Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Continued/rom page 14) ~~;;;;"j (A bove left) Micky Dymond was top Euro-bike in the 500cc class first moto. (Top left) Danny Chandler was on the way to a win, but a disqualification and a foot injury/crash put him out. (Above right) Johnny O'Mara, winner of the 125cc class, leads Ron Lechien (224) in their close first moto battle. have any energy. It 's a lot easier to wo rk yo u r wa y back than it is up. At th e end I wa s workin g m y way too far bac k. I hurt so bad th at it didn ' t mat ter any m ore. I just forced myse lf to go . I needed to pass Larson ." Cha nd ler a nd Bre ker had stre tch ed lea ds o n eac h o ther a nd How erton by th e en d o f la p one. Sin isa lo Yamaha rider Greg Zitrerk opf h eld down fourt h ove r Honda Support rid er G ary Dircks, G lover , Larson and Reid . By lap three th ere were two turns se p a r a ti n g t he fi r st three unt il Cha nd ler pan cak ed in a slo w turn o n Webco Hill. Breker go t close, but C han d ler co nt in ued to lead. Gl over pass ed Howerton o n the same lap a nd did it in th e turn foll owing th e fin ish flag. King m oved to fifth on th e third lap a lso . A short distance into the fifth lap Cha nd ler went down on the start hill secti on. Even th ough an am bu la nce was rushed, Magoo walked away with h elp a nd left under his own p ower, wi th th e aid of crutch es an d ice. Brek er inh er it ed th e lead ov er G love r, King, Reid , Larson, Zitterkopf, Locey and Shoemaker. Quickly, however, Glover took the lead. Breker said of th e pass, "Glover was righ t on me an d pressu ring. I figured I' d reverse th at. I let him by an d th en followed h is lin es and p ressu red h im :" Larson wa s clearing th e terrace on the hill a nd flew pa st H ow ert on on the sa me lap. Locey and Martin co n tin ued to m ove up slo wly but th e top 10 stayed sta tic for a few laps. Suddenl y, Kin g , wh o was in a certain second overa ll p osition, fail ed to come a ro u n d. His Suzuki had run ou t of gas, a n occ u rr ence team m anager Pat Alexander said was unusu al. In the late laps Reid had tak en a fall somewhere an d was riding sans visor in third. Howerton, who was feeling wea k an d co m me n ted th at th e only reason h e did well was because, " I • kn ow how to do this," passed Larson and reeled in Reid. Glover me anwhil e, had not been com p letely clearing the uphill. He wa s clippin g h is rear wheel on the top on each lap. So , he had Breker right on hi s tailpipe o n th e hill each lap. Gl over h it wrong, got out of sha pe and Breker blasted by as Glover tri ed to re-enter the berm . Gl over went down for a scan t few seco n ds , but it was enough and Breker too k the win . H o werton sq u irted around Reid in th e tu rn befor e the h ill , only 10 have Reid j ump over him o n the h ill and tak e th ird again . H owever , th e R h inestone poo led h is energy a nd set Reid up. He went wide on th e last tu rn , p u lled Reid sligh tly up th e final h ill a nd took th e wi n by a tin y ma rgin . Reid fell under the flag for fourt h. Larson was fif th followed by Locey, Martin , H eiberger, Yam aha Support rid er Pet er Snortela nd a nd H usqvarna' s Andy Stacy. Stacy look ed go od in th e first rnoto , but came arou n d in la st with tir e tra cks on hi s back . 1 25cc National O 'M ar a led th e first mot o of the l25cc class from sta rt to fin ish wtih Ron Lechien ri ght behind. Except for a bri ef challe n ge from Lechien , the top two were set. Ward was in th ird, bu t Barnett p assed him before the completion o f th e first lap. Yamaha pilot Mark Flesia· ran fifth early, but DNF mot o o ne . Beh ind him wer e Yamaha Sup port's Troy Blake a nd Rodney Smith and H onda rider T ed Brady. Hon da Support rid er " Flyin ' Brian" Myerscough (who worked as ha rd or harder fo r h is event ual fifth overall th an an yo n e), a nd Eri c Keh oe and Chris H eisser , a Su zu ki Su p port rider who's been very fast th is yea r, infil trat ed th e top 10 before the moro's en d . Ward was th e on ly rid er tryin g to clear th e uphill and h e was com in g clo se! In o ne ea rly cha rge a t Barnett, th e former m ain Min i man almost jumped over , th en on top o f Barnett . Wh en th e crossed flag came out signaling th e halfway mark, Ward got serious a nd cha rge d. H e pa ssed Barn ett and slo wlv left him. H e closed up on the leaders until they were ri ght together. Ward tried a pass on th e uphill befor e th e start hill , sayi ng later, " I was j ust trying to pass Lech ien and landed in th e rocks. It wa s reall y slip pery , I hit m y ch in on th e cross- Bob Hannah soars on his way to a devastating win in the 250cc class. bar and it th rew me o ff th e track. It wa s do or di e. I was go in g 10 ge t th ird a n ywa y, so I thought I m ight as well try so mething." T hat mi stak e left Lech ien and O 'Mara safe. Myerscough was fifth behi n d Barnett a nd was fo llo wed by Blak e after Keh oe dro p ped bac k, H eisser , Yamaha 's Ka rl J or da n, A.]. Whiting a nd Rodney Smith. In th e seco nd mot o O' Mara added a no ther perfec t sta rt to hi s list wi th Ward behi nd . Ward went up o nto the , bank af ter th e seco nd turn a nd Bar nett sq u irted p as t. Ward almos t hit h im as he fell off th e steep side an d into third . Behind th em ca m e Lechien , H eisser, Jordan , Blake, Brady, T am m Ra cing's J im Brodie, Kawasaki 's Ron PreSIOn and Whiting . It took Myerscough five laps just to break into th e top 10. By lap four Barnett , Ward a nd Lechien were n ose 10 tail. Lec h ien dr opped back o n th e next lap a nd cr uised safel y in fo urt h fo r th e re- m ainder of th e rno to . Myerscough , Yam aha Support riders Mik e Beier and Wh it in g were sti ll mo vin g u p steadi ly. Between laps five and six Myerscough moved from 12th to eighth . Ward went by Barnett on a back downhill la p six a nd, th o ug h fourth, Barnett h ad a th ird of a two m inutes a nd 50 seconds la p o n Heisser in fifth. Myer sco u gh passed Whitin g for six th on th e next to last la p , Wh it ing wa s seventh , trai ling a spread pack o f Brad y, Preston , a nd Flesia. 250cc National T he much antici pa ted battle in th e 250cc class wa s limited to first lap di cing for th e most pa rt . T he top seven rid ers fini sh ed wi th double moto placings ide ntica l to th e first. H annah, J ohnson, Bailey, Suzuki 's Scot t Burnworth. Yamaha 's Mik e Bell, Kawasak i's Bill y Lil es a n d Suzu ki Su p port rid er Clint H ardick were th e firs t seven in each rnot o a nd ove ra ll . H annah , J ohnso n , Bailey a nd Burn- 19

• Cover