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/126610
" .-4 10-1 0.. -0( (Far left) Rick Johnson's 5-2 day kept him in the 250cc points lead. (Left) Bob Hannah works his 125 up the big hill to third overall. (Above left) Broc Glover (6) and Donnie Hansen provided the race of the day in the first 250cc moto. (Above) Juan Benavidez ski jumps past Kenny Keylon. uphill and squeezing inside the factor y Honda rider in th e left-h ander at the top. T ho ugh Barnett was riding strongly, -O 'Ma ra clung doggedly to him, th e . two pulling ever furth er from Gibson in third. Lap after lap. it was Barnett and O'Mara just a few feet apa rt. H alfwa y th rough the mo to, Barne tt a ppeared to move a wa y slig h tly. After th e 30-minute mark, though. things changed . As th ey threaded their wa y through lapped traff ic. Barnett met on e lapper who surprised him by suddenly popping into hi s line, causing him to stall for a moment. O 'Mara was past instantly a nd kept the lead to th e checkered, Barnett closing [rom a seven-second deficit to a bo u t two . Hannah started off in fifth on th e open ing lap , battled with Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward for a bit , th en with George Holland after Ward displaced th e Iactor y Suzuki pil ot. Twenty minutes in to the race, the Hurricane zapped Ward at the top of the hill , fell for an ins tant and kept fourth. Ward rode th e rest of the race sa ns goggles: " 1 had to pull my goggles off; somebody threw a beer a t me." H annah kept dri ving, pulling him self clo ser to Gibson . About 10 min utes from the finish, however. Gibson slowed due to a hard spill. As he drifted back, Hannah came up to snag a fairly distant third. Ward checked in a short time late r [or fourth followed by Holland , Gibson. Kehoe. Heisser, Beier a nd Suzuki support rider Gary Denton. The start of the second moto loo ked like the first - O 'Mara pitching his bik e into th e tum at the top of the start hill with Barnett coming up on his outside. Kehoe, Hannah a nd Beier kept pace at the front. too . Barnett quickly wrested the lead from O'Mara and began the business of putting as much ground as po ssibl e betw een his JeH Cl ark -tuned RAI25 and o the r riders. Wh en he took the ch eckered , h e had lapped up to firth pl ace a nd gone into the series poin ts lead . O'Mara tri ed to stay with Barnett early, but he appeared to lack the determin ed drive he had in th e first rnoto. Indeed, announcer Larry Huffman revealed th at O 'Mara had spent a co up le days in bed earlier in the week , su fferi ng from a possibl e fl u bug. As much as hi s mind will ed, his bod y was unable to perform a t th e high levels asked of it. a nd he resigned himself to a relative cr uise speed in order to fin ish. H annah pounced on O'Mara after the 10-m inute point a nd had clear sailing in second after that. He was unable to ca tch Barnett, though. Ward fought past earl y traffi c and rode by O 'Mara after the halfway mark. O 'Ma ra ' came in fourth over H olland. Heisser, Yama ha-mount ed Troy Blake, Keh oe. Denton a nd Alba Honda 's Ted Brady. 250cc National Honda 's Donnie Hansen jett ed to th e first turn first , with Scott Burnworth a nd LOP Honda rider Jim T arantino close behind as they dropped off Banzai and o nt o th e short stra ig ht . Gl over quickl y moved pas t everyo ne but H ansen by the end of th e first lap. The two put on som e of th e best racing of th e da y [or the rest of th e rnot o as they swapped th e lead with Glover leading several laps first, then Hansen taking over, then Glover getting it back [or one lap before getting pa ssed back. As they headed up the fini sh straigh t some 30 minutes into the moto, Glover took the hi gh line and pulled alongside H ansen. That put him on th e inside. and he stuffed it underneath th e H onda ace in th e tight righthander that followed [or the final pass. " 1 thought I co uld get him just a bo u t any time," Gl over said later. " I wasn 't that co ncerne d a bo ut it , but he (Ha nsen) probably thought the same th in g about me." Warren Reid got around Burnworth [or th ird o n the second la p a nd fin ished that way. T he come back ride of th e da y had to be fifth p lace Rick Johnson . " I got a little too much trac tion a nd wh eelied off th e gate and was a bo ut 17th, " he said after ward. "The n 1 cras hed and came around 27th . I thought 1 was gonna com e up to the top 10, so 1 sorta lucked out. " T om Benolkin had been running a stro ng fifth until he pulled over to confe r with his mechanic, Rick Asch , some 10 minutes from th e fini sh , J ohnson and Suzuki's Denny Bentley went by, but he wa s a ble to repass Bentl ey and earn sixth . Eighth went to Tarantino followed by Jeff J ennings and Husky's Kris Bigelow. Bentley , Hansen, Gloverand Burnworth led the sta rt of th e second moto. Glover took the lead before th e lap was ove r. though , with H ansen . Bentley, Burnworth, Clint Hardick, T arantino, Reid , Honda support rider Kenny Keylon o n a works bike a nd Johnson trailing. Glover a nd H ansen im mediately began th eir process of detachment [rom th e rest of the pa ck , As th e laps clicked off, Hansen dr ew closer a nd closer to Glover, preparin g for a pass. It never came , though. Near th e m idw ay point of the moro, Gl over came aro und in the lead, bu t H ansen was nowhere to be seen. After Reid, Johnson and Burnworth wisked by in seco nd thro ug h fourt h. Hansen putted slowly up to the mechanics' area and sto pped, his exhaust pipe smas hed , forks damaged and left calf hurt. Disappointed, he headed into the pits wh ere he ex p lain ed lat er, "So me guy crashed in the triple jumps. I couldn't see it till I was in the air. and I landed right on his bike." . ' With Hansen out, Glover had clear sailing to the finish , a nd he simply stretched his lead with each lap. He was 30 seconds clear ofsecond place a t 30 m inutes. " I finally won a Na tional!" he exclaimed later. He admitted making a few changes to his bike after last weekend's disappointing race but stated. " I woke up; that's the biggest thing. 1ga ve him (Hansen) o ne (win) a t Seattle; he owed me one ." . Reid held second for j ust a short time before he went down du e to a lapped rider. "A g uy went to move out of my way, but 1 was a lready pa st him. T he bike landed on my back ." . The sp ill put h im back to fifth a nd forced him to throw off hi s gogg les in order to push his sweatband up out of his eyes. Johnson took over as th e run nerup with Burnworth following him in for th ird. Reid repassed Bentley for fo urth with a li ttle over 10 minutes to go. A co up le of laps after that, Benolkin , riding with no front brake since his bike's fork sea ls had blown and coated the brake di sc with oil, got Bentl ey for fifth. Seventh went to Tarantino with Honda support rid ers Larry Wosick, Steve Martin a nd Keylon tra iling. • Results 125 NATIONAL: 1. Marlt Boman (Suz) 2-1; 2. Johnny O'Mara (Han) 1-4 : 3 . Bob Hannah (Yam) 3-2; 4 .Jeff Ward (Kaw) 4-3 ; 5. George Holland (Suz) 5-5 ; 6. Chris Heisser (Suz) 8·6 ; 7. Erik Kehoe (Yam) 7-8; 8. Troy Blake (Yam) 11-7; 9. Gary Denton (Suz) 10-9; 10. Ted 8rady (Han) 14 -10; 11. Frill Schlegel (Suz) 13-11 : 12. J im Gibson (Han) 6-'; 13. Ron Turner (Hon ) 16-14; 14 . M ike Beier (Yam) 9 -26; 15. Kar l Jordan (Yam) 17-15: 16. Michael Preston (Suz) 26 -12 ; 17. RickMaki(Kaw) 12-" : 18. Roger Hensley (Suz) 22 -13; 19. Dean Cates (Han) 15-"; 20 . David Weak (Suz) 28 -16. 250 NATIONAL: 1. Brae Glover (Yam) 1- 1: 2. Rick Johnson (Yam) 5-2 : 3. Scon Burnworth (Yam)4-3: 4. Wa rren Reid (Suz) 3-4; 5. Tom Benolkin (Kaw) 6-5 ; 6. Denny Benlley (Suz) 7 -6; 7. Jim Tarant ino (Han) B·7; B. Larry Wosick (Han) l1-B; 9. Donnie Hansen (Han) 2·"; 10.KrisBigelow(Hus) 10-11 ; 11. Jeff Jennings (Yam) 9-14; 12. Kenneth Keylon (Han) 14-10; 13. Steve Manin(Hon) 16-9 ; 14. Ross Pederson (Suz) 13-13; 15. Juan Banavidez (Yam) lB-12 ; 16. Jim Anderson (Yam) 12 -" ; 17. Bill Liles (Kaw ) 2B·15; lB. Clint Hardick (Suz) 15-26; 19. Rodney Smith (Suz) 23-16; 20. Raben Reisinger (Suz) "-17. • Denotes DNF AMA 125 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSH IP MOTO· CROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Marlt Barnen (94); 2. Johnny O'Mara (90); 3. Jeff Ward In~ 4 . George Holland (63); 5. Bob Hannah (62); 6. Jim Gibson (53 ); 7. Gary Denton (45); 8. Erik Kehoe (42); 9. Ron Turner (40); 10. Troy Blake (37); 11. Chris Heisser (31); 12. Michael Preston (25~ 13.lTIE) Dan Turner/Jeff Surwall (21); 15. Russ Wageman (20); · 16. Kyle Landrum (19); 17. lTIE)Frill SchlegellTed ' Brady (18); 19. Mike Beier (17); 20. Dean Cates (15). AMA 250 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MOTO· CROSS SERIES POINT STANOINGS; 1. Rick John· son (B5); 2. Warren Reid (79); 3. lTIE) Brae Glo_ / Scon Burnworth (76t. 4. Larry Wosick (5B); 6~ Denny Bentley (56 t. 7. lTIE) Kenny Keyton/Jim Tarantino (5H 9. Donnie Hansen 14Bt. 10. Steve Manin 146~ 11. Kris Bigelow 142~ 12.Tom Benoll tin (36); 13. Clint Hardick (29t. 14. Bill Liles (21t 15 . Jeff Jennings (19 ~ 16. (TIE) Rodney Smith/Juan Benavidez (1 B); 1B. Ross Pederson (16); 19. Marlt Murphy (12); 20. Jim Anderson (9). II