Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126414
Henneh. Howerton and Wise elm down the long starting chute Cebovel before the pte dropped. After it dropped. howev.... it an came down to a duel between W ... (below left) and Jimmy Weinert (below right). AMA/Toyota Supercross Series - Round 10 Wise, Weinert duel under Superdome, Hannah clinches title By Jim Gianatsis NEW ORLEANS. LA,JUNEl! Lap after lap, Honda's Steve Wise and Kawasaki'sJimmy Weinert raced side by side for the lead at the Mr. Pibb Superdome Supercross. At times they were close enough to see the glis- 6 tening sweat as it beaded up on their skin then ran down to I drench "ere jerseysfunher apart ~ and leathers. Never they then a moment's hesitation in brak· ing or the undetectable pause in the upshifting click ~o the next higher gear that would kick the screaming factory machines doWn the track. The lithe young body of Steve Wise strained to keep the exotic long·stroke Honda on two wheels between the ribbons and haybales bordering the perimeters of the course. As the veteran of American motocross, Jimmy Weinert, bung his sinewy body back ~ the rear fender of the lime • green Uni· Trak Kawasaki. every muscle of his wiry frame struggled to maintain the lead he had taken at the stan of the race. The kid from Texas looked for clean openings to pass and took them. Fighting back, the "Jammer" out·dove the kid going into turns with blocking moves that only come from expe.rience. Weinert wanted this win. He wanted to prove he could win even when the odds were against him . .He had to win to keep Yamaha's Bob Hannah from claiming his third consecutive AMA/Toyota Supercross Series Championship title. But Steve Wise wanted this win even more. For Wise. the third annual Superdome SuperCToss, promoted by Turnstile Promotions. was the culmination of concentration, desire and training which had begun months earlier and taken him to second place both nights of racing inside the Houston Astrodome. Since last March, Steve Wise had silently known he could win.' "I told my friends I was going to win this one for them. For my mechanic Cliff White, and for my team manager Gunnar Lindstrom. They worked for this win as hard as I did. "Before die race' I just stayed. to myself. ...talking to no one and building myself up for the win." The odds·on favorite for the Super· dome win, though, had been Bob Hannah. No one had taken seriously the full arm cast he had worn aU week to promote the healing of the broken little finger he had injured two weeks earlier at the Southwick 250cc National. Skeptics figured it was nothiqg more than Hannah's latest psych·out technique; to soak die cast off just hours before the race, then go out and pull off a runaway win in the .. evening's first qualifying race. By the time Hannah pulled up to the gate fOT the stan of the 20·lap-feature he msut have become a victim of reverse psych·out. His mind began to flash with appraisals of the situation ... how bad his hand was hurting and the expectancy by everyone. including himself to win. "I couldn't believe it," said a shocked Larry Huffman from his announcing perch high over the Superdome raceway. "Hannah seemed to get a good start off the line, but by the time everyone reached the first tum he was dead last! He did manage to work his way up to sixth place by the end of the race." There was no way though. that he could h'en come close to the leaders who were turning the same lap times. Twenty·four riders bolted their mounts out of the staTting gate, leaving Gaylon Mosier. winner of the third qualifying moto of the evening, sitting on the line with a dead ignition system. His teammate. Weinert. roosted his Uni·Trak through the first tum sweeper with the lead. Wise was right behind. hot on the jammer's knobby. Behind them reeled Semics, Shultz. Ward. Reid, Gibson. Bell, Gillman. Howerton. Handy and Tripes. The only factory star not to make the lineup was Honda's Many Smith. Mter grabbing the lead of qualifying moto number one and then battling with Hannah for the win, Smitty was left sitting with a seized motor just one lap before the finish. • Running wide open in an attempt to improve his founh place position as the leaders came around to complete the first lap, Darrell Shultz, hung his RH-250 Suzuki too wide out of a sweeping tum and found himself exploding through haybales on approach to a jump. Darrell and the Suzuki careened sidewayi amid flying hay off the jump and smacked into a teleyision ca~e,raman and, D,iJ;t. Bike