Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ a: w :E ...J « 0.. I- ;;;: > '" rJl o e l- :I: 0.. l.!') 00 O'l ..-; ~ eo C'J >.... C'\S :s c C'\S ~ Most of the first 125cc Pro mota featured a duel for the lead between Suzuki's A .J . Whiting and Yamaha's Keith Bowen - Wh iting won. This section of the track gave many ride rs fits during first laps. Here, the 125cc Pro class is setting up for a huge first-lap pi le up. CNC/Skoal Bandit Golden State Nationals: Round Z Whiting, Ward, Glover win in Brentwood By Kit Palmer BRENTWOOD, CA, JA N. 13 Round two of Continental Motosport Club's/ Skoal Bandit Golden State Nationals was, for the second week in a row, hindered by dense fog, but Suzuki's A.]. Whiting, Kawasa ki's J eff Ward a nd Yamaha 's Broc G lover shone th rough at the Sa nd Hill Ra nch track . After two incredibly-exciting 6 mot os, Wh iti ng captu red th e overa ll in the 125cc Pro class , whi le Ward ' rela tively-easily topped the 250cc Pros. G lover, once agai n, breezed to victor y in the 500cc Pro class. In the 80cc Expert class, H onda rid er SCali Bro wn managed to cap' ture the overall wit ho u t even winni n g a mo to. Bro w n used a 2-2 score to edge Kyle Le wis (Han ) for the win. Lewis - class points leader going into today's race - co u ld o n ly muster a fift h in the first mo to , but ca me (• I; , 0 i , r> i ( r :11- i back to take the seco nd mot o win. Robby Gordon, Ka wa sak i mo u nt ed, won th e first moto bu t finis hed th e second roun d with a di sappo inting six th for fourth overa ll. A consisten t 3-3 tally gave Yama ha rider Mike Pascar ella third overall. 1 25cc Pro T he 125cc Pr o class fea tured th e hot test ra cin g of the day; mai n ly betw een three di fferent riders: Whi t· ing, Yama ha's Keith Bowen and H onda 's Larry Brooks. Last week's winner, Team Suzuki 's Erik Kehoe , w as th e favorite to win , but the new you ng hot sh oe ran into bad lu ck in both motos. At th e sta,r! ,q f t_h~. ~i~st ~~tc;>,. ,~e.h.o~, g~~efl. ~ · ·) : nf( ' J;l ~ ; i ' . )' ) ' 3 " r.f1 °) " perfectl y but cra shed in th e first tu rn , taki ng out a bu nch o f riders wit h h im . " I h ad a goo d jump, a nd I was o u t there all by m yself," sai d Keh oe. " I was j ust looking at th e ground ahead of me, an d, I guess, I started movi ng over 100 early for the turn . I clipped a guy o n the left side o f me. I'm p retty sore; maybe, 10 or 12 guys ra n over me." Kaw asa ki rid er Rod ney H arriger found h im self in the lead wit h another Kaw asaki rider , Bill y Fran k, ri ght on h is rear fender. Bowen , Suzu ki ri der Doug Dub ach . Wh itin g, Ya maha 's Edd ie H icks an d Kawasaki -mounted Ra y Som mo followed. Harr iger held on to th e lead for three-an d-a-ha lf laps before Bow en sn uc k u p a nd passed h im . Then Wh it ing moved into second sho rt ly a fter. A few tu rn s lat er, Whiting reeled in Bo wen and a tig ht duel for th e lead ensued. Dur in g th e fifth lap , Whiting moved pa st Bo wen on a ro ugh downh ill , but Bowen retal iated a turn aft erw ards wh en Wh it in g got o u t of shape over so me w h oops. A lap lat er , Wh it· in g made a move again: " He (Bowen) went righ t through thes e hol es. a nd I got him going to th e o u tside wh ere it was smoother," said Wh it in g. " I had a beuer drive goi ng u p a hill , while h is bike wa s kic ki ng a ll over th e pl ace." O n ce into th e lead, Whiting sti ll felt much p ressu re fro m Bo wen . On th e last lap, Bow en made one fin al attempt for the lead. " 1 tri ed to stu ff him o n th e inside o f a turn , an d it didn 't wor k," sai d Bow en . " H e tried to get a ro u nd me ," sai d Whi ti n g . " H e ran i n th er e a n d jammed us bo th up. And, whe n he did. he started 10 come d own on me. so I leaned up a nd messed hi m u p a lillie bit. It gave me a cha nce to ge t away. It wa s mostl y h is fault, dr iv in g in o n me lik e th at. " Whitin g fin ish ed abo u t six seco nds a hea d o f Bow en . Abo ut 10 seconds back foll owed Du bach, Fran k, Suzu ki 's Mik e H eal ey, Harriger, Broo ks a nd Suzu ki's Bobby Moore. The seco nd mot o was even more 'exci tin g than th e first: Brooks, who h ad sus pe ns io n problem s d u ring the first rnoto, started rou nd two o ff in the lead wit h Keh oe, Fran k, Bow en . H onda rider Brian Manley and Wh itin g in close pursuit. During th e second lap, Keh oe tried 10 pass Broo ks o n the o ut side in a wid e. high-speed tu rn bu t cra shed ver y hard. instead . He q u ickly j um ped back o n h is feet but ~ , I » I 11J IJ. ( J ) I t r ( )>> :) i I l i r s f gr abbed a t hi s s ide in pa in. Kehoe p icked up h is bike slowly. nonetheless, a nd re-entered the race in last . Keh oe 's cra sh ga ve Brooks a large lead, whil e Bowen sli p ped into secon d. Wh it ing moved into third a lap later but some dis tan ce behind Bowen . Bowen th en reeled in Brooks, whose bike was swa p ping over th e bumps badly. Bowen passed Brooks when Brooks' H onda kicked o u t to the side over aj u m p, but Bow en 's lead didn't last for long. " I cu t a corner more than Bowen did and go t in the smooth stuff," sai d Brooks. " He was n ' t tracking at all, and I just went by, again." Brooks gained a few bikelengths o n Bo wen , but he was still having suspens io n problems. " We went to a softer sp ring between motos: It worked good on th e fast, cho ppy stuff, but wh en we got to th e slo w, big ro llers, it wan ted to kick me over the bars," sai d Broo ks. In the clo sin g laps, Bowen o n ce agai n closed in o n the leader, Broo ks. " I was gell ing a bi t tired wit h th e bi ke kicking me in the butt a ll th e time." By thi s time, Wh iting had cau gh t Bo wen , wh o wa s in ches beh in d Brooks. " I was mostl y block -passing everybody, " said Brooks, " because everytime I h it a ro ug h section , everybody would ca tch me." On th e last la p , Broo ks. Bow en a nd Whiting were neck 'n' nec k. an d then Whiting mad e a move. " I was tryi ng to get h im ," said Wh itin g. " I went u nderneath him (Bo wen) , I h it h im an d I went over th e to p of h im , so I went down . Then m y foot was stuc k under the bike a nd I co u ld n ' t ge t goi n g. Wh en I d id , they were alrea dy gone . T he re was no way I was goin g to catch the m - it was the last la p. It was a last-m inute th in g , li ke Bowen tried a la st-min u te th ing o n me in th e first mot o. I wanted to wi n so bad; wh en I went down, I was bummed ." At th e chec kered, Brooks fin ished in ch es ahead o f Bowen . " Bowen 's fast ... a lill ie crazy. H e was mak ing a lot o f mi stak es - he wou ld fall back and have 10 catch back up." " 1feel pr ett y good," said Bowen . " I didn ' t feel so good a fter th e first mot a , bu t I now feel bett er. We a ll had a pretty good pace goi ng , an d we got pretty close, but it su re was fun . I th ink I lea rn ed a lo t in th is race how aggressive I have 10 be 10 win." 2 50cc Pro , There was p lent y to wat ch for in th e 250cc Pro race: Team Honda's Ii , h ( " i ,. .. ) II'" I L I I J ... / 1

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