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/126332
(Above) Short track/TT winner Eddie Lawson (31) takes a hard, fast line around Rick Hocking (27). (Below) Last year's w inner Kent Howerton 111 DNF w ith a twisted ankle . IAbove) Jeff Jennings (28) leads eventual 3-2 placers John Gennai (23) and John Hateley early in the TT . IBelow) Rex Staten (39) dusts Jimmy Weinert in the drags. victory tie, Hateley 1£!ln.:'.J i _ SoCal motocrossers a nd were ca lled on r late when injuries, ill ness and no.sh ows hurt the original field . Both put "on excellent rides during the course of I the'd ay. ~~Jl La wso n put on another runaway ,showj n the second heat to garner the po le position once again. Gennai took ~second . ~ Motocrossers too k the transfers [frorn the third heat with Jeff Jennings and Weinert leading the way . Team Honda's Brad Lackey. riding a CR250 R with works forks and MotoX Fox Airshox had appeared u neasy in the; short track and fin ished ve ry poorly. Bu t Lackey blasted into the fourt h hea t lead with Hocking in tow. Hocking closed and late in the race. stuffed it under Bad Brad in a tight pass through turn one. John Ha reley took the semi win over Kawasak i's G.assi n· Gaylon Mosier. Aldana and Gary Jones . Hannah failed to make the main event after a high speed crash . " \ had these really bad tires and they kept washing out. ! kept it on (approaching a high speed downhill left). hit the bank and endoed, " said Hannah later. After Team Yamaha's Broc Glover had taken t he consolation race , the main rolled to the line. Lawson got out front , followed by Gennai , Lackey a nd Jennings. Jen nin gs passed Lackey and Gennai on the first lap , while Hateley and Gillman moved into positions behind Lackey. Hateley passed Lackey and Weinert a nd Hocking moved into the positions be hi nd Lackey. Ou t front Lawson was busy increasing his lead. Ha teley was into third on lap three and an interesting battle between Jennings . Ha teley and Gennai ensued . Bu t by the fifth circuit. Hateley was in second, where he would re m ain . J en nings dropped out two la ps la ter an d the leaderboa rd was set at La wson , H ateley, Cennai. Lackey. Weinert and Hoc king . ' Kawasaki cross country Riders were allotted \0 minutes to change wheels and tires prior to the cross cou nt ry race . Broc Glover ra n into problems when he discovered a bearing missing from his knob by-shod wheel and had to take the hub from anotherwheel apart. He finished a few mintues out of his allotted time . The cross country course , 4 . I miles through Saddleback's back section. was the subjec t of a few pre-race horror stories from the competitors and especially from the announcerv , The course incl u ded h ill cl im bs , narrow rain -rutted gullies. rock sections. etc. Scott Gillman. who practically lives next door to Saddleback , was the leader at the end of the first loop. Trailing him were Mosier, Ha nna h. Wa rd. R ich Eierstedt on the fa ctory Can-Am . Glover. John Fe ro on a n ISDT Yamaha . J en n ings. Weinert , Staten. Gary Sem ics on another factory Can-Am . Kawasaki's Steve Stackable, AI Ba ke r and Bob Balentine (j(TM). Lackey , who appea red to have had a good start from the d e a d -e ng in e LeMans procedure , must have run -in t o trouble. for he came by in 20th. Hannah moved into the lead on the second lap . Gillman and Jennings both dropped out: Gillman broke the top triple clamp th rough one of the ro ugh sections a nd Jennings got off . J eff was th ro ugh for the day. while Gi llman sent for another trip le clamp from his nearby house. At the end of the third and final lap . Hannah had about 30 seconds on Mosier . Eierstedt , Ward, Glover , Weinert , Staten , Gennai, Sern ics , Stac kab le , Jones . -Lackey (12th as compared to 20th on the first loop). Gibson . Fero , Baker . Balentine . Larry R oesel er (H u s) and Br e nt Wallingsford (H us) followed. Lawson. who had said earlier that he wouldn't ride the cross country. did complete one lap on the flat tracker ("Just barely." he quipped after the evenr.) , Sue Fis h (Yam) , who had b ee n d oin g fa irl y well , was un able t o -compete in the cross country. A bolt in a fork which hel d the damping rod, backed off and allowed the oil to ' drain. Sh e couldn't get the bo lt refastened an d the oi l refilled in time. Yamaha drag race The sched uled d rag hillclimb was changed to a I OO·yard drag race in the short track infield. R id ers went head to head in an elimination format. The event was timed and placings after fifth were determined by the times. A motocross-style starting gate was used . There was so me confusio n in spectating the event. AMA officials thought there was to be no practice and the first round was run off. The promoters had a conflicting idea. so the first round was re-run , There were also several "byes" or runs without competition and Hateley on ly faced one opponent before the final two rounds . After some more confusion , the field was narrowed to 11