Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Billy Lil es turn ed hard riding into a two -m ot o sw eep of the 250cc class. Ron Lechien took his second Wrangler win in as many weeks . AMA/W rangler Super Series: Round 20 ter J erry Surber ga ve th e track a maj or facelift that proved popular with the specta tors but drew less than ent h usias tic revi ews from the riders and scorers as th e track was quite short, which resulted in lap times in the 1:29-1:34 ra nge. Leaders were into la p ped traffic o n th e seco nd or th ird lap in a ll classes. It was no cakewa lk. however. as the course became very rough, with a t least one Nationa l rider feeling th a t th e track was the roughest so far this year. Lechien, Liles take first outdoor • unns 500cc By Karel Kramer Photos by Pat McClure and Kramer LAKE WHITNEY, TX, J UNE 19 Team Kawasaki's Billy Liles and Team Yamaha riders Ron Lechien and Brae Glover were the day's winners in the in-the-AMAschedule, aut-again-and-back-in-again-amonth-later Lake \Vhimey National motocross, hi h d be dzi Lee ~en . a en e .gm g toward thi s win forsomeumenow with a seco nd in cla ss a t round 17 o f th e series a nd a win, h is first Na tional win , las t week at the Orlando Supercross . H is wi n today was a com -incing one as he passed two of h is pri n ci p le com petitors after h is fou rth pl ace sta rt in the opening 125cc con fro ntation . H e moved to th e for e on th e 10th lap a nd was never headed. Lech ien led much of the second rno to. In fact , a ll but th e last lap, which was led by second-o vera ll -p lac in g J eff Wa rd . Bill y L iles ha s a lso been looking hard for a win lately. H e a nd T eam Su zuk i rid er SCOll Burnworth have been trading posit ion s for mu ch o f the series , and tod ay th e position in g of even one rider between them wo u ld have meant a different wi n ner. L iles passed David Bailey's factory H onda in the late laps o f th e first moto a nd . . Burn worth in th e late laps of th e S ~ ~ If .. r,.>. ,. :.. 1,1 't l ~ .' J .: , t t l .1 ... , 1 II l.. • : seco n.d, ev~n though he had the overa ll with hi s secu re second place. Bob Hannah was p resent an d ro de with hi s wrist inj ury fro m O rlando , but rode co nserva tively to save h is . body and point lead int he 250cc class . Hi s effo rts garnered h im a top10 finish. an d h e kept h is lead . Moving the Nat ional to Wh itney a month lat er than usua l sell led the da te deeper into the crushing summer heat a nd humidi ty o f th is Texas a rea, but Broc Gl over seemed o blivious to th e heat on th e way to dou ble mo to wi ns and the point lea d in the biggest bor e class. Glover seemed to stre ngthen with eac h lap and com ma nded both rnot os desp ite a stuc k powervalve in th e fir st rno to tha t made h is works Yamaha soun d lik e a qu iet en duro mach in e. Danny C ha n d ler corra lled seco nd fo r H onda wi th an in j u ry-influenced 6-2 score, Kent H owerton pushed his big Kawasak i up from poor starts in both rno tos for a 7-3 third. After comp la ints th a t th e tra ck was too wide-open last yea r, race promoI , J I cs j , II I e I J t I I t: J Whitney's co ncrete starti ng pa d ca used th e least a moun t o f trouble for H onda 's G oa t Breker as he led the wa ve o f bell o win g big bores to th e first tum a head o f G lover, Yamaha Su pport rider T im Locey, H onda 's Steve Mart in , Suzu ki's Ala n Kin g , BP H onda rider J oey Sch lag an d Danny "Magoo " Chandler. War ren Reid was left in th e first turn aft er an a lte rcation with a nother rider. No strategy for Breker a nd G lo ver: they went ri ght 10 war with G lover workin g the insi de lines o n th e fro nt part of th e track in an effo rt to pass. Glover passed Breker afte r a giant new stadiu m-type section o f the track. G lover managed a safe bu t sma ll ma rgi n a t first. then stea di ly pulled away ti ll th e flag despite his problem with the stuck power-valve. A piece of heavy banner jammed his chain for a moment, leadi ng Gl over to think the engi ne was havi ng d ifficu lties. Breker kept a safe seco nd wh ile Chandler went by Locey as part o f h is race-long effort for the lead. A lap or two la ter, he went over the bars, injuring an ank le and recovering for six th. Locey repossessed third u nti l Kin g began a strong charge with abou t two-thi rds of th e race gone. H e finished there with Locey fourth and Ma rt in fifth . Chand ler was nex t ahea d of H owerton and Lar son , bo th o f wh om h ad sa lvaged th eir positions from 13than d l lrh-place starts, respecti vel y. I Reid recovered 10 n inth. . Breker made it a pa ir o f h ol esh ot s for th e da y wi th ano ther in th e second rno to, but Broc mo tor ed into th e lea d before the second lap a nd set sa il. Marti n was t hird ove r L o c ev , Cha ndler, Reid , Kin g an d Eric Eaton. H owert on was nex t wit h .a no ther poorI start.I,J . J J., ~ J.' J. j I,. . t , ; ; to ; J t. : r G love r a lmost h it a dog on the co u rse in a tu rn but was u ntouchable after that, Locey grabbed th ird on the fou rt h la p wi th Kin g a nd Mart in behind. C ha nd ler had faded a liule wi th his a n kle, bu t was on th e gas fro m eight h. Chan dler. Larson an d How ert on hooked up and a ll th ree passed Reid and th en Mart in. T hey were wo rki ng o n King whe n h e hi ghsided a nd DNF. S hort ly thereafter. Breker dro pped o u t for unknown reasons a nd th e order read G lo ver, Chandler. Larso n, H o werton , Reid, Ma rt in . Locey and Andy Stacy . After Breker went o u t, th e top three were sa fely go ne . H owerton moved up a nd cha lle nged Larson a nd took third with two laps remai ni ng. Th e overa ll resu lts for th e 500cc clas s were th e same as the secon d mot o with Gl over first, Chandler second and H owerton third. Gl over was pl ea sed with hi s day, com me nt ing, "My moti vation tod ay was a mailer of wa nti ng to dominat e th e 500cc cla ss. I' ve been working very hard a t it, and I want th e cha m pions hip - I guess I wa nt it wor se th an anyone else o u t th ere. Basicall y, I've h ad two bad motos, a nd o ther th an th at I'v e been first or second. H opefull y if I keep p ush in g real hard I th ink it wi ll payoff." 1 2 5 cc A de termi ned Mar k Barn ell vowed in the p its that none o f th e falls th at pl agued h im here last year wo u ld occu r today. T hey d id n' t, but even wit h th e holeshot in th e first rnoto and a good start in the second mot o , it was an aggressive Lechien a nd h is d isc-va lve-induc ted , Keith McCa rt ytu ned Ya maha tak in g th e overa ll. Lech ien 's Yamaha has been tou ted throughou t the p its as being hor sepower ri ch , a nd th e power-robbing sa nd seemed to hammer th e point home to th e ot her rid ers. Karl J orda n 's Yamaha S u p port bike. O 'Mara a nd Lechi en trai led Barnell 's fir st mot o hol esh ot . It was a su rp rise to some to see Geor ge H oIland in fifth in h is debut a fter in juries. Foll owin g H oll and were Brian Myerscou gh (sti ll a Support rider with mech anic Bill Cha pi n, but now ridi ng a works bikel,A.J ; -Whiti ng, Ward . Dou g J a c ~n a nd Rodney Smi th. ; til e H olland mo ' t : l:d' : t ~ (II '

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