Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

..... l-< 0.. ~ After the two-night event, David Bailey went back to the States $14.000 richer. Bailey took second the first night and won the next. Johnny O'Mara captured the win the first night, and led all of the second round until he crashed with two laps remaining. By Patrick Behar who was riding, for the first rime, on his new Kawasaki, and Italy's Michele Rinaldi on a Suzuki. KTM's Kees Van Der Ven also rode along with Finland's Jukka Sintonen, on a Honda, and Pekka Vehkonen on a Cagiva. Carlqvist, who never really liked Supercross, did a couple of laps in his heat before retirin~ with knee problems. But. after his decision, he courageously came out to apologize to the crowd for not competing. Luckily, the crowd was sympathetic of his plight. Of all the European riders, jobe looked like the only one who could challenge the Americans, but with a brand new, stock bike, lobe's eHorts were in vain. When racing started each night, the track ..yas superb and so were Bailey and O'Mara. The two Honda pilots won their heat races while, Glover and johnson finished right behind. johnson was entertaining the crowd with giant cross-ups on the big jump in the center of the track. He also made a name for himself in France after speaking to the crowd in PARIS, FRA CE, MAR. 14·)5 After Amsterdam and Genova, Paris got its first Supercross the week after the Daytona event in the United States. But contrary to the Dutch and Italian races, Paris got the best of the u.s. riders - a very like the Trophee and Motocross des sLrong squad from Honda, with National Champs David Bailey and Johnny O'Mara, and • 32 Yamaha's 500cc National Champion BrocGloverand Ricky johnson, while Danny LaPorte also helped.. American Honda, thanks to Roger DeCoster, who was behind the very first allempt by the U.S. on the Moto· cros and Tropbee des Nations in Europe, came with factory bikes to Paris for the first Supercross that featured the best U.S. and European riders. While Honda shipped bikes from California, Yamaha used the French importer's bikes (Sonauto) with special suspension and engine parts for • GJ9 q. JQbnson and LaPorte. And, Nations, the Paris Supercross was an exclusive American a[fair. The Paris BercySLadium i a brandnew arena made for basketball, ice hockey, boxing, etc. It hold about 12,000 spectators depending on the configuration of the stadium, and for the Supercross, it was a sell-out crowd both nights, with the French TV network carrying the second night live and nationwide. Because of the rather small stadium, the Ira k was considerably smaller than the ones in the U.S. for Supercross championships, but iJ didn't reallv mailer for the five American riders. They had to face some heavy competition of 500cc and 250cc World Champions Hahn Carlqvist and Georges Jobe; French. johnson even asked the TV commentator for a few words in French and then went on to repeat them on the tube. He will be remembered by the french fans. Soon, Bailey and Johnny 0' did their number to the great satisfaction of the public. Tbe first final on Wed· nesday was a Honda showdown between O'Mara and Bailey, with O'Mara taking tbe win over Bailey, who led early in the race but fell. johnson was third with his teammates Glover and LaPorte rounding up the U.S. victory. jobe was thefirst European, followed by French rising star Jacky Vimond on a Yamaha. The second night didn't bring many surprises, as both Bailey and O'Mara won their heat races, butthe final had much tighter racing than the (irst night. After a slow start, the U.S. trio of Bailey, O'Mara and johnson fought during the 20-lap event wheel-towheel, lapping their competition twice. Glover was fourth and brought the crowd to its feet with daring passes and giant jumps. jobe, who finished fifth, was lapped twice, while LaPorte fjnished sixth. But, while in

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