Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126655
AMA/Wrangler Super Series: Round 26 Lechien leaves, Bailey blitzes, Goat horns-in in Colorado By K8re1 Kramer Photos by Emie Ferguson end Kremer LAKEWOOD. CA. AUG. 22 Colorado motocross fans learned the definition of Open class motocross at the Coors National motocross in Lakewood, Colorado. Yamaha's Broc Glover, Team Honda showman Danny "Magoo" Chandler, Kawasaki teamster Kent Howerton and Magoo's teammate Goat Breker produced one of the bar- ban~ingest, leadswitehingest battles m recent memory. Breker came out the winner with steady riding after a last-lap. lastmolO altercation between Glover and Chandler robbed both of the win. Bob Hannah set out 10 show Colorado that he is the fastest even though some setbacks have given teammate David Bailey the lead in points. It was not in the stars for Hannah. He fell in the first moto. and DNF the second. leaving him with liule or no chance at the outdoor National title. Bailey motored to two motocross handbook wins over a frustrated-at second Scou Burnworth. Yamaha's Keith Bowen. the Ponca City and AMA Amateur Championship sensation, turned Pro a week before the event and ran fifth overall. Hi-point Honda rider Doreen Payne made hislOry by becoming the first woman rider to qualify for a National Motocross. She was beset with bike Pf~bl~~ ~nthe _Na~i~)Ral,.b~t ~~k the last qualifying position 10 make the field. Ron Lechien looked so good on his disc-valved factory Yamaha while winning both motos of the 125cc class that he nearly persuaded the AMA to award him his own class. Honda's Johnny O'Mara was second and kept his Wrangler Series 125cc point lead constant over Kawasaki's Jeff Ward. Promoter Ben Cox and Continental Divide Promotions had the CDR Tech Track venue sold out from under them just weeks before the event. Cox. with help from event sponsors Coors, Jones Goggles, KAZY. Wrangler and the Denver area Yamaha dealers and the City of Lakewood moved the event. Cox and crew set to work on the track the Th ursday before the race and provided an entertraining layout, but even though Mother Nature did her part with rain the night before the event. but the track was cauterized and dusty by the second molO. Magoo came out of the downhill. off-camber start in the lead with Howerton's cruise-missile Kawasaki • ~ .. in_ second. B~ •J;lpnda-mounted __ _._ _ r" . Chuck Sun. KTM's John Finkeldey, Glover. Suzuki's Alan King. Team Tamm's Dan Conway. returnedfrom-injuries Warren Reid and Yamaha rider GreK Ziuerkopf had settled into the top 10 bv the completion of the first lap. Glover and Reid were seriously on the move on the first lap with Glover jumping to fourth and Reid seventh by the second loop. Glover took one more lap to sail past Breker in the air over a big jump after the first tum where many of the day's key passes would occur. Near the end of lap five, Glover closed on Howenon and the fun ~ as'Glover jumped past Howerton where he had earlier dispatched Breker. Howerton unleashed some of the many ponies in his water-cooled engine and squirted back into second. Breker was still holding down fourth ahead of King and Reid. the crowd went crazy as Chandler. Glover and Howerton hit the big jump virtually abreast! That sparked a throule-fest down the three downhill jumps and out of a gully to the mechanics' area. Glover held the advantage. but Chandler went back in the lead before the lap had expired. For several laps Glover and Chandler lobbed the lead back and forth, usually a time or two a lap. On the next lap. Chandler. who had been riding since the second or third lap with his front brake cable flapping into his tire and locking the wheel, had his wheel lock while landing sideways and fell. Glover tangled with him on the way by and Howerton grabbed the lead. Chandler aggravated his chest injury of the week before in the fall for l,. •• ' ~,'} '\).' ~ ~ .. l the second time off the day. He appeared inclined 10 pack it in but the crowd roared for him to get up and cheered him as he restarted in fifth. - With Howerton leading the order shufDed to: Howenon. Glover. Breker. Reid, Chandler. Sun. John Whekhel. Conway, Martin and local rider James Knupp on a Yamaha. Whelchel picked off Sun on the next lap. and Glover reeled in Howerton. Howerton got a lillIe oUI of control in a gully and hit his chin on the crossbar. cuuing his chin badly. He rode the last lap bleeding all over his clothes but told himself, "If I'm going to hurt this bad. I'm going to win something!" He took the win by mere feet at the flag. Glover. Breker, Reid and Chandler were the top five. Glover grabbed the lead at the start of the second moto. but he and Olandler swapped it four times in the first two laps. As Chandler settled into the lead on the third lap. Breker. Reid, King. Phil and Mike Larson and Maico rider Micky Dymond were the front-runners. Howerton had had his machine act up. but it cleaned out and ran after three laps. "That cost me," Howerton said after the race. Breker and King. Breker and Reid and Breker and Glover all did some place swapping, but aU eyes were on the Glover/Magoo duel. They were doing some door-slammimg in several parts of the track. Glover was mixing it up with Magoo even though there was nobody with a mathamatical chance of the win even if he stayed in second. Glover tried an inside pass with two turns to go where Chandler didn't