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/141018
HA GTO N: GROSSI, LACKEY o '" 1l, . e, ", ,' .... ' Cl a « ~ w Z W ...J U >- U I By J ohn Bethea PLYM OUTH, CAL., April 1·2 ; 1972 Fate p aid a visit to Bob Grossi today in the 2 50 Pro Motocross class at the Dirt Diggers North's annual Hangtown Motocross an d he turned back the best I an d largest field to win. His early threat:' came fro m Brad Lac key, listed in th ~ program as "the No. 2 rid er in th~1 nation". But a ft er a first moto spill an d a second mo to win, Brad pulled o u t to concentrate on th e 500. In that class, Brad beat all - hand ily. After one lap - h e'd be holding a dominating 100·yard lead and that was the story . By moto 1 of the 250's, h e was turning 2:07 laps: but in the 500, 1 :58 was typical and only Gary Jones l could almost keep up at 2:00. Grossi had hoped to have a strong go in the 500 , but after a few spills his Husky ' "that re ally feels strong" before the ] races began to bog down. That's wh ere fat e stepped in . Bob had borrowed a friend 's 250 , had ridden it in practice, but said it was sluggish. But he d ecided ' to rid e it anywa y. A slu ggish st art in mota 1'fo und Bob wa sy b ack in 10th pl ace aft er o ne lap . , Lackey (C Z) w as leading at th at 'p oint with Billy Payne (Mai) in close quarters with Billy Clemen ts (H us) . But the sta nding quickly changed on th e next lap when Lackey wen t d own an d was ' o ut of it. Bob was pullin g up to sixth with Pet er Lam pp u (Man) on h is tail. \ With th e race h alf comp leted, Clemen ts - wh o had zapped Payne for the lead - was battling to hold it while Bob mo ved in to t hird ahead of a now-fly ing Mike R unyard (Man) whose starts leave so mething to be d esired. The rough course, taking its toll on I I many of th e 53 riders, soon started on the lea ders and Clements b egan dro pping off the p ace. First Clem en ts , th en Payne we re cau ght by Gro ssi and with fo ur lap s remain ing, Grossi was rolling away on the " borrowed" bike. Finishing seco nd was Payne wit h Run yard a tic k of the clock b eh ind in third. Lamppu still was charging but co u ldn't quit e catch Clements at th e flag. La ckey was b ack being a t erro r in the next round with Gros si, Payne, Clements and Lamppu all chasing him. In vain. In the end, however as Grossi closed to second, Lamppu third, Payne fourth and Runyard, one o f the last of the 50 riders to rou nd turn one, amazingly fifth. While his own 500 had tro ub les, Grossi's borrowed Husky was running superbly and the final round was n't in doubt wher, he got a great start and trailed only Payne and Cleme nts. He tucked and weaved on their tail for two laps. He cau gh t them on the finish lin e straight and took over to never trail aga in, although Lamppu staged a lat e race rally and was still pulling up at the end. Clem ents took third with Payne fo u rt h giving Grossi the overall win with Lamppu a fin e second on h is new p ro to-Montesa, A w eek earlier; Lamppu was havin g ge tting ac q uainted the t ro ubl es machine, but today th ings clicked. Pay ne's consistent sta rts earne d him third over just as consistent Cl em en ts, Runyard broke a rear shock mount midway through the final heat , b ut st ill ma naged to cruise in w it h a fifth overall. But Lackey (Kaw) was still the dominating forc e today . There wasn't one moto all da y that he rode th at he wasn't in the top th ree into tu rn o ne . He 's hard enough to beat once th e race was u nderw ay, but even h arder to beat off the lin e. Gary Jones (Yam) gave chase in the first and t hir d 500 m oto s, o nly to finish second twice and put h imself out of th e to p mone y with a second ro u nd motor fai lure. Mik e Hartwick (Kaw) from Mich igan , b uilt u p in th e p re -rac e chatter as a top co ntender, p rove d he was as he co nsisten tly did we ll to rate a sec ond OA . J o~ n DeSo to (Su z) was de alt b ad luck m his bi d fo r the $600 first pl ace prize money . Mota One's first turn had DeSo to righ t o n Lackey's silencer but a spill d roppe d him almost a lap bac k in last p lace. Incredibly, he fo ught back valiantly and fin ally finis hed seventh . Mota Two's start was a rep eat , but t his t ime J ohn didn ' t h ave trouble a nd took second . Ro un d T hree : di tto with Gary Ch ap lin up th ere also. Whil e Ch aplin slowed, J ohn k ep t th e charge un til on lap four, af t er leading b riefl y earli er , his chai n snap pe d and that was it . "Now watch it Bob..don 't gel too close...ummmm." HR L's Miss Molly Blue do es her job very w ell. A nno uncer Bruce Young looks envious. ... - Typical of Bob Gro ssi's styl e. Here he has his wh eel on the ground off a jump so me five feet before his competito rs land. .Carl Gran.e (2) jumped to the Jead .o f tbe 125 Am/E'x 's second mota. BehiAd and to the left. one rider is already squirrelly. He went down causing a chain reactionwhich left 10 riders stuck in. the mud . .