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/126620
the Honda camp and its riders Malherbe and Noyce; both of whom have held the title. You can't win the World Championship without the ability to win at Carlsbad, but like other European rid ers, the distance to and the climate of southern California will make a difference for them. Semics is another Honda-mounted GP regular, and he 's seen plenty of laps around the up and down adobe of Carlsbad. He's having a tremendo u s first GP season, and ca n be cou nted on to do well. Over in th e Yam aha ca m p, Hakan Carlqvist and Neil Hudson are both capable of scoring wins. However , Carlqvist missed some of th e early season with a wrist injury, and Hudson is in his first season of 500cc competition and has never seen Carlsbad. _ Lackey 's Suzuki teammates, Bru n o and Vromans , have had good seasons to da te, each with a G P victory, but both face the adjustments th a t must be made to co mpete in earnest on the SoCaI adobe. 1982 wi ll mark the first a ppearance at Carlsbad of Thorpe, the English Kawasaki rider. T hough he has no t been rea lly consistent to date, he has shown signs of brilliance and did miss one G P win by only 15 seconds. On the other side of the fence are the American National riders. Time was when American riders couldn't buy half the top 10 when competing against the visiting Europeans, but that's changed. Remember Marty Moates' astounding 1980 win as a privateer, and Chuck Sun 's overall win last year. The prowess of MXing Americans is such that we feel we shou ld rate Honda 's Darrell Shultz as our prerace co-favorite, along with Lackey. Darrell is riding a hot streak, having compiled two straight 500cc National MX wins. Last yea r, as a member of Team Suzuki, he led several laps of th e second moto of the USGP before crashing. Shultz's Honda teammates include Sun, the.event's defending champion, and Dann y " Magoo" Chandler, who can put on a heckuva show anywhere. Suzuki's chances were weakened by the loss of Kent Howerton, who suffered a broken leg a t the Atlanta MX National and will be out of actio n for eight weeks . Teammate Alan King is a stron g runner in outdo or co m pe titio n, so keep an eye out for him. The Yamaha sq ua d is led by Mik e "T oo Tall " Bell , wh o led th e first moto of th e 1979 USG P, building up an almost in su rpassab1e lead before succ u m bi ng 10 heat exha ustio n with on ly two la ps to go . Mik e has battled a knee inju ry through much of th e year, but he can never be co unt ed out. Kawasaki pins its hopes o n Goat Breker , wh o has spen t enough time on so u the rn California ci rc u its to be able to ride th em blindfolded at night. Seasoned by three years of National MX competition , Breker shou ld be ready 10 G oat for it. Moates, the first American 10 win th e event, was co m pe ting in Europe ea rl ier in the season on a privatelybacked Honda, but returned early to prepare for Carlsbad. Another potentia l winner. Rega rd less of who wins , the USGP is usually a great show. Get there ea r ly for a good spot and enjoy the southern Ca lifornia sunshine. Gates open at 8 a.rn. and practice starts at 10. Tickets are available at Ticketron , from th e promoter and at the gate. For more informat ion, call 714/495-6906. You can get to Carlsbad Raceway by taking In tersta te 5 10 Palomar Airport Rd. , and then heading east to the track. 1 • I , I r , ' I I' • Something different-Crossline Motocross Products ,apparel. It's bold, rugged and bea ut ifully sty led, not t o mention remarkably comfortable. And to introduce us to you, starting now unt il June 30th, go o ut end see your Maico dealer, make yo ur best c1eal on a new A lpha 1 o r Alpha E-and we'll thr ow in the gear: boots, pants, gloves, jersey and goggles. At absolutely no charge! Now that's a great deel.i.on a winning combination. ~ CRQI1UftE Motocross Products 6/6 /82 A tlanta, GA 7th ROUND AMA 250cc NATIONAL DONNIE HANSEN Honda on DUNLOP 2nd David Bailey Honda on DUNLOP 8 of the top 10 rode DU NLOPS. ' Congratulations. Donnie. for this w in and for t ightening up the points lead . Thanks for choosing DUNLOP. 11111 ~·!!.~~!:!!P I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 11 I II I I I I I I I I I III I I I I II I I II 33 , I I I I 11