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/141045
WHO'S UP FRONT lHAT COUNTs r Cal iforn ians t ook their revenge in th e 250 classon M id-La ke's jump-studded course. Karsrnakers, Pierre go t off in firs t an d stayed th ere all the way to th e finis h . Brad stayed h ot o n his rear fen der but was ne ve r so cl o se th at Pierre w as wo rried. Weinert w as third, follo we d by Gross i, H a rt, G ary Semics an d T h o rwaldson . Bob Grossi did a getoff about midway an d lo st almost an entire lap trying to ge t rest arted. He w as in so me .pain and ended up running slo wly for th e remainder o f th e day. J im Wein ert was st ill in third whe n , on the last lap, he stop pe d at th e finish lin e. He was really hurtin g in his b ack an d thought some thing o n h is bi ke had bro ken . It tu rned o ut the Kaw asak i' s Koni shocks had seized up from th e worko u t th e Tallahassee track had given them. He said later h e wished h e co uld have used the Yam ah a's oil-cooled shocks on the Team Kawasaki bike. Jimmy Wein ert took the che c kered flag in third p osition a good distan ce beh ind Pierre an d Brad . T ied on p oin ts for fir st , Pierr e too k the o verall win ahead of Brad due to th e final m o to win . Tim Hart rode sm oothly an d co ns isten tly all d ay to p ick up third. J immy Wein ert would h ave had th ird ove rall if h e h ad run th e last lap in th e second m oto an d not pulled o ff th e track. Even with th e seize d shocks, he was fa r eno ugh ahead of Hart th at he co uld have rid den slo w ly an d st ill have been in fro n t of T im at th e fini sh. Brad h as ' steadi ly been getting q uicker as th e Series pr ogresses an d ne x t Sun day he sho uld be as fast, if not faster, than Karsm ak ers, The S t. Pe tersburg ra ce should see a fa n tastic da y -lo ng battle between the two f ac to ry riders. T he only dar k horses will be :\1arty Tripes and Bob Grossi. THE BRAD FACE-OFF 250 NOVIC E AND PIERRE Nearly th ree th ousand spectators ju mped to th eir fee t and began yellin g as Brad took the lead of the th ird m o to with Pierre righ t behind. T hey too k th e b ump y uphill sec tion side b y side, b ouncing fro m j ump to j ump with throttles w id e o pe n and knobbies kicking d ir t everywh ere. Pi err e dove to the insid e on the tum at th e top of th e h ill and too k th e lead but Brad kept th e big 450 turned on strong as t hey turned an d w ent b ack d own th e hill to repass Pier re an d regain th e lead. Brad held Pie rr e o ff for fo ur lap s but th en found himself in secon d aga in as Pierre ber serk ed t he Yamaha an d flew by to regain the lead . Fro m tb at poin t to th e fini sh o f th e moto , Brad st ayed right on Pierre, never dropping back more th an tw en ty -five yards. Mo st o f th e ti me Brad was right up on his fender. It see med strang e to m ost of th e spec tato rs wh o co uld n 't co mp re he n d wh at was goi ng o n . T he tw o were certainly going around the tr ack fast but Brad was n ' t doing anyth ing t o really try to get back th e lead and Pierre wa sn' t trying to shake off the Kaw asa ki. T he firs t fo ur laps they ha d spen t fighting over the lead gave th em ea ch an ins ight in to the o th er 's riding ability so th ey settled down an d rode the rest of the race at ab ou t 90 percen t. If o ne o f th em wa n te d to ride at 100 percent the other one w o uld do th e same , so nothing would be gained . Cal ifornia ri ders finally go t their revenge as the F lo rida boys d ropped to th e, b ottom of the standi ngs in the 25 0 Novice class . Wha t fo ule d up the locals was the san dless Tallahassee t rack. With ou t sand, a Fl o rid a ri ~r is lost. Mid -lake Race way is a clay/dirt co urse wi th h ills such as th e West Coast boys are accustomed to an d th ey promptly sh owed it . T hree ten -minute qualifyi ng motos were ru n fo r th e 16 2 Novices wi th , at lon g last, a consolat io n mo to to put fo rty rid ers into th e tw o featu re m ot os . Tom Rapp of Buen a Park, Ca lifornia fin ally survived a quali fying m oto ; ac tual ly win nin g it to go into th e fea tures . T om got hi s Bultaco o ff to a slo w star t. in th e first feature bu t, b y lap five , w as in th e lead and lon g gone. J ohn Franklin (Mai) fro m Mad er a , Cali fornia, had go tte n away in first but co uld find no way to hang onto Rapp afte r he flew by . D avid Clemen ce (Bu l). Johnston , Rh ode Island, was th ird . . T he o nly thing wh ich fouled up Tom Rap p in th e se con d fea ture mo to was t ha t he got an even w o rse start than in th e fir st an d ha d to spe nd the entire race pl aying ca tch up . . T he twenty-mi nu te m o to s were just too short. When the ch ecke red nag signaled the en d o f the rac e , Tom was in third just read y to pass Jerry Williams (Hu s) fo r second. J o h n , Fran klin ha d hi s Ho nd a o f Piqua-spo nsored Maico in first place to take the overall and Tom had to be co n ten t with second. John Frankl in (Mail got better starts than any of the 250 Nov icesand converted t hem int o an overall in that class.