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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 27, 2019 P127 combined with a fifth by Johnson, put Glover into the series lead by a single point. Hansen's win vaulted him from ninth to third in the stand- ings, still 23 points back. Honda's Kenny Keylon won round four in St. Petersburg, Florida, marking the only national that season not won by Glover, Johnson or Hansen. Glover fin- ished third and extended his points lead after Johnson took fifth overall, once again. Hansen crashed in the second moto and could only man- age a ninth, dropping him to fourth (behind Keylon in third) and well out of the championship lead at the halfway point in the season. Hansen bounced back strong with a win in the sand at Southwick, becoming the first multi-race win- ner of the season. Johnson took second with a 1-2 and regained the series lead after Glover was unable to finish the second moto when his bike quit. Leaving Southwick, John- son was in control with a 24-point lead over Keylon (197-173). Glover went from first to third with 170 points, and Hansen, in spite of the win, was still fourth with 166. At High Point Raceway, Johnson took firm control of the champion- ship with a 1-1. With two rounds to go, Johnson had a 40-point lead over Glover (247-207), who finished fourth at High Point, in spite of an injured knee. Hansen took third overall and regained third in the standings; two points back from Glover. Road Atlanta was the penultimate round, and it proved pivotal in that it allowed Hansen and Glover to at least get mathematically back in the championship hunt. Hansen won the overall on the rutted red clay, giving him the distinction of being the winningest rider in the champi- onship that season. But equally as important was the rough day experi- ence by series leader Johnson. RJ crashed in moto one, then made a fantastic charge all the way back to fourth. In the second moto, the shock broke on his Yamaha. Hero- ically, he still managed 11th to score seventh overall. Hansen's win and Glover's third overall gave those two at least a small glimmer of hope going into the season finale. At Castle Rock, Hansen nailed the start and immediately began pulling away. "At that point, I had no thoughts of the championship," Hansen later said. "I just wanted to go out on a high note and win the last race of the season." On the second lap, Johnson overshot a drop-away jump and smashed his front wheel into a hole, collapsing the wheel. Johnson was dazed by the crash but got his bike restarted and then ran beside it to the mechanic's area. Bob Oliver put on a new wheel, and Johnson darted off hoping to gain some pre- cious points, but he finished out of the points in 23rd. Suddenly, both Hansen and Glover knew they now had a good shot at the title and what followed was one of the hardest-fought motos in the series history. The two went at each other, swapping the lead several times in the second half of the moto. On the final lap, Glover made the pass for the lead with two turns to go. The crowd was going wild. Hansen didn't give up though and dove deeper into the final corner than he had all weekend and miraculously re- passed for the win by a bike length. Glover later said when he flicked into the last-turn rut, his shifter hit the ground and popped the bike into neutral. "By the time I got my foot back down there and shifted my bike, Hansen got back by me," Glover explained. Suddenly, Hansen was leading the championship, and Glover also had a shot going into the final moto. Glover ran away and hid, winning the moto and the overall. Hansen ran second with Johnson behind him trying to force him into a mis- take. Finally, Johnson realizing Han- sen wasn't going to flinch, passed him, and set off after Glover. "When RJ went by me, he looked over and shook his head," Hansen remembers. "He had to be just stunned by what happened in the first moto, but that's the way racing goes sometimes." It was a terrible scenario for Johnson. With Glover leading and still having a shot at winning the title should something happen to Han- sen, he wasn't about to slow down and let Johnson by, which would have given RJ the title. Glover later commented that had his bike not shifted into a false neutral in that first moto, he might have won, and the three contend- ers would have all ended up tied in points with 297. Hansen still would have won the tiebreaker in that scenario with more moto wins (five to four) than Johnson on the year. The 1982 AMA 250cc Moto- cross season will go down as one of the all-time great battles. It had everything—Honda vs. Yamaha, factory vs. production, rookie vs. vets, first-time winners and a thrilling finish. It doesn't get much better than that.CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives