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/126632
the final transfers to the semi-finals were Yamaha rider Todd Peterso n and Honda privateer Tommy Ben olkin. Glover and Bailey led the next heat over Yamaha 's former Supercross champion Mike Bell, Honda Support rider Brian Myerscough, Yamaha's Rick Johnson and one of the rare black Pros in the country, Galveston Honda-sponsored David McClain. Bailey powered past Glover and into the lead up the face of the biggest jump, but came out of the whoops behind Glover and Bell. Bailey tried hard, but the top three remained the same. Johnson got by Myerscough, and that settled the top six. Doug Jackson (Yam) and Yamaha Motor Canada's Doug Hoover were the final transfers out of th is heat. Phil Larson 's support team production Honda led the third qualifier over Barnett. Steve Martin moved from h is seventh p lace start to third. Donnie Camaloupi moved h is Ya maha into fo urth at the finish after fai ling in the first tu rn with T eam Tarnm's Mi ke Tripes. Both started last. Tri pes worked up to only seventh . Barnett set Larson up and passed him in a turn, and the race was over. Honda team and support riders Johnny O ' Mara, Goa t Breker and Jeff H icks led the final q ualifier in the same position they started in .Ieadingevery lap. Suzuki's Clint Hardick dropped behind Warren R eid 's Ceet Yamaha/Off-roader running shoes Yamaha and Team Tarnrn's Mike Shoemaker. Erik Kehoe (Hon) and Kris Bigelo w's Yamaha were the last to move directly on. Alan King's factory Suzuki and Ross Pederson's production Canadian Suzuki led every lap of the first quarterfinal to make the semifinal. The second quarterfinal saw Honda Support/Galveston H o n da rider Da n Conway make a determined run at. Suzuki star Scott Bu rnworth , bu t Lechien took the moto with Bu rnworth second. Semis Mike Bell and Bailey had been using their lo ng legs as extra suspension to tackle the stadium whoops after the start like whoops, where ot hers were treating them like jumps. T he ir way worked. They exited turn o ne in a virtual dead heal. Bell grabbed the lead a nd his teammate G lo ver went by Bailey a la p la ter. Behind their three-way battle came Holley, Liles, Ward, Myerscough and Hannah. Ward and Hannah went to war and Hannah eventually passed, but Ward won the war when Hannah bailed over the sand wall jump. Hannah •was fifth followed by Myercough, King and Johnson. Larson's rocket-fast production bike grabbed the second semi-final start over O'Mara, Barnett, Reid, Lechien, Breker an d Cantaloupi. O'Mara wem to work on Larson, and, after running side by side, he got him on lap three. On the same lap, - young Lechien showed no respe ct for - Barnett's reputation and passed him. Lechien settled into third, but Larson sudden ly slowed, presumably with a seized engine. He pulled the choke on for a few turns, gassed it for a whi le, then slowed a nd pulled the choke again. Ba rnett and Breker were having an excellent, clean battl e in third and fourth and gave eac h other the thumbs up sign after the £lag. O ' Mara won narrowly with Lechien, Barnett and Breker trailing. Last Chance Qualifier Larson again appeared to have a rocket under him, bu t, a few laps into the race, it was certain that it was a [ha n d g renade instead. It loo ked li ke another seizure. Holley grabbed the lead and rode to a strong wi n with L~les c;:losingat the ~n~, .bu t not close. .. , .. · , 1· · _ · · · .... ·· · .. Final Glover huggged it tight around the inside lin e in the first turn and grabbed the start over Hannah, Ba il ey, Bell, Lechien and Bar n ett. Hannah thrilled the crowd with a near loo p out over the big jump, but saved it and tu rned the fire up under G lover. Glover was riding a strong race in the tight stuff, but Hannah got beside him in the sand and stuffed inside. He wasn't taking no for an answer, and Glover was forced wide. O 'Mara was the rider doing the most moving, but a bobble in the first turn had left him last and wi th a lot of room to move. The riders from fifth on back moved up a notch when Lechien fell. Later he went over backwards at speed over the big jump. He got up and was all right, but his bike wasn 't anywhere in sight. With Lechien out, O'Mara moved into the top 10. . By lap six, the first four riders, Hannah, Glover, Bailey and Bell, were spread, and the action was going on a little farther back as Johnson worked on Ba rn ett and Ward battled with King. Ward made a pass stick and O'Mara came up behind to push him. Bar n ett succumbed to the pressure Johnson was supplying, and J ohnson took fifth. Two laps later Barn ett went off the track and dropped o ut of the to p 10. About halfway through the race Bailey got around Gl over an d charged after Hannah, bu t he started too late. Hannah was gone. "It's not a technical track, it's a wi de-open, southern California-style get-the-holesho tand-win track ," was H annah 's appraisal, "I really wasn't into it . To ride it 20 minutes was a chore for me ." Ba iley gave his and Hannah's nowc'· II '."~""'"'' '' ~ .. ,~ - - (Above) Barnett rode hard all weekend . He got his chance in Sunday's final and grabbed it. (Below) David Bailey was hot and close all weekend, fa m iliar, but unconvincing, interview, saying that h e was glad the other guy won if he could n't. Bailey said before the race that he was tired of being second. After the race Bailey said, "I don't think the Hondas had an a dva n tage here. The Yamaha's , . ..... i . I " , ... . . . L l ... ( _ (: I ~ J \ J • I' ' were eating us alive in the tigh t, slick corners. I'm impressed. The Yamaha guys were riding really good. Broc was riding real aggressive and I had to ride aggressive back to get by him. He beat me in the heat; he stuffed it in on riie, nothin' dirty, just racing and I I j ( j 'j " .:) ... t . I. I , J J ) I ~ . ~ .. I J 11 . , ..