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/126551
00 0') ~ CN I-< CIJ ..c S CIJ > o Z Broc'Glover took the lead on the f1l'11t lep of the fineleheed of Ron Turner. Jim Glbaon end Donnie He"..n. Glover we. untoucheble en night. AMA Supercross Series: Final round Glover smokes . 'em at San Diego lin~. Preliminaries By Mark Kariya Photos by Dale Brown and Lance Bryson SAN DIEGO, CA, NOV. 14 It was expected to be the final confrontation of the year between new Supercross Series Champion Mark Barnett and Broc Glover, who had a banner year in outdoor competition but was winless in the stadiums. Instead, Glover broke Suzuki's Supercross stranglehold this year by taking his latest Jon Rosensteiel-tuned 6 Yamaha OW50 to an unchallenged victory brlo~ a homc:town crowd of 41,189 at tJl., Coca-Cola Su~rcross Finals at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. ~t untrack~ and by th~ tim~ th~y did, Glov~r was ~asily in th~ c1~ar. Marty Smith, winn~r of thr~ National MX titles in a car.,.,r that spann~ 10 y~ars, chOR to giv~ his nativ~ San Di~o fans th~ last look at him in AMA Pro com~tition. His r~ tir~m~nt was announc~ in th~ San Diego Union th~ morning of th~ rac~; Smith c1aim~ h~ was tiring of th~ trav~1 requir~ and th~ I~ngth of tim~ it took to h~al from injuries as major factors in th~ decision. Th~ track skirt~ th~ ~ges of th~ stadium's football fi~ld, basically r~ ~mblinga large "U." It could t,.,st b~ charact~riz~d as short; rough and one- Th~ ~v~ning belonged ~ntirely to the 1981 500cc National and TransUSA Saies Champion. In fact, ~ only tim~ h~ ~v~r saw anoth~r rid~r's r~ar fender was wh~n h~ cam~ up to lap him, as ~ got th~ holeshot and l~ ~v~ry lap of both his h~at rac~ and th~ final. Honda t~ammates Jim Gibson and Donnie Ha~n took a short tilll" to Th~ first h~at had to b~ th~ best of \h~ night, matching BaT""tt and Glov~r, who start~ n~x[ to each ot~r in th~ middl~ of the lin~. Glov~r shot out of th~ hol~ quickest wh~n th~ gat~ drop~ and slung his way through the bank~ first tum in th~ I~ad with teamma~ Scott Burnworth on a watercool~ OW and Barn~t right ~hind. ~u was~ little time and passed Burnworth through a series of whoops two straightaways lat~r. Within two laps, Glov~r felt Barn~tt poking his whe.,1 on eith~r sid~ trying to fmd an o~ning h~ ~ld slip through. Each tim~, though, Glover shut th~ door and 1COOt~ c1~ar, leaving BaT""tt with ~ TUn~r-up spot. Burnworth and Suzuki-moun~Gary Sanies held c1~ar third and fourth slots throughout t~ ra«. Honda's Rich Coon rod~ fifth, the last poIition dir~t transf~r to th~ final, from th~ ~cond lap, but during th~ last half of th~ 10·lap rac~, Clint Hardick on a for a wat~r-cool~d Suzuki RM250Z was giving him fits. TJl., ~ond ~at saw Yamaha's Mik~ B~II, mhis last rac~ with th~ numb~r on~ plat~ on through th~ his bik~, l~ad th~ pack flTSt tum follow~ by Honda's Chuck Sun, who gave ~ll fits in last year's final h~~, and Suzuki's Denny B~ntl~. ~ll lost his l~ad, though, whm he f~1I on lap t~ through a ~tion of whoops. Only Sun made it past him whil~ t~ lanky ridfi 5Crambl~ back onto his machi~. ~ll didn't conc~~ th~ rac~.to Sun at that point, how~, and he quickly r~l~ Sun back, r~talting th~ l~ad two laps lata in tJl., ~tion of small whoops bdo~ th~ m~hanies' ar~a. Goat B~k~r put on a good showing, moving from sixth on ~ ~ g lap to finish third on his '82 factory Kawasaki stadium bik~ which was far dif£~r ~nt than th~ gr~n t~am'5 p~ous machines. It sport~ a low·profil~ tank, singl~-strut Uni-Tralt, n~ air~ mgine and a four-speed gearbox. Honda support ridfi Larry Wosick took fourth ov~r B~ntl~ for th~ oth~r spots in the final. Moto-X Fox Kawasaki rid~r David Bail~ ran off with the third h~at. Honda's two-tim~ Su~rbik~rs wi~r St~ WiR houn~ him in the ~arIy going but f~ll slightly off the pace to third. WiR's t~amma~Jun Gibson s~ off about uth and apparently tangled his clutch 1ever with IOIDeODe or