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/126604
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(Cl ockwise trom above) Mark Barnett had to charge from last to fourth,
Mud covered goggles and swallowed bikes like Broc Glover's. Hannah's
win was his first in Supercross events in a while.
ing Conwa y ou t of a transfer. Bigelow
was first rider thi s season to transfer a
European bike to a Supercross final.
The bike flying through th e a ir in
turn one of heat three belonged to
Suzuki's Georg e Holl and, but h e
wasn 't on it . Su zuki private er Dave
Hollis a nd Holland hit th e turf off
the sta rt, whil e Honda ' s Johnn y
O 'Mara began a flawl ess ride to th e
checkers. Suzuki 's Kent Howerton
had been sick th e week before th e
race, but it didn 't show as he took
second off th e sta rt a nd sta yed there.
He was challenged by Honda 's Da vid
·Ba iley, bu t Kent hel da cus hio n at the
finis h . Spencer Mo rrison looked good
in th e mud a nd too k the last tra ns fer,
bu t no t wit hout a figh t with Ka wasa ki's Jeff Ward. Ward wascrawlingon
Morrison's rear kn obby, but the n lost
ground whe n he chose a wro ng lin e.
Mo rr ison took his Suzuki to fou rt h
wi th Ward three feet back a t 'the
checkers .
Honda pro su p port ri der Kenny
Keylon had th e fastest clutch hand in
heat four , bu t h is lead was sho rt -lived
as he went lo w side in turn one.
G lover used hi s air-cooled OW works
bike to gain a large lead during lap
one, with Keystone's Tom Carson
running a swift second on a Maico.
Kawasaki 's Goat Breker put pressure
on Carson a nd got by on the Miller
High Life Mountain, and Yamaha
Pro Support rider Eric McKenna also
moved past Carson on th e next lap.
The cro wd came to life when Hannah started moving up from sixth.
When Honda pro support rider Jo Jo
Keller got sideways, Hannah took
fifth , and then the "Hurricane"
cl ick ed bar s with Carson , finall y
slip ping by. H annah bested McKenna
through a rutted turn for third, and
wh en McKenna tri ed to return th e
favor he crashed. Glover won with a
IS-second lead on Breker and had lap
times into th e one minute. 12 second
range. Breke r, Hannah and Ca rson
took the other th ree transfers.
Conway locked into the first transfer
of sem i 'o ne off th e line and never
gave it up. Ellis too k second and
held, but had a bunch of trouble wi th
Honda 's Jim Gib son , wh o moved to
third and the n used traffic to hound
Elli s. G ibson bob bled , then crashed
o n the fin ish li ne on the last lap, with
Con wa y a nd Ellis earning a spot on
th e gate in the fina l.
Ma r k M u rph y p ut a s upport
Yamaha into th e semi two lead an d
never let o ff to wi n. Keller went into
a n early second and staye d there to
tra nsfer. Suzu ki's Warr en Reid was
involved in h is second first turn incident of th e eveni ng and was knocked
o ut o f co n tent io n . Alterna te hea t
winn er John Savi tski a nd Honda p ro
su p port rider Dan n y Chandler were
lit erall y loc ke d toge the r w he n
Chandl er 's fork leg wedged into
Savitski's swingar m. It took the pair
a lmost th e entire ra ce to separa te
th eir bik es.
Lil es looked li ke he ow ned the
consolation ra ce, which under an
AMA format cha nge transferred th e
winner to the final. On lap four Liles
ran off the track and dropped to
fourth , leaving the battle to Ward
and McKenna, with Ward coming up
with the transfer to the 21-rider main
event.
Final
Hannah took th e cleanest hol eshot
of th e night on his air-cooled OW,
leading by 20 feet into turn one.
Barnell crashed o ff th e line and took
off last, and Ben olkin sta lled out in
turn o ne . T he pa ck stayed bunched
th rough th e first five laps, with Han nah pullin g a n early five-second lead
o n H an sen . Morrison was runn in g a
com petitive third, but a sna p ped chain
pu t him o u t o f it. Howerton, Bentl ey,
G lover and Shultz plugged into th e
3-4-5-6 slo ts. By lap five Barnell had
worked from 2 1st to 12th .
By la p seven Han nah was into
lapped ri ders , hold ing a safe lead
over H an sen , who a lso had a cushio n
on Howerton. Sh u ltz an d O 'M ara
moved up behind Howerton for fourth
and fifth , while Barnett kept ch arging, now in seven th . By lap nin e
Hannah had 14 seco nds o n H ansen ,
and o n lap 10 Barn ell saw a wa y to
fift h. At mid-race , most riders were
pitc hing their goggles tryin g to find
so me vision in the mu ck.
H ow erton slo wed th e slightest bit ,
bu t th a t was a ll it too k for Shultz a nd
Barnett to push into th e 3-4 spo ts.
Barnett continued hi s drive but was
47 seco nds bac k from Hannah. He
made a few mi stakes and slo wed durin g the fina l laps. Hannah clicked
his front wheel past th e checkered
flag , sporting a 26-second lead on
Hansen. Shultz led Barnett across th e
line as Howerton stayed just ahead of
O 'Mara for fifth . Glover , Bentley,
Ell is and Martin rounded out th e top
10.
H annah ca me to winner's circl e
sip pi ng o n a can of Miller High Life
beer, signing autographs for those
who could get near eno ugh. " I just
don 't get starts lik e that too often,"
Hannah said. "Once 1 was out front,
1 wasn't going to throw it away. And
once yo u 're out front , there 's nothing
else to do but pull a big lead!"
''I'm pretty happy: 1 wasn' t really
exci ted a bou t tonight," sai d H ansen.
" I' m not used to all th is mud and
ru ts. 1j us t got a goo d start and sta yed
th ere."
" Look a t th is, here's what hap pened," sa id Shultz as he showed us
the ar c-shaped groove he dug off the
li ne. " I didn ' t have the bike pointed
straigh t o ff the stan . 1j ust ge t so mad
wh en 1 screw u p."
" I go t tak en out o ff th e line," said
Ba rn ell . " So meone came across from
th e insi de a nd rammed me. At first 1
j us t laved there and made sure no o ne
was going to ru n over me. 1 had my
work cu t o ut for me af ter th a t. The
Da ytona Supercross is m ine; I'm
goi ng to win it."
e
Results
FINAL; 1. Bob Hannah (Yam); 2. Donnia Hansen
C
Hont 3.Da,,01l Shultz lHon t4. Marl