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o 00 0') Kent Howerton enjoys Unadilla as it has given him some of his biggast wins. the Trans-USA round being his latest. He won both motos.lFile photo) m AMA Trans-USA MX Series: Round 3 I lJ Unadilla' turf topped by Howerton By Tom Mueller EDMENSTON, NY, OCT. 5 Team Suzuki's Rhinestone Cowboy, Kent Howerton, put his talent up against the tractionable yet rough course at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center and came out on top of both International motos for a perfect day in the Trans-USA round he Id here. "At least this is one track 8 ~ontinue;; to be a match-up of the ~t 10 Amenca with Bomba~da Maunzlo of Italy the only Intemauonal entry at the round. Husqvarna's Mike Guerra was on where a good rider has a chance, not the gas and had an uncontested day in the Support class. His perfect ride where all you need is a holeshot," said Howerton before the race. In both netted him 50 points and moved him from fifth to third in the standings. motos Howerton worked his way to the front and stayed there. Gary Pustelak. nicknamed "Iron Man," Yamaha's Bob Hannah put in two sbowed why when he man-handled his second-place rides for second overall. factory Husky around the circuit for a In molO one Hannah came through 3-2 day and second overall. The ride the pack for his placing, but in molO jumped Pustelak from 15th to sixth in the standings. David Bailey took a factwo Bob came out of the hole in fourth, tory Kawasaki to 2-3 finishes and third his first good start in this year's TransUSA. overall. Bailey now leads the .Support Brae Glover, who was tied with Mark class with 121 points. Kippy Pierce took Barnett going into the round, posted a fourth overall on an LOP Yamaha and set of thirds on his factory Yamaha for dropped to second in the standings third overall. Glover was in the chase with 113 points. The weather has usually been a facall the way and did his share of leading during the day. tor at Unadilla, but this year, conditions ., remained optimum the entire weekend. A sixth and a fourth gave SuzukI s Many who attended the event were Mark. Barnett ~ourth over~IL Barney figuring on rain, snow and!or freezing put his aggrC;SSlve styl~ to use on ~he temperatures, but it was warm and choppy terram, but dId some fadmg sunny. As usual, Unadilla was not only a race, but a happening. Thousands of late 10 the motos. Barnett has had stomach problems the last three weeks, fans covered the hills and lined the and it now seems it is hindering his fences, some attending to watch the performance. racing and others to parry. The course wrings t~e full potential Glover now heads the point standings at 123 with the series moving to Atlanta, out of man and machme. The loamy northern soil is some of the most tracGeorgia and then on to Somona, California for the final round. tionable available on top U.S. tracks Hannah has 118 and holds a two-point today, but combined with the edge on Barnett at 116. Howerton rou~hness. of the course,. holdi~g a straIght hne was almost ImpossIble. moved out of a tie with Chuck Sun in High speeds and varying terrain, from fifth and is now in fourth with 103 points. wide open straights to Gravity Cavity - a steep downhill and then a sharp Andre M a lher be cooId ha ve atten ded . · I sched- .1 t h at Iaunc hes n'd ers th1010 a up h'll this round as he had no N atlona b · ID Be Iglum, b ut t h e 500 cc . . straIght . - gave' spectators. , T est e ul e confl ICts f h' h MX GP camp f'l e d to sow. T h ' h - al e senes USA.racmg so ar an t IS years rans- International "They let us ride the track too long in practice. All the topsoil is gone for the race," said Glover as the International riders suited up for moto one. The conditions didn't seem to bother Glover too much as he did some fast clutching out of the hole and took the lead. Honda's Chuck Sun and Mark Barnett followed. Yamaha's Donnie Cantaloupi, Suzuki's Danny LaPorte and others were involved in a first lap bunch-up that held them back. Kent Howerton was never far off the leader's pace and soon passed Barnett for third. Kawasaki supported Goat Breker, Warren Reid on a water·cooled factory Kawasaki and Suzuki's Darrell Shultz trailed. Hannah was about 15th and ready to put a move on Brad Lackey, who was also on a factory water-cooled Kawasaki. Sun went outside on Glover but it didn't work. Howerton was going to school, watching both Glover's and Sun's lines. Reid and Shultz both got by Breker. Howerton finally went to work and shot by Glover and Sun to take command. The crowd was on Hannah's side as he picked ofT rider after rider. It looked fairly easy for the Hurricane until he got to fourth; then he had Howerton, Sun and Glover 10 contend with. A few laps of hard work put Hannab past Glover. Bob then used some outside lines on Sun to get a better drive out of the corners and got by a bit later. Glover also got Sun and regained third before time ran oul. Howerton pulled in his first moto win of the series followed by Hannah, Glover, Sun and Reid. Barnett edged Yamaha's Marty Tripes for sixth. "1 was riding different lines toward the end. Not because I had to, but because I was looking for better ones," said Howerton as he got some warm clothes on. Glover was again the leader in moto two as the pack entered the sweeping right-hander. Howerton, Sun. Hannah, Bell and Barnett jockeyed for positions behind. Shultz brought the crowd to life as he berserked to second, but Howerton went wide and got him back. Barnett took fourth, but Hannah created a new line and took the position back. Shultz pulled into the mechanics' area for a second and Hannah zipped by. Howerton rearranged his lines, went to the outside, and took over the lead. Hannah made his bid for second on Glover and got it in Gravity Cavity. At the 30 minute mark of the 40minute-plus-two· laps moto, Howerton was on a blistering pace and Hannah was leaving Glover behind. Barnett was fourth and Lackey was eating up the European style track in fifth. Lackey's bike developed a miss and the sour motor dropped the European GP contender to seventh at the finish. Howerton ended a perfect day by saluting the crowd with a foot off the peg at the finish line. Hannah, Glover and Barnett were spread apart behind. Reid and LaPorte filled the next spots. "At the 250cc GP (in July), it's usually hot. In this colder weather it's harder getting traction. Those rocks underneath are really slippery," said Howerton as his wife Jill nursed his bruised lip. Kent had taken a rock to the face, a rock that hit him so hard it .split his face mask. "I'm just getting my strength back," Howerton continued concerning his recent bout with the flu. "I can only run about two miles (in training) and I got really tired." "The Americans aren't that much faster," said Lackey. "There's a lot of factors involved. You have to realize the class is different (Lackey rides the 500cc class in the GP's in Europe). Malherbe came over last year and beat most of the kids on their home tracks." Support Suzuki's Denny Bentley was again the boleshot king at the start of the first Support moto, bIll Mike ~uetr~ ~oon