Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

- (Above) Todd Campbell won the 125cc Support class. (Be lo w) R ic k Joh n son passes Clint Hardick on h is way to a second moto main win . O'Mara's consistent riding and good luc k gave h im the overall. He al so won the opening supercross series last year in Anaheim. ba tt led closely, with the crowd cheering for th e local kid, Glover. With les s than a ha lf la p to go, disaster str uc k Wa rd . Ward went into the last sectionof w hoops a li tt le hot, . got out o f shape and crash ed . Glo ver motored on by. while Ward despe ra tely tr ied to pick up h is m ount a n d finish the ra ce. H e recovered in sixth min us a front fender. A very hap p y Gl over took the wi n a head of O 'M ara , Bo wen , Bu rnwo rt h . Johnson, Wa rd, Breker, Ba rn ett and King . Bob Hannah tried three times but couldn't make it to the main. 250cc moto two T he overall was sti ll u p for grabs at the start o f th e second m oto , th ough thi ngs looked best fo r Glover a nd O 'Ma ra , T he seco nd mo to bei n g a tie-breaker meant th a t if ei ther Glover o r O 'M ara won . they wo uld a lso tak e th e overall. At th e sta rt. i t was Burnworth and h is facto ry Suzu ki na il in g th e hol esho t, but O 'M ara , Ha rdi ck . G lover, Ward and Bo wen chased . Knowing tha t h e had to beat O'Mara , Glover qu ick ly got o n th e gas a n d passed bo th Hardick a nd O 'M ara o n the first la p . T h is put Glover in second with Burnwo rt h still out in from. At this time. Hardick cra shed in a turn a nd took o ut Ward with him. Ward quick ly go t go ing, back in n inth. Mean whi le. Glo ver had reeled in Burn worth. but th e Suzu ki pilot wouldn ' t give u p wirhou ra figh t. Glover made a n attem p t at th e lead several times but Burnworth would always quickl y retalia te. Finally, on th e fou rt h lap. Wa rd mad e a pass that stuck a nd had the lead. Whil e all this was going on. J ohnson was quietly makin g his way u p through th e pa ck . He passed Bowen , do ve under O 'Mara in a turn a nd zapped Burnworth in th e same turn a lap la ter. Soon a fter. Burn wo rth crash ed in a turn a nd d ropped back to n inth. Once i nto seco nd. J o h n so n started to reel in his teamma te while pu ll ing a way fro m O ' Ma ra . For th e nex t two la ps, Glover and J ohnson were flyi ng ove r the do u ble and trip le jumps . and bouncing o ff the berms side- by-side. Man y times Johnson wou ld put his front wheel inside of G lover in a turn , bu t Glo ver would just slam th e door sh u t. Then J ohnson managed 10 stuff a li tt le bit more tha n j ust h is front wheel in a tu rn before a long wh oo p sect ion a nd sto le th e lead. A few tu rns la ter. J ohnso n devel o ped a slig h t lead o n G lo ver wi th th ree la ps 10 go. But. eve n if G lo ver took seco nd by sta ying a head o f O 'M ara : G lover woul d capture the overa ll. H owever, di sa ster struck Gl o ver o n the very last lap, in the same section of whoops th at caused Ward 10 crash in the fir st m ot o . At the end o f the whoops, Glo ver almost looped it, saved it , th en overs hot t he n ext turn a n d crashed. Wh ile Gl o ver p icked u p hi s bike, h e saw O 'M ara cruise by and th e overall sli p away. The crowd was stu n ned when G lov er crashed, th en O 'M a ra did a no-ba nder over the fin ish j u m p while ta king th e ch eckered flag a nd the overa ll victory. J o h n son's second m oto win ga ve him th ird o vera ll, whil e Gl over's 1-3 ta lly gave h im seco nd . Fourth in the m o to wen t to Bo wen , a head o f Ward , Barnett, Lec hien, Burnworth a nd Kin g . "It feels g rea t start ing th e new yea r off by winning ," sai d O' Mara , " Whe n 1 sa w G lover go orr th e tra ck 1 wa s reall y h app y an d 1 knew 1 had the over all win. 1 wasn't tak ing a ny un necessa ry cha nces ou t th ere, but 1wa s real co n sistent , th at 's basicall y why 1 ended up w inning." " I got on th e gas rea l ha rd and th e front end ca me do wn towards th e end o f the whoops," said Gl over , "and it threw me back off the bike and 1 h i t th e thrott le - p ulled i t o n . So , going through th e bumps li ke that , it was too hard to cl im b back forward. 1 went over the turn , through a ha ybal e a n d down o n th e g rou nd. That ended tha t win - 1 had i t in the bag. "Once 1 passed Scott y (Burnwo rt h) , 1 ki nda ba cked o ff thepacea little bit, a nd R ick y drove reall y ha rd on me, an d 1 do n ' t th ink 1 wa s riding quite as good with R icky behind me. T hen he got arou nd me and 1 sho u ld 've been co n tent with wh er e 1 wa s, because instead 1 wasn 't co ntent with second and 1 tried to go too fast a nd made a mi stak e." 125cc main Favored to wi n th e 125cc su p po rt m ain were q ual ifi er wi n n ers Brian Man ley a nd Bo bb y Moore, but a t the sta rt o f th e main, Ka wasa ki rider T yson Vohland h ad the holcsh ot a head o f Suzuki's Moore a nd a nother Kaw a saki ri der, Todd Ca m pbell. A few laps into the race, Moore d ro p p ed back afte r getti ng passed by Ka wa sak i-m o u rned Bader Ma nneh. Vo h land , Ca m p be ll a n d Man n eh sta rted 10 p u ll a way from th e pa ck whi le enga ged in a ti ght battl e fo r the lead . T h is duel co n tin ue d for most o f th e race. Campbell passed Voh land in th e wh oops, th en Vo h la n d en doed in th e sa nd pit, letting Manneh ta ke o ver th e seco nd sp o t. Soon a fte r, Manneh crashe d twice a nd dropped to seventh , Ca m p bell enjoyed a h uge lead , whi le Vo h land ma naged 10 take seco nd ah ead of Chad Parker (Ka w) , Moore, Ma nley and Manneh. • Results 1. Jo hnny O'Mara (Han) 2 ·2; 2. Broc Glover (Yam) 1· 3 ; 3. Rick Jo hnson (Yam) 5·1 ; 4 . Ke ith Bowe n (Yaml 3-4 ; 5. Jeff Ward (Kaw) 6- 5; 6. Scan Burn wort h (SUl) 4 ·B; 7 . Marl

• Cover