Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bob Hannah flew his Honda to the 250cc class w in. but Mark Barnett stole the show with his last-to-first 12 5cc ride. AMA/Wrangler Super Seri~s: Round . , Mt. Morris show stopper to Barnett By Tom Kolnowski MT. MORRIS, PA, MAY 29 Team Suzu ki 's Mark Barn ett was the undisputed star of the show at the Wiseco National Motocross a t High Poin t R aceway, where he staged a n a mazing ch arge th at sa w him slice his way from dead last to the fro n t to win the final 125cc , .. d . . moto . I pro~e th a t It ca n still be done, going from last to 6 first," Barnett said . Coupled wi th hi s victory in th e o pe ning mota, th e fin al mota pe rformance gave Barnett th e overall win in the class over Team Ya maha 's Ro n Lechien. Bo b Han nah co ntin ued h is winn i n g ways for Team H onda in th e 250cc ra n ks, taki ng o ne m oto in the dry and th e seco n d in th e wet. Danny " Ma goo" Chandler chalked up I-I scores in th e 500cc class to p ut anothe r feather in th e hat of Team H o nda . H annah and Barnett were running 1-2 at op th e Wrangler Super Series point standings going into th e event, and th eir respective p o sitions remai ne d the same with both riders p ick ing up 50 points at High Point. Hannah still holds a I4 p oint edge with 545 aga i ns t Barnett's 53 I. T eam Honda's Dav id Bailey remains in th ird with 489. .. Southern Pennsylvama recelv~d a healthy dose o f ram Sa turday night a nd ea rly Sunday morn ing, leavi n g th e natural terrain track in optimum co ndi tio n . Su n ny weather dried the clay base of the track by th e end of the firs t set of m o to s. Thunderstorms re turned to th e area near the en d of th e seco n d 125cc moto , and inten siIied as th e fin al 250cc mot a sta rted. The rain fin all y came to a halt with two laps left to go . Th e sm oo th ly running p rogram was marred by a protest lodged by T eam Kawasaki' s J eff Ward agains t Barnett's works Suzuki . Ward' s 2-5 finishes gave him fourth o vera ll in the 125cc class. The protest alleged that th e di splacem ent of Barnett 's bike wa s o ver th e legal limit, a nd th at the fu el being used was illegal. The protest was subm itted in writing to AMA Nat ional MX referee R ick Ti to ne. " Bo b Anderson fro m Wiseco mea sured th e -bore a nd stroke o f th e ' engine, and it was found to be within th e legal limit," sa id Titon e. T h e legal limit is defined a t l25cc. After th e di splacement check, Ward wai ved any furth er investigation o n the raci ng fu el. Suzuki su bmi tte d a fu el sa m p le to th e AMA a ny way, a n d it wi ll be a nalyzed with a fu el check meter to sett le a ny doubts in th e issu e. 500cc National Chandler h ead ed uphill in th e lead of the fir st m oto o f the afternoon, follow ed by Kent Howerton 's factory Ka wa saki , T eam Suzu ki's Alan King a nd Tea m Yamaha 's Broc Glo ver. Howerton was holding close to Cha ndler for the first two la ps, while Gl o ver was busy wo rki ng arou nd Kin g fo r third. Glover the n closed in o n H o werton , and ska ted arou nd to th e inside at th e sco ri ng to wer. On la p three, H owerton ca ugh t Chan d ler an d fle w by o n th e long fro nt stra ig ht. Gl over, King an d T ea m H onda' s Goa t Breker wer e in th e next three spots. Howerton made a bobbl e in th e rutted first corn er and Chandler quickly made up some ground. Chandler went by in a wh oop section, holding th e lead for onl y a few seconds as H owerton cr u ised p ast on th e n ext straig h t. As th e front-runn ers ca me o u t o f the back sec tion of th e co urse, Gl over went down, allowi ng Kin g to m ove into third. Chandler was still pressuring Howerton and finally go t aroun d two lap s ' later in th e whoops . King also made a mov e in the same section, and dropped H owerton to third. As th e tw o laps sig n wa s give n, Chandl er a nd King were running side by side. H ow ert on had fa lle n 50 ya rds o ff th e pace , followed by Team H onda 's Ph il Larson and Steve Martin. Chandl er managed to pull aw ay from King o n th e last lap , and went o n to win with a 75 foot cus h io n . Howerton, Larson and Breker fill ed o u t th e top five. " Ma go o " repeated hi s first mot a performan ce by gra bbi n g a n o the r h ol esh ot a head o f Larson, Gl o ver and Ma ico-rnounted Eric Ea ton . After a lap , Chandler was sti ll o u t fro nt , cl osel y foll owed by La rson, Gl o ver, Breker an d Kin g . Two laps la ter, La rson had dropped back a nd Breker h ad moved into seco nd , Gl over was th ird an d King was a close fourth . Kin g was charging , a nd on th e n ext lap picked off Breker a nd Gl over in th e sa me corner. H owerton was running fifth. On th e next straight, King managed to nab Chandler and Proceeded to pu ll aw ay . Kin g held o n for another lap, until Chandler once again powered past on the long straigh t. King made his way to th e front a few co r ne rs later. Glover, Breker and H owerton were a bit off the pace. Chandler and King co nt in ued to swap the lead for th e next several laps . but King finall y got the lead and began to open up some ground over Chandler. With only two laps left, Chandler came up out of th e wooded section a lone. Glover, Howerton and Martin came over the hill, but King was nowhere in sight. " Ala n got his foot stuck in a hole on th e back section a nd was in pain ," said Jon Slezak, King's tuner. Chandler went on to an easy win, followed by Glover, Howerton, Larson and Breker. King wa s unable to finish the moto. 1 25cc National Ron Lechi en put hi s factor y Yam aha a t th e front of th e fir st 125cc m ot o , wi th J eff Ward , Mark Barnett, J ohnn y O 'Mara and Yamaha mounted G en e Gentsch in th e top five. As th e pack ca m e down th e fir st hill , Barnett pulled alongside Lechien but was unable to ge t a ro u nd. A half lap lat er , Ward burst o u t front, followed by L echi en a nd Barnett. Team H on da 's O 'M ara and H onda sup po rt rider Brian Myerscough were a close 4-5. Barnett cu t to th e ins ide a t the scorin g to werand ca me o u t i n seco nd ahead o f Lechien. Ward had started to run aw ay, and h ad pull ed 50 yar ds o n Barnett. Once pa st Lechien, Ba rnett immedi atel y began to close th e gap on Ward. Two laps later, Barnett blasted up th e hill co m ing out o f th e back sec tio n ahead of Ward. Lechi en was still running a tight third, a nd was moving closer to Ward . O 'M ara rem a in ed in fourth. Ward co ntin ued to stay close to Barnett, but fell back in th e wh oo p s. Lech ien was a lso fall ing back a bit, wi th O 'M ara closing. Barnett bu ilt up a sizeable lea d, an d wi th o n ly one la p left had eight seco nds over Ward . Barnett ro de f1 awl essl yon the final la p an d bested Wa rd a t th e checkered flag, with Lechien , O'Mara and Myersco ug h fin ish in g 3-4-5. Barnett was looking good at the start of th e second m o to , followed by Honda Support rider Eri k Kehoe, Le chien, Kawasaki -mounted Mike Crane an d Yamaha Support rider R odn ey Smith, but Barnett came down th e fir st hill an d bailed hard at th e beginning of the right-hander at th e bottom . " I th in k th e fo rk slider might ha ve ca ug ht in o ne o f th e ruts," sa id Barnett. " I h it th e grou nd toha rd .!'- .. I" ''>' :::; .. ~ 1 1

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