Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Johnny O'Mara f lew to second. (File photo). (A bo ve right) Mark Barnett (2 ) laps Yam aha ri der Roger Brown (2 9 2). (Right ) Warren Reid debuted on a factory Yamaha. He has now ridden works bikes for all four factories. (Below) Fifth placer Jeff Ward (rig ht) and David Bailey. Barnell managed to pull away from Myerscough a bit more on each lap, and had eigh t seconds on him at the six- lap point. King rema ined third as Holley climbed in to fourth. " The Bomber" slip ped to a seven second lead on the last lap, bu t Myerscough, King, and Holley kept th eir respective positions through the check ered flag. " I got ta ngled a bit in the hay bales toward the end and lost ground, " said Barnett . " It looked as if I was going to go down but I came through clean." Breker was scheduled to ride the last semi, bu t became sick shortly before the race and was he lped back to his van. Ba iley and Ward came off the line 1-2, but Ward cornered to the inside on the second berm and left Ba iley a few bikelen g th s behind. Cantaloupi, O 'Mara , and Reid were battling over third. Lechien got a poor start, but forged into fourt h a fter two laps behind O 'M ara. Wa rd and Bailey co ntinued to ho ld th e to p posi ti ons, but Can taloupi fell back a fter a crash. Ward wa s pullin g away from Ba iley for the first five laps of the eight lap event, but Ba iley began to close and was a t the rear wheel of Ward with one lap left. Running side by side through a long section of whoops, Bailey edged Ward before the next corner and took the lead for good seconds before the fini sh . O 'M ara and Lechien bested Reid to fill out the top five. " T he track is de finitel y getting rough er," said Bai ley. " I plan to look it over closely during the pa rade lap before th e final so that I can get the best lines." Bailey was the crowd pleaser of th e semis, removing tearoffs while airborne. " T ha t is standard practice for me," Bailey continued. " Yo u don 't really have to hold on to the bike whil e in the air if you're relaxed." G lover was forced to ride the last ch an ce qualifier after finishing out of the top eight in his sem i, and quickly assumed a fron tal position a head of Flor id ians Steve Martin an d Ken n y Keylo n on their wor ks Hondas . G lover easily ex tended his lead on each la p , but Keylon was u nable to get around Martin before the drop of the checkered flag . Glover and Martin transferred to the final. Final O ' Ma ra and Reid built u p a short lead over the sh arp jump a t the en d of the starting chute, bu t Lec h ien m uscled past by the en d of the first whoop section. King held a close fo urt h behi nd O'Mara and Reid. Reid managed to slip by O'Mara before the end of the first lap, bu t by the end of the second lap, O ' Mara had assumed a position be hi nd Lechien, who had a six second lead. The crowd wa s getting behi nd Lechien;and he was ma ki ng time by double ju m pin g a section on the from straight, wh ile everyone else took two individual leaps. At the end of four laps, Barnett had wor ked imo fifth behind King. Leader Lec hi en was sti ll putting on a stunn ing performance , and had nine seconds over O 'Mara, with Barnett another 10seco nds o ff Lechien 's blistering pace. The fo llowi ng five laps remained the sa me, as Lechien pulled O ' Mara by another secon d eac h time around. Barnett, Reid , a nd King were keeping their pl aces. With four laps left , Lechien had lapped all the way th rou gh eighth and was running mistake free. Ward made a successfu l pass around King for fifth behi nd Reid , a nd the final finishing order was set. The entire crowd was standing as Lechien began his fin a l lap, with O 'Mara 22 seconds in arrears. A perfeet last lap concluded with Lechien throwing his wo rk s Yam aha sideways through th e a ir acr oss the finish line, in a wild gesture to celebra te his first National win. Lechien had coo led off a bit and removed his jersey by th e time he made it to winner's circle, toting an ear-to-ear grin. " I really didn 't think I could hold on that long after I got th e lead," said Lech ien . "I tried not to th ink about it , a nd just wa nted to avoid making any mistakes a nd keep on going. • was pulling away from O'Mara on that double jump, and the crowd in that sect ion was getting behind me. That helped me o u t a lot." When asked if he had a ny troubles with the bike, Lech ien said, " T he bike was th e least o f my worries. Keith (McCarty ) did h is us ua l perfect jo b of preparin g it." O 'M ara join ed Lech ien , the n ga ve him a beer sho wer while the conve rsatio n contin ued. " I got the holeshot. " O 'M ara said, " b u t th e from en d wash ed ou t a nd Ron went by." Barnell was kept bu sy sign ing autographs in th e pits. " I decided to pack dow n th e sand in fro nt of m y start ga te, si nce I wa s spin ni ng a lo t in the qual ifiers ," said Barnett. " I ended up with too much tracti on a n d wa sn 't prepared for it , co min g ou t about 15th on the start. Lechien was riding very well and ' ca n ' t tak e that a way from him. He won th e bailie, but ' won th e war, since ' now have the Wrangler points lead." Reid 's ride on Rick ] ohnso n's works Yamaha netted him fourth . " My timing is o ff a bit , since I a m used to production ma chinery," said Reid. " After a few more rides,' sho u ld be in th ere. Wh en mounted on a production bike th e best fin ish you can hope for is a th ird." • Results FINAL: 1. Ron Lech ien (Yem); 2. Johnny O'Mere (Han) ; 3 . Me rk Be rne tt ISu z); 4 . We"en Reid (Yem); 5 . Jeff W erd (Kew); 6 . Al en King (Su z); 7 . Devid Bailey (Hon); 8 . Scon Burnworth (Suz); 9 . Don nie Can tal oupi (Yam); 10. Bria n Myerscough (Hon); 11 . Steve M art in (Hon); 12. Broc Glover (Yaml; 13 . Jeff Hicks (Hon ); 14 . Eric M cKenn a (Hon); 15 . David M cClein IHon); 16 . Roge r Br own (Yem); 17 . Billv Ules IKew ); 1B. Jim Holley (Yem). A M AlW RAN GLER SUPER SERIES STANDINGS: 1. Merk Barnett (60 B); 2 . Bob Henneh (5 95 ); 3 . Devid Beil ev 1552): 4 . Jeff Werd (534 ); 5 . Johnnv O'Mere (516); 6. Broc Gl over (492 ); 7 . Ron Lochien (3B2 ); B. A len King (36 B); 9 . M ike Bell (367); 10. Warren Reid (364 ); 11. Br ian Myerscough (34 1); 12. Scan Bu rnwon h (32 1); 13 . BiliV Ules (3 15r, 14 . Ke", Howenon (29 9): 15 . Goe' Breker (294); 16. Rick Jo hnson 1 2BB); 17 . Steve Menin (2 77 ); 1B. Donn ie Cantaloupi (243); 19 (TIE) Danny Ch and ler / Ph il Lerson (2 13). 7

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