Yamaha Super Series Ii

Yamaha Super Series II

THE EUROPEANS invented motocross, but the Americans, with their penchant for comfort in an “easy chair” fashion, have created the first predominantly indoor motocross series—the Yamaha Super Series of Motocross. Last year there were two parts, Daytona and the Houston Astrodome; this year, Texas Stadium in Dallas-Fort Worth was added. Next year, at least six stops are planned—and then?

Indoor motocross? It’s not true motocross, you scoff. Where’s the dust, the mud, the rain, the mosquitoes, the endless lines at the john? That’s the beauty of it, no dust, no standing all day to watch only one small part of the track. All those potential fans who just might discover how great motocross really is, but don’t want to suffer all day to find out, can just step through the turnstile, grab a beer and a hotdog, settle down in a reasonably comfortable seat, and just let it all happen. They can see absolutely all of the track, all the action, all the beauty of motocross, without having to exercise anything but the old beer arm—and lungs—because one can’t remain composed for long with all of this spectacle bombarding the senses.

Look out, Cosell, we may be in for Monday Night Motocross.

Michael A. Brown

Indoor motocross is a whole new ballgame. It’s motocross, but it’s not. The challenge is there. The courses are rough: jumps, bumps, ruts, sandwashes, whoop-de-doos, monster berms. But they are short and very tight, requiring complete concentration, for one minor mistake—a missed shift, a slow start, a fall—can cost you the whole ball of wax. There is little chance of picking up a lost few seconds or a couple of places on these tracks. Passing room is limited or nonexistent, requiring that precisely timed instant to make your move. This kind of challenging riding sorts out the very best from the rest in a big hurry.

This is also a good time of year for a lucrative motocross series, bringing the best riders in the country together for the first time in the season, giving them a chance to get up to speed for the National Motocross Championship run, the Inter-Am series and the big TransAMA. Also, since each year brings with it the traditional game of musical manufacturers, the Super Series provides a great opportunity for the motocross world to see who’s who on what for the new season, and for the riders to accustom themselves to new mounts.

Speaking of musical manufacturers, this year saw a bumper crop of new colors for the familiar faces—and quite a few new faces. Every major factory was present at the Super Series; and there were enough rider/sponsor changes to fill an encyclopedia. A few of the primary matchups are: Pierre Kars-

makers leading Team Honda in the Open class, while National 125cc Champ Marty Smith heads up the 250. Team Yamaha got National Open Champ Jim Weinert to fill the vacancy left by Karsmakers. The spot left by Weinert at Kawasaki was taken by Gary Semics (last year’s Super Series Open Champ).

Husqvarna has its 250cc hopes on Kent Howerton, a fairly new face, who rocketed to prominence by taking the Support class title in last year’s TransAMA series. Maico has a new factory face in Steve Stackable, who is sporting a G.P. bike this year after a successful stint as a Maico privateer.

Suzuki’s Open class expectations are riding with the personable, superfast, just-turned-18 Tony DiStefano, who almost took the National Open class title last year on a privateer CZ, but finished 2nd to Weinert. Can-Am again pins its hopes on National 250cc Champion Gary Jones and a healed-and-ready-forthe-new-year Jim Ellis.

There are many more, but it is sufficient to say that there was an incredible reservoir of talent that rolled into Irving, Texas, to do battle for a total purse exceeding $80,000—$20,000 for Dallas, $15,000 for Daytona, $20,000 for Houston, $15,000 for the overall series—plus contingencies.

As Friday night approached, the stage was set for quite a pageant, one that couldn’t have been produced as well if it had been planned.

Act I—The Happening

Texas Stadium, the new home of the Dallas Cowboys, was to be the scene of a two-night drama. Gary Bailey was the stage manager, utilizing his design talents to transform the floor of the stadium into a one-third-mile motocross course with a little of everything. He made use of the same over-under tunnel from last year’s Houston event, which provided a criss-cross whose overpass became a launching ramp for spectacular leaps. Larry Huffman was the master of ceremonies, using his own special vocal talents to stimulate the crowd. The crowd? A cast of thousands—almost 49,000 for the two nights—and they got their money’s worth.

The riders were the players, and they gave varied pre-race opinions of this almost mini-motocross course. All > agreed that, as tight as the course was, the start became almost crucial. . .a hole shot would go a long way toward a win. At curtain call the first night, there emerged a pattern that would hold true for the rest of the series. The 250 class would warm the crowd, and the Open class provide the real drama.

Jim Ellis emerged as the man to catch in the 250 class. Whether he started in front or in the middle of the pack made no difference. With relentless, lightning-like riding, he won both motos; his only challengers were Marty Smith, Kent Howerton and Rich Eierstedt. Smith fell and Ellis disposed of the rest.

In the Open class a real battle was waged this first night, with Steve Stackable getting the hole shot in the first moto, only to fall and finish 3rd. He made up for the fall with a wire-to-wire win in the second moto. Tony DiStefano ran 2nd in the first moto, slowed by a blown head gasket, but took a solid 3rd in moto two.

Jim Weinert exhibited the slashingly aggressive style that earned him the National Championship last year, as, after a poor start in the first moto, he pressed relentlessly to a hard-earned 1st. Jim looked like he would repeat again later, but instead performed a highspeed endo over a jump trying to pass Gary Semics. Somehow he survived, remounted and still managed a 5th.

Saturday evening in Dallas, Jim Ellis took another 250 win to start the night, with Marty Smith dicing for a close 2nd. The first Open moto found DiStefano and Stackable charging out in front, trading the lead back and forth throughout the entire moto. There were never more than a couple of bike lengths separating them. Deep in the pack, Weinert was slashing away after a terrible start, closing and closing as the leaders dueled.

By the white-flag lap, Stackable and DiStefano were side by side, and half a lap from the end DiStefano went down. The crowd erupted, since it appeared that Stackable had forced the crash. Weinert just caught Semics for 2nd as Tony pushed his stalled bike across the finish to the cheers of the crowd. They had their hero now. Having lapped so many riders, Tony got an 8th place rather than dead last by pushing across the line.

In a strategic move, announcer Huffman got Stackable and DiStefano for an immediate interview to explain their encounter to the excited crowd. What had appeared to be a Stackable-caused crash, was really a jammed gearbox on Tony’s Suzuki, which had in reality caused Tony to crash into Steve. The crowd was appeased, but they still held Tony as their hero.

Marty Smith, aided by some really fine riding, finally slipped by Ellis for a win in the final 250 moto. The 2ndplace finish was fine with Ellis, since it still gave him the overall victory.

In the Open final, DiStefano got the hole shot and took it to victory under the thundering approval of more than 25,000 fans. But his win was not without a challenge, as Weinert, suffering another poor start, bulled his Yamaha after Tony. The crowd was screaming; the pit crews were jumping up and down, urging DiStefano and Weinert, as Huffman yelped his lungs out on the P.A. system. Weinert closed to two bike lengths on the last lap, only to lay it down, pick it up, and finish about three lengths behind a relieved Tony. Stackable rode to a cool, conservative 3rd, taking the overall victory. It was a real Hollywood start for the series. Now the show packed up and headed for Daytona, and. . . .

Act II—The Place

Daytona Speed Week—magical words to the motorcycle crowd—the premiere week of the year. The Place. They come to see, to feel, to just be there, but mostly for the big road race. . .The Daytona 200. There were in excess of 70,000 at that race, and would you believe 35,000 turned out Saturday for the second stop of the Super Series? Gary Bailey again designed the track, this time producing more than a mile of trenches, mountainous leaps, berms and sand to delight the crowd and work out the riders.

Same names, new game. In the 250 class it was Ellis again, finishing 6th in the first moto after a poor start, but coming back with a 1-2 in the next two motos. In seven motos, Jim had only one finish below 2nd.

Had it not been for a tangle in the

first turn of the second moto, Daytona might have belonged to Kent Howerton, who rocketed two wins in the first and third. But the starting encounter in the second moto dropped him to 11th, and 3rd overall. Rich Eierstedt reached in and grabbed 2nd overall with some very consistent riding.

Where has Pierre Karsmakers been? Pierre received a hairline fracture of the left leg three weeks prior to the Super Series, flew to Europe for treatment, and was pronounced fit enough to ride at Daytona, having missed only the Dallas race. At last we were to see the long-awaited encounter between Karsmakers and Weinert in the Open class. Sorry! Pierre lunched a gearbox in the initial few laps of the first Open moto to end his day. Weinert got hold of some grunt gasoline that seized his engine two motos in a row. Kars-

makers—0, Weinert—0.

It looked to be another Stackable/ DiStefano duel until Tony’s Suzuki snapped a front brake plate in the first moto. Steve won that one, and then he and Tony played their incredible sideby-side game again, with Tony winning motos two and three, and Steve taking two 2nds and another overall.

An interesting performance at Daytona was that of Gary Chaplin. Gary, riding a stock CZ for the first time at Dallas, had had some problems with a jammed shift lever. But, here at Daytona, he solved that problem, got used to his new mount, and put together a solid set of rides to take 2nd overall.

Also notable was Rich Thorwaldson, who is campaigning a privateer Maico after losing his Suzuki ride. In the seven motos of Dallas and Daytona, Rich was Mr. Consistent, finishing no lower than 7th, nor higher than 4th, to hold a tie for 3rd overall in the Series.

As Speed Week drew to a close Sunday with Romero’s victory in the 200, the entourage of motocrossers headed for Houston, Texas, and ....

Act III—The Finale

Here we were back in the Astrodome again for the first anniversary of totally indoor motocross. Gary Bailey did his thing one more time, this time duplicating the course he had laid out for last year’s first Super Series, but with a learned-the-hard-way modification. In demonstrating the course for the media, Gary discovered that the two five-foothigh, 25-foot-apart “camel hump” jumps couldn’t be cleared in one shot, by plastering his body and bike into the face of the second jump. Needless to say, that jump was two feet shorter on race night.

The center of interest here at Houston was not necessarily the leaders, as in the overall standings Jim Ellis and Steve Stackable, both the victors in Parts I and II of the Super Series, looked to be almost certain overall winners. Steve, always smiling and cheerful, was really stoked, since this was the threshold of his first major series victory. He was not about to cool it, though, because he really wanted to get a complete sweep.

There was a very tight battle in both classes for the 2nd spot overall. In the 250 class, Smith, Howerton and Eierstedt were jammed together, along with Marty Tripes, who this year is on a privateer Bultaco. Also in this points race was DiStefano’s Suzuki teammate, Billy Grossi, who had been hot at Dallas but not Daytona.

Over in the Open class, Tony DiStefano held down the 2nd spot by a slim margin over Thorwaldson, Chaplin and Jim West. West, campaigning on the CZ this year, had been motoring steadily along, finishing between 5th and 13th, but earning enough points to be in the overall race. And lest we forget Jim Weinert, he was still within striking range of 2nd overall should he win here at Houston.

As the curtain went up Friday night before a house of 21,000, it looked—but only for a fleeting moment—as though there could possibly be a new name in the 250 winner’s circle. Bill Grossi jumped to an early lead, but once again Jim Ellis, recovering from a mediocre start, took the checkered flag. And in the second 250 moto, Ellis won again, after a strong back-and-forth fight with Marty Smith.

Drama—and plenty of it—occurred in the Open class as Steve Stackable again showed the back of his jersey to the field, but not without a challenge from DiStefano. Weinert, who had again started badly, pressed very hard, caught DiStefano with two laps to go, and passed Tony by using him for a berm. Tony crashed. Was Weinert aggressive or

Results

overly aggressive? Impossible to say. Tony was a trifle peeved over the incident, and, charged with adrenaline, wired it and outran the field to take a well-earned win in moto two.

The Super Series wound up Saturday night before 28,000 fans. . .and the story was only slightly different.

The 250 class saw Marty Smith winning two motos; Ellis stalled in a corner in the first moto, but still motored home 2nd in both motos to take down everything: victories at all three stops and the overall. Can anybody stop him this year? If Jim keeps this pace, it could continue to be a 2nd-place race for everyone else. If not, with so many others running so close, the 250 race could be a real tossup.

The confrontation—long awaited— finally materialized in the Open class. Tony DiStefano, still with some adrenaline pumping after Friday’s encounter, went wire to wire in the first moto; Stackable was right behind. Weinert and Karsmakers finally met, with Jim getting the nod in round one; Pierre missed a shift, allowing Weinert to get past for 3rd.

The whole show was down to its final scene—Stackable and DiStefano were tied for 1st—Steve had to win this moto to sweep the Series. Two stories tell the last moto.

Stackable and DiStefano left the field behind, battling side by side, a classic duel, until they both piled up in the huge berm just beyond the overpass. Steve wound up on his hands and knees with Tony’s front wheel in his side. As Steve untangled himself, Tony, still mounted, took the lead he would not relinquish, and Steve dropped to 4th by the time he got restarted. Tony’s win gave him the Houston title, spoiling Steve’s hopes of a complete Series sweep.

Weinert vs. Karsmakers—another classic. Weinert again handicapped as he started 18th. With about six laps left, it was an even dice with Pierre for 2nd, and again the aggressive riding question arose. It seems that Pierre was forced to either throttle back or go off the overpass when Jim chose a very close line in passing. Literally shaking his fist at Weinert, Karsmakers took off in hot pursuit and repassed on the last lap. The score: Weinert—1, Karsmakers—1. A

portent of the rest of the season?

Weinert wants to repeat as National Champ, and really wants to beat Karsmakers. Karsmakers gave definite indications that he in turn wishes to meet Weinert in motocross action again. But wait! The Weinert/Karsmakers battle was not even for first money. With Stackable taking two of three victories in the Series, plus the overall win, and DiStefano winning at Houston, the run for the National Open Championship should be one heck of a tight battle.