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/1516218
VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P109 a pace during the second moto and see what Kent would do. I knew he had ridden hard the first moto and might tire out com- pletely if he passed me. When he didn't even try to pass me, I knew he was tired, and I just picked up my pace a little more." All these years later, Stackable recalls what motivated him to his double moto sweep that swelter- ing July day. "I had ridden for Suzuki in 1976 and had a good season," he said. "I won a 500cc National and finished third in both the 250 and 500cc classes. But I had a knee injury that kept me out of the Trans-AMA Series, and Suzuki let me go at the end of the season. "I went back to Maico and vowed not to let any Suzuki rider beat me in 1977! And they didn't! "That was definitely a big day [at Lake Whitney] for me. That heat was tough, and I knew it was going to give those Cali- fornia boys fits! I lived in those conditions, so I was ready for that heat." Stack's win at Lake Whitney obviously put him in the lead for the championship, but it would be short-lived, his mostly stock Maico living up to its "Maico Break-o" reputation. "At the second round of the series, there was a very steep downhill section, with a series of bumps and ruts at the bottom. I hit that section, and the forks on my Maico locked up and pitched me off. That DNF right there cost me a lot of points, and I could never make it up." It was a good day to be a Tex- an that day at Lake Whitney, and Stackable obviously knew how to combat the oppressively hot temps. Photos show his custom jersey, carefully cut in strategic places to allow at least some air to cool his lean, lanky figure. He had his Maico, a bike that was a match for any Japanese works bike made at that time. Stack- able and Maico went together like Peaches & Herb, and they would be reunited many times throughout his career. Stints on Suzuki, Kawasaki and an LOP- sponsored Yamaha would lure him away. But when each gig ended, Steve would come back home to the motorcycle made in Germany, which was also where Stackable himself was made as well, born there on July 3, 1954. While Stackable was giving Maico its first-ever victory in AMA motocross, in Mid-Ohio, Team Suzuki's Gaston Rahier was wrapping up his third consecu- tive 125cc World Championship. Rahier had won his first two World Championships without much challenge, but 1977 saw the rise of Dutch rider Gerard Rond, a factory Yamaha racer who gave Rahier a solid fight for most of the season. Rond won the first moto over Suzuki's Koji Masuda, with Rahier in third. But a sprained knee took him out of moto two. Rahier collected the win and the overall, with Masuda an impres- sive second. In the 1970s, Euro- pean riders thoroughly dominated motocross and journalists her- alded the finish of "first American" in their race coverage. On this day, Moto-X Fox-sponsored rider Pat Richter nabbed that distinction with a solid 5-3 for third overall. "I worked very hard," said Rahier of his Mid-Ohio win. "I'm tired. I'm not used to this heat." Rahier's streak of 125cc World titles ended in 1978 when his Su - zuki teammate Akira Watanabe took the championship from him. In America, Short Stack's Lake Whitney win would be his last major AMA victory, and three years later, Denny Swartz gave Maico its second and final AMA National motocross win. And Maico went away into the land of lost motorcycle marques a few years later and has yet to make a meaningful comeback. A day of firsts for Rahier and Stackable was also a day of "lasts." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives Further north in Ohio, things weren't any better, where the 125cc World Championship MX round was held in Lexington, where Gaston Rahier clinched his last of three consecutive WC titles.