Off-Road Gran Prix : Tripes Makes Most of Opportunity

Marty Tripes of Chula vista got a last-minute reprieve and made the most of it Saturday night as he led all the way to win the main event in the unlimited single-seater class at Mickey Thompson’s Off-Road Gran Prix before a turnaway crowd of more than 12,000 at Orange Show Stadium.

Until Wednesday, Tripes wasn’t even expected to be allowed to compete as he had drawn a suspension for the rest of the year for a run-in with officials in the recent Riverside races.

However, the officials relented and allowed the former motocross champion to defend his point lead in the final race of the five-race stadium course series.

even earlier Saturday night, things didn’t look good for Tripes as he finished fourth in his heat and lost his point lead to Albert Arciero going into the 10-lap final.

In the main event, Tripes, starting from the pole position, pulled away to a big lead at the start and got an even better break when Arciero, battling with several other drivers, got tangled up and fell back to seventh place.

Bob Gordon of Orange moved his Chenowth buggy into second place on the fourth lap, and although he closed ground on Tripes, he could never catch him.

Meanwhile, Arciero was making a charge after his first-lap problems and managed to work his way into third place, but it was one position short of taking the championship.

Tripes finished the series with 208 points to 205 for Arciero. Gordon was third in the final series standings.

Other winners Saturday night were Rory Holladay of Fontana, who led all six laps of the final in the Odyssey class; Jeff Elrod of San Jose in a High Jumper buggy, who took top honors in the 10-lap 1600cc limited class; Vince Tjelmeland of Yorba Linda in a Pontiac Firebird, who was the winner in the Ultrastock class, and Gary Denton of Chino on a Suzuki, who won the ATV race.