Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Dann y laPorte 1141a nd Jimmy We inert lead t he pack t hrou gh the first turn on Sunday. Greg Robertson (78). Bob Han na h 111and Marty Smith 171 trail. AMA Toyota Supercross Series:' Rounds 8-9 -S i l v e r d o m e gold to Hannah By J im Gianatsis PONTIAC, MI , APR . 28 -29 A record combined crowd of some 70,000 rocked the Motor City Supercross a t Pontiac's Silver dom e as Team Yamaha's Bob Han nah brought him self to within eas y reach of his th ird AMA/ Toyota Supercross Series Championship by topping Saturday night's and Sunday afternoon's feat ure races . 6 Sensational back -up performances were turned in each evening by Kawasaki 's Tommy Croft and Suzuki's Ma rk Ba rnett at the Pace/Delta promoted events which certainly proved to be the best indoor Supercross races of the year thus far , on a demanding and exciting track . For once announcers Larry H uffman and Dave Despain didn't need to give the fans anything to scream about. The riders provided all the action anyone could ask for. Pontiac was the first Supercross event for Kawasaki's Uni -Trak bike which now seems fully sorted ou t fter four months of development. [ he Kawasakis handled superbly, and , together with the Mono cross Yamahas , th e single shock bi kes dominated the first two positions in Saturday night's race and th ree of the top four spots Sunda y afternoon . All the fac tory rid ers rod e 250c c "o u td oo r" bikes or lightweight " Su pe rcross" speci a ls spo rt ing a pproxi m a rely 12 inc hes of suspensi on t ra vel. T he ul tr a -sh o rt 10 -11 inch tra vel bikes most of the facto ry tea ms ex perim ented with at t he ope ning Supercross races proved to be too short in th e suspension department . Saturday T eam Honda 's Steve W ise and Team Suzuki's Mark Barnett marked their return to the circuit after recovering from injuries . Wise was hot. So hot , in fa ct, that he blazed around the course faster than anyone in practice. He was the only rider to clear the successive three-foot whoops ont he back straight. Bu t just as practice was ending, Wise endoed his trick new long-stroke RC Honda works bike off the double jump and careened into a concrete wall . "It knocked me unconsciou s and I didn't know where I was ," moaned the young Texan . The sp ill left him detuned for the remainder of the night , bu t still fairly competitive corn pared to the bulk of the field : Only the first , of four Hl-minure qualifying ra ces would be runaways as Hannah jumped his O W 40 Yamaha out front in the opening ra ce and ripped awa y to a 15-second win . His lea th ers nearly dropped off in th e process. Having co me undon e at th e fr ont , th e "H u rric a ne" repea ted ly had to keep tugging a t the m to retain his respecta bility . Hon d a's Gary Semics dro pped back fro m a seco nd p lace start to event ually finish in fifth, the last cut-off position to the feature , as Kawasaki's Tommy Croft cruised in second , just ahead of a wh eel stuffing battle b etween Yamaha 's Rex Staten and Marty Tripes, who was riding a fairly conven tional CR typ e RC works Honda . An official attendance of 30 ,906 scream ing fans got to see orange for a few laps as Greg Robertson roosted his Team Can-Am bike in to the lea d of the second qualifier ahead of Jimmy Weinert , Tony DiStefano a nd Da nny LaPorte. On the fourth lap Robertson boggled in a tu rn and teammate Tony D. fell back amid pressure from Keystone Motocross Works rider Mickey Kessler. Kaw asaki's Weinert throttled h is green machine wit h the "missing" shocks into the lea d , but LaPorte was righ t behind the J a m m er , bumping politely to get by . For the five remaining laps of the race the RM works RH Suz uki of LaPorte was pointed every way but straight as he tried everything in his bag of tricks to get by the Uni -Trak of Weinert . Time 'a fte r time LaPorte pulled up beside or even ahead of Weinert. But everytime La Porte was on the wrong line and he had to back off before the next turn, or crash , Crafty Weinert took the win ahead of La Porte , Ron Pomeroy , Robertson and Kessler . The rookie of Team Suzuki , Scott Gi llman; fla shed his brillia nce for th e first few laps of th e third qualifier , th en lost his lead after just a cou p le of laps as Yamaha's 500 cc MX cha m p Rick Burgett a nd Suzuki's Barnett ru shed past in a not he r battle for th e lea d . Ma rt y Smith ha d bee n running t hi rd , but fell, and th en remounted in time to work his way back up and make a transfer slot. Bu t on the nextto -last la p Sm itty pulled off'the' track and disappeared for the remainder of the evening. Barnett was fond of the course and was looking spectacular as he literally left Burgett tied to a post in a mov e wh ich gave him the lead on lap five . Mark then continued to pull away at an incredible pace to score the win . Crashes by Bu rge tt and Gillm a n gave Kawasaki's Gaylon Mosier and Honda 's Steve Wise the op portunity to finish 2-3 behind Ba rnett and ahead of Bu rgett and Maico privateer Ken Adams . A first turn pile- up at the beginning of the fina l qualifier took down at least 10 riders, among them Honda's Warren Reid . Rich Eierstedt put his Ca n -Am ou t front , ahead of Mike Bell , Ke n t H owe rto n and Ki ppy P ier ce . Be ll jammed his fa ctory Yamah a inside of Eierstedt on la p three on ly to have his front wheel wash ou t la n ding off a jump . Bell went sailing over the bars, but q u ickly re mounted, losing onl y one spot to Howerton. Positions didn't have time to settle in as H owerton then lost control of his factory Su zu ki in a group of ruts coming d own off the high speed Toyota jump and he and the bike careened into waiting haybales. Bell regained the lead again and held it to the finish as Warren Reid claimed second after a strong charge. Eierstedt , Roger Brown and a dazed Howerton rounded out th e transfer spots. The circuit's hottest new privateer, L enny Giger from Honda of Las Vegas , pulled th e ho leshot in the first semi a n d the n battled DG 's John

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