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(A bove) Howerton (4), Steve Wise (9) and Donnie Canta loupi (23) fling themselves in front at the start of a qualifier. (Below ) Cantaloupi led t he fi rst two
laps in the final before Howerton got him.
AMASupercross Series: Round 12
Howerton spears
By Tom Mueller
KAN SAS CITY , MO , MAY 10
Kent Howerton hustled his factory Suzuki to
his third Supercross win this season after jam ming by Yamaha's Donnie Cantaloupi and
teammate Brian Myerscough in the Coca-Cola
Supe rbowl of Motocross at Arrowhead Stad ium . It was the first
Supercross event held a t the fac ility, and it met with fa irly strong
10
support - an estimated 25,000 persons
attended.
Yamaha's Mike Bell, points leader
in the Supercross Series , carded a third
and now holds a 29 point lead on Howerton, who moved to second. Honda's
Chuck Su n, former second place
points holder, took a sixth and is now
seven points behind Howert on.
Preliminaries
"It's time I stopped didling around
and did something," Howerton said
after practice conce rning his - a t tha t
time - third place poin ts stan d ings.
"Wi th two wins, I should have had the
points lead by now."
" Howert on's definitely m ore of a
veter an tha n I am ," Sun said after his
practice session. " But every race I get a
little stronger, a little more confident:'
Bell was handling the cou rse a bit
differen tly than others throughout practice , staying closer to the ground off
jum ps.
" I have longer legs - I can work it
around more. The track isn't very d emanding, but it'll be good if it doesn 't
rain," Bell said . It was the first open
air stadium used in six rounds.
Practice would have gone off in
normal fashion , but Honda's J im
Gibson did an end -over -end special.
" I hit a comer and the next thing I
knew my legs were over the bars. I
landed flat on my back twice. I guess
tha t's better than landing on my
head," Gibson said. He was uninjured .
Jimmy Weinert was back on the scene
after his get-off in New O rleans the
week before, but instead of the usual
MX garb the J am mer was clad in a
suit. He handled the gr ound level a nnouncing for th e event.
"I hit my back pretty good (in New
Orlea ns) and spit up a little blood, so I
got it checked out. I'm OK , but I' m
go ing to save m yself for the 500cc
Na tionals," Weiner t said.
Bro c Glover put his Yama ha in the
lead in q ua lifier one a nd pu t the pa ck
behind for good . Mike Bell a nd Brian
Myerscough plugged in for 2-3 finishes
and stayed there. Carlo Musso, on a •
Cycle Supply Kawasaki , ran an early
fourth followed by L.OP's Jeff Surwall.
