'"
~
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.