Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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ome Superc ross for the series points lead. Donnie Hansen cruised alone in front in both rounds of the Silverd AM A/W ran gle r Supercross Series: Rounds 8·9 Hansen al l alone a t Silverdome By Tom Muell er Photo s by Lance Bryso n PONT IAC, MI, APR. 24-25 Hon da's Don nie Han sen mad e dou ble trou ble for the com peti tion at the Bud weis er Sup ercr oss dou bleh eade r in the Pon tiac Silv erdo me. Han sen led all but seve n laps in the ra ces he rode, won both final s, an d now looks to be a shoo- in for the '82 Super cross Series crown with a secur e 8 points lead wi th three rounds rema ining. Honda 's jim G ibson turned in a strong perfo rma nce with a 2-3 weekend, and rode relative ly m istake-free throug hout both finals. Third on Saturday went to 'SO Supercross champ Mike Bell, the factory Yamah a rider who returned to racing - a t the Silverdo me after being sid elined with a kn ee injury sin ce j anuary. Runner-up honors on Sunday went to j ohnny O 'Mara, making for a 1-2-3 Honda sweep in that final. Thoug h the co urse hadn't cha nged much £rom its format in '81,the com petition and machin ery had . T op level riders, combin ed with high power and smooth handli ng works bikes , made clearin g two or three jumps at a time th e norm. With that came higher risks, and some suffered becaus e of it. Yamah a's Bob Hanna h ba iled off in Sa tu rday's p ractice session , tearing ligame nts in hi s left ankle. Suzu ki' s Denny Bentley misj udged a jump in Saturd ay's fin al and ended up with a punctu red lung and broken ribs. The sa me jump which claime d Bentley put teamm ate George Hollan d o n the ground on Sunda y in practi ce. Roost Factory 's Carlos Serran o crashe d on top o f H olland and in jured hi s collarb one. Honda su p port rider Larry Wosick jumpe d o ff in the same practi ce sessio n, launch ed himsel f-with out his bik e-off the co urse and onto cem ent, injurin g his neck and back. Many minor injuries were sustain ed by other riders. The Pace/D elta promo ted event drew a reporte d crowd of 29,118 on Saturd ay and 27,221 on Sunday . Satur day Serran o, Team Monto ya Suziki Reis inger and Maico's r~d.e.!"._~ obert Andy Stacy were claime d by turn one in heat one. By the time they got roIling H ansen had his RC250AF wa y out front over Kawasaki Team Green's Bill y Liles, on a stock machin e with low er ed suspe nsion. Kawas aki's jeff Ward learned how to peg the throttle off th e jumps and moved into second by the finish , but was five second s shy of Hansen . Canad ian Suzuki ri<»r Ross Peders on moved to third, and O'Mar a stuffed Suzuki 's Alan King throug h the final turn for the last transfe r. Liles cra shed out of contention . Gibson took the heat two holesho t, but Suzuki' s Mark Barnet t, the reigning champ , took over on lap one throug h a set of small jumps. Yamaha 's Rick johnso n and Honda 's David Bailey diced for third, and johnso n came up with it. It was Barnet t, Gibson, johnso n and Bailey at the nag. It would have been an uneven tful race , but jeff Ellens change d that when he bailed off over a big jump. He was OK. Yamah a's Broc Glover started third and went to first in short order in heat three. Honda suppor t riders j immy Ellis and Steve Martin ran 2-3, but Martin had to earn his slot over Suzuki 's Kent Hower ton, who was riding withou t a wrist brace for the first time in month s. Martin cut a line which put Hower ton into the bales late in the race. Hower ton maintained his pace for fourth and a transfe r. Half of the pack went down in domin o fashion throug h the first turn in heat four. Honda 's Darrell Shultz got by the proble m by taking the holesh ot followe d by Bell, who took over by lap three. The pair rubbed knees and floppe d positio ns a numbe r of times, but late in the race Bell pulled away. Shultz was alone in seco nd, and Yamah a's Scott Burnworth won out over Suzuki 's Warren Reid for th ird. First year pro j eff Sp reem an was runnin g up front for most of th e race but crashed wh en " the front wh eel locked up and I went over th e bars ." Kawasaki 's Goat Breker was unchallenged for the sem i one win with Kin g a safe seco nd. In semi two Hon da su p port rider Kenny Keylon took the hol esh ot on his works bike, but went down with Hollan d and Bentley in turn one. Honda su p po rt rider Ron Turner took the lead, but was d isplaced by Kawas aki 's Tom Benolk in. Benolk in went on for the win over H olland , who charged back after hi s fall . Bentley a nd Keylon matche d up in th e consola tio n race, a nd th e baule ended when Keylon hit th e wall next to the sta nds. He was a lrigh t, but th e win went to Bentley to complete the 21 rider field for th e final. Gibson put Hansen in tow o ff th e start in th e final , but by lap two Hansen was o u t front. Ellis, Ward, Shultz, Reid , Bell and Bailey comprised the front runners. Bell returned to full form over th e o ff-rhy th m ju m ps and pressed into third. Shultz pined for a lap while mechan ics worked over his rear wh eel assem bly, and Barneu saw a charge to th e front go to waste when he fell on lap two. Reid, Glover and O 'Mara moved into th e 4-5-6 spots after Ellis and Ward faded with problem s. Nea r mid-ra ce, Bentley fell hard trying to clear a tricky double jump, wh ere the second jump was higher than th e first. He crawle d off the track to safety. Burnw orth and Ward c1ipped each other in mid-ai r off th e same jump, with Burnw orth failing to keep it on two wheels . Hansen , Gibson and Bell stabilized and crossed the finish line in that order, with O'Mar a taking fourth from Reid late in the race . johnso n, Ward, Glover , Martin and King comprised the top ten .