Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

CN CN s-. Q) ...c e Q) > o Z IAbovel Hannah passed Shultz in the last few minutes for second place, (Top rightl Marty Smith 131 chases Honda teammate Tommy Croft midway through the final moto.IRightl Danny laPorte had second under control until a broken chain sidelined him on lap 11 of the 15-lap final. m nnah hustles Showdown Darrell Shul tz cr ashed ea rly in the rnoto, losing his fourth place start and was relegated to rid ing th e semi along wi th the others wh o placed six t h through 15th . Semis ~ Team Honda sq ueezed two more riders into the ma in event in the first of two semifinal moros as Warren Reid and Marty Tripes overtook holeshot robber Greg Rob ertson , r iding a Kolbe Cycl e -sponsored Can-Am , in t he fi n al mom en ts o f t h e ra ce . Privateer Honda rid er Ron Pomeroy scored the second semi victory in a start -ro-finish cha rge as Darrell Shultz got his Ma ico in to th e final with an eq ua lly solid seco nd pla ce all -th e-way ride . Consolation Greg Robertson took advantage of his last chance 10 make the program - th is tim e wit hout the T ea m Honda Reid/Tripes duo to spoil his fun ...: and led the Consola t ion from beginning to end . Denny Swartz and Ken Adams , both Ma ico -rnounted , trailed Robertson's Can -Am for th e 23 places in th e final race before th e main event . Final As 39 .743 shivering spectators huddled beneath a blossoming field of multi -colored umbrellas, Team Honda's Jim Pomeroy ripped off the hol esh ot ahead of 24 ot her top AMA Pros with on e thing on their minds: Winl Almost im med iately, however , two of Pomeroy's teamma tes - Marty T ripes a nd Steve Wis e - saw th eir hopes d estroyed in first turn ger -offs. Both restarted well behind th e longgo ne pa ck as d id Tea m Su zuki's Kent Howerton. If Pomeroy was serious about ta king th e Anaheim win , Ga ylon Mosier was fanatic . The T eam Kawasaki pilot zeroed in on th e Honda's tail and went to work. Following Mosier were his Team Lime-green teammate Jimmy Weinert , Suzuki's Danny LaPorte , Darrell Sh ultz , Bob Hannah , Marty Moates and Tommy Croft. Completing th e lOp 10 were Marty Smith a nd Jimmy Ellis on the Hondas . On th e second lap , Mosier had his pa ce set , and it wa s fast er than Pomero y's. He found an open line a nd slip ped past in to th e lead. From th en on it was h is ra ce - if nothing broke a nd h e made no mistak es . Neither tra gedy occurred. Ha nna h , in the meant im e , was hardl y rea dy to sett le for his sixth place start. H e eased around Shultz, th en chose J immy Weinert as his next ta rget. But the "old man" held his gr ound , and H annah spent four laps b efore fin a lly taking . fou rth fr om Kawasaki's elder statesman. La Po rte wasn't wasting any tim e either . After passing W ein ert in the o pening laps , Danny aimed fo r Pomeroy and passed him on lap five . At that po int , one -th ird of th e way through th e 15·lap feature event , it was Mos ier, La Porte , Pome roy , Weinert and Hannah . Rounding out the top 10, Shultz, Moates, Croft . Smith and Ellis followed . No one, it seemed, could ca tc h Gaylon Mosier. Lap times during th e hea t rac es had run a fast , consisten t 1:24 10 1:26 among the winners. On la p six of th e final event , Mo sie r pushed h is R ock y Will iams-tu n ed Kaw a saki to a 1: I 8 t im e . H e 'd estab lished a secu re lead - as secu re as any stadiu m event lead - over La Porte. Bu t t he crowd wa s wa tc hi ng , wa iting a nd wondering About Bob Hannah. Would he pull off one of his inc redi b le co rne -fro m -be h in d rides and on ce again ruin th e early leader's game plan? Hannah , as it t u r n ed o u t , was wo rking on that. Bu t in a gross misjudgem enr , he stuffed th e Keith McCarty -tuned Yamaha in und er Pomeroy in a move t ha t sent them both over t he be rm! Both Da rrell Sh ultz and J immy W ein ert passed as th e pair recovered from th e su rprise crash. On la p 10. two -th irds of t he wa y th ro ugh , Mosie r still mainta ined his lea d wit h a te xt bo ok ' d isp la y o f co ncent ration and a bi lity putting th e po wer to slippery clay grou nd . As Han nah go t b y Pome ro y cleanly this tim e - o n la p I I . Danny La Porte's Suzuki suddenly coasted to a hal t. The second pla ce holder ha d broken a chain l He threw up his hands in ex aspera tio n and head ed b ac k to wa rd t he pits. With La Porte ou t , Darrell Shultz in he ri ted seco nd p lace , st ill we ll beh ind Mosier. Bu t H ann ah wa s moving again . And on la p 14, the nex t -to -last time around , he ree led in th e Mai co rider and took over second place. T ha t was it. At th e end of lap 15, Mosier acknowledged th e checkered nag and rolled into th e in field whe re th e horde of journal ists waited . . Out from th e mech anics' sig na ling a rea ca me Ro cky W illiams moving at full speed , obvio usly th e p roudest man at the scene , sho uting his ap prova l as he tackled his rid er and slapped hi m on the bac k. "T ha t was rea lly nice of Ha nn ah ," Mosier quipped wh en Desp a in informed .h im o f t he c r as h with Pomeroy, " I appreciate it!" Shotgun Sh owdown Bob Hannah made it ob vious that his dona ti on 10 th e Mo sier family budget in the Coca -Cola Mot ocross Finals was entirely unintentional when he blew away his three co nt end ers in the six -lap Quaker State Oil Shotgun Showdown, a $3 ,000 shootout among '78 Supercross event winners. Hannah moved int o the lead on lap one and held his posi tion to collect $500 ea ch time he passed t he fin ish lin e. In the winner -take-a ll event , it m a tt ered lit tl e tha t the o rd er remained th e same - J immy Ellis, Ma rt y T ripes and a ri re d Ga ylon Mosier - in place two through four throughout th e race. • Results IS-LAP ANAL: 1. Gayton Mosier IKawI; 2. Bob Hannah (Yam) ; 3. Oarr efl Shultz (Mail; 4 . J im Weinert (Kawl: 5. J im Pomeroy IHonI; 6. Tommy Croft CHon); 7. ;' Wtlnen Reid (Hon): 8. J ;rnmy ED (Hon~ 9. Marty S... th IHonI; 10. Rex Staten (Yam l; 11. Steve Wose IHon): 12. Billy Grossi IMa;); 13. Gary Sem;cs IC·~ 14. Danny Turner !Yaml; 15. John Savitsk; !Yaml; 16. S teve StaeI

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