Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Draw Straws for the Purse? - ,- . ' When all about him, MX ers were losing their grip and their spark, Jim Weinert kept his to fini sh second . Bump. qulsh, sp lat . co mi ng back to win th e second an d th ird m otos b ut, with the AMA scoring system, co uld only get eight h overall. So me thi ng lik e five days' of rain ha d the suns hine moto cro ss track looking like a swa m p . Bein g situated close t o th e Gul f of Mex ic o, th e hi gh wa ter table in the groun d didn't hel p matter any . Practi ce was d elayed almost two hours as tract ors tried to fill in with sand th e underwa ter sec tio ns on th e trac k. Promo ter Bill West, a fte r lo okin g at th e small cro wd and wet tr ack, to ld AMA refer ee Fred d ie Ephrem he reall y di d n 't care if the, ride rs raced o r no t. H e said he wa s willin g to let th e rid er s d ra w straws for the 52 ,400 p urse. With Pierre o ut of, the ac tio n with a dro wned bik e, th e first mota began to ta ke o n a different co m p le xio n. Marty T ripes had the fact ory CZ taking ove r wh ere Pierre left off. He had co me up throu gh th e pack, passin g Tim lI ar t 'for secon d and th en se tting o ff afte r J im \Vei nert. T w o lap s la te r, Tim was forced to retire wi th 'a bro ken rear h ub on the Yam ah a. T h is put Sonny DeFeo (Mai) into th ird fo llo wed by Brad La ck ey an d Bar ry Higgin s. Mart y con tin ued to close in o n the sp eeding Wein ert as they en te red the fin al lap , wi th th e res t of th e field , a quar t er-mil e behind. Marty go t on the pegs, in hi s usual st and up st yl e, an d when th ey h it a rough st raigh t wh ich found Jim bucking th e Kaw asaki , Mar ty passed him t o take the first mota win . R ound T wo for the Experts was th e nea test race o f th e rain-dre n ched day as Ti m Ha rt j u mp ed to a q uic k st ar t followe d closely by Brad Lac key. Brad was ridin g close behind T im an d passed him o n the second lap on the fla t grassy' sect io n but T im go t Brad b ack on th enex t go around . Bra d h un g o nto Tim fo r two laps th en the Kaw asa ki threw its chain. Brad was forced to call it quits. Barry Higgins was putting on his bes t ride yet as he fo ugh t o ver the vacan t second pl ace spot with Jim Wein ert. He go t in fro n t of Jim twice but th en ti re d o ut and d ropped b ack , j us t m o t o rin g aro und for the re mainde r o f t he m o ta, All th e tim e this h ad been going on, Pierre Karsmak er s h ad been wo rk ing hi s way up throu gh th e field be cau se o f anothe r p oo r s ta rt. The b attle with Bar ry Higgin s left Jimmy still run ning hot and he caugh t up wi th Tim and began banging fe n de rs with him for firs t pl ace. T h ey ke pt it u p fo r tw o laps before Tim's Yam ah a got a case of th e r w e ts and quit o n him . Pie rre was now in second and stead ily closing o n Jim . Pie rre 's me ch anic had wrap ped enough plas tic sh eetin g and du ct t ape aro und the air bo x, carb ure to r and engine to keep h is Yamaha dry and running. As th e starte r unfurled th e whi te flag to signal the start o f the fin al lap fo r J im , Pierre flew by him to tak e o ver th e lea d and build u p a twenty -five yard lead t o the ch ec kered fla g. Barry was third with Tripes fo urth and De Feo again d o in g su rprisingly well in fif th . Brad Lac key go t his Kawasaki ano th er good start in th e third mo t a bu t th is time Pierre had also done well an d was in se cond. Before the first lap was comp le te d , Pierre was in th e lead an d he stayed th ere fo r the rem ainder of the tw en ty -min ut e m o ta . Bra d ended u p d roppin g back as Mart y m o ved in t o seco nd foll o wed b y Jim Wein er t, th en Sonny De Fe o , By ridin g smoothl y and con sis ten tly , Mart y Tripes was ab le t o mo tor his fac to ry CZ th rough th e slop at St. Pet ersb ur g an d take the overa ll as he had at O rla ndo . When Lack ey was ru nning, Jim Wein ert was ab le to o u tru n his Kaw asak i teamma te and en ded up second overa ll. Bo th Son ny De Fe o and Bar ry Higgins liked the m ud an d finished th ird and fo urth respectively , thei r be st finis hes in the series so far. 250 NOVI CE St . Pe tersbu rg saw an ex tremel y small turnou t of rid ers, m ost ly due t o th e weath er bu t, in th e No vic e class, th e A MA's ind e ci s i on on qualif yin g pro cedures must have also been a fac to r. Whil e there were o nly 2 7 Ex pe r ts, down b y ab out ten from th e ave rage , th ere were o n ly 8 7 Nov ice rid ers, down fr om 167 las t we ek a t T all ah assee. Two ten-min ute qualifyi ng mo to s were run alo ng wi th a co nso latio n race . putting thirty ride rs in to the two f if te en -m in ute featu re rn o t os. _Ka G,...engineering _II1II Calil'omian J ohn Dallair e w on the fi rs t fea ture m oto o n hi s Maic o, fo llo we d closely b y J erry Williams (H us) of Florida, wh o won hi s qualifying rna to q uit e easi ly . In thi rd was Do n G oss, d own fro m Minneso ta an d fo llo wi ng th e entire series. Dan 's bi ke is a 17 5 Bombardier imported h y Can-Am. There ar e a lot of 250 riders wh o can' t stay any where near Don and his sp eed y 17 5 . The seco nd feature m ot a was won by Greg T horn to n (Bul) from Georgia, but J erry William s pic ke d up an o th er sec ond to net the overall N o vice win . Se cond ove rall went to J o h n Dallaire. (::W) FR AM E MODIF ICATI ONS . Production prices now available for W~:iE~~I;E ~ It', Chea p When You Buy The Best From Jim Dav is Mot osport Etbow p ;o

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