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/126614
By lap fo u r O'Mara was on h is way to . a perfect score, passing Holland and pacing to the £lag without any mistakes. Two laps later Barnett wo rked past Gibson, but Holland put up more of a battle. The Suzuki factory rookie held hi s veteran teammat e in tow for a number o f laps befor e Barnett worked by. O 'Mara wasn 't a bo u t to break his pa ce. " Yeowl" he screa med a t lapped riders as he cut inside th rough a tight turn . By th e fini sh he had 19 seconds on Barnett, with Gibson using the last part of th e m oro to ta ke third from Holland. He was a quarter lap behind Barnett a t the fin ish. Ward retu rn ed to form in moto two and a lso slip ped by Holland for fourth . Holland took fifth and was followed by Heisser, Denton and Jordan. " I' ve been training so hard for this championship," said O'Mara, "I knew what the sand her e was like, and I was getting , tired, but so was everyone else, I' ll j ust keep k nockiri ' at the door. There's eig h t more motos in th e series, and I thi n k I can make up the difference in points. " 250cc National Donnie "Holeshot" Hansen lived up to his nic kn ame as the first 250cc moto goi off th e line with Florida riders a nd Honda teammates Keylo n and Steve Martin 203. By lap two, two things were certain: Keylon was n 't going to let a nyone stand in his wa y, and the large crowd was behind his charge. Keylon made his move with a mid-air pass on Hansen on lap two which brought an even higher decibel level from the crowd. From there it was Keylon's race . He quickly put ground on Ha nsen with his Da ve Carter tu ned RC250AF, while Martin maintai ned his pace in third, G lover and Bailey were scrapping for fourt h with Kawasaki Team Green's Bill y Liles sixth. By the ha lf point Keylon used his torrid pace to put 13 seconds on Hansen, with Martin trying to hold off Ba iley for thi rd . Glover was fifth and Kawasa ki's Tom Beno lkin moved to sixth. Hansen slowed after the hal fwa y point with a front whee l problem, bu t retained second for a few la ps before Bailey moved to second by stuffing past on the in side th ro ug h a sweeper. By the finish Keylon had 20 seco nds on Ba iley, who onl y had 10 feet on Hansen. Martin and Gl over were safe in th e 4-5 slo ts with Yamaha su pported Rick Johnson, a National winner this yea r, sixth. Reid was seventh, and DG backed Mark Murphy was eighth. "Alrightl I love irl" yelled Keylon after the race. " T h is is my tra ck, and I'll be racing here again when I'm not at the Nat ionals. What a da y!" " I was breaking spokes and had to cool it," said Hansen. Martin and Keylon sandwiched Hansen off the start of moto two and it looked like the trio wo uld o nce again move o ut front, b u t H ansen 's charge ended on lap o ne . He pitted while Honda mec hanics straightened his bi ke's handlebars, then barely got going again -a lap down-wh en he tangled with Robert Reisinger in a righ t hand tum wi th both going down. By that ti me Hansen had lost his com pe titive edge and fin ish ed a n eventua l 18th . With Hansen 's demise, it was Floridians Keylon a nd Martin o ut fro nt, a nd th e cro wd loved it. Glover, Bailey, Suzuki p ri vateer Dave Ho ll is and Benol kin had to play catch-up. Glover moved to second, which left Martin and Benolkin to scrap for third. Johnson and Bailey were 5-6. By the ha lfway mark, Keylo n had 25 seconds on Glover. When he tried to pass Hansen , who was being lapped, the pair got into a heated dice which lasted three la ps. Keylon at that poin t disposed of Hansen and continued running away with it, Ba iley went to work o n Gl o ver and set him up a number of times, fina lly getting by after the infield ju m p by the start area. In one of his moves Ba iley tried a skyrocket jump which had him looking down on Glover. He finally used an "S" turn to get by for second. Johnson had been gaining ground but went down just as Bailey passed Glover. Wh en the whi te £lag came ou t a cloudburst drenched the course, but few fans left their seats. KeyIon came across the fin ish line with 21 seconds on Bai ley, wh o , in turn, put some gro u n d on Glover. Johnson , Martin and LOP 's J im Tarantino followed acro ss a wa ys back from th e front runners. The crowd went wild wh en Keylon 's perfect da y was com plete. Many ca me over th e fenc e to the finish are a where Keylon was accepting co ngra tulations. The first thing he had time for was a hug from his mother and sister and a long kis s from his girl fri end. ''I'll be looking back at this one," said Keylon . " I exceeded my expecta. tions- I didn 't think I could win both motos, It wasn 't the works bikes that much either. It was having a works mechanic (Dave Carter) who has the machine properly p repared. I'm wo rking out, training hard. J eff Spencer, the team trainer, set u p a program that is really help ing me o ut. T he hot weather is tough for everyo ne, but a ll those Florida fans got me going. I didn't know h ow to handle a ll the support." " I saw a cou p le of sa tell ites the first ti me I tried to jump past Gl over ," sai d Bailey. " I landed too ha rd , but I set the pass up again th e nex t la p and got by. It look ed lik e Broc was fast in some spots bu t then he rested in other places. I knew Honda would be ha p py if I made that pass." "You a lmost put yo ur footpeg on top o f Gl over's head,'! sai d Joh nson. ITo p) Donnie Hansen (7 ) and Robert Reisinger tangled in t he second 250cc moto. (Above) Mark Barnett was second in t he 125s with a 3-2 day. " My front end kicked out when I went down." " I can ride all day at a hare scra mbles a n d not get tired. but I can 't understand it today ," said fourth overa ll Martin. " I think I can beat those guys, and I'm going to have to change my training to do it ." " I ran with Keylon in moto two," said Hansen, "but it was pointless. I .fell too many times in that race to do any good. " • Results 125cc NATIONA L: 1. Jo hnny O'M ar e (Han) 1·1 : 2. M erk Bernett (Suz) 3·2; 3. J im Gibso n (Han ) 2-3; 4. George Holl and (Suzl 4-5; 5. Chr ie Heisar (Suzl 5· 6; 6. Jeff We rd (Kewl l 0 -4 ; 7. Kerl Jo rden (Yem) 7·B; B. Erik Kehoe (Yem) 6·9; 9. Gery Oen'on {Suzl 9·7; 10 . Troy Bla ka (Yeml B· l0: 11. Devid Week (Suzl 11·13: 12. S'e ve Burdette (Suz) 13· 12; 13. M ichael Preston (Kaw ) 15 -1 1; 14 . Ron Turner (Hon ) 12·1 6; 15. Jelt Wimmer (Suz) 1B-15; 16. Merk But ler (Hon) 2D-14: 17. Doug Jeckson (Yem) 14-'; 1B. Fritz Sch l"llel (Suz) 16-20; 19. Terry M ertz (Suz) · -1 7; 20. Jeff SUI'W1lIl (Hon) 17·'; 21 . TerryTi nney (Kawl··l B; 22 . Ru.tyWageman (Suz) · · 19: 23 . Jell Schumacher (Yam) 19·-, -de notes placing out of top 20 . 2 50CC NATIONAl: 1. Kenn y Keylon (Han) 1· 1: 2. David Bail ey( HonI 2· 2: 3. Brae Glo..r (YamI 5· 3; 4. Stave Ma n in (Hon) 4·5: 5. Rick Jo hn lOn (Yam) 6-4; 6 . Jim Taranti no (Hon) 9 -6: 7. W ". n Reid (Suz) . 7OB; B. Mark Murphy(Yam) B·" : 9. Donn ie Hensan IHon) 3-1 8; lD. Clin' Herdick(SuzllD-10; 11. Scott Burn wo n h (Yam) 12·9; 12. Bobby Handy (Han) 11 13; 13. Ross Pederson (Suzl ··7; 14. Raben Reisi n· ger (Suz)··12: 15. Raben Buff aloe (Han) 19·14; 16. Da.. Hollis ISuz) 13-· ; 17. Juan Benavidez (Yam) 14.': 1B. Eddie W ilborn (Hon) ··15; 19 . Doug Longwall(Hon) 15·'; 20. Kevin Gilchrist (Han) ··1 6; 21 . Ke~h Oelerich (Han) 16·'; 22 . Tommy Myer. (Suz) · ·17; 23 . Jeff Hope (Han) 17 -'; 24 . Bill Lile. (Kew) 18··: 25. David LoveIiIHonl'-19; 26 . Raben Kelly (Hu.) · ·20; 27. Tim Richardson (Han) 20-', AM A 125cc NATIONAL CHA M PIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Mark Barne tt (1 n); 2. Johnny O'M ar a (16 2); 3. Je ff Wa rd (148); 4 . J im Gibson (1331; 5. George Holl and(1 30); 6. Gary Danton (9 9); 7. Bob Han nah (98); 8. Erik Keh oe 1971 9. Ron : Turn er (n); 10. Chr is Heissle r (75); 11. Troy Blak e (70): 12. Michae l Preston (54); 13. Karl J ordan (37); 14. Mike Beier (3 3t. 15. David Wea k (32): 16. Doug Jack.on (30t. 17 . Kyle Landrum (29): 18. (TIE) Jell Surwell /Dean Ca'e. (27 ): 20 . Rusty Wageman (251. AMA 250CCNATIONA L CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS; 1. Brae Glova r (154) ; 2. Rick Johnson (150); 3. Kenn y Keylon (13 9); 4. Don nie Hensen (11 81: 5. Warren Reid (1 16): 6. Scott Burnwonh {11 1t. 7. S'e .. Manin (110t. B.JimTarant ino(l06t 9. Larry Wosick (85 );10. David 8a iley (82 ): " , Dann y Bent ley (66); 12. Clin t Hard ick (65); 13. Ros. Pederson (56 ); 14. Kr i. Bigelow (48); 15. Tom Benol kin (46 1 16. Mark Murphy (35 t. 17. Bill Lila. ; (3 2); 18. Bobby Handy (2 9t 19. Juan Banavidu (25); 20 . (TIE) Dave Holl is/Dan Conway (20 ). AMA MX MANUFAcnJRER POINT STANDINGS : 1. Honda (35 5t2. Yama ha (3 14t. 3. Suzu ki (3 10t 4. .. Kawasaki (217t. 5. ~rna 1411t. 6. Meico C2~ .11