Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Ward (9) , Alan King (17) and Broc Glover (6) lead Sunday's f inal milliseconds before the big crash. (Inset ) Ward 's bike dregs Glover's out of a mess. AMA/Wrangler S~per Series: Rounds 2-3 Hannah hits for· two in S'eattle By Karel Kramer Photos by Brian Barnes and Kramer SEATTLE, WA, FEB. 12-13 Bob Hannah rewarded those at American Honda who believed in him, turning in a pair of wins in the Miller High Life Supercross double-header a t the Seattle Kingdome. Hannah's Sa turday night was a start to finish affair brough t him to within point of the series lead. win that one On Sunday afternoon, the " H urr icane" had to come from behind to avoid a terrifying first turn crash that claimed a number of top runners. Team Honda 's David Bailey placed second both nights, and is now tied with Hannah for th e point lead. Kawasaki 's jeff Ward placed th ird in th e ope ning night, but was one of th ose involved in the first turn cras h on Sunday. Honda 'sjohnnyO 'Ma ra rounded out th e top th ree in th at one. Saturday 6 An esti ma ted 30,000 fan s cheered th eir approval of th e event, possibl y th e most unusual Supercross event in the hi stor y of indoor motocr oss: a missil e fasi tra ck with no rockingtype wh oops. Starts were the keys to thi s unusu al event tha t sa w production bikes win major heats a nd factor y riders Broc Gl over , j ohnny O 'Mara a nd Kent Ho wert on riding the Last Cha nce Qualifier. Obviou sl y, o nly one cou ld mak e th e fin al - Dann y " Magoo" Ch andler. Magoo 's cha nces in the fin al were hampered by a fall he took, afte r his tra ns ferr ing ride , on his return to the pits. With lap times hovering in the 40second range, riders were literall y throwing their bikes off of the jumps, landing with their weight well back and powering brutally down the straights. Many privateer riders, notably some small, light ones, made their first appearance in a Supercross final. Heats Mark Barnell made it look as if th e teething problems that plagued the radical new Suzukis at Anaheim were pa st history in heat one. Barnell grabbed th e hol esh ot ah ead of Honda support team members Steve Martin a nd Kenny Keylon. Danny Chandler fil ed his works Honda into fourth ahea d of Kawasaki 's Kent Howerton and Wheelsm ith's Kevin Davis, on a KTM. David Bail ey foll ow ed Davi s bri efly , but a mi ssed shift put th e KTM pilot on th e fu el tank in an un comfortable fash ion. Bailey pressured the " Rhinestone Cowboy," then slid undern eath him in the first turn. Howerton went back by, but hi t a rid er pulling over to let hi m by in the foll owing turn. Barnell ra n smoothl y a nd mis take free in fro m and took th e win. At Bail ey's ins istence to pa ss, Keylon, Chandler and Bailey got close, but , the finish was the same - Barnell, Martin, Keylon and Bailey. johnny O 'Mara trenched his works Honda through the relatively smooth sand to lead heat two over alternate moto winners R o n Lechien and Donnie Camaloupi - both on Yamahas. Young Mike Larson used his light weight and reflexes to hold fourth on his production Honda in front of Team Tamm's Dean Cates. By the end of the first lap, Warren Reid 's Ceet Racing / O ff Roader R u nning Shoes Yamaha and Canada's Ti m Krog h had displaced Cates. Lechien suffered the first of many Yamaha chain dera il ment pro blems on the fo llowing lap , moving Ca ntalo u pi and La rso n in to second and third for good. Reid took fourth and Su zuki su p port rider Rick Ryan took fift h ahead o f Tod d P e terson ' s Yam ah a su ppo rt / T ea m Swo len Yamaha. O ' Mara dominated the race to the end. H anna h's bi ke seem ed incidental, he rode throug h the first turn of heat three on the wave of the crowd's roar. Yamaha 's Mike Bell was making his come-back ride, from knee surgery, in seco nd. jimmy Holley and his support Yamaha and Kawasaki's Bill y Liles were the riders doing the moving. Holley completed lap one in seventh behind Team Tamm's Mike Shoemaker, Honda's Ph il Larson, Suzuki's Scott Burn worth and Suzukimounted Rob Hodgson, from Canada. Hannah and Bell were running away with the race, but Holley traded seventh for fifth on lap two and Liles took seventh. Holley took Hodgson on the next lap for fourth and Liles pa ssed Burnworth. The final order read Hannah, Bell , Larson and Holley. Goat Breker signaled that hi s career best weekend of Supercross was at hand with a fourth heat holeshot that carried him to the £lag first. Suzuki's Alan King, Broc G love r, jim Tarantino and Kawasa ki 's Ward filled th e positions behind Breker, on th e first lap, and ah ead of Maico' s Bill y Grossi _ and self-spo nsored Tom Benolkin o n a Honda. Ward slipped to fourth on th at first lap after a fourth from last pl ace start. He went by Tarantino over th e big j ump, ca ugh t Gl over and ran beside him down the start stra,ig h t. Glover tipped over and Ward moved to third. Positions remained the same: Breker , King (looking very good o n a 250cc), Ward and Glover. Honda-supported Erik Kehoe bolted to the first q uarterfinal lead ahead of WP Ra ci ng 's Eric Ha ll a nd Yamaha's Ro n Lechien, Lechien picked off a rider a lap to win over Kehoe a nd Den n y Bentley. Shoemaker won the first of the last two transfer spots to the semis - start to finish over O ' Neal/Honda -spo nsored Larry Hooper. Semis With haH of the nigh t's big guns on the line, H onda su pport ri ders Ken n y Keylo n, Kehoe and Martin powered to a three-way p roduction bi ke hol eshot. Mi ke Larson, Barnett, Bailey and Reid filled the next slots. Barnett picked up p lace after p lace to take second from Martin at the flag. Martin , Keh oe, Bailey, Reid , Larson and Cantaloupi took th e rem aining tra ns fer spots. Breker led Bell and Liles out of the second sem i turn o ne, but a rear brake prob lem that p lagued Breker all nigh t cropped u p. His rear brake locked on in the third turn, let ting Bell by to win. Breker held second for a lap before dropping back. With Breker 's mechanically induced fade, Holley, Liles, H oo pe r, Glover 'a nd H annah were lef t to capture the fleeing Yamaha star. Glover and Hannah dropped from the top runners. G lover said, " Ha n na h stalled or somethi ng and I got him. I thought, all right! Then oh, no1, beca use my chain derai led." King, Grossi and Bu rnworth moved into the five through seven slo ts. Hannah was flying in the pack, but Glover's chain had derailed under a bridge. The situation di d not allow h im to get off of the bike safely to retrack th e cha in, and he lost too much ground. Hanna h caught Bu rn worth and Grossi, flying by Grossi in the air over a set of double jumps. Grossi looked all set to put a European bik e in th e final , but " Burnworth came in u nder me and too k us both out," said Grossi lat er. Ward and Myerscough took the fin al transfer spo ts. The unusu al circu ms ta nces ,preva i li ng had H owerton , O 'Mara , Burn worth and Ch andl er in th e La st Ch ance race. Chandler gra bbed the ~ ta rt. over Breker , Burnworth . a nd

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