Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Hannah and Johnson battle in moto two. (Above right) Barnett .rode with his feet on the engine cases to avoid mud ruts. (Right) Ward was hot, (Below) Breker leads the first 500cc moto start. Wrangler Super Series: Round B Barnett, Hannah, Chandler lynch Hangtownwins By Karel Kramer RANCHO CORDOVA, CA, MAR . 27 With the Sacramento area echoing with the sounds of Ark building and the weatherman booming a prophecy of impending watery doom, the Dirt Diggers North Motorcycle Club kept a doggedly positive attitude and ran th e 15th annual Hangtown motocross classic. Fate smiled. While it did rain the n ight before, th ere was no rain on race da y, and th e sun even threaten ed to m ake a n appea ra nce a t tim es during th e midday m otos of th e Old Milwaukee-sponsored outdoor event. T o th e surprise o f few, three o f th e h ott est ride rs in their classes and in th e sport, proved that they were indeed three of th e best. Dann y " Magoo " 'Ch an d ler to ok a p opular 1-2 win in th e 500cc cla ss to th e cheers o f a n early h om etow n crowd . Bob Hann ah (250cc) and Ma rk Barnett (125cc) took slig htly m ore co n vinci ng wins via double m ot o sweeps . 6 Kent H ow ert on was a surp ri se to _ man y as he rode two stron g mo tos to cop second overall in th e 500cc a boa rd hi s water-cooled 500 Kaw asak i works bike . Another Kawa saki rider , jerr Ward, provided th e thrills in th e 125cc cla ss by keeping Barnett working for h is wi n. Both David Ba il ey, H ann ah 's Honda teammate, and Yamaha' s Ri ck Johnson kept H annah honest. Bail ey wa s close in the opening rnoto, wh ile Johnson traded leads with H annah in th e second. The long sweep ing Hangtown track wa s. deep in mud all day with a slippery , ro ck y base. Many riders had ex trem e difficult y negotiating it at spee d. None were tot all y im m u ne from its problem s. There was little in th e wa y of really new mach inery, but Ron Lechien was ridin g a n ew di sc-v alve 125 Yamaha th at had th e' disc rotating wh ere th e reed-valve block would n ormall y reside. Also, th e O pen cl ass Honda works machines had water pumps, but AO wat er o the r th an that th ey threw orr of th e track . Ka wasaki's wat er-cooled 500cc was a ll new, naturally, a nd Ward's 125cc had a n ew, silv er , sa n dcast engin e with sma ll fins on th e head. Suzuki's bikes h ad th e fu el tanks In th e n ormal position . 500cc National Team Honda 's Goat Breker an d Chandl er were first o rr o f th e long start straight a nd into th e tight downh ill S-t u rn th a t foll owed . Suzu ki's Ala n Kin g , Yama ha's Broc G lover, Maico 's Ch uck Su n, a n d a H onda mou nted quartet o f Steve Ma rti n, J oey Sch lag, Ph il La rson and Gary Dircks (in o ne of hi s first 500cc class rides),.do dged mudball s in ar rea rs. Magoo went into the goo a to ta l o f three tim es before th e fourth lap had expi red , b u t Breker had lost hi s lead o n th e first lap an d went by o n ly bri e£ly. All of th e to p four riders were setti ng a pace that th e rest of th e pack co ul d not mat ch. Like Experts rid ing in th e Interm ed iate class , th e y stre tche d away from th e pack and were sa fely gon e on th e seco nd lap. Brek er lo st hi s rear brake. and Chandler left him. The track was far too sl ick to ride as it wa s, witho u t front-brak e-onl y sto p p in g being a major handicap. Glover passed King o n th e hill section and was alone in thi rd by lap six. Sun maintained his fifth spot until lap eight when Howerton. who was not in th e top lOon the first lap, ch a llenged and passed . Both Howerton and Sun went around King on th e next lap, but King caught and repassed Sun before the finish . Chandler took the win with a third of a lap lead over Breker. Howerton, in turn , was a di stance back in third. Early third-place.runner Glover had fallen , th en gotten stuck in a rut and seized the bike getting out. He even tuall y fini shed 12th . The rest of th e top 10 read: King, Sun, Martin , Dircks, Warren Reid, J ohn Finkeldey and Schlag. Deja vu hi t th e second 500cc moto's first turn with Breker, Chandler, G lover a nd Kin g, in th at order, as th e pl ayer s. Breker went down o n th e last o f three jumps th e course had to off er and dropped to 10th . Chandler finish ed out the fir st lap in the lead over Gl over, King, Ma rt in, Sun, H owerton and Schlag. Sun lost a ch ain on lap three, but o ther than th at sma ll shuffle of posi- tions , th e ri se of Breker a nd Reid in the ra n ks was th e on ly action. Gl over was rid in g well a nd keep in g Chandler in sight. H owert on p u t Martin back o ne on la p five, a nd Breker moved into Martin 's pos ition beh ind H owert on on la p seven. Glover got h is break on lap n ine w he n Cha nd ler fell in the deep mud on one of the straigh ts. Gl over went into a lead that he would not re linq uis h with Chandler seco n d. Two laps lat er H ow ert on battled with a nd p assed Kin g for thi rd , a nd, a lth ou gh H ow ert on pushed Cha nd ler brie£ly, th e top 10 w as set. Gl over took th e win over Cha ndler, H ow erton , King, Breker, Martin , Reid, Finkeld ey's KTM , and Schlag. Chand'ler look th e overall and enjoyed it by sh ak in g the cha mpagne for th e duration of all three winners' interviews. The bottle all but exploded when the pent-up ga s wa s liberated. Howerton's co mebac k ride was good for second. ''I'm dying," was Kent's comment, "I ha ve a bad cold. I£ I would have passed Danny [ would have won , but I caught h im and pushed him and he could.maintain th at pace a nd I couldn't . I th in k a lot of p eople were co un rin grne out, but this isn' t stadi u m racing. I like this." Breker was go od for thi rd and said; " I didn't have too good of a da y; I had some br ak e problems, but I rode hard and that's as good as I coulddo today. At Saddleback watch out, 'cause I'm mad. " King was fourth and Glover fifth. 125 National Ward's silver Kawasaki en gi ne looked as it might pan out as pure go ld when it propelled him into the first tum first ahead of Barnett, Suzuki Support rider Ri ck R yan , O 'Mara and Brian Myer scough on a Honda Support production bike. First-lap place swapping ended with the top two posit ions th e sam e, but th e rem ainder o f th e order read ing O 'Ma ra , R yan, Myerscough, Yamaha Support! An swer Product rid er Rodney Smith, Honda-mounte Jeffrey Stanford, Yamaha rider A.J Whi ting and Honda pilot Eri c Hall. , Yamaha's Lechien was back a bi and moved into seventh place on la

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