Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ it !II ~ 0 z .... 0 " ~ 0 >- 0 z « ~ !II >= a: 00 w 0') III ., ::::; ,.....; 0 0 ~ 00 a: ..... tr.J « :r u :l bIJ :l ir > III !II < 0 >0 :r ... David Bailey rode flawlessly during the final: He took over the lead In the first Iep and was never challenged to the checkers. Jeff Ward leads the stert of the final. while Ron Lechien (picking up bike) and a few other riders tengle. Ward finished third. Insporf/Wrangler Supercross Series: Round J.2 Bailey a night mover in Foxboro By Tom Kolnowski FOXBORO, MA, JUL Y 28 As much of the world's population focused on the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games, all eyes in Sullivan Stadium were intently fixed on Honda's David Bailey, who put in a 20-lap command performance to win the Miller High Life Supercross. Bailey pulled clear of the pack early in 8 lap one and kept a steadfast grip on the lead all the way to put his second win of the '84 series in the record books. Yamaha's Ricky Johnson slipped ahead of a struggling Jeff Ward at the one-third mark and held on to finish second, while Kawasaki's Ward nailed third over Honda's Johnny O'Mara and Kawasaki's Billy Liles. O'Mara still holds an impressive lead in the Wrangler Supercross Series over Ward, 479 points to 429. Ward, however, has some close company indeed: Bailey pulled into third only four points back with 425, while johnson is fourth at 423. Heavy rains in the days before the event gave way to clear skies on race night, and most riders gave high marks to the sand-based track constructed and maintained by john Savitski and crew. The Pace Management/ESP-promoted event was also well accepted by Boston-area residents: a crowd announced at 30,852 attended the s,econd Foxboro Super." ~. .. _. . ~ . .'" " cross. Heats Suzuki's George Holland kept Bob Hannah and O'Mara at bay for much of the first eight-lap heat, but by lap five it was O'Mara with a sure lead after taking an outside line around Hannah and then Holland. O'Mara scooted ahead while Hannah pulled clear of Holland and Bettencourt's Honda (of North Attleboro, Massachusetts) rider Jo jo Keller. O'Mara, who said, he was "riding a bit conservatively since it was only a heat race," won by less than a second over Hannah. Holland, Keller, A.]. Whiting and Honda's Ron Lechien trailed. Ward took immediate control of the second heat and bounded to an eight-second win over teammate Billy Liles. Suzuki's Scott Burnworth kept third all the way, while Yamaha's Keith Bowen sliced through to finish fourth after starting eighth. Yamaha rider Jim Anderson took fifth over Suzuki's Mark Barnen, who had crashed in the early going. johnson appeared all set to run away with the next heat, until Yamaha Support rider jim Holley pushed into the lead before the end of the first ~ . .. .. ~ lap. Holley and johnson went wheelto-wheel for two more laps, then Johnson found a quick inside line and railed to the front. Once clear, johnson cooked to the win by nearly 14 seconds over teammate Broc Glover, Holley and Yamaha rider Steve Burdette. The final heat was all Bailey's. He opened up a comfortable lead in the early laps over Team Tamm's Alan King, Kawasaki's Goat Breker and Holiday Inn of Leucadia, Californiasponsored Don Turk, then sped on to the win in spite of a crash on lap three. King, Breker and Turk were strung out behind for the next three spots at the finish. Quarter-final. Dan Bolle Racing of Boulder Colorado rider Ed Arnet handily won the first quarter-final in start-to-finish style. Honda-mounted Arnet led a basically unchanging threesome consisting of Floridian Kevin Foley, Sam Dell Kawasaki of Oneida, New York's Tom Rice, and Cycle Design-backed Greg Mayo all the way. All four transferred to the semis. Yamaha rider Allen Semar sprinted to the win in the last quarter-final, as Honda-mounted Joe Waddington held off Yamaha Support rider Mark Murphy and Suzuki's Rick Ryan. Waddington unloaded in the late laps and Murphy and Ryan snuck past to finish 2-3 over Waddington. Semi. As the gate fell for the first of two semis, .ward assumed a quick lead over O'Mara, Hannah, Barnett, , Lechien, Liles and Husqvarna's , . . . Micky Dymond. And the race could've ended there. Ward rammed on ahead to the win with the same six trailing to the finish. Ward had a five-second lead over O'Mara at haJfway, but that was reduced to only a second in the last two laps after Ward nearly crashed. "I got a bit out of shape," said Ward, "and my chest slammed up against the handlebars. johnny dosed but I had enough of a cushion left to win. " johnson and Bailey cruised away from Glover, Holley and Dan Bolle Racing's Erik Kehoe in the early laps of the second semi. Bailey shadowed johnson all the way, with never more than a second between the pair, and on the last of the eight laps Bailey inched closer. Johnson eked out the win over Bailey by less than a bike length. Glover feU 15 seconds off the pace to finish third, with Holley and Kehoe rounding out the top five. Last Chance Qualifier Burnworth took to the front of the LCQalter a half lap, but the partisan crowd didn't seem to care. Kelll:T, from nearby Plymouth, Massachusets, was a solid third, and the locals got behind Keller in the form of healthy waves of applause and shouting. By the end of lap three Keller had dispensed with Ryan and moved into second behind leader Burnworth. On lap three, Keller was nipping at the rear wheel of Burnworth, and accompanied by shouting from the spectators Keller did what was expected of him - he passed Burnworth and stayed at the front to win. Burnworth nabbed the last transfer to the final, while Breker topped Ryan for third. "It was something I felt I could do," said Keller. "I had some (carburetor) jetting problems to sort out earlier in the evening, but the bike was running fine in the Last Chance Qualifier. I'm all set for the main." Final Most of the drama in tl>e final took place only moments after the pack thundered out ofthe gate. ''I've never seen anything like it," said johnson. "There were about seven of us (Ward, Johnson, Bailey, Liles, O'Mara, Lechien • • and Barnett).running sidet. t ' . , , • ~'

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