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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126472
Steve Wise (91 leads the start of t he secon d 250cc Nat ional moto f oll ow ed by Kent Howerto n (41. Larry Wosick 1271 Darrell Shultz 1161. Mike Bell (31 and a host . of ot hers. Wise earned second overall behind How erton with Shultz third. It w as the first U.S. race for singl.shock Suzukis, AMA 250/500cc National Championship MX Series: Rounds 4/1 Howerton powe'rs on, Sun wins his first N ationa By J im Giana tsis MT. MORRIS, PA. MAY 25 Ken t H owerton pu lled off his fourth straight 250cc N ational overall in as m any r aces as he debu ted Suzuki's new m onoshock Floating Suspension System and Honda's Chuck Sun garnered his first career National win as 250cc action continued and 500cc competition got underway at High Point Raceway. 14 Rick Burgett, spent the day plagued with crashes and mechanical difficulties that left only Burgett finishing one moto with just a handful of points, Suzuki unveiled their new suspension system in both classes on their RH and RN factory bikes . The floaters proved to be highly competitive from the time they first set knobbies on the tacky and slick hillside course. "We feel our current conventional twin shock rear suspension system is developed fully to the optimum and really works well," said Team Suzuki Manager Mark Blackwell, "but future development requires that we experi ment with even newer ideas. We don't know how good the Floating Suspension System is and if it will ever see production." . Just to cover their bets, Team Suzuki pushed both types of bikes through Sunday morning's technical inspection line , the new floaters and the old twin shock bikes . Despite the seemingly old design of the twin shock bikes, it re mains the opinion of most that they are still the best handling and most re fined of all the exotic Japanese works bikes. Still, it was the new floaters the team riders tried first in practice and chose to ride in the Nationals. Somewhat similar in execution to Kawasaki's Uni -Trak design, Suzuki's Floating Suspension places its deCarbon Kayaba monoshock in an inverted position similar to the Honda RC Pro-Links. Howerton described the floaters aft er practice as having a slightly stiffer, but more precise feeling in the rear suspension. Bad luck played havo c with the top three riders in the 500cc National class throughout the day. Reigning cham pion Danny La~orte and Suzuki team mate Marty Smith, the 1977 title holder, as well as 1978 title holder The weekend also marked the demise of Team PDQ. The team was left bankrupt and left riders Ellis, Croft, Englund and Moroney on their own for the remainder of the season. Steve Stackable, the only rider from the team to find a new sponsor quickly, once again marked his return to Maico. 250cc National Donnie Hansen once again stole the start of the first 250cc feature moto of the day aboard his water-cooled RC250 Honda , holding the lead over Kawasaki's Wosick, Moto-X Fox's Loeffler on a Honda and Yamaha's Mike Bell. Hansen quickly began to drop back in the pack due to the pain of an injured ankle which has hampered his performance all season. This put Wosick into the lead with Bell in hot pursuit, while from out of the middle of the pack both Kent Howerton and Steve Wise rocketed their way up to join the frontal assault chased by Guerra, Serrano, Shultz and Reid . On lap three on the long, hilly track Bell stuffed his way past Wosick for the lead. Wosick would soon be displaced back further as next Howerton, then Wise pushed past as well. , Halfway into the mota, Howerton closed on Bell for the lead, tailed him for a lap to look over his lines and find an easy spot to pass, then powered in side the Yamaha pilot on a fast sweeper as Bell drifted wide. Howerton danced the floater Suzuki prepared by Greg Arnett into a seemingly effortless takeover of the lead, which would soon turn into a I5-second advantage to the checkered flag. After Howerton had gotten past, Steve Wise , in a determined bid to make up for previous poor performances caused by Supercross injuries, caught and passed Bell in a tight, uphill bermed corner for second with just one lap to go. Wosick did an admirable job with his works Uni- Trak to hold off the advances of Suzuki's Shultz and Kawasaki teammate Reid to hold onto fourth behind Bell. In seventh was Marty Tripes, Team Husky's Guerra, then first-year rookie David Bailey on a Kawasaki in a spectacular ride which Bailey would improve even further the next moto, Wise was trying to do even better in the second moto, and after a restart caused by gate problems he used the torquey powerband of his air-cooled works Honda to grab the uphill start and lead the second moto. Not far behind were Guerra, Wosick, How erton, Shultz and Moto-X Fox's Serrano as Bell found himself stuck in the field of 40 riders . Quickly the race turned into a number of exciting skirmishes as Shultz moved his new Suzuki up on Wise in an attack on the lead; Howerton hung back in third to check the situation over for a while ; Wosick tried to .fend off Guerra for fourth; and sixth spot turned into a running battle between another Moto-X Fox rider, Lenny Giger, Bailey and Bell. Howerton finally grew bored with sitting back and waiting for teammate Shultz to dust off Wise for the lead. When Kent got. the halfway ' signboard from mechanic Arnett, he sped up his pace by some two seconds a lap and quickly closed on the two front runners. Sliding into a slippery hard-packed turn by the finish line , Howerton bounced off his bike but held onto the handlebars, did a hop, skip and jump while running beside it and bounded back into the saddle without losing more than five seconds. The next lap he made the gap up and was right back with the leaders. Shultz took notice of pressure from his teammate this time and finally found a way around Wise for the lead. Howerton was next to rattle Wise 's number panels and push him back to third. With two laps to wrap up the race. it was obvious that Howerton was in command of his fourth straight National win in the 250cc class as he 1 waltzed past Shultz to give the floater Suzuki a win in its first American title bout. Marty Tripes steadily worked his Power Valve-equipped Yamaha OW up to fourth place by race end. passing through the Guerra, Wosick, Bailey, Bell, LOP rider Steve Martin and Giger battle that was still going on for fifth. Bailey's seventh place netted him, the tap priva teer placing, riding the Gary Bailey Motocross School-sponsored Kawasaki with The Professor himself' li Gary Bailey, turning the wrenches. 500cc N ational Marty Smith was hating life. A ; crash in practice left him well bruised. Then a first turn melee at the start of the first 500cc National moto of the year knocked him down, left him battered again and put him out of the running for the day along with his new RN big -bore floater Suzuki. For the other two top guns, LaPorte and Burgett, life wouldn't be much better. I] Ohio star Denny Swartz of Team Maico stoked the excited crowd of nearly 10,000 fans as he grabbed the start ahead of Yamaha's Burgett, Honda's Sun and Gibson, Suzuki's LaPorte, Semics (LOP) , Kessler (RPM) , Moates (L OP), Englund (PDQ) , Weinert and Mosier. This was Jammin' Jimmy Weinert's debut with the Kolbe Cycle-sponsored 406cc CanAm, while Mosier was making his return to outdoor racing on the 440cc Kawasaki works Uni-Traker since his serious leg-breaking crash last summer. Swartz was looking good, but not good enough to hold onto his lead under the pressure of the factory talent just behind him . By the end of the opening lap, it' was Chuck Sun's RC 450 roosting out the lead with Rick Burgett's 465cc OW4IB dancing into second. The normally dusty High Point track was in excellent shape thanks to a week of rain, offering a tacky, traction -filled surface which allowed the big bikes to rocket up the big hills at full-throttle speed.