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/126318
back a round eighth place, slipped under Toyama and began a jamming spree that ended on th e eighth lap in JImmy "T he Jammer" Weinert's favor . Brown th en ran into a problem that dumped him back to 11th place and forced him to try again to make the main th rou gh one of th e semifinals. Monte McCo y took over fifth , the last d irect tra nsfer spo t. -The fourth and fina l heat , the In -N Out Burger Qualifier , saw Marty Moates ta ke his LOP ·sponsored - Honda past a sid eways Ke nny Zahrt in tum one and led all th e way to the checkered flag . Zahrt held seco nd , but by th e third lap a tigh tly-packed fou rsome of Scott Jordan , Carlos Serrano , Tommy Croft and Jim Pomero y st ru ggled over th ird . Croft quickly p assed both Serrano and Jordan , slippi ng into third by the end of lap four , th en moved up past Zahrt into second within the next three trips around th e L.A . Coli seum field. Gary J on es and Chuck Sun closed on Pomero y (in ' sixth on the third lap) and began a jamming match that left "Jones on th e ground. Pomeroy and Gary Semics both went down a lap lat er as Semics moved up to join the elbow-flail ing match . By the time it ended. Moates, Croft and Zahrt had locked up the top three places. Sun, Serrano and an upcoming Rex Staten settled a threeman fight for th e last two spots on the last lap with Sun and Staten taking the transfer a nd Serrano putting his hopes into a sem ifinal. SemifinalsfTrophy Dash (A bove) Gregg Toyama (110) and Rich Eierst edt (11) wing it thr ough the whoops. (Below) Carlos Serrano (844) takes a jump ahead of Tommy Croft. _ ' Suzuki rider Gary Denton led the University Stereo Semifinal, the first of two "se cond cha nce" motos where only the top two positions transfer to the final event . Denton maintained h is lead until th e fifth lap when gearbox failu re stop ped his effort. By that point, David Taylor, Jeff Jennings a nd Steve Wis e had tightened up th e action , all going for those two precious top pl acings . J ennings fell , letting Steve Stackable into the fight ; th en Wi se went d own tool Late in th e moto , Taylor had it made and went on to win . St ackable scored th e second transfer spo t a fter some frantic scrambl ing with an anxious-to -return JeffJ ennings. T he Goodyea r Semifinal saw Gr egg Toya m a pull th e holeshot, hold it for th e first lap , th en lose the lead to 'Carlos Serrano on th e second time arou nd . Serra no held his posit ion for th e re mai nin g laps. Ga ry Sem ics, th ird on lap one , overtoo k T oyama on th e th ir d lap , and he he ld on for a safe seco nd p lace. J im Pomer oy crashed on lap three and was relega ted to the Hon d a Trophy Dash . , Only t he win ner t ransfers from the trophy dash. or consolation race, and Pomero y in herited the win when J eff J ennings cli pped a Col iseum co lumn goi ng throu gh th e peristyle turn and crashed whil e d ue lling for th e lead wit h Steve W ise who threw a chain. Final 8 When .the ga te dropped for the Coca -Col a Fin al ami d th e din of 62 ,000 cheering spect a tors, Dan Skahill's high en ergy patter and the ever-qu icken ing cres cendo of electronically amplified drumbeats (an extre me ly effective gimmick to increase adrenalin flow) , Can -Am's Gary "Sidewa ys" Semics put his famous clutchz'throttle rea ction time to work and led the field through la p one. Carlos Serrano, Rick Burgett, Darrell Shultz, Roger Brown, Rex Staten , Jimmy Weinert , Ma rk Gregson , Mike Bell , Dennis Bra nd and J immy Ellis completed the top 10 . "H u rrica ne" Hannah was 14th. Sernics was flying . But on the tight L.A . Coliseum course , and with the ,top riders of the night finally all on the " .