Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) The winning American squad: Jeff Ward (3), Johnny O'Ma~a (2), David Bailey (1) and RickJohnson. (Below) O'Mara (2) and Georges Jobe. (Above) Bailey endured an injured wrist he suffered in the first moto. (Below) Belgian's Hakan Carlqvist chases Finland's Pekka Vehkonen. Motocross des Nations Americans nip Belgiansin Finland By Gary Van Voorhis RVSKEASANTA, FINLAND, SEPT. 9 The American team that was heavily favored to continue their domination of the annual Motocross des Nations - an event in which four-man teams from different nations compete in two mOlOS aboard 500cc machinery - did just that in this year's round which was held at the sandy Vataan 14 Mootorikerho club's circuit just outside Finland's capital city of Helsinki. Johnny O'Mara's fourth and eighth place finishes paced teammates David Bailey, Rick Johnson and JeH Ward as they low-pointed the Belgian squad which was led by three-time 500cc MX World Champion Andre Malherbe who logged 1-2 moto finishes, by a score of 4J LO 48. Scoring in the two 40-minute plus two lap moLOS is done on an increasing scale with one point for a win and each rider finishi ng behind the winner awarded points (marks) equal ~o his placing at the finish providing he completes at least three-quaners of the laps posted by the winner. The lowest cumulative score of the six best rides turned in by the eight fourrider teams over the two mOlOS earns the overall win. Sweden, via that formula, added two finishes from moto one and four from moLO two to LOp Great Britain for third, 61 LO 62. The best finish by an American rider was Kawasaki-mounted Ward's second in the first moLO behind Honda-mounted Malherbe. MoLO two was one by crowd favorite and Yamaha-mounted Hakan Carlqvist. Despite being heavily favored, the American team members, for the most pan, had less experience on 500cc bikes than many of the other teams. Only Honda's Bailey, the American 500cc National Champion, could be considered a 500cc class rider. For example, 250cc National Champion Johnson had competed only once before on a 500cc bike, that being in this year's Carlsbad GP, and Ward hadn't ridden an Open class bike since last year's Motocross des Nations, The organizing club ran out of tickets when a crowd of over 10,000 turned out for the event. The delays caused by that problem forced o[[icials LO dispense with opening cere- momes. As defending champs, the American team and the host country's team were seeded directly to the Group A final of eight teams. The slowest five teams in Saturday''S timed practice for the 13-nation field raced in a onemoLO Group B final. The staning grid con isted of two rows with 24 men occupying row one and eight on row two. Each team had to designate one rider for the second row and the Americans chose 500cc veteran Bailey as their back row starter. O'Mara and Ward led the charge into turn one on the stan of moLO one. Two turn one pile-ups halted the charge of 10 riders with Great Britain's Jeremy Whatley the last rider to get back under way. O'Mara, Ward, Belgian Georges Jobeand Malherbe made up the front four with Johnson in seventh and Bailey 10th after two laps of the over two-mile long twisting sand-based course. Halfway through lap four, the motor in Johnson's Cli£[ Leu-prepared Yamaha YZ490 quit running. After an emotional discussion with team manager Roger DeCoster and others, Johnson pushed his bike inLO the impoud area. "It seized." said Johnson, with a look of utter despair clouding his face. Meanwhile, Ward passed O'Mara for the lead and Malherbe moved around Jobe for third while Bailey picked his way LOward the front. Heading toward the 20-minute mark. Malherb , having dropped O'Mara to third, pressured and then moved around Ward for the lead. A light rain, which began 10 minutes into the moLO, continued LO fall and would continue LO do so throughout the remainder of the day. By this time, Bailey was pressuring Finnish team member Pekka Veb-

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