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Kent
How,. IU...... 1he pa:k out of 1Ia'n one of the final. Behind him are Steve Wise 191. Randy Goss 1131. Andre Malherbe (7). Hakan CarJqvist 1101 and Dave A
The Superbikers
TeamHonda
tops the best of the best
By Mark Kariya
Photos by CI&ies Morey
CARLSBAD, CA, NOV_!
Attitudes can change a lot in the span of a week.
Take Steve Wise, for example. A week ago,
after his fifth-place finish at San Diego's Coca:Cola Motocross Finals, the Team Honda rider
claimed to look upon taday's.
Superbikers race as a fun-type
event, not .one to be taken extremely senously.
6
After a waS of praetitt and a wireto-wit:e brat win, Wae said to no one
in ~nicular, "Man, I wanna win so
bad!
..
.
He gO[ hIS wish, leadmg from the
second lap of the final to the finish
despite the loss of his rear disc in the
fmal. While on the victory podium, he
said over and over, "It feels good,
man; it feels goodl"
Motocrossers went one-two in this
second annual race at Carlsbad Raceway as Honda-mounted 500cc Motocross World Champion Andre Malherbe
was a closing second. Road racer Eddie
Lawson put a Kawasaki motocross
bike into third while reigning Superbikers Champion Kent Howerton was
plagued with engine seizures on his
works Suzuki motocrosser, finishing a
distant and disappointing fourth.
Randy Goss manhandled his bulky
factory Harley XR750 to eighth
around the two-mile track that favors
the lighter, more agile big-bore twostrokes. Fellow din tracker Mickey Fay
on a factory Honda thumper had been
the first four-stroke, holding fifth Plaa:..
II
from lap five until falling a few laps
from the checkers. He got up to finish
14th.
Heats
1be first heat was for the road t:aceJ:S
with the top six transferring directly to
the final. Heats two and three would!
transfer seven each to the final, and!
the semis would send three apiece.
After several parade laps (presumably for the ABC Wide World of SportsJ
crew), the green flag dropped and
Team Yamaha's Kenny Rohens,
Yamha-mounted Dave Aldana and
Eddie Lawson headed the pack as they
peeled off into the dirt.
Three-time 500cc Road Race World
champion Roberts dropped his YZ465
