Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Le ft) Mark Barnett won in Kansas City an d moved into the lea d in the series. (Above) Th ird placer Jeff Ward (9) and A lan King bettie . AMA/Wrangler Super Series: Round 14 Kansa.s City dogfight won by Barnett By Tom Kolnow ski Phot os by Merle Acord an d Kolnowski KANSAS CIT Y, MO , MAY 7 With all the finesse of a classic aviation battle , the Kansas City Miller High Life Supercross saw many of the, top factory pilots crash or o therwise plummet to defeat in their quest for victory . Current Wrangler Super Series points leader, Team Suzuki 's Mark " T he Bomber" Barnett, proved 10 to tally obl ivious to the happenings around h im and navigated h is way to his fourth Supercross win of th e season. , " It was mine all the wa y," said Barnett. " O u r plan was to get th e start, and that we did l" Along with th e win, Barnett also padded his lead in th e series, creating a 25 point cushion between himself and Team Honda's Bob Hannah. The . latest tally shows Barnett with 437 to Hannah 's 412 . David Bailey is third with 386. Team Honda's Johnny O 'Mara fell short of the win in the final due to mechanical problems, while Team Yamaha 's Broc Glover and Mike Bell were eliminated by crashes. All three were in contention for the top position for a brief time, but Barnett held his course and won the Kansas City event for the third con secu tive yea r. Arrowh ead Stadium was th e site for th e 11th Su percross event o f 1983. Double a nd triple jumps were th e order oft he even in g, with much passing tak ing pl ace in th e ai r. Wh il e most co rners wer e flat , a hard -pack ed clay wa ll o n th e o u tside proved to be the quickest li ne. In effo rts to slow down the rider s, a sa n d p it was bu ilt , . to scrub off speed before h eading through th e starting area. Heats T eam Honda 's Bob Hannah and Steve Martin proved fastest into th e first corner as th e heat racing began. Alan King darted into third on h is factorv Suzuki. Near th e end of th e first hip, Hannah went off th e course for a short time, giving Martin th e lead. Not to be ou tdone, Hannah regained his composure and set his sights on King in second. Martin began to slow, giving way to King and Hannah on the ne xt lap. Kawasaki' s Jeff Ward was quickly making his way to the front, and worked a ro u n d Team Yamaha 's Ri ck Johnso n and Martin for third. Hannah closed the gap on King on lap four, and once again was out front . King and Ward were having a tight battle as Hannah pulled away. On th e following lap, Ward leaped into seco n d over the first set of triple jumps. Hannah cruised to victory, holding a five second margin over Ward. Johnson made h is wa y aro u nd King on th e la st lap to n ail third. Barnet t took advantage of an exce llent sta rt in th e second hea t, bestin g Suzuki Support rider R ick Ryan a nd Mike Bell. Bell ea sily mad e his way into seco nd before the en d of the first lap, leav ing Ryan to fen d off Team Yamaha 's R on Lech ien for third. . ", Barnett and Bell began to p u ll away fro m the rest of th e p ack , with Bell matching Barnett 's lap ti mes . Tea m Suzu ki's Scott Bumworth wedged himself between Ryan a n d Lec hien for fourth posi tio n. Barnett began losin g grou nd in th e final la ps as he co nte n ded with lapped traffic, a nd Bell was qu ickl y closing. As th e fin al lap began, Bell was wi th in one secon d of th e win. Barnett th en ex ten ded hi s lead sligh tly, holding on for th e win as Bell still pressu red . Aft er a lO-second ga p , R yan held hi s ground on Burnworth an d Le chien for third. O 'Mara co rnered into th e lead in th e third heat ahead of Honda Supp ort rider Brian Myerscough an d Team Honda's David Bail ey. Bailey moved by Myers cough o n th e secon d lap, with Suzuki-mounted J effrey Wimmer in fo urt h. O 'Mara began to open up a sli gh t lead o ver Bailey, but fell back a s he got ou t of shape in a series of whoops. Bailey flew by into th e lead, with Myers cough a lso getting around before O 'Mara was back in the hunt. The remainder o f the pack wa s 20 seconds behind th e to p three by this time. O'Mara put on a charge " d went an a ro u n d Myerscough on the next lap, then began to close the gap on Bail ey. Bailey proved to be untouchable, with O 'Mara falling three bikelengths sho rt of th e win at the fla g , with Myerscough third. Wimmer held on to a very distant fourth. Team Kaw asaki 's Kent Howert on won the race to th e opening co rner in th e last h eat , with Bro c Glover a nd Yamaha Support rid er Donnie Ca ntalou p i following. H owert on stayed in fro nt for th e n ex t two la ps. wh en a series o f cras hes ca used th e race to be red flagged. H owert on crashed in a series o f jumps a nd Ca ntalo u p i co l- . ..... ..... .. . lided with H on da -mounted j eff H icks wh ile the two were a ir bo rne. O n th e restart, G lover h eaded Howerton a nd H onda -mo unted Eri c MeKenna in to th e fir st co rner. Glover quickl y began to pull away, a nd h ad p ut six seco nds on H ow erton before th e co m p letion o f th e seco nd lap. T eam Ka wa sa ki 's Bill y L iles was closin g the gap o n H o werton a fter ge tti ng a ro u n d McKenn a . Glo ver co nt in ued to extend h is lead o n eac h lap, wi th Liles m ovin g still closer to H ow ert on. Yama ha Su p port rider Warren Reid put o n a charge and landed between H ow erton and Liles on th e las t la p . Gl over co nt in ued unchall enged, with How erton remaining in seco n d a t th e finish a hea d of Reid a nd Liles. Quarter-finals Kaw asak i T eam Green 's Darren Rhot en h eaded th e field as th e first of two quart er-finals left th e start line. Tamm Racin g's Dean Cates and Honda-mounted William Bowman fill ed th e second a nd th ird spots. Rhoten immediately began to open up a lead but Cates began to shorten the gap a few laps lat er, an d Yamahamounted Rodney Smith moved by Bowman to ge t thi rd. Cates a p pea red to hav e th e sp eed to ca tch Rhoten , but fell sh o rt while making a double jump, failing to clear th e second mound. Rhoten a nd Cates held th e front two positions a t th e end, and the only transfer positions to th e semi-finals. Suzuki Support rider Clint H ardick led the pack in th e second quarterfi n a l, ahead o f Yamaha-mounted Doug Jackson. Hardick was building upa fairlead buta derailed chain put him out on th e third la p . Jackson too k ove r, with Yamaha rider John Lambert filling the second spot. Jadson and Lambert remained in their respective positions.until the end of th e event. Semi-finals Barnett repeated hi s h eat performance by outclassing Bell and Ward at the end of the long high speed straightaway . Hannah and Lech ien came aro u nd in fo urt h a nd fifth . Bell wa s flying farth er in th e double jumps, an d passed Barn ett on th e seco n d lap. H annah went arou nd Ward on th e sa me lap. Bell ani:! Barnett were having a very close battle an d began to ra pi d ly pull a wa y fr om. Hann ah and Ward .

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