Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

IAbove) Steve Wise put in an outstanding day, working his way up from mid-pack to third.IBelow) Bob Hannah chases Team Suzuki's Darrell Shultz. Turner , who'd worked his wa y up from a sixth place sta rt , held seco nd ahead of DC's J ohn Savitski, Giger who 'd recovered in fourth , and LOP's Ron Pomeroy. A se ries of minor get -offs and stalling of motors reshuffled the pack during the next few la ps . LaPorte . stalled but lost ' no posit ion s; Pomer stepped off and dropped a couple spots but regained them , as d id Savitski after he stalled his Yamaha . . In the end, La Porte took the flag followed by Danny Turner , Savitski and Pomeroy. Steve Wise , who'd crashed and dropped ba ck from fifth to 15t h on th e opening lap, pulled off a remarkable recovery ride on the last lap, mov ing up from n inth to take the . final transfer spot , fifth , on one lap.. Marty Smith and Mark Barnes crashed in turn one a s the th ird qualifying moto go t underway, and a fierce duel betwee n Yamaha's " Roc ket Rex " S ta ten and Suzuki's Kent " R h ine stone Cowboy" Howerton began. David T aylor held thi rd . The two factory riders went at it for the first ha lf of the Hl-Iap moto : then Howe rton encountered a lapped rider and was bumped over a tall , sandy Oakland berm . He recovered im med ia tely and took off after Staten . Then , on the ta llest jump on the stadium floor , the leaders collid ed midair l 1 Staten was forced to take a different, wider line through the turn before the jump when a lapped rider occupied the inner groove. He passed , then cut back diagonally across the ramp toward his inside line as Howerton squa red the turn and shot up inside the lapped rider. They left the ground simultaneously , and from that point on, th e laws of physics took control. Both said they saw th e other out of the corner of th ei r eyes just befor e the moment of im p act. The Yamaha and Suzuki smacked together just a few feet above th e grou nd, a nd bo th rid ers and ma chines went sp r a wli n g . Amazingly, both hopped up q uickly and res ta rted befo re third placer David Taylor co uld passl Staten got go in g first , and alt ho ug h Howerton was able to close on him , Rex won the hea t. Howerton fin ished second as Taylor held his solid th ird . Jim T u rner charged u p from a 10th pla ce st a rt to tak e the fourth qualifying slot and Ma ry Smith, riding a hastily-prepared Honda after his works bike was stolen only six days befor e Oakland, blasted back from his first turn crash to take the fifth and final transfer place. In th e fourth and final qualifying moto, Rick Burgett, Steve Bauer and Eugene McKenzie tangled at the start , and Jimmy Ellis and Gaylon Mosier started a moro-Iong Honda vs . Kawasa ki fight. Suzuki -sponsored Scott G illma n rode in third until he stepped off near th e end of lap one and started a traffic jam. Roger Brown em erged from th e confusion with th ird , and behind him were Vince VanHook , Mik e Marquez and William Johnson . By then, Ell is a nd Mosier were long gone ou t in fron t. On the last lap , adding a tenser moment to their race-long duel , bo th Ellis and Mosier fell1 Ellis got up to retain his lead and the win wh ile Mosiet held second. Brown rolled in , still third , ahead of Rich Eiersredt who fought his way up from ninth and Rick Burgett recovered from his first tu rn crash to take the fifth transfer place. Two semis raised the 20 ·man qualifying field to 24 with th e top two making the program from each sem i. Honda's Warren Reid and LOP's Ron Pomeroy finished 1·2 in th e first semi . Suzuki's Scott Gillman and David Wood on th e All-Proof/jim & J im 's Yamaha -sponsored YZ d id like wise in th e second semi . T erry Cl a rk topped the co nso lation ra ce becomi ng the 25th man to qualify for the 25·man final event. Fin al Ol d man J immy "T he Jammer" Dicing for the lead in t heir qualifying moto, Rex Staten and Kent Howerton tangled off the Toyota Tow er Jump, Both remount ed; Staten won the moto. W e in ert pu lled a r epeat of his qua lifying moto ho lesho t , lea di ng Danny Turner, John Savitski , David Taylor , Darrell Shultz, Bob H annah a nd Kent How erton through t he first few tu rns . Lenny Giger, Warren Reid a nd Rich Eierstedt rounded out th e top 10. Ro g e r Brown and R on Pomer oy were involv ed in a firs t turn crash and found recovery to bett er th an 20th im possib le. Shultz was stoked! By th e end of lap on e , he 'd stuffed his Suzuki past Turner, Savitski and Taylor , moving in to seco nd place behind Weinert. Turner followed in third with Taylor keeping him honest. Steve Wi se , 11th on the opening lap , had hustled up to fifth place ahead of Howerton , .Ha n na h and Re id . Then Turner bailed off: "I go t a lit tle excited at first . I've nev er gotten good starts before!" Turner praised his Ralph Thomure-tuned KX250 for its power. The fall dumped him from third to ninth, his eventual fin ish ing posi tion. Warren Reid , riding eight h at the time , also cra shed and dropped to 20th . Weinert and Shultz blazed a lon g well ahead of a brief Taylo r /Wise ski rm ish. W ise got past into third, t he n severa l laps later , T ay lor bobbled , letting the' duelling duo of Howerton and Hannah get into th e four -five slots. A few turns lat er , on the 11th lap , Hannah finally found a wa y around the Rhinestone Cowboy. H e was fourth, 10 seconds beh ind Weinert, and th e ra ce was only half ove r. On lap 13 : Steve Wise let Hannah past into th ird: : ' 1 stalled my bike on that littl e off-camber thing and lost a lot of room . It took me a couple laps to regai n m y composure:' W ise added. At the three -quarter mark , Shultz had closed to within one second of the leader W ein ert . Ha nnah was only two seconds back. The Hurrica ne close d on Shultz who see med to be tiring. " Yea h , I was a littl e too tense ," he admitted later. Hann ah tried to ge t past , wa s blocked by a lapped rider, th en ca me back to try aga in . On the same la p ( 15) he nea rly bent th e handleb a rs stuffing the Ke ith McCarty-tuned Yamaha in agains t the pole a t turn on e , passing Shul tz as t he Suz uki rider used the high , fa st be rm. H annah then closed to with in two seconds of Wein ert , gestu ring a wideopen· throttle hand signal to McCarty as he passed the me chanics' area on lap 16. He closed to a on e-second : margin on the next lap! Now it was Weinert's turn to dial win. Roy "T u ne r" Turner gave him the "gassitl" sign al as Weinert rocketed past. On lap 18 , Hannah crashed in th e turn just before th e fin ish lin e. He lost five seconds to Weinert , On lap 19, he regained two of those lost ticks of th e clock, closing to a t hree second gap . Bu t the Jammer was flyin g too , and he held on to th e end . W ise a lso foun d a wa y around Shultz, taking th ird for th e afternoon. And on th e last tu rn of t he last lap, Kent Howerton followed suit, relega t ing h is Suzuki tea m ma te to fifth . " I just screwed up," Shultz shrugged disappointedly. "He passed me in the last turn . I slid out. " Rounding out the top 10 were Mik e Bell, David Ta ylor, John Sa vitski , Danny Turner a nd Mart y Moates . • Resu lts FINA L: 1. J immy W einert IKaw); 2. Bob Hannah IYam ); 3. Steve Wise (Han): 4. Kent Howerton (SuzJ 5. ; Darrell Shultz ISuzJ; 6. M ike Bell lYam ); 7. David Taylor IYam! ; 6. John Savitski lYam); 9. Dan Turn er l Kaw); 10. Marty Moates lYam); 11. Marty Smith (Han); 12. Bex Staten (Yaml; 13. Rick Burgett (Yam); 14. Danny laPorte 1 02); 15. Gary Semics (Han); 16. Jimmy Ellis 5 lHan); 17. Scon Gillman (Suz); 18. Jim Turn er (Hon): 19. Gayton Mosi er lKaw); 20. Rog er Brown (Hon); 21. Warr en Reid IHan); 22 . Ron Pomer oy (Yam); 23. Lenny Giger (Hon!; 24. David W ood (Yam); 25. Terry Clark IYaml. CONSOLA TION: 1. Terry Clark (Yam); 2. Aick Cage (Hen); 3. J im Lesniews ki IMai); 4 . Rich Eierstedt le·A); 5. Sco n Jordan ISuz); 6. Roger J ones (Hus t; 7. Timo thy Richardson

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