfId 1174) 9. ; ; DIMlToyIorl171); 10. Todd PerlUnsl169). AMAIMR. PlBB !iOOcc NATIONAl CHAMPIONSHIP MX SERIESPOINT STANDINGS: 1. Ricl< BurgettC352l; 2. Rex Steten (321); 3. Marty Smith C303l; 4. Tommy Croft l3OOl; 5. Denny laPorte (47); 6. Stlllle StllCIceble <2241; 7. Denoll Shullz a14t, 8. Micltoy Boone 11m 9. Gory Sem ics 11 6Bl; 10. Micl

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