Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

rtson (78). Darrell Shultz (20). Marty Tripes mistake" first of four . qualifying moros . Obviousl y pumped and ready 10 race , Hannah led Steve Wis e and Tommy Croft through the first few turns of th e Gary Bai ley-designed infield course. But Team Honda's Wis e , it seemed, was equally ready - he'd said so just before the event - and before the first lap was completed, Wis e had taken over the lead . Only a few minutes into the six -lap qualifier , Wise led Hannah , David Taylor, Tommy Croft ,' and Mark Robillard , 1 , . • ,. " , ' , ' • Hannah was holding th e pressure on , but he slipped up near th e halfwav point , ste p pe d off. and ga ve Stev~ so me breathin g room . Wi se look ed like a winner, but then he ran into a little toug h Tuck of his own. " O n th e last lap , I went ove r th e bars in the mud - stupid!" he sa id la ter. That was all Hannah needed ; he rolled in a winner. Wise sa lvaged second ahead of Taylor, Greg Robertson and Robillard. Scott Gillman , Ken Adams and Tommy Croft completed the top eight who transferred directly to the main event. Heat two was equally hard-fought and fast-paced . At the start , it was Kent Howerton putting his Team Suzuki out in front of the pack with Kawasaki's Jimmy Weinert right on his heels. Private duels formed immediately as the lea d ing duo pul led ahead and the followers paired off to compete for individual positions. Mickey Boone held back Kawasaki teammate Gaylon Mosier for third place early in the qualifier as Mickey Kessler and John Savitski started their fight for fifth . Near the midpoint, Mosier jammed past Boone, making it stick for the remaining three laps . Weinert , in ' seco n d , was hounding Howerton unmercifully . Kessler held his pace as Savitski faded 10 outside the top eight. Then , perhaps in rehearsal for the final event , Weinert pulled a last -lap pass to take the lead. Howerton clung to Jim's rear fender , but couldn't find a line around before the flag fell , Mosier held ~ fairly secure third place over Boone and Kessler. Marty Moates , Gregg Theiss and Frank Stacy rounded out the top eight. AMA sta rt er Butch Lee tipped the one -m in u te sign sideways , the gate dropped , and 20 more riders from the field of 80 aimed for Daytona's tight turn one for the third qualifying heat. Team Honda riders Gary Semics and Marty .Tripes showed them the way, and the two red , white and blueclad MXers pu t some space between themselves and the others. Team Suzuki's Da rrell Shu ltz and Team Yamaha rider Mike Bell went down in turn one. Both remounted quickl y and managed to make the transfer to th e final , Bell with an eighth place ride and Sh ultz with an impressive fourth placing' despite a dangling shock res ervoir broken loose in the crash. As Semics and Tripes pulled away , a third Honda . rider , Warren R eid , sett led into fourth after passing Suzuki rider Steve Horvath . Within three laps , Shultz worked his way up 10 fourth and pursued Reid at a distance . On the next lap , he passed Reid, but Warren repassed on the final lap for third. How? "He was obviously going faster than me ," said Darrell , '''ca use when I passed him, he was layin' on the ground ." . . Reid put in a good recovery ride to edge Shultz. Completing the transfer, to -the-fina l bunch.were Arlo Englund , Mark Gregson , JoJo Keller and Bell . Marty Smith looked fast when the gate dropped for qualifying heat four , the last chance to transfer d irectly 10 the final even t. Smith's red ma chine pulled out ahead 'of Maico-mounred Denn y Sw art z and Team Suzuki's Danny La Porte, but LaPorte qui ckly found a way around Swartz and zoned in on Smith. Pat Moroney and -Tony DiStefano also got past Swartz, and the top five slots were set. Although LaPorte chased Smith right down to the flag , Marty held on to win. Steve Sta cka ble , Dennis Bra nd and , Tony s,ummn also made thetransfer, , . Marty Tripes (48) finished third; teammate Gary Semics took sixth. Two semifinals, with the top four from each going to the main event , went to Team Kawaski's Jeff Ward and Can-Am's Rich Eierstedt. Also transferring in the first semi . with Ward . were Gary Pustelak , Ron Pomeroy and John Savitski, Sav itski , not at the line when the gate dropped , put in an excellent ride for his transfer ,s po t. In the second semi, Rick Burgett, John Grant and Steve Martins ' made th e main along with winner Eierstedt. The final spot on the starting line -up for the 12·!ap final moto went to consolation race winner Roger Brown. Factory -ba cked Hondas , two of them , ridden by Gary Semics and Warren R eid , b las ted down Daytona's starting ch ute and broadslid through turn one with one very impatient Yamaha rider on their tai ls - Bob Hannah. Not more than an adrena lin pumped heartbeat behind was CanAm mounted Greg Rob ertson , Honda 's Marty Tripes , Suzuki's Darrell Shultz and Kawasaki's Jimmy Weinert and Ga ylon Mosier. Reid'sturn near th e front was short lived ; at the end of lap two . he 'd dropped back ' to 11 th place , apparently after a get-off, A half-lap later in what would be an extremely intense Supercross race , Shultz found a way around Hannah and moved up to second behind Sernics. Another half-lap later, Shultz was in the leadl Another half-lap passed , and Shultz was back in fifth place! " It seems that whenever I get in the lead , I tend to relax some, " Darrell said later. "I just got a little too ca re less, drifted too wide , and the fron t wheel snagged a haybale ." Now , the o rd e r stood Sernics, Hannah , Tripes a nd Weinert in a close formation foursome followed by Shultz, Mosier and Danny La Porte, . Then Tripes de cided 10 go for it. He jammed past Hannah into second place , hounded Semics for three laps, t hen took over the leadl Ha nn a h wasn't having any of that. His old rival from the '78 Supercross Series was out in front , and the Hurricane. wanted .,to do something '!I!>OU{ it, Hat:lnall 'fou~d ., ·~ay iUVund Semics, who was having trouble seeing the: track after making the ·wrong goggle/ visor decision . " I wore the wrong kind of goggles dark lenses - and I cu t my duckbill . I couldn't see in the shad ows, and I was getting the glare in the sunny parts. The right combination would be clear lenses and a long duckbill ," he reasoned later. A half-lap later, Weinert also overtook Sem ics, and Shultz caught and passed Ga ry shortly thereafter . .By now . the mo to was threequarters over. Only three laps remained. Hannah reeled in Tripes, edged past and took the lead. With only a little more than one lap. left, . Weinert a lso got around Marty. Once W einert got by , Marty dropped off the win ner's p ace to hold thi rd some distance back from the leaders. Then , as Hannah described it, Weinert moved in behind him, and on the last lap , slipped in under a very surprised former leader. Tripes held third , but was "d isa pp oint ed" with the placing; he' d expected better. "Third is not first ," he said . Darrell Shultz , after leading and crashing in the main event , rolled in fourth ahead of Danny LaPorte and Gary Semics. Gaylon Mosier , Rick. Burgett , Many Smith and Mickey Boone completed the top 10. Results I FINAL: 1. Jimmy Weinen (Kaw); 2. Bob Hannah lYam); 3, Mart'( Tripes IHon); 4. Darrell Shultz (Suzl; 5. Danny lJIPom! ISuzl; 6. Gary Semics IHan); 7. Gayton Mosier IKaw); 8. Rick Burgen lYam); 9. Mart'( Smith IHan); 10. Warren Reid IHon); 'tt . Tony DiStefano ICAl ; 12. Mike Bell lYaml; 13. David TaytOf lYaml; 14. Scott Gillman ISuz); 15. Greg Theiss lYam); 16. Frank Stacy (Vaml; 17. Mart'( Moates lYam); 18. Mark Gregson lYam); 19. Greg Robertson IC-A~ 20. St""" Staekable IMail; 21. Jeff Ward lKaw); 22. Arlo Englund (Vaml; 23. Ken Adams IMail ; 24. Tommy Croft IKawl ; 25. Tony Summey IKaw); 26. Steve Martin lYam~ 27. Gary Pustelak (Mai); 28. Mark Robillard IHusl; 29. Mika Kessler IVaml; 30. Denny Swartz IMai~ ' 31. Pat Moroney (Suzl; 32. Dennis Brand (Hen); 33. Ron Pomeroy (Yam); 34. Roger Brown (Hon); 35. John Grant (Mai); 36. Rich Eierst edt (e ·A); 37. Kent How erton fSuz); 38. JoJo Keller CHon); 39. Steve Wise (Hon); 40. John Savitski (Yam); 41. Mickey Boone IKawl . CONSOLATION: 1. Roger Brown IHonl ; 2. John Aeinho lt fMai); 3. Mike Loeff ler lHusl . UN OFFICIAL A M A ITO VOTA SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Bob Hannah (123); 2. 981; 3. Darrell Shultz (81); 4. Danny Jimmy W einert 1 lJIPorte 17 5. Mart'( Smith 161); 6. Mart'( Tripes (60); 3); 7. Mike Bell (58); 8. me) St""" Wise , Gaylon Mosier 1 56); 10. Gary Semics 1551; 11. Kent Howerton 152); 12. Warren Reid 1 48); 13. Rick 8 urgen 1 45); 14. Tommy Croft 14 ; 15. Rex Staten (34); 16. John Savitski (33); 21 17: David TaylOf (31) ; .18. Tony DiSl efano (21); 19. ,Marty Moates USJ' l. I ' "J ': ~. ' • • ~ f' " . '.,19

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