Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ m ~ 00 m ........ it en ~ 0 Z ..J 0 '" ~ 0 ... > CD en ... z ... 0 0 ~ ~ ........ ... "J ~ bI:J ~ ~ (Above) Jeff Ward did it again: He used a 2-1 score to top Johnny O'Mara in the 126cc class. (Below) Bob Hannah finished second in the 260.. Ron Lechien rode flawlessly in both 260cc motos to capture the overall and stays in the title hunt with two rounds left. Spring Creek MX Park and put the finishing touch on a I-I performance for his third overall win of the '84 series. Han- AMA/Bel-Ray Grand National Championship MX Series: Round 10 nah, in one of his srrongest rides since recovering from a broken wrist, dealt a 2-2 blow for second overall, and Yamaha's Ricky Johnson turned a 3-3 score for third. Kawasaki's Jerr Ward cooked lO his founh srraight 125cc overall win, again rrading moto wins with Honda's Johnny O'Mara. O'Mara handily won molO one in stan-to·finish form over Ward, with Ward turning the tables and leading O'Mara all the way to win molO two. Honda Suppon's Erik Kehoe and Yamaha Suppon's Mike Beier bauled to third and fourth, respectively. There was little doubt as lO who was t,he superior force in the 500cc ranks: Honda's 9avid Bailey seemed able to pull away from his competitors with a twist of the right wrist and did just thal. Bailey put his eighth consecutive National win in the books after a I-I joyride, while Kawasaki's Goat Breker had his best finish this year with a 2-3 score which earned him second overall. Montgomeryville Cycle Center of Montgomery, Pennsylvania's Mickey Kessler slipped into third overall ahead of Yamaha's Broc Glover. 500cc Lechien, Ward & Bailey master Minnesota MX By Tom Kolnowski MILLVILLE, MN, AUG. 5 Honda's Ron Lechien engineered a successful last lap pass on teammate Bob Hannah to win the final 250cc class moto in the Hon14 da/Schmidt Beer-sponsored National MX at After a shon but intense rain shower, the first molO got underway with privateer Honda riders Mike Larson and Mickey Kessler leading and Bailey, Breker and Husqvarna's Micky Dymond in a line behind. "Larson and Kessler were really going for the win in the first few laps," said Bailey after the race. "I finally got my pace picked up by the fourth lap and got ahead of them." By lap five, the order read Bailey, Breker, Kessler, Larson, Dymond and Yamaha Suppon rider Mark Murphy. Glover, after gelling snarled in traffic on the stan, took an orr-track excursion and tagged a fence before regaining control. He got back in the groove in about 20th position. Into lap 12 of what would turn out to be a 16-lap race, Bailey had a cushion of four seconds over Breker, with Kessler a distant third over Larson and Murphy. The only rider of nOle on the move was Glover who had jeued his way up lo sixth ahead of Dymond. Nothing changed in the top seven in the last four laps and the win went lo Bailey by 12 seconds over Breker. Kessler, Larson, Murphy, Glover and Dymond srraggled in behind. "I was catching Bailey in the final laps," said Breker, but my rear shock blew out and there wasn't much I could do. Until then it was a good race." Bailey powered out of the gate at the stan of molO two with a slight edge over Breker, Glover, Larson and Kessler. As Bailey sped away through the first two laps, Glover squeezed inside Breker to secure second at the completion of lap four. "We didn't have a fresh shock," said Breker, "and it was either ride with the blown shock or not ride at all. [ was all over the track." Heading into lap eight, Bailey had 15 seconds on Glover with Breker a solid third, but rapidly losing ground lo the leaders. Larson dropped out, leaving Kessler to do battle with Honda of Galveston, Texas' David McClain. "McClain woke me up," said Kessler. "He passed me and it took another few laps to put him away for good." Bailey inflated his lead lO47 seconds to easily win over Glover, with Breker finishing third. Kessler topped McClain for fourth, with Murphy sixth. "This rrack has been good lo me," said Bailey. "It was less than a year ago that [ won the Grand National Championship and 250cc titles here. I always seem lo get good vibes here and [can't wait lo come back againl" ''I'm prelly pumped with fifth overall," said Murphy, "but [ crashed in the second molO or [ would have done beuer. My goal is to be the top 500cc privateer." 126cc Johnny O'Mara and Jeff Ward had the only two factory prototype machines on the line, but that didn't seem lo bother Hi-Point-sponsored Clay Hoenshell or Team Tamm's A.J. Whiting, both piloting basically stock Hondas. Hoenshell and Whiting led the two factory stars orr the line, but after just a half lap O'Mara had sliced past the pair with Ward a

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