Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Left) Jeff Ward. Miss Wrangler and Barnett. (Above) Warren Reid. (Below) A trip through banners slowed Bob Hannah . nell fought it out with H a n sen and Kawasaki's Jeff Ward. Barnell finall y broke away from these two and put the rh ro u le 10 the stops through a series of whoops to edge past Glover a nd pull away for his fourt h st raigh t wi n at the ' Do me. Glover held a ten uous second a t th e finis h over Ward and Ha nse n. T he 56 points Barn ett collected over two n ights of racing moved him from fourth to second in the series point standings behind new leader Hansen, 161-152. Former poi III leader Darrell Shultz hurt his kn ee the week before but decided that it wasn't serious en o ug h 10 keep him out of HOUSlOn. Friday h e wa s fifth in h is heat race, then won hi s sem i. In th e fin al , however, h e pulled off a fter a co up le laps: According 10 H onda's m otocr o ss te am man ag er Dave Arn old, " Ch uck Sun a nd Jimmy Ellis tangl ed underneath th e bridge. a nd they were down on th e gro u nd wh en Darrell ca me a ro u nd. H e h it 'em a n d fell down a lso. H e got back up a nd co u ld' ve kept racing, but he was just so far back, and th e kn ee hurtin ' like it wa s, th ere was a chance h e co u ld 've fallen off and don e hi m self m or e harm." As it was, th e injury kept Shu ltz from even a uernp ring 10 ge t dressed for Saturda y's event. H e n ow has 122 p oints and is fourth in th e sta nd ings. .Friday Preliminaries Ka wasa ki support rid er Bill Li les took co n trol of the alternate mOIO a fter early leader G reg " Scoo ter" Ba tes crashed, brea king his left leg . Yamaha Pro Support rider Jeff Jen nings hounded Li les the last half of the race a nd finished second over Maico's Scott Johnson, Tom Carson a n d H o nda support rider Larr.y. H ug hes. Yamah a's SC ali Burnworth went wire 10 wire 10 win the first mala, but he wa s pressured all the way by Jeff Ward and then by Honda's Johnny O 'Mara, O'Mara tried a last ditch, last corner pass on Bu rn wo rt h , bu t all it amounted 10 was a spi ll as the Yamaha pilot blasted away with Ward in pursuit. O' Mara got restarted in pl ent y of lime for third whi le Yamaha Pr o Support r ider R ick Johnson claimed fo u rth , the last direct transfer position, by holding off Darrell Shultz. ' After unseating teammat e Jim Gibson , Donnie Hansen ran a t th e point in th e second rnoto. Kawasaki 's Tom Benolkin secu red third from the start wh ile Scou johnson took fourth . Bob H annah was an eas y winner in th e th ird moto o n hi s factory Yamaha. H onda sup por t rider Kenn y Keylon look seco nd with K!l-IC Kawasaki 's " Dyna m ite" Dan Conwa y a fairl y cl ose th ird . Kawasaki's G oat Breker staved a head of Broc Gl over for fourth. 1\lark Barn ell outsped th e o thers in the fourth mot o . The elapsed tim e was seven seco nds Iasrer th an an v o f the ot he r races run , esta blishi ng I;im as a heavy Iavorir e. Ho nda 's David Bailey was second foll owed b y Warren Reid and Suzu ki teammate Geo rge H olland. Sh u ltz a nd Chuck Sun were 1-2 th e en tire wa y in the first semi . T he seco nd semi sa w Honda Support rid er Jimmy Ellis in Iront and flying until th e last two laps when Suzuki's Ken t H owerton slipped past. Glover rode hi s th ird race of the n igh t in th e con sy, though he hadn 't p lanned on gelli ng that much practiceon the track. He made the m ost of the extra laps and led from the first corn er on, gaining the last transfer into the 2 1-rider final over Honda Support rider Steve Martin and Suzuki Support rider Gary Den ton , " Final After th e gate dropped, Hansen appeared 10 hav e th e edge going into th e first turn, but G lover swooped down from the outside, looking like . he would ta ke over. He wouldn 't . " 1had a rea lly goodjump," Glover exp la ined later. " 1 had the last pick o n th e lin e - I got a ll theway to the outside - and I got off the gate perfect . T here was a berm th a t was there (in the first turn ), and Hansen went up to ta ke it. When we met at the berm at th e sa me time, I gOI popped up and over the other side. I clipped a ha ybale and went off the track and landed o u t on th e cem ent." By th e time he got back on th e track, Glover was last. . H an sen ga l a way c lcan l y and co m p leted th e first lap with Reid. Barn ell , Bailey and Hannah in 1O ~· . · In on e fell swoop, how ever , h e wa s quickl y in third. " 1 ga l passed a fter th e first ca me lback. in th e right-h ander." Hansen said lat er. " G o in g into ir. about hallway arou nd il,l went stra ig h t to wa rd. th e berm , a nd the re was a littl e wall , so I had 10 stop an d back up a n d get goi ng aga in. 'Th at 's wh en Barnell a nd Reid pa ssed me." H an sen ga l back a n d passed Reid a fter a co u p le la ps, but th ere was no ca tchi ng Barn ell. " It was a prett y co m forta ble lead, so I just tri ed 10 keep th at pace. T here was no need 10 win by 20 (seco nds)." Barnell said. Gibson kept Reid hon est for th e majori ty of the race, bUI Reid n ever made a mistake large eno ugh to capi talize on so the Honda ace sett led fo r four th . Hannah and Bu rn worth fin ish ed next while O 'Mara swapped spots on the la st lap with Breker for seventh. Glover ' - minus a useable fron t bra ke lever - recovered from his off- track excursion well enough . Ior -ninth while Keylo n got 10th . Saturday Preliminaries No alterna te moro was required Saturday night. Hansen and O'Mara started thi ngs off with a ba ng as they ran nearly wheel 10 wheel in the firs t rnoto. Rick Jo h n son passed Suzuki's Denn y Ben tley fo r third after bad ger, ing h iin for th e firs t half of th e race . . Wa rd led th e second moto charge in to the first tu rn with Barn ell a nd Ellis bes ide him. Ba rn ell got the drive out of the corner and ran a lone as he sped away 10 win th e fastest heal of . th e night again. Ellis managed 10 hold off a persistenr Ward while Gibson joined th e aCI in fourth . A fouled plug left Steve Martin standing at the lin e withou t hi s bike as th e one-minute board went up in th e third mot o. Honda mech anics presented him with a runn ing mach ine just before th e board went side ways, and when it did turn , he was o ff. Martin foll ow ed local shoe Dan C onwa y into th e fir st turn, bu t took over short ly th ereaft er with Gl over, H ow erton and Conway do ing th e following as they co m p leted th e first la p . I Gl over assumed th e lead o n th e seco n d circuit. keeping it to th e Iinish , a nd Howert on bumped Martin back to third on th e sixth lap. David Bail ey. and Honda Support rider Ro n Turner led th e sta rt of th e fourth rnoro. Turn er unloaded in fron t of th e pack on the face of a jump and scrambled to the edge of th e track without being run down ..Bailey got off har d in the right -han der before the finish line j ump but limped away after the race. That left Suzuki's George Holland in the lead, and h e kept it the rest of the way, marking the first-ever victory in Supercross competition for the yo u n g for mer m in icycle champ. 7

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