Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

whoops. II took Bailey another two laps to tighten within striking dis· tanceof O'Mara, then he used an outside line passing tactic to get by O'Mara in the same area that he had passed Ryan. Once in the lead, Bailey immediately pulled away and was setting the fastest lap times of the day, consistently in the I :05 range. At the start of lap five, his lead was nine seconds over O'Mara, as Ryan and Hardick followed. 0<") 00 O"l Bailey took the checkered flag with a 2l-second margin of victory over O'Mara, as Ryan took third. Honda's Brian Myerscough moved up to take fourth away from Hardick, who placed fifth. "I didn't get such a good start," said Bailey. "I ran into Johnny's rear wheel and nearly lost it right in the first comer. I knew Johnny's pace wasn't quite as quick, so it was just a matter of time before I would catch him. The only problem I had was with poor vision in the rain, and not having enough time to pull off a tearaway when I needed to." Yamaha's Donnie Cantaloupi grabbed the lead in the next heat, followed by teammate Ron Lechien and Yamaha-mounted Mark Murphy. Honda-mounted Jeff Hicks went down after the first comer and lost several places. Lechien ran behind Cantaloupi for only one lap, then passed among the deeply·rutted whoops. Cantaloupi was having problems in the mud and Murphy came by for second on the next lap. KTM-mounted Kevin Davis was making good use of his wetweather ISDE Qualifier experience and held a close fourth. On lap five, Cantaloupi cut inside ofMurphy and took second back, but Lechien had pulled out to a 12second advantage_ Davis moved ahead of Murphy on the same lap, another five seconds off Lechien's pace. Lechien went on to win, with Canta· loupi, Davis and Murphy taking the next three spots. After an excavating session to smooth out some of the ruts, which had become one to two-feet deep in places, the track was ready for the final heat. Kawasaki's Jeff Ward quickly jumped into the lead, with Honda's Steve Martin, Kenny Keylon and Honda·mounted David McClain in pursuit. Two comers later, McClain found the quickest line down the whooped straight and was out front, with Martin and Ward a few yards behind. McClain's lead was short-lived, as Martin made good his bid for the top spot a half lap later. At the start of the second lap McClain fell back and Ward momentarily passed Martin, with Martin returning the favor before the next bend. A few ruts later Ward was out front for good. After getting stuck in the gate on the start, Yamaha's Warren Reid moved all the way up to fourth behind Keylon on lap three. The next lap saw Keylon move into second ahead of Martin as Ward continued to lead. Ward took the win by a good mar· gin, and Keylon managed to hold off Reid by only a wheeIIength for second. Martin was fourth. New England's Jim Meenan took control of the quarter-final event, which would send four riders into the semis. Suzuki·mounted Meenan ran away as the rains intensified, followed by Honda-mounted Mark Brown and Yamaha Support rider Gene GenlSCh. The finish of the soggy event saw Meenan take the win, followed by Gentsch, Honda-mounted ~chard (Opposite P8ge) Foxboro !"inner Devid Seley ...... the ~ eheed of third-piecing Broc Glover (6) end fourthpiecing Donn.e Centeioupl. (Inset) Devid end Gery"'" c. •blete the win. (Above) Second-piecing Jeff Werd (9) leed. Devld McClein (80) end Steve Mertin (behind w.d) in OM of the hut•• Westfall and Suzuki pilot Alan Wickstrand. Semi. The start of the opening semi saw Bailey get off to an immediate lead, with Myerscough, Glover and Bar· nett clustered behind. After half a lap, Barnett moved by Glover and was on the rear wheel of Myerscough. Barnett went past Myerscough a few moments later, with Giover also coming around for third behind Bar· nett. Shortly after the start of the second lap, Barnett was rapidly closing on leader Bailey when he came through a section of whoops and rolled to a stop and then sat helplessly at the side of the track. Glover and Myerscough motored past. O'Mara had worked up to fourth after a poor start, and soon suffered a malady similar to Barnett's - a rock had become iodged in the drive train and he was also left on the sidelines. Bailey continued to pull away, and with three ofthe eight laps left was 15 seconds ahead of Glover and Myerscough. King and Liles held the next ·two positions. Bailey's lead at the finish amounted to 22 seconds over Glover, with Myerscough, King and Liles keeping their places. Barnett and O'Mara, with their respective DNFs, were finished for the day. "II seems to be in the lFansmission," said an understandably dejected Barnett. "When you crash or do something else stupid, well, that's your own fault. When the bike breaks, you really feel bad. The engineers in Japan will be hearing about this." "I don't like to win a race like that, but that's the way it goes sometimes," said Bailey. "Mark's always been a really tough competitor, and I'm still going to go all-out to win the final even if he's not there." The second semi saw Hondamounted Carl Coen click through with the lead, with Cantaloupi, Lechien and Ward taking up the next three positions. Coen managed to lead for about a full lap, when Cantaloupi took over. Coen fell a bit off the pace, with Lechien running second behind Cantaloupi. Cantaloupi crashed at the start of lap two, and Lechien was following in the same rut and nearly went down as he got sideways. Ward was close, and motored around both Cantaloupi and Lechien for the lead..Lechien went down a half lap later, with Coen moving back into second behind Ward and Cantaloupi moving back up to third. Keylon was holding at fourth. Ward remained out front as Cantalou pi, mpved up to second and Key- Ion to third on lap five. Coen fell back to fourth. Ward held on for the win, followed by Cantaloupi, Krylon and Coen. Suzuki-mounted Mike Twigg grabbed the bolesbot in the last chance qualifier, with Suzuki rider Jo Jo Keller, the local favorite, a close second. After a lap, Keller was out front and sta,m there for the remainder of the event. Davis made a clean pass on Twigg only a few feet from the finish to nail down second and the last uansfer spot to the final. Fi.... The stan of the 2O-Iap final belonged to Bailey, with Ward, Glover, Cantaloupi and Burnworth jockeying for the next scwnl spots. After a lap it was still Bailey and Ward running 1-2, already pulling away from the Tnt of the pad. The rains had subsided for the first- time all after· noon. At the four lap mark. Ward remained close to Bailey and was making up a bit of ground by double jumping a whoop section that took Bailey two leaps. Glover and Cantaloupi hdd third and fourth. Lap six saw Ward move in even closer, as Bailey stalled momentarily in a corner. Two bikelengths away was as close as Ward was able to get during the mishap. The seventh, eighth and ninth laps read the same, as Bailey kept only 5CftTaI yards of insurance between himself and Ward, with Glover and Cantaloupi still ~-4. The stan of lap 10 put Ward into the lead as he found a quicker line through a section of ruts which had formed through the whoops. Bailey dropped only a few bikelengths behind and closed up the gap quickly. Keylon, who had been lapped, took the same path as Bailey through the next whoop sectioo and hdd Bailey up for several seconds. Ward pulled out to a comfortable lead, about ~O yards ahead. The Il th through 14th laps belonged to Ward, and it appeared that Bailey would nothaV(: sufficient time to recapture the lead that was his for nine laps. In the same section that he passed Bailey, Ward got crossed up in the ruts behind a lapped rider and went down. Bailey cruised past for the lead, and Ward Tntaned just in time to salvage second as Glover moved in. Cantaloupi remained in fourth. Bailey was able to cruise over the final fiV(: laps. since Ward was far enough off the pace that he was not of much concern.. Bailey's victory gave him Supercross win number three for the season, as Ward, who has never ~Q.l\il S4~UOSS,~,fg~~.lO$ellie for second. Glover, Cantaloupi and Burnworth filled out the top five. "It looked as if Jeff was going to win his first Supercross, since he started to pull away and I was making more and more mistakes," said Bailey. "Istarted to get my momentum back over the jumps, and began to make up some time. Then he got caught behind that lapped rider and went down. With all of the chain problems in the semis, like with Barnett and Johnny, 1 was trying to take lines through the smaller ruts, since I didn't want that to happen to me in the last four laps. I was able to take a bit more time and pick the lines since Jeff was quite a ways back." "I tried to jump the rut," said Ward. "There was a lapped rider in it, and when I landed I wasn't in the same rut. The back wheel went off into some soft mud and I went over the bars. I wasted five or six seconds trying to get the bike started while 1 suaddled the rut." "The season isn't over yet," Bailey said. "I'm sure that Barnell will be back after me, and I'll just have to ride the way 1 did today in the rest of the series. Barnell is the type of rider that if his handlebars fall off, he still keeps riding. Unfortunately - for him, that wasn't possible with his uoubles today." Suzuki Team Manager Pat Alex· ander was at a loss to explain Barneu's problem. "There was so much mud caked around the engine and sprocket that we're not sure what happened," said Alexander. "We haven't had any uansmission problems all season, so maybe it was just the chain getting jammed with a rock." That gives Barnett his third DNF of the season, but he is still near the top of the Wrangler series. Chain problems also cost him the win in the l25cc National at St. Louis, Mis· souri. • Re.uhs FINAL: 1. David Bailey IHon); 2. Jeff Wa'd IK_); 3. B,oe Glove, (Yam); 4. Donnia c.ntIIloupi (Yam); 5. Scott Bu,nworth ISuz); 6. B,ian Myerocough (Hen); 7. Alan King (Suz); 8. Wa"an Raid (Yam); 9. Rick Ryan ISuz); 10. Clint Ha,dicl< ISuz); 11. Jeff HicU (Hon); 12. Ron Lac:hien (Yam); 13. Billy UI.. (Kaw); 14. S _ Martin (Hen); 15. Kenny Keylon (Hon); 16. KlIVin Davi.(ICTM); 17. Ca,'o CoanIHon); 18. Jo Jo Kall... ISuz).. AMA SUPERCROSS POINTSTANDtNGS: 1. DlIVid Bailey (395); 2. Mart< Barnett (385); 3. Bob Hannah (345); 4. Jeff Ward (337); 5. B,oe Glow, (321); 6. Johnny O·Ma.. (267); 7. Wa"en Reid (243); 8. Mika Ball (2311); 9. (TIE) Alan King/B,ian My....• COUOh (212). AMAlWRANGLER SUPER SERIES POlNTSTAND· INGS: 1. David Bailey (704); 2. Mart< Barnett (698); 3. Jeff Ward (1173); 4. B,oe Glow, (857); 5. Bob Hannah (690); 8. Johnny O'Ma,a (815); 7. Ron Lac:hien (485); 8. Wa"en Raid (47B): 9. Brian M'I",ocough (452): 1O. Alan King (449); 11. Scott Burnworth (442); 12. 8i11y Ulel (431); 13. Kant Howerton (370); 14. Mike Bell (387); 15. S,_ Mar· tin 13115~ 18. Donnie c.ntaloupi (359); 17. Goat Br...... (318): 1B. Riel< Johnoon (288); 19. (TIE) Danny Cha'-,Phi1 Laroon (272). 7

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