Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-c « a: ~ ~ Ul :> w I- « z >- Ul en 0 0 I- ::I: e, l!") 00 O"l ..... ~ (,,0 >$-0 ro ::s $-0 ..c V ~ In second place, Gloveristrailed by Ron Lechien (61, O'Mara (1land Keith Bowen (141 in the first main. Jeff Ward is already gone, Scott Burnworth (391 took the holeshot in the second 250cc main moto. Johnny O'Mara (11, Jeff Ward (21 and Brae Glover give chase, AMA/Miller lfilh Ute Supercross Series: Round 1 O'Mara wins San Dielo SX thriller By Kit Palmer SAN DIEGO. CA. J AN. 26 The opening round of the 1985 AMA/Miller High Life Supercross Series, this year held in the Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California, will go down in history as one of th e most exciting supercross events of all time. Before almost 36,000 spectators, T eam Honda 's Johnny O 'Mara used fast 6 riding a nd a lot o fl uc k 10 ca p ture th e overall, a nd did so without winnin g ei ther fina l mot o . Fo r the seco nd year in a ro w, O'Mara h as o pene d th e Su percross season with a wi n, a nd, o f course, last year O 'M ara went on to become th e 1984 Su percross Champ ion . The San Diego ope ne r marked the beginn in g of a new su pe rcross format which man y of th e riders do no t care for. Besid es ' min or qual ifyin g cha n ges, th e most sign ifica n t cha nge is having two 10-lap ma in s in stead o f , o ne 20.l ap main. which is the cha nge that isn 't go in g over too well with the riders, especially T eam Yamaha's 1984 250cc National Cham pion Ricky J ohnson. H e vo iced his op in ion over the P.A. system saying that spec tators are left feeling "s tu pid" because the y don 't kn ow wh o Iini shed second o r third overall di rectl y a fter th e second mot o fin al. Man y riders fel t. the same wa y. No ne theless, th e sparse cro wd was treated to two very exciting 250cc ma ins, and a n ail-bi ter 20-lap 125cc Support main. T he 250s h ad four qual ifiers (first three goi ng dir ectly 10 th e main ), two semi fina ls (first three goi ng 10 main), o ne last cha nce qualifier (top two tran sferr ing 10 main ) an d two main motos. The 125s had two q ua lifi ers (first 10 going to main ) and a o ne rnoto mai n . 250cc qualifiers T he fir st qual ifier saw Yam aha rider Scoo ter Sta£ford jump into th e early lead, but he wa s passed durin g th e first lap by ano the r Yamaha rider . J im Holley. wh ile T eam Suzuki 's A.J . Whi ting doubl e-jumped past Sta ffo rd, Hal£way in to the eig h t-la p qualifier , the top th ree posi tions were held by Holley, Whiting a nd Team Tamm's Alan King. The three riders pulled away from the rest of the pa ck . T he n King slipped pa st Whiting and started pressuring Holley. With a few laps to go. King tried 10 pass Holley in th e whoops but almost crashed . H e th en ca me back and passed Holley over a jump but H olley dov e underneath King in a turn a nd reo claimed th e lead. With less than a lap 10 go, Kin g pulled a lo ngside Holley over a do ubl e jump and the two locked handl ebar s. Holley got th e worst o f it a nd cras hed wh ile Staffor d, Su zuki 's Russ Wagem an and Rodney Smith cru ised by. Kin g won, while Whiting a nd Staffor d a lso transferr ed dire ctl y 10 th e main. The seco nd qualifier was a ll Iactory Suzuki rider Scott Burnworth 's. He stole the hol eshot , but was hounded by Kawa saki 's Mark Barnett , wh o h ad to double jump past Honda 's Mik e Fish er. Fish er cras hed a turn late r in the sand pit. From that point on . Burnworth began pulling a wa y from Barnett steadily and took th e win a hea d ofBarnett and Kawasaki 's Goat Breker. Round th ree featured three hometow n favorites: Honda 's Ron Lechien and Yamaha's Broc Glover a nd Johnson . Lechien took th e holeshot wi th Glover and Johnson hot on h is rear fender. Du ring th e third lap. Lechien lo w-sided over a jump and dropped to third. This gav e Glover th e lead only inc hes ahead o f J ohnson. Johnson kept up th e pressure but almo st cras hed in the whoops, but he quickly ca ugh t back up. With two laps to go, Johnson slipped a lon gside of Gl over an d tried to pa ss, but Glover held on . Then J ohnson tried to pass aga in and the two stayed exactly side-by-side fo r a quarter of a lap. But John son h ad th e better lin e going in to a turn a nd stu ffed Gl over for th e lead. At th e en d i t was J o h n son, Glover a n d Lechien. O'Mara took th e early lead at th e sta rt o f the last qual ifier bu t was passed by Kaw a sak i's Je£f Ward a lap lat er. T he n Honda 's David Bailey snuck into secon d. bu t O'Mara retalia ted soo n aft er. Then Bail ey dropped back o ne spo t aft er being passed by Yamaha's Kei th Bowen. Honda 's Bob Hannah was di cing over fifth with Can adi a n National Champ Ross Ped erson. At th e en d was Ward out in front, sa fely ahead of O 'Mara, Bowen , Ba il e~ an? Hannah, Semi finals Honda rider Clint Hardick led from start to fin ish in the first semi final. beating Yamaha rider Mark Murphy, Wageman and Kawasaki 's Billy Liles. H olley a n d Jo Jo Kell er were both gaining on Hardick a t one point, but th e two riders co ll ided over a jump and cras hed out of contention. The second semi fina l was expected 10 be a d ogf ight for the lead between Bailey a n d H annah , but it never sh ape d up. Bailey took th e hol eshot a n d eas ily won, while Han nah had a mi serabl e sta rt an d co u ld not manage better than a ninth. Yamaha rid er Eri c Eaton took seco n d ahead of Jeff Fri sz. Last Chance Qualifier Hannah was do wn to h is last hope at making th e final s in the LCQ - a very rar e ex perience for th e "Hurricane." Danny Storbeck took the holesho t just ahead of Suzuki's Erik Kehoe , while H annah got pinched between a co u p le of riders o ff th e gate and came a ro u n d th e first turn near the back of th e pack. A few laps later, Kehoe passed Storbeck, then Storbeck crashed try ing to repass Kehoe. This put Liles in seco nd, but he endoed hard wh en he didn 't quite clear a double jump. With two laps 10 go and Kehoe way out in front . all eyes were focused o n Hannah, who was in third trying to find a way aro u nd Honda rider T erry Fowler. Hannah had 10 pass Fowler to qualify for the main , but Fowler didn't gi ve up a nd Hannah had to go back 10 the pits in third and o u t for the night. . 250cc moto one At th e sta rt of th e first 250cc moto, ' Ward sho t o ff th e gate a nd into the lead with Keho e in seco nd , but by the en d of the first lap, Kehoe had crashed. Gl over moved into second followed by Lechi en, O 'M ara, Bowen, Burnworth, Breker , Barnett, Eaton , Whiting and King. Johnson was 12th. During the next two laps, Glover sta rted 10 reel in Ward, but Ward still mainta in ed co nt ro l. A lap later, Lech ien cra sh ed over the whoops and dropped back 10 eig h th . He pulled into th e mechanic's ar ea for a few seconds and re-entered th e race in last. Up front. th e duel for th e lead had become intense betw een Ward and Glover, while O'Mara trailed about two seconds behind and had Bowen breathing hea vil y down h is back. For the next four laps, Ward and Glover

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