Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

aha Support rider Mark Murphy. On each succeeding lap, Ward pulled away from Glover at the rate of nearly one second per lap, with Lile and Lechien a bit farther off the pace but engaged in a close ball Ie. Ward cruised to a eemingly easy win over Glover, with Liles and Lechien taking their dice for third right to the checkered flag. Liles got the nod by inches after a side-by-side flight over the finish line. Floridian jeff Frisl took his Honda to a distant fifth. The start of the second heat was controlled by David Bailey, with Yamaha-mounted Danny Storbeck, O'Mara and Suzuki rider Rick Ryan following. Halfway through the first lap, O'Mara easily passed Ryan and then Storbeck and set out after leader Bailey. After three laps, Bailey held a slim one-second lead over O'Mara, with the Honda-mounted duo pulling away from the pack in quick order. Bai ley con tin ued to hold off the charge of O'Mara, with O'Mara managing to slightly trim the difference in the final laps. O'Mara was less than a second behind winner Bailey at the finish line, with Ryan pulling ahead of Storbeck to finish a very distant third. Yamaha Support rider Rodney Smith topped Suzuki's Scott Burnworth in the race through the opening right-hand sweeper in the third heat. Team Yamaha's newest member, Michigan resident, Keith Bowen, came through in third over Yamahamounted Kenny Keylon. Burnworth passed Smith shortly into the first lap . and began to pull away, while Rick johnson worked his way through from seven th after a poor start. By lap five, Burnworth had a foursecond lead over Bowen in second, with johnson charging hard into third ahead of Kawasaki's Goat Breker. Breker crashed in a whoop section, but remounted and held onto fourth. In the final laps, johnson passed Bowen then rapidly closed the gap on leader Burnworth. In another race to the finish line, johnson pulled off a pass for the win over Burnworth, with Bowen retaining third over Breker. Honda's Bob Hannah looked to be in top form in the final heat, pulling to an immediate lead over Barnell, Kawasaki's Kent Howerton and Suzuki-mounted Canadian Ross Pederson. Hannah put enough ground between himself and Barnell by the final lap to win by three seconds, with Howerton placing third. Pederson finished a creditable fourth after a crash on the next-to-last lap. Quarter-finals A pair of quarter-finals were run, composed of those riders that finished out of the top seven in heat race action, with the top four in each event making the transfer to the semis. Team Tamm's A.j. Whiting quickly jumped out front in the first contest, with Louisiana's Allen SernaI' trailing. Another pair of Team Tamm riders, jeff Hicks and john Whelchel, filed. into third and fourth. Whiting ran away for the win over Semar, with Hicks and Whelchel keeping the same positions throughout the eight laps. Canadian Doug Hoover, riding a Yamaha, was the class act of the second quarter-final. Hoover ran away to a 12-second victory over 1984 Florida Winter Warm-up Series I25cc A class title winner Tom Rice, with Honda-mounted Carlo Coen taking third over Seattle's Tom Moen. Semis The top nine finishers in each of two semis would transfer to the final. G lover made a clean pi vot for the lead in the first semi, as Ward, O'Mara, Liles and Team Tamm's Alan King followed through in a tightly-knit pack. Bailey came 0[£ the first jump and crashed upon landing, relegating him to last place. Le s than a half lap into the contest, Glover suffered a similar fate and fell to the rear of the pack, with Ward cashing in on the mistake for the lead. Into the second lap, O'Mara gave Ward less than a second of breathing room, with Liles, Lechien and Ryan several seconds off the pace. Bai ley was on the gas and passing several riders on each lap. By lap four, Ward had extended his lead to a slim two seconds over O'Mara, while Lechien pa sed Liles to secure third. On lap seven, Ward and O'Mara held their respective positions, but Lechien dropped back to sixth after failing to crest a jump and lost several second. Liles moved up a spot into third, with Bailey nudging from fifth behind Ryan. On the last lap O'Mara fell two bike lengths short of catching Ward and was forced to sellie for second at the finish, with Liles holding third over Bailey. Ryan was fifth. Bailey explained his problem on the start. "I had a very good drive comingofhhe first jump, but when I landed I caught johnny's (O'Mara's) rear wheel," Bailey said. "That's all it took and I went down. I Spelll the rest of the time trying to catch up." Glover recovered to finish ninth. "I was starting to build up a lead, but when I landed off the jump my front wheel ca ugh tone ofthe deep grooves - there were a bunch of them out there - and I lost it," Glover said. "I get the 17th pick of starting positions in the final - not exactly the best place to start." Burnworth won the race through the first corner and over the jump in the second semi, with Johnson, Barnell and Breker wheel-to-wheel behind. Seconds later, Burnworth found himself on the ground after an out-of-shape landing, and johnson swept past for the lead. From that point on the race for the top everal spots was over, with johnson slowly pulling away from Barnell in second. Breker continued to hold third, failing further off the pace on each lap. Hannah was forced to make the best of a mid-pack start and was on the move from eighth. johnson won over Barnell with five seconds to spare. Breker finished third, with Hannah completing his ride in fourth over Bowen. Last Chance Qualifier . Only two riders would transfer from the Last Chance Qualifier to the final, and with that in mind Whiting throttled to an immediate lead over King. The rest of the field was left far behind after a single lap, while Whiting and King diced their way along through the eight laps. Whiting managed to retain a second of air space between himself and King for the win to gain his first-ever start in a Supercross final event in the U,S. Final Bailey, who was back in the pit area beneath the stadium, staying warm, nearly missed the call to the starting gate for the final. The start, however, was the cleanest of the night. Ward let the rest of the 20-man field know he would be the man to beat by quickly establishing a lead over teammate Breker, O'Mara, Barnell and Bailey. After the completion of two lap, Ward had built a semi-comfortable lead over the ballie for second a LOss-up between Breker, O'Mara, Barnell and Bai ley. On lap four, Ward's lead read three seconds, with O'Mara moving into Although Jeff Ward finished third at Atlanta, he still managed to hold on to the points lead over Johnny O'Mara by three points, 168-165, second after Breker went down in a whoop section. Breker dropped to the back of the pack, with Barnell and Bailey a solid 3-4. After the completion of six laps, O'Mara had trimmed Ward's lead to less than one second, with johnson on the gas and moving up on Bailey in fourth. Things tightened up even more on lap eight, with O'Mara pulling alongside and then cleanly passing Ward for the lead in a set of double jumps. O'Mara began to pull away, leaving Ward behind only seconds ahead of the battle over third between Barnett and Bailey. johnson was only a few bikelengths behind Bailey, with Hannah and Liles engaged in a dice over sixth. O'Mara continued to look strong out front through laps nine, 10 and I I. On lap 12, Ward and Bailey tangled heading through a whoop section near the mechanic's area. Ward stayed upright and held second, with Bailey takinga fall. Barnell and johnson motored past as Bailey quickly remounted back in fifth. Laps 13, 14 and 15 belonged to O'Mara, as Ward, Barnell and johnson continued their dicing over second. Bailey was moving closer to that ballle, O'Mara had lapped over half the field and led Ward by three or more bike lengths. By lap 17, Ward had managed to break free of Barnell and johnson and laid a more solid claim to second, with Bailey running a tight fifth behind johnson. Lechien was sixth over Hannah and Liles, but over a half lap off the pace of the top five. O'Mara had lapped all the way through ninth place by lap 19, with Barnett riding in perfect form in an allempt to catch second place Ward. Only two corners from the finish line on the final lap, Barnell dove to the outside of Ward to nail second and followed winner O'Mara across the line, A second later, johnson came through for fourth less than a bikelength ahead of Bailey. "I made my break for Ward in a set of double jumps," said O'Mara. "He got a lillIe squirrelly in the corner before that and I saw my chance coming. After that I really felt comfortable and pretty much thought I had the win in the bag. I put nearly a second per lap on Ward after that, then settled into a pace I figured would win it for me. Other than the lappers that slowed me a bit, I really didn't have any problems. The track wasn't one of the tougher ones, so you definitely needed a good start. I'm really pumped about all ofthi '" "I missed a gear coming out of the corner where Barnell caught me," said Ward. "By the time I recovered he was gone, and since it was the last lap I couldn't make up the difference." When asked about losing the lead earlier to O'Mara, Ward said, "My arms pumped up and I was just fighting the bike. I wasn't able to hold on tight enough in the rougher stuff. I'll be ready for him at the next race." A very happy Barnell said, "I came . up on Ward in that corner and he slowed a bit, then I railed right on past. For the first time this year I felt really strong -like I used to feel. We have the bike working well and things are looking up'" "I tried to pass Ward in a place I felt he would least expect," said Bailey. "He caught a glimpse of me in the corner of his eye and just held his line. I rode right into him and went down - in the very same place I passed Barnell earlier in the race. I thought that if I didn't try to pass him then I might get caught behind him for the rest of the race, but it ended up costing me maybe second place at the finish. To have finished there would've made me happy, but I blew my chances for that with the fall." • Results FINAL: 1. Johnny O'Mar. (Han); 2. Merk Barnett (Suz); 3.JeffWerd (Kew); 4. RickJohnson (Yem); 5. Devid Beiley (Han); 6. Ron techien (Han); 7. Bob Henneh (Han); B. Billy Liles (Kew); 9. Alen King (Han); 10. Scott Burnwonh (Suz); 11. Broc Glover (Yem); 12. Rick Ryen (Suz); 13. John Whelchel (Han); 14. Ross Pederson ISuz); 15. Clint Hardick (Suz); 16. Kenny Keylon (Han); 17. Keith Bowen (Yem); 1B. Jim Holley (Yem); 19. A.J. Whiting (Han); 20. Goot Broker (Kew). INSPORT/WRANGtER SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS; ,. Jeff Werd 116B); 2. Johnny O'Mere (165); 3. Rick Johnson (156); 4. Merk Bernett (136); 5. Oevid Beiley (120); 6. Broc Glover (111); 7. Bob Henneh (102); B. Ron Lechien (95); 9. Goo. Broker (88); 10. (TIE) Alen King/Seal! Burnworth (73); 12. Billy Liles (72); 13. Kent Howenon (52); 14. Keith Bowen (4B); 15. Jim Holley (43); 16. (TIE) Ross Pederson/Rick Ryen (411; lB. John Whelchel (3B); 19. George Hollend (36); 20. Brien Myerscough (32). 7

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