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AMA Supercross Series:
Round three
Rhinestone
Cowboy shines
in Oakland
By Mark Kariya
Photos by Jim Gianatsis
OAKLAND, CA, FEB. 24
Having the third race of the AMA Supercross
Series delayed by the recent stonns in California
might have been just what Kent Howerton
needed. After badly bruising his ann in an
endo two weeks ago at the Seattle
Supercross, the "Rhinestone
Cowboy" demonstrated ample
strength to toss his factory Suzuki
around the extremely rough, sandy
track to victory at the Bay Area
Supercross. In doing so, he also
vaulted himself closer to Yamaha's
Mike Bell in the series point standings.
Preliminaries
6
Winner of the first and fastest
qualifying moto was Honda's Jim
Gibson who held off a hard-charging
Mike Bell aboard his factory Yamaha.
PDQ's Jimmy Ellis came up third.
The second qualifier went to
Howenon who pressed Kawasaki's
Warren Reid the whole way until a fall
in a slow, tricky comer a couple laps
from the end seemingly put the Suzuki
teamster out of the running for the
win. However, Reid got off not once,
but twice after the bri~, effectively
handing Howenon the WID.
Chuck Sun was an easy winner in
the third qualifier followed by Honda
teammate Donnie Hamen and Arlo
Englund on a PDQ. Yamaha.
Tommy Croft, another PDQ. rider,
cked out the win in the last qualifier,
Team Honda's Steve Wise surging in
the last few laps and nudging him at
the finish.
The first semi-final went to Marl.
Gregson on a LOP Yamaha who got
Kawasaki's Larry WOIick just before
the white flag. Semi number two
belonged to Yamaha's Many Tripes
with Danny LaPone trailing him in on
a works Suzuki.
LaPone's teammate Brian Myers·
cough went wire-to-wire in the COD·
solation event to earn a stan in the
fmalalso.
