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/126756
(Above) Rick Johnson (17) and Billy Liles battle. Johnson finished fourth. (Below) Jeff Ward (4) captured the holeshot in the main. (Above) Johnny O'Mara captureCi his second Supercross win. (Below) Mark Barnett finished second, his best finish yet in the 1984 series. (Below) Defending Supercrass Champion David Bailey was not up to his usual form. The best he could manage was a fifth. 'nSport/Wrangler Supercross Series: Round 4 O'Mara radiant under Atlanta chill By Tom Kolnowski Photos by Dan McCauley and Kolnowski ATLANTA, GA, FEB. 25 Team Honda's Johnny O'Mara further strengthened his current position as one of the country's most potent MX talents with a convincing win in the Miller High Life 6 Superbowl of Motocross South at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. Kawasaki's Jeff Ward appeared to have the speed to win the 20-lap final event, but O'Mara flew cleanly past on lap eight and paced the remaining laps to record his second Supercross win of the season and also the second of his career. Mark Barnett, Team Suzuki's only works machinery-mounted rider, had his best ride of the young series and narrowly edged Ward on thefinallap for second. Yamaha's Rick johnson bested Honda's David Bailey for fourth. "It feels great to win again, just like it did to win the season opener in Anaheim," said a jubilant O'Mara after his win. O'Mara's tuner, jim Felt, embraced the "O'Show" after a high speed run from the mechanic's area, with a throng of reporters and photographers following in his tracks. Ward, who came to Atlanta with a seven-poim lead in the series poim standings over second place O'Mara, picked up another 40 poims, while O'Mara managed to net 44 for his efforts. As a result, Ward takes a slightly smaller series-leading poim tally over O'Mara, 168-165, imo the next round of the series in Houston on March 23. johnson retained third place in the standi ngs over Barnett, 156-136. A cold from brought chilly air imo the Atlanta area, with temperatures dipping into the 30s by the time the final was history. Speaator turnout was quite strong, with a reported 40,803 on hand to enjoy the action under clear skies. Previous editions of the annual happening have been characteristically plagued by rainy and extremely cold conditions. Heats A total of 57 riders - three less than the maximum 60 - were divided up into four heat races of eight laps each. The top even would go to the semis. Ward immediately proved that he was out to retain his poim lead by jetting to the from of the opening heat, with Team Yamaha's Broc Glover a tight second over hometown favorite, Kawasaki's Billy Liles. Ron Lechien, adapting slowly to his Team Honda works bike after the switch from Yamaha at the end of the 1983 season, held down fourth over Yam-