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/126478
Jim Gibson (291. Chuck Sun 1631. Marty Moates 1251. Gary Se m ics 1121 and Rick Burgett (221 go for the lead at the start of a SOOcc moto. AMA 12S/SOOcc National Championship MX Series: Rounds 6 /6 Barnett narrows points lead, Sun stretches it out By Jim Gianatsis WASHOUGAL , WA ,JULY 6 On a grass-covered hillside track in the shadow of Washington's Mt. St. Helen's volcano, Team Honda's 500cc class star Chuck Sun blasted forth with back-to-back moto wins to increase his points lead toward winning his first National Championship title . Needing only six points with four motos left to collect 6 them - almost assures Sun and his Eric Crippa -prepared Honda RC 470 80 Pro-Link the 500cc crown presently held by Suzuki's Danny La Porte, once again sidelined by mechanical problems with the RN 440 -80 Floater. The saving grace for Team Suzuki . came in the 125cc National class where " Bom ber" Mark Barnett used his Jeff Clark-prepared water-cooled RA 125-80 Floater to dust off th e opposition with volcanic ash and narrow the series point lead of Broc Glover , Yamaha 's reigning three-time champion. Glover still picked up second overall for the afternoon as he battled off Barnett in the opening laps of the final moto then pulled away from Barney to a convincing win . The Washougal/Yamaha National. promoted_by Bob Osborn and Wally Brosamle of Northwest Motocross Enterprises, proved to be the finest outdoor National of the year. The course itself, a part man -made and part natural terrain track , was thick with grass . It featured numerous high speed downhill jumps ' and enough rough sections that most of the riders were calling it the finest motocross track in America. west of Unadilla . This new National -caliber track at Washougal near Portland, Oregon, which attracted close to 10,000 spectators for its first major race will now set the standard for most other AMA National outdoor tracks to follow if they hope to raise the stature of motocross. 125cc National It was Team Suzuki's new rookie star S~ott Burnwo~th who led the way through tum one for the start of the afternoon's first l25cc National moto , Burnworth was out front ahead of Yamaha's Donnie Cantaloupi. Kawasaki's Jeff Ward and Suzuki teammate Mark Barnett. Quickly Barnett began slashing his way to the lead position, dicing his way past Ward and Cantaloupi to tangle with - and then take the lead away from - the " Bu rn er" after five laps. Series points leader Broc Glover. meanwhile , had been buried in the rear of the field at the start and would spend the whole moto trying to rectify his mistake, eventually working his way up to finish fourth ahead of Cantaloupi. Both Cantaloupi and Ward were displaced one position back at mid-mote when Suzuki's other rider "Messerschmit" Brian Myerscough strafed his way into third . Burnworth was edged back to a still creditable sixth position at the finish line behind his much more experienced and senior competition. Both Broc Glover and Donnie Cantaloupi were riding new watercooled OW 43-80 factory Yamaha Monocrossers with power valves. Introduced earlier this season on the 250cc works bikes. this was the first time the crankshaft-diven exhaust valves were employed on the l25cc watercooled machines to help broaden their powerbands. Said Broc, "We gotta do something to keep up ," . It was obvious though, that in the second moto Glover hardly needed any advantage to .k~~p up with Barnett. Both the Broc and Bomber Barnett charged boot-to-boot and wheel-towheel off the starting line and through tum one in a cloud of volcanic debris. Riding their fender flaps were Honda's Rich Coon, Myerscough. Burnworth, Sun. Ward. Blose and Watts. Glover held the lead of the second moto for the first two laps, then it was Barnett out front. then two laps later Glover again. This time when Glover got the lead he kept it. dialing out an advantage over Barnett that increased a scant five seconds by the time they reached the finish line some 30 minutes later. Myerscough moved up soon after the start to run a strong and uncontested third place. Ward danced off Coon's rear fender the entire race; the Flying Freckle followed the Honda rider in for sixth. The only real battle the last half of the moto was a fourway fight for seventh place which resolved itself finally at the drop of the flag with Cantaloupi in seventh just ahead of Honda's Ron Sun, Moto-X Fox's J eff Watts on a YZ Yamaha and Kawasaki support rider Chappy Blose. 500cc National The 500cc Class was slated to be a battle between the two titans of northwest motocross, Rick Burgett and Chuck Sun from just below the nearby Columbia river in Oregon. In the first moto, the fight almost shaped up but never materialized as