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/126605
(Left) Donnie Hansen is a little out of shape here, but he finished fourth. (Right) Shultz shares the thrill of victory with Miss Wrangler. (Continued /ro m page 16) co nten ded wit h Howerton th e first few turns but then blistered th e course ' with o n ly Gibson keeping h im in sight. Gibson low sided durin g th e fi na l lap but was up quickl y, retaining seco nd. Honda su p ported Kenny Keylon broke free from Suzuki su pp orted Gary Denton for third, a nd wh en H o werton came up to cha llen ge, Keylon repell ed all his a ttempts. Denton stuc k to fifth with Honda s u ppo rte d S te ve Mart i n , Cycle Design s' Wem yss Scott on a Maico, an d Ala n Kin g next. The Jo h n ny 0 ' show ca me to life in heat four whe n Honda 's J oh nny O 'M ara broke free o f th e pack a nd cha rged to the lead . O'Ma ra wa s n ever serio us ly cha lle nged. Suzu ki's Warren Reid wa s seco nd a ll th e wa y, with Kaw a saki 's Go a t Breker th ird u ntil he lost it off a jump, tak in g a photographer o u t wh en he cras hed. Nei the r was serious ly hurt . Ma ico 's Mickey Kessler used a daring mid-air pass to ta ke thi rd fro m Kaw asa ki supported Dan Co nway, but Co nway got back by for thi rd by the fi nis h. Kessler was fo urth and Breker fifth , with H on da supported Jo Jo Kell er, Suzu ki privateer Dave Holl is and Suzuki's Den ny Bentley ro u ndi ng o ut the transfer slo ts. LO P Honda ri der Keith Oelerich too k the semi o ne lead wi th a clean holeshot but crashed back to midpack, leaving the front -runner honors to Honda rider Jeff Ellens. Ellens was win, with Honda supporte d J immy Ellis seco nd . Second had belon ged to Kris Big elow fo r mo st of th e race, but a seized motor put Bigelow ou t of it o n the la st lap. Kaw a sak i T eam Green's Bill y L iles took th ird with S u zu k i s upported Cl int H a rdi ck fourth. Fred Vertucci, ona pri vateer Suzuki, took th e sem i two lead. Vert ucci seemed to be us in g th e sa me pace h e h eld durin g the a ma teur roa d races a t Da ytona a few da ys befor e, but th en fell back and gave the race to J ohnn y Spaw, on a Ceda r Rapids Honda. Spaw used cons istency to stay o u t front a n d h eld off Vert ucc i, who took seco n d ahead of Honda supported Jeff Surwall and Doug Lon gwell o n a Suzu ki. Oeleri ch an d Honda su p porte d Brad Wallace went a t it in th e sem i, but th at race on ly transfers one rider to the main event. Wallace fell, and O erl er ich went a ll the way toearn hi s berth in the fin al the hard way. Final Once all th e rid ers were staged under th e direct ion of AMA refe ree Rick Titone, the gate dropped a nd Shultz, Ha nnah and Barn ett shared the lead. Sun a nd H o werton di d so me first la p downt ime a n d ca me arou nd last. T he course was roughed up when the final went off, and Sh u ltz led Hannah , Gibson, Barn ett , Glover, Ward, Ha nsen and Bail ey during lap ~>ne. H ann a h was us~n.g pow e.r dr ifts line which would ca rry him into th e lead. O 'Mara ran into first lap problem s and had to ca rry o n th e chase from th e rear. The crowd gasped in unison wh en . Hannah tipped o ver in a tight turn, rem ounting quickly but dropping to sixth. Hansen moved into fifth a head of H annah a nd Ward , and all frontrunn ers were dealin g with la pped rid er s. Suspe ns io ns were bein g ut ilized to th e fu lles t; the stra ig h ta ways were very rough yet loam y, with Sh u ltz, Gibson a nd Barn ett holding it to th e stops while their bikes skip ped around underneath th em. Sh u lt z a nd Gibson seemed to ha ve th e edge on power on th eir RC watercoolers, with Barnett stayi ng in range on his RH wa ter-pumper. Hansen and Hannah were fighting over fourth , with Gl over a n d Bail ey maintainin g th e 6-7 slots. Ch andl er had been moving to th e front but cras he d back to m id-p ack. Reid was in ninth , look ing for a li ne p ast Ward. Dur in g th e last few laps of the 12lap fina l, th e top three put a 13seco nd ga p o n th e pack, making ' it a th ree-way run for th e win . The last lap saw lapped riders slow all three, puttin g th e trio into a 20-yard stre tch o f track. Barnett pu t th e pressure on, a nd whe n th e chec kered flag wave d , .Sh u ltz jam med across on an outside lin e a wh eel a head o f Barnett . Gi bso n came in a few seconds back in third. Hansen, Hannah and Glover formed the next group of riders across th e line. with Bailey hea din g Reid " Howert on must have radar on th e back of his h ead," sa id Shultz, " beca use every tim e 1 tried to get around he tri ed to block me. Sometime wh en I'm not in the lead, I'm going to teach him a lesson. " Barnett wa s quiet in th e p it s, thinking things over. " I just gas sed it th e best 1 cou ld. 1 went over Gibson . and th en a lapper (Ho wert on) slo wed me up. I'm not satisfied with seco nd, bu t I'll tak e it. It 'll m ove me into fourth (i n th e points standings)." " I came u p on H ow ert on through a h ai rpin turn ," sa id G ibs on . "and wh en 1slowe d, Barnett used me for a berm. 1went down but got up quickl y enough to tak e th ird ." Gibson took th ird in last year's Dayton a ro u nd. a lso. Sh u ltz's wi n pushed him into the Su percross points lead over Hansen , 122 to 115. Hannah is third now at 103, a nd Barn ett displaced O'Mar a for fourth, 96 to 78. • Results 1. Darrell Shultz (Hon); 2. Mark Barn ett (Suz); 3. J im Gibson (Hon); 4 . Donnie Hansen (Hon); 5. Bob Hannah (Yaml : 6 . Broe Glover(Yam); 7. David Bailey (Ha n); 8 . Warren Reid (SUl) ; 9. J eff Ward (Kaw); 10 . Goa t Braker (Kaw l: 11 . Danny Ch andler (Hon) ; 12. Larry Wo sick (Hon) ; 13 . Steve Martin (Hon ); 14 . Tom 8enolkin (Kaw); 15 . Chuck Sun (Han ); 16 . J o Jo Keller (Han); 17 . Alan King (SUl); 18 . Denny Bentley ISUl); 19 . Kenny Keylon (Han) ; 20. Ross Pederson (SUl). AMA /WRANGLE ~ SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Darrell Shultl (122); 2 , Donnie Hensen ( 115 ); 3. Bob Hennah (103 ); 4 . Mark Bernett (961: 5. Johnny O'Mara (Sll: 6. Jim Gibson 169); 7 . Broc Glover(66); 8 . Warren Reid (57) ; 9. Jeff Wa rd 1491 10 , Chu c k Sun (44); 11. Goat Br eker ; (4 2); 12 . Dav id Bail ey (4 0 ); 13 . Larry Wosick (37); 14 . St eve Ma rt in (35) ; 15 , (TIE) Tom Benol kon/Kent Howerton (321; 17. Dan ny Chandler (27); 18 . Ke nny Keylo n (26); 19 . Jo Jo Keller ( ~ 2 ) ; 20 . Rick J oh nso n