Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1973 03 06

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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'" ~ e, Kawasaki was Blue; Kilrsmakers, Fast; Tripes, Steady M .... Cl U Lackey spun out to. problems. tose a do zen places in one mota and that was [osr part of Team Kawa sak i' s by Ch arles Morey HIALEAH", F LA ., Fe b. 25, 19 73 - A surp rising ly larg e number of Miam i arm ch air sport s fans left the co mfo rt of th eir living ro oms to b rave the ele me nts and o bserve Yamah a T eam member Pierre Kar smakers cla im h is third seri es win . Gray sk ies and sp oradic sh owers did li ttl e to qu ell th e en thusiasm of the spectators, es timated optimi stically by th e a n no u n ce r at ove r 10, 000. Karsmak ers cas he d in for first pl ace money all th ree tim es, followe d by an eq ua lly co nsis te n t bu t considerably slo we r Marty T rip es. OPEN EXPERT Rich Th orwaldson head ed th e fir st rn o to th rou gh the n arr ow Hi aleah first , turn . Hot o n hi s trail w as th e en tire Kaw asaki team led by Bra d Lackey . Th e be ginning of a bad day for Team Kaw asak i came at the n ex t tum wh en Brad sp un o u t , d ropping eleven pl aces. Jimmy Wein ert inher it ed secon d pl ace followed b y teammate J ohn DeS o tc. Pierre Karsma ker s, wh o had started sixth, had just caugh t up with J oh n wh en Marty Tripes shot p ast him o n the o utside . The b rash mo ve seeme d to jar th e Yam aha Team lead er in to action. On th e same lap, Pierre bl ast ed by n o t only T ripes but DeS oto and Wein ert as well . He reeled in Th orwaldson , begi n ning to build up a most imp ress ive lead . Mar ty Tripes put th e squeeze on Wein er t an d the p air bumped elbows for a h alf d ozen lap s, gaining time on Thorwaldso n all th e tim e . All th ree were within striking distan ce of a secon d p lace fini sh as th ey reach ed th e halfway p oin t . T he y app eared to b e co n ten t to save energy fo r the final laps . , Mean whil e, Bob Gr ossi and T im Har t we re inv olved in a skirmish over fifth. Bob eventually w on ou t and Ti m dropped back, nursing a transmiss ion whi ch h ad lost th ird gear. J ohn DeSo to was also force d o ut of th e p ro gram by a mal fun ctioning gea rbox. Way ou t fro n t with a 20-second lead , Pierre Karsm a ker s cru ised safely to a firs t moto win. In th e fina l laps, the Wein ert/Th o rwaldson/T rip es Agreeme nt dissolved an d ea ch m ad e h is separate b id for second. Jim Weinert had th e adva ntage and was makin g the mo st of it, w hile Mart y Was trying to ge t around T horwaldso n. Fo ur . lap s fr om the end, J im 's transmi ssion locked up and a second Kaw asa ki Team member joine d th e bench race rs. Mar ty T ripes passed Rich T ho rwal dson and the m o to ended with Bob Grossi (Hus ! was close, but no cigar. Bob Gro ssi an d Brad Lackey following in fifth and six th. ' . A gai n, i n m o t o two , Ri ch Thorwaldso n too k th e h on o rs o n lap o ne fo llo we d b y Kar sm ak ers an d T ripe s. And again Mar ty Tripes roc keted into th e lead at . the start of lap two. Karsma ker s acce pted the cha llenge , p assing Th orwaldso n in midair to p ur sue the flyi ng CZ rid er. For fo ur laps, Pierre an d Mar ty , h ad th e ho tt est du el of the day, exchanging the lea d several times a lap, n eith er sparing an in ch . The n , Pierre sq ueezed by for the last time and started adding toth e seconds o f hi s lead . Marty slo we d. T heir mat ch had pl aced the m fa r ahead of the o t he rs. m a t chin g T r ip e s w a s throu gh Karsm ak ers ' b listering p ace and Mart y ' rode only fast enough ' to maintain his seco nd sp o t. Grossi los t thi rd w he n his rear brake pe dal be nt b ack aro un d his foo tpeg an d h e stopped for repairs. Brad Lackey h ad run into tr o ub le in th e ea rly laps and spent the entire race trying to make up tim e. He app roache d the fin ish line w ith Mike Hartwick scramb ling to pass him . T he b ig Kawasa ki bounced sidewa ys thi rty feet fro m th e finish line, allowing Hartwick's Husky to sneak by as Bra d fo ught to straight it out. The lon e rem a ining Team Kawasak i member sh ow ed th e way throu gh turn one o f th e fin al moto in a dem on stra tion of h ow h e w on that Number One pla te. Pierre Karsmak ers go t wh at w as un doubtedly the wo rst star t of his caree r - dead last. T wo lap s la ter, Marty Tripes moved into th e lead ahead of Brad . Mike Hartw ick led Tho rwa ldson, G ro ssi and S emi c s. K arsma kers was 'slashing th rou gh th e p ack in fifth . T h en Har tw ic k, K ar srna kers and fina lly Gr ossi rac ed by a slo wing Lacke y. Lack ey's rear brake cab le h ad brok en loo se at th e p edal in a final b low of b ad luck to the' gree n te am. Karsrnaker s ke p t whittling away at th e leaders, m ovin g to th e fron t midway th rough the race. Mike Hartwick cla ime d seco nd fr om T ripes and, in an inspired a ttempt, aime d for Pierre K a rs m aker s. U n k no wn to Mike, Kar sm ak ers' bi ke h ad also develope d a gear box mal ad y , leaving Pierre wi th only two cogs. As the wh ite flag came o ut, Hartwick mad e his m ove. He closed in on th e Yamah a and pulledab reast on th e sandy st raig h taway . He was gai ning an d it ap peared he wo uld catc h Pierre wh en suddenlv the Husky fish tailed tw ice. T he second ti me i t wen t co mpletely sideways an d d ug into the deep sand, fli pping Hartwick over th e handlebars. He re mounted quic kly bu t not before Tripes , Grossi and Semics rode by . T he story in the Yamah a camp af ter th e race w as th at Pierre h ad been w ai tin g for Hartwick and had pl anned to wave him b y if h e ca ugh t up, ra ther than p ush th e trans and risk a DN F. 250 NOVICE Bruce Dengl er won the N ovice event with a 'seco nd in his qualif ying m oto and a 2·1 sco re in the main motos. J ohn Franklin , overa ll second pla ce finisher , cra shed in his qualifying moto an d had to ' make i t up by winning the consolation. Jerry' Williams, previous Novice series leader, ex perienc ed a run of b ad luck and wa s n o t ab le to finish in th e top ten. Qui ck s t a r ts were not Bruce Den gler 's secre t to winning althou gh he was never ou t o f the top fiv e in turn one . Pacin g th e 20 minute motos, he unh urriedly pick ed hi s way to the fron trunn ers.· The fin al -rn o t o saw J erry William s ju mp to an ea rly lead only to fall b ack seve ra l laps later. The problem w as n o t immediately obvious but J erry was riding slowly , no t reaily trying to race. Dengler took over when Williams slo wed . John Franklin wo rked up from eighth to wind up th e moto in third behind Frank Stacy. DeWayne Ly ons, the first Floridian to fini sh, did so with a pair of fourths.

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