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/141017
o " '" '" Q. N ,.... Cl c. <{ ~ W Z W ..J U > U --.. Jimmy Weinert (66 ) and Brad Lackey (7) have a terrific d uel going and Dave Rodgers has a rin q-sid e seat for the whole show . Jones, Weinert: Pac-AMA Round III Victors .. By Bill Sp encer LIV ERM OR E, CA L.,March 26-Jim Wein eret and Bra d Lackey co m bined a pair of mo t a battles that ma y we ll set a p recedent for A merican rider to adhere to . Mo to cro ss T he third ro und o f the newly-formed West Coast Pacific-AMA series was a difficul t set of races th at left b oth riders an d mot or cy cles hurting o n the rocky Carneige Cycle Park circuit. Ea rly in the d ay Lack ey and Weinert wer e no ticed in conferen ce and wh en cat ch ing Brad towards th e end at a good clip . The last lap proved to b e the und o ing for the New Yo rk ace and h e dropped back t o give Brad a great lead for th e checkered. In th e final mo t a Lackey grabbed the ea rly j um p but succu mbed to a faltering rear wh eel be fo re the hal fway po in t. Over half th e sp okes were bro ken an d Wein ert ap peared to h ave th e overall ba ttle sewed up. Still , h e had his problems and co uld d o no b etter th an fou rt h as T om Rapp 's Bultaco wailed all co me rs in the final. Rap p finis h ed - .. ~ 7 --" V aroomrn, varroom, V arrr-eoooom, fie ld was o ut of racing so he borr owed Ro b No rgaa rd 's stock CZ for th e final. and wa iled all co mers . It was neve r a real serious battle wi th Grossi's sho ulde r hurt & Lack ey run ning fresh~ bu t one that the spectators w~ 1I re me mber. Perhaps Ha ngtow n will produce a better battle for these two super stars . Gary Jones had a popul ar malady .. .a broken rear tire. race time ca me for th e 250 Pros, it was a seesaw battle for first. The first mota " seemed t o be all Weinert 's with La ckey holding second some seven seconds back. Towards the middle of th e 3 0-min ute rnotos, Weinert and Lackey both appeared to be content with their placings. While this may have been an easy answer for the first 20 minutes, the last 20 were anything but ; La ckey cu t tlie seven seconds to three on the last lap when he caugh t and passed Weinert with ease , The second moto was a no-contest affairt for Lackey, although Jim was a cred ib le fifth to a surpnsmg fo urt h o verall b y Class " C" Expert Ru ss Powell. Powell and Dick Mann endured th e da y's dust and rocks a lth o ugh Bugs failed to make the final. Bug's co m m ent went something like, " I doubt if I co uld get used to eating dust for a living!" That was the way it was as th e usual winter rains have forsaken the Bay Area. The Open battle never really got off th e ground as injuries to both rider and b ike wouldn't all ow that to happen. John DeSoto handily won th e first moto over Gary Jones, but in the process hurt his shoulder again. Putting him out for the day. Jones did some fast work o n his rear wh eel, as did many o th ers and co m b ined two sec o nds. A third for th e o vera ll win over Bob Grossi. The Mint 400 Champ had his problems from the st art as 'he fo llo wed T ra ns·AMA Champ Mark Blackwell aro u nd the fir st go and recei ved a super welt o n his co llar b one from a fly ing roc k. Blackwell co uld n 't survive the second mo ta due, t o a back injury flair-up from the Mint so t eammate Grossi took second ov erall with a flat -tire third in the se cond mota and a poor-chase second to La ckey in the third moto. Lackey noticed that over half the Gary Jones continues the top form he had in Florida 25 0 PROFESSIO NAL Ji m We inert Brad L ac k e y Bil l Cl em ents Russ Po w ell T o m R app 5 0 0 PROF ESS IO N A L G ary Jon es Bob Grossi Bo b H er sh ey Ji m West Ya m CZ Hus Hus Bu l Yam Hu s CZ H us ".-