Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

luperdame luperera•• Preview (Left! Bob "Hurricane" Hannah can wrap up his third AMAlToy01a Supercross title at New Orleans, but "The . Jammer:' Jim Weinert (above) will be doing everYthing in his power to prevent it. The Bailie al By Jim Gianatsis otocross history j~st might be made inside the New Orleans Superdome on M J une 2 when T eam Yamaha's Bob "H urricane" Hannah tries to put th e wraps on his record setting th ird consecu tive Supercross Series Championship. No other 18 rider had ever claimed the titl e more than once before Bob exp loded his way onto the American motocross scene back in 1976 and began de vastating th e sport with h igh speed do-or-di e a nt ics whi ch ha ve helped him garner m ore race victories than anyone else . . The Mr . Pibb sponsored Superdome Supercross will see the Team Kawasaki Jammer, Jimmy Weinert, making one last ditch effort to beat ba ck Hannah's at tack. It is Weinert , the sly old fox of American motocross and a previou s Supercross Champion himself in 1976 , who has more tr icks up his race jersey sleeve and won 't be too shy about using an y or all of them in his attempt to put a stop to Hannah's stadium blitzkrieg, ~einert is the only rider left ,with a mathematical chance to whip Hannah in the Series points standings after Hannah's back-eo-back wins in two days of racing at the last Supercross inside the Pontiac Silverdome in April. Hannah won 't be relaxing for a second in New Orleans. He knows Weinert is capable of beating him . Like at Oakland Coliseum , the first Supercross race of th e year, where Weinert whipped that paddle tire out of his bag of tricks and then proceeded to roost sand all over Hannah as the Jammer led him every inch of the way to the fini sh line, Was Hannah ever mad! Next came Seattle Stadium where Hannah had to take back saddle again , th is time to-teammate Mike "Daddy Longlegs" Bell, but at least Yamaha was h~ppy . The third race of this year's Supercross Series was inside th e open air Atlanta Stadium where two days of rain turned the d irt floor track into a quagmire sea of floating mud. Hardly anyone could get around the t rack with the exc eption of Hannah , and it was there th ilt Bob was finally able to claim his first Supercross victory of the year , Then followed Daytona, probably the biggest motocross event in the world. Weinert was anxious to make up for his mediocre performances the previous couple of weeks and vowed to blow Hannah's number panels right off the bike . Hannah just laughed. But when the gate dropped, Hannah wasn 't laughing any longer as one of the most exciting races in Supercross history began to unfold, There were no less than six different leaders as first Honda's Warren Re id grabbed the lead then crashed. Teammate Gary Semics took over , but got passed by Suzuki's Darrell Shultz, who then crashed , Marty Tripes then took the lead with his Honda, only to ~ be passed after an exciting battle with Hannah just one lap before the finish. As Hannah cruised the" remaining few turns before the checkered flag, he was caught . totally off- guard as Weinert seemed to come out of nowhere, stuffing his Kawasaki inside of Bob at a comer and blasting away to claim the checkered flag by just a matter of feet! The super speedway erupted from the roar of 40,000 spectators going wild . . Race number five in the 1979 Supercross Series was a double night affair held in side the Houston Astrodome. Hannah .was obviously stylin' for the weekend as he i New Orleans m collected the wins both nights just ahead of T exan Steve Wise on a new Team Hon· 1i da long-stroke prototype. Weinert wasn't too far back. . ' ! The final race before the Mr. PiBB Superdome Supercross was Pontiac where Hannah won again, but this time by the skin of his teeth over Kawasaki's Tommy Croft and Suzuki's Mark Barnett in two nights of racing there. Weinert finished with consistent fourth and fifth places on his latest trick : Kawasaki's new Un i-Trak single rear shock absorber bike . The Jammer claimed he was putting the finishing development touches 'on his Uni -Trak Kawasaki at Pontiac Stadium and now he has the bike fully sorted out. "It handles as good as Hannah's Yamaha. it's faster , and I know I can beat Hannah," he said. . ' But like Jimmy Weinert , if Bob Hannah wants to win at New Orleans and take home his third Supercross Series Championship, he is going to have to fight off the other top stars in American motocross as well . How would you like to be in Hann ah 's boots as he pulls up on the starting line for that 20-lap feature event of the evening beside the fiberglass , nylon , plastic and leather clad warriors of modern da y gladiatorial combat to do battle on a blood and guts motocross course that has got to be the most challenging they've seen all year. And when you start reading off those names on the backs of their jerseys.. .names like Smith, Wise, Tripes, Bell, Staten, Howerton , LaPorte, Barnett, Semics, Croft and .Mosier.. .you've got to be more than a little bit scared to death . • 1.979 Toyota AMA Series Point Standings prior to the Mr. PiBB Superdome Supercross 1. 2. 3. . 4, 5, 5. 7: 8, 9, 10. 11. 12. 13, 14, 15. 16. 17. 17. 19, 20. Bob Hannah Jim Weinert Mike Bell Steve Wise Danny LaPorte Marty Tripes Gaylon Mosier Warren Re id Marty Smith Gary Semics Kent Howerton Darrell Shultz Tommy Croft Rick Burgett Rex Staten Frank Stacy Mickey Boone John Savitski Mark Barnett Scott Gillman Team Yamaha OW·40 Team Kawasaki KX·250 SR Team Yamaha OW·40 Team Honda RC ·250-79 Team Suzuki RH ·250·79 Team Honda RC-250-78 Team Kawasaki KX -250 SR Team Honda RC -250 ·79 Team Honda RC ·250·78 Team Honda RC ·250-78 Team Suzuki RH·250-79 -T eam Suzuki RH ·250-78 Team Kawasaki KX·250 SR Team Yamaha OW·40 Team Yamaha OW·40 Hi-Point KTM 250 MX Team Kawasaki KX ·250·78 DG Yamaha OW-40 Team Suzuki RH-250-79 Team Suzuki RH-250-79 points 235 158 143 138 .la 115 115 -. ~ 105 102 97 90 89 81 77 76 . '53 51 46 46 45 36

• Cover