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/141044
Retrospection and Reality by Jim Gianats is Photos by J ack Man gus, Charles Mo rle y r-. '" and Gianatsis m ",' J ACK SO NVI LL E , FLA ., Feb. 4, 19 73 - It wasn 't very lo n g ago we were .ci sayin g. "Give us ano ther year o r so and u. '" O UT top m otocros s rid ers will be able to st ick it to any of th e top E uropeans. ~ J ackso nvi lle b rought to reli zation th e w fact that no Am e rican rider will be Z beat in g th e better Euro peans fo r a lon g W ..J while . Pie rre Kar srn a ke rs is a fantastic U >- rid e r but is, ba sicall y, second string U wh en co m pa red with th e ma ybe six or eig ht riders capa ble of win ning a World Champio nsh ip at this time. Along with signing Ake Jonsson for th eir 197 3 Mot o cr o ss Team, Yamaha p ut Du tchman Pierre Kar sm a ke rs un d er con trac t. While Ake will con tin ue to race in Euro pe . Pie rre has turne d in his Int ern ati onal licen se . ta ke n up re sid en ce in th e United S ta te s an d is now an Am erican wi th an AMA National Licen se . Whil e m o st of th e t op Am eri can riders were ridin g o ver their heads today, Pierre ca lm ly stayed within his limits and trounced th e compe tit io n . Ther e w ere very few o f o u r best rid ers who w ere sp ared from bein g lapped at on e tim e during th e da y. Fa cilities and track p reparati on a t North Flo ida Racew ay were ex cel len t and gave alm o st three thousand people an enjoyable day o f racin g. T he co u rse itself was typicall y Florida, meaning lots of sand and flat. . - - This is the way they started the moto . Kawasaki Team Jim Weinert (651. John DeSoto 14x) and Brad Lackey It) explod ed to the front . Pierre 13x) soon got them all. S o on a f te r practic e go t underway, th e san dy co u rse h ad been dug up into gia n t wh o op-de-do os wh ich wren ch ed han dl e bar s from han d s an d se n t riders fly ing. N' 0 one w o uld use thei r fron 1 b ra kes - they di d n't wan t to the ch ance of rem ov ing o n e fin ger fro m the grips . Everyone ex cept Kar srna kers got tired from stan d ings up an d fightin g th e sand. He wouldn't even be b reathi n g hard after o ne of th e three th irty-m in ute m o to s. Brad La ck e y a nd J immy Weinert jetted their lim e-green T eam Kawasakis to th e lead as the first 5 0 0 Expert m oto go t underwa y . Both were flying. Brad m ust have go tt e n a li ttle shook with J im so close on his rear fende r: near the • fin ish of th e first lap his fro nt wheel ca ugh t a ru t an d flip p ed h im to the gro und. Jim was so close he was unable to avo id hi s fa llen team ma te and cli p pe d hi s bi ke t o bring himsel f d own. Back in third, Marty Tripes found his CZ in co m m and o f th e lead and qu ickly gasse d it to build up a good m ar gin o ver Bob G ro ssi (H us) , Pie rre Karsrnak e rs (Ya m) and T im Hart (Yam) . So it we n t fo r eig ht iap s wit h Hart m o vin g u p a litt le o n Kar sm a ker s. T hen it be came evident th at Pie rre had ju st be en h an gin g back to ch ec k out the pace. He thrott led up th e 3 6 0 Yam ah a like it ha d n 't even been ru n ning in the power band an d flew by G ro ssi. He was sk im mi n g the Yam ah a across the to ps of the wh oop-de-docs, dancin g fro m crest to cres t. In hal f a la p he had reel ed in Ma rt y , passed h im and b uilt up a twenty -yard lead. T he rest of th e m o st was fo llo w th e lead er to the fin ish. T he second rno to saw t he yello w Yam ah as of Har t and Kar smake rs away in firs t, fo llowed b y Tripes, Weinert , Gro ssi an d La cke y . On the se co nd lap , Kar sm ak e rs power ed b y to tak e th e lead and built it to th e finish . Wit h first pl ace sewn up by E urop ean expe rience paid off fo r Bob Grossi [Hus] who paced himself to a second overall. Kar srnakers, all e yes shif te d to th e fan tast ic battl e wh ic h was go ing o n be h ind him . Marty m ov ed up t o tak e lI art, bu t by lap three Ti m h ad go tten seco n d back. In an effort to get back in fron t o f Tim , Mart y ber ser ked it to o mu ch on a slick bac k sectio n an d unl o ad ed ha rd . T he Liga me n ts iii h is right fo o t wer e inj ured an d th at was the en d of h is riding for th e d ay . Grossi mo ved up in to se cond wi th Weinert , Lackey a nd Hart behin d him in that order. Hart was able to o u tride Lackey in th e sand an d passed him o n th e fro nt st raight but two laps later Brad go t b ack a ro und. Jimmy was havin g problems with h is . engi ne. It was d ripping o il on to hi s ex pansio n ch am be r an d m aking a lot o f smo ke , Wheth er the transmi ssion ran o u t of o il o r th e leak fixed it self didn ' t matter be cause J im kept ridin z a nst th .. Kawasaki stopped smoking and kept on running. He was getting tired when he lost concentration and hung the bike on a high berm, but was able to get going before Lackey and Hart caught up with Him. The Last few laps saw Jim Really ge tting tired from figh ting the track. Brad moved up, leaving Hart behind, and passed Jim. Weinert didn't want to be passed this close to the finish and got back on the throttle and Brad's rear fen d er. This time he wasn't so close to Brad hat when Lackey floundered, Jim was able to find room to ge t a ro und . Karsmakers took the checkered flag first with Grossi , smoothest and most cons isten t American Rider of the day, in secon d ; then Weinert, La ck e y and Hart. J ohn DeS oto was havin g quite a bad time of things and was running a lmost la te . He said he was feeling so re an d th e rough J acksonville track wasn 't hel p in g any. During th e se co nd m o to h e had stop pe d be hi n d a back j u m p but hi s pit c rew had seen him and sta rted run ning toward h im. J oh n quic kl y rest arted th e bi ke and pu lled back o ut onto t he track. When you are a factory rid er , yo u don't stoP .IO rest. Jim Weinert"s face refle cts the toll that the sandy whoop-de-doos exacted from most riders. The third tim e it wa s three gree n Kawasakis wh ich to ok th e lead . By th e third comer Pierc e Karsm ak ers had blown past Wein ert, Lack e y an d DeSo ro to put th e 3 6 0 Yam ah a ahead of th e big 45 0's. Jim to ok a spill on th e thi rd lap putting G ary Semics (H us) be h in d Brad , the n Hart and Mik e Ru n y ard (C Z) . By lap six , Pierre was lappin g DeSo t o and the rest of the fiel d . DeSo to tried to p ull into the p it s bu t was sent ba ck ou t on the trac k. As the m o to w or e on , the A me rican riders began to tire a nd slow up. Kar sm a ke rs' la p times hadn ' t varied by as mu ch as tw o se conds fro m the first to th e th ird m o to s wh ile Lac ke y an d Weinert had slowed as m uch as fiftee n seconds. Bob Gro ssi seeme d to be ab le to main tain pace a n d , b y th e midwa y point, m oved past "Brad fo r seco nd positi on. Meanwhile, back in th e pack, Sonny Defeo (Mai) moved up to pass Weinert and set out after Rich Thorwaldson (S u z ). Sonny got out of shape momentarily and gave Jimmy the opportunity to get back around. Jim kep t up his drive to get around Rich but the Suzuki rider was able to get back into sixth for the finish. As Pierre took his third straight win he was followed, way back, by Grossi ; La ckey, Sernics, Hart and Runyard. Jim my Weinert summed up the day pretty well : .. It's strictly a matter of shape; we have to get out ac t togeth er ." Ake J ohsson told us th e Americans are fast but there is no way t hey can keep up with the Europeans for and di stance, especially over a rough track . 250 NOVI CE It was th e Novice s rider s wh 0 provided th e best racin g today. There were 16 5 en te re d , sp lit up into fo ur qu alifying mot o s, runni ng ten min u tes each. Only te n riders fro m ea ch qu alifier w ould race in the two twenty-mi nu te fe ature m o to s. D ue to lac k of time and th e I arge nu mbe r of riders, no co nsolation was run ; a bad th in g as a lot (Continu ed on Page 40)