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/126300
Put the hammer down, Mickey Boone 1191. John Joyner 1571. Barry Higgins 1 4741and Don Kudalski 1491 get the gas on as the second Open class moto slithers through the soggy black sand at Jacksonville, Kuda lski ran away from everyone for his third overall victory. The 8th Annual Florida Winter-AMA Motocross Series"- Round Three I Kudalski makes histor)') By Jim Gianatsis 125cc class winner Mark Barnett carefully picks his line around Chip Watts. JACKSONVILLE, FL, FEB . 19 After years of trying, H arley-Davidson fin ally recorded their n am e a t the top of a score sheet in National caliber motocross. The rider that put them there in race number three of the MX L sponsored Flori d a Winter-AMA Series held at Action Park Motocross was none other than the "Killer," Flori da's Don 20 Kud alski. Don used the day to continue his domination of the O pe n class with his Gordon R a in b ow tu ned Yamaha for the third week in a row, a nd also entered the 250cc class in a test ride to determine if he should sign on with H arley as their only factory motocross rider. When Don walk ed off with th e 250cc class as well on the T om Volin prepa red CR 250 , the contracts were ready to be signed. Kudalski's H a rley ride came about after Mickey Boone turned down his supposedly lucrative sponsorship with the Milwaukee firm at th e first race of the Florida Series because the" bike " ...just wasn't competitive. " While Don obviously though t it was , Mickey turned up a t the races this weekend with a van load of new RM production Suzukis and word was that he had picked up Suzuki B Team support for the comi ng season. Ma ny Moates also revealed that he had p icked up sponsorship from L O P to campa ign LO P modified Suzukis in the Supercross Series and 125cc Na tion als. Rain ha d sa tu ra ted the soil at Ac tion Mo tocross Pa rk , tu rning the track surface into one of the strangest ever seen in motocross. The solid b lac k, st icky sa n d was like wet , shred ded foam rubber , build ing tricky berms and ruts that recoiled and flexed every time a rider got near. 125cc Professional For the third week in a row 17-year. old Mark Barnett wheeled his Mark Johnson wrenched production Team Suzuki RM T ype II to victory circle for certain v ictory in the Series champion. ship. Bu t it was hardly an easy ride. " I crashed three times in that last moto ," moaned Mark as he rub bed his sore fanny. In the opening moto , though, he had it simp le enough. Hammering away at his shifter Mark swooped out his first holeshot of the day a head of Bill Joyce, Pat Moroney , Kippy P ierce and FMFs Gregg Toyama . Quickly the p ressure slackene d as Yamaha support rider Pier ce highsided his b ike over a rubber berm and dived in to one of the track's th ree -foo t-d eep infield po nds . Bill J oyce's luc k wasn't m uch better as the berms kn ocked off his exhaust pi pe on the second lap as he tried to shorten the distance on Ba rnett . Soon Pa t Moroney was the onl y rider left in Ma rk's wake, b ut Pat was being left behind by Ma rk as Mike Gu erra closed u I' a nd took over second SpOI. Pa rt of the problem was tha t Moroney kept p itch ing his ch a in . I Kippy Pierce was making up for lost time spent in the drink a nd work ed his wa y all th e way up from th e back of the pack to spectac u larly pass bo th Toyama and Moroney on the last lap for third place. Geo rgi a's J ohnny Bor ders collected sixth. The second moto needed a restart after everyone jumped the flagman (the starting gate was buried under two feet of mud).