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/141062
~ " '" s: M .... Cl gj . >- ::;; ~ W Z W ..J U >- U Jim Wein en demon strated t hat his Opelousas wi n was no flu k e. Weinert Repeats at by .I im Gianatsis and Garv Van Voorhis OLIVE. BRANCH, MIS S , May 20 - "I wan t to "i n to morro w's race if o nly to show cert ain people that I can d o i t when they 've said I co uld n 't, T hey were ca lling m y win at Opelousas jus t luck y because other peo p le had bad lu ck , Tomorrow I hope t o make them eat thei r words ," Th at's what Jim-n), Weinert had to say befo re he wen t o ut and won the second Natio nal m o to cro ss of th e year fo r Kawasak i. Ex-desert racer Rich Thorwaldson (Su z) ne tted second overall and R ic ky .I ordan put his CZ in third. Mike Run yard gave h is new sponso r, Su zuki, th eir first II: at ional motocross w in for th e year an d mo ved himsel f w i thin te n p oin ts of Pierre Karsmak ers in the National Championshi p battle : Pet er Lamppu, fac to ry Kaw asaki , 'an d John DeSoto , CZ, rode cons iste n tly through ou t t he day to fin ish second and th ird respectively . 250 .l im Weinert sa ndwiched a sec ond p lace p lace finish wi t h two firs ts to give h im sel f the overall w in. The win vau lt s Weinert in to a sixtv yp o in t adv an tage over second place Th o rwal ds on in th e pain ts standings. " I kn ew I had to ge t a good jump o n th e rest o f th e fie ld if I wanted to win the th ird m ota," said Weinert. .I im was first out o f th e field in a mad charge for the fi rst turn . By the halfway po in t Wein ert h ad len gth ened his lead over J oh n Franklin [Mai}, wi th Bob G ros si (Hus) p ressuri ng and Tripes, Jones , Ri ck Jordan an d T ho rwaldson moving into th e to p t en . T hen the bad luck hi t : Gary .I o nes lost a foo tp eg after ge tting as high as six th: fourth place Gary Chapli n slowed an d fin ally bowe d o u t o n lap eleven an d Bob G rossi had his ch arge halted b y a fla t tire . This se t th e stage for a dual ch arge th rough th e p ack by T ripes and Th orwaldson. T ripes moved to 'within three seconds behind Weinert, bu t he got n o cl o ser. Wein ert too k th e win ov e r M art y, .I o hn Fran klin an d Rich Thorwalds on, th er eb y clinch ing his overall victo ry. Mota o ne fell to Weinert ahead of Gary Chaplin (Mai) , Gary .I one s and Ri ck Jordan. Ma rty T rip es ' seized a shock while in third place early in the race and return ed six laps later to co n tin ue th e ch arge . With Tripes ou t t he race develop ed in to a Kawasaki /Mai co duel with Chaplin ge tt ing so clos e but not being able to snatch the lead. Marty Tripes so ugh t reve nge in mota two and pulled a fla g to flag "in o ver And Mike Run yard took ho me 500 laurels for his new sponsor. Suzuk i. emphis National Motocross T ripes h ad placed far do wn in mo ta one. 500 Texan S teve Stac kab le j um ped to th e lead o f th e first 5 0 0 mo to and began to p ull away from the b ig name riders . Hea din g u p th e field behind S te ve we re Mike Runyard (Suz) , Pat Freiburge r (Mai) and J ohn DeS ot o (CZ). Pierre Karsmakers got his factory Yamaha away very slo wly and was back in th e fie ld . Things remained fairly co nsis ten t for a b o u t s ix laps : then it see med everythin g went wrong. Stackable had his re ar tire go fla t and he re tired. Kar sm aker s ran in to gearbox problems wi th his Yam aha. He ran two laps very slowly an d th en pulled in to th e pits after h aving mov ed u p to ni n th p ositio n from his bad st ar t. Mik e R un yard took ove r th e lead with his fa ctory Su zuki and maintain ed it to the finish. J ohn DeSoto moved in to take a very well ridden second, fo llo wed by Gary' Semi cs, Mike Hartwig, Bob by Ha rr is, Wyman Priddy an d Pe ter La m ppu in seventh . Pier r e K a r s m a kers b last ed hi s Yamaha away in firs t as the secon d mo ta got underway , b ut Gary Se rnics h ad his team Husqvarn a right o n Pie rre 's rear wh eel an d the Du tchman just co uld n ' t find a way t o shake him lo ose. Their battle put abig gap be tw ee n the m and th e res t o f the fo llowing field , Lam p pu, DeSoto , Pridd y and R un y ar d. Kar srnakers tri ed every tric k he knew to hold back th e young Se mics b ut the y didn' t see m to work as o n the eighth lap Gary to o k over th e lead . T he bouncing battle th e two were putting on re all y h ad every o ne up on the ir feet , and you kn ew the p ou ndin g they wer e ta king second place aga in was, yu p, John DeSoto , t he n Lamppu, T on y Wynn an d Tony DeS te fan o. Joh n DeSoto held on to seco n d an d it was starti ng ·to look like he wo uld tie Mik e . Runyard in overall p oin ts fo r th e day, but then on th e eigh th lap Joh n di d a getoff that lost him a lap befo re he was able to get ru nning again. Mike Runy ard ·to o k his Suzuk i o n to th e fin ish fo r th e m o t a win and hi s first AMA Natio nal victory. Pe ter Lamp pu to o k seco nd in th e m o to and secon d overa ll as well , wi th DeS o to .h an gin g o nto a seven th, giving hi m third o verall fo r th e d ay. w as rough be c au se it to re lo o se th e RESULTS : 250 : 1 . J im We inert (Kaw l. 2 . Rieh T horwa ldso n (S uzl. 3. Rie h Jord an ·(CZI. 4 . Bill Clemen ts (Husl. 5 . Gary Chaplin (Mail. 6 . Ga ry Jo nes (Hon l. 7. Br uce Baron (Honl . 8 . John Bo rder s (Bul l. 9. Marty T ripes (Honl. 10 . Bob Grossi (Husl. 500 : 1. Mike Runyard (Su zl. 2 . Peter Lampp u (Kawl. 3 .. John DeSoto (CZI. 4 . Mike Hartwig (Husl. 5 . Robert Harris (Mail. 6 . Gary Se mics (Hus l. 7. Tony Wynn (Kaw l. 8 . T ony DeStefano (CZ I. 9 . Wyma n Pridd y (Kawl. 10 . Bob Latter (Mail. st raps wh ich help to h old on th e gas tan k o n Karsrnake rs' Yam ah a. On lap twelve a di sa ppoin ted Pierre had to call it quits again when the to p en d went so ur on th e YZ. A jubilant G ary Se rnics went ' o n to take th e m o t o win wi th DeS o to puttin g in another strong and consisten t ride t o coo seco nd, fo llowed by Lam p p u; Runyard, Hartwi g an d Pri dd y . T he final mota gave Mike Runyard a taste of firs t place when he got hi s Suz uki o ff to a good start while back in Weinert but th e win was n ot with out problems, as Marty lost a footpeg fo ur lap s fr om th e finis h and had to work even harder. T he real ra ce.was between .Io nes and Chaplin with .Iones securi ng third o n the fourth lap but having a figh t to keep . it un til he man eu ve red through so me traffic for ",l ocki n g. Weinert was co n te n t wi th second since John Desoto (CZI and Pierre Karsma kers (Yam), d id some side bv side stuff . Karsmak ers bro ke . DeSoto nabbed thi rd 500. )