Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ 00 0') ...... Consistent riding gave Kawasaki's Mark Barnett third overall , Barnett went 4 -4, while Ron Lechien (6) had an off night taking 5-20 for 11th, Jeff Ward used to thirds to nail second overa ll. Ward and Johnson are tied in points for second with 59 , Glover leads the series with 61 points. and H onda 's Mike Fish er were in vol ved in a start ing lin e p ile-u p and had 10 transfer thro ugh th e semis. Qual ifier fou r was by far th e most exciti ng of th e qual ifiers: O 'M a ra jum ped 10 a n early lead follo wed by Gl over, J eff Hi cks, Ka wasaki's Bill y Liles, J im H olley a nd Joh nso n. During th e seco n d lap , G lov er mo tor ed pa st O 'Mara th rough the long Stu llerbump sectio n, th en J ohnson worked his wa y up a n d pa ssed H onda rid er Hi cks through a turn . By th e halfway point, Gl over , O'Mara a nd J ohnson had pulled a way from the pa ck while enga ged in an all-out bailie for th e lead. J ohnson mad e th e first m ove by pass in g O 'M ara in a tu rn and then pressuring G lov er. As th e Yamaha teammat es di ced , O 'M a ra .Iell o ff th e pace. With four la ps rem aini n g , Johnson wa s tr ying 10 p ass G lov er th rough every turn but Gl over d idn 't budge a n in ch . H owever , two laps lat er , J ohnson fou nd a fla w in Gl over 's defens e in th e whoops a n d m ad e the pass for th e lead. J ohnson held o n 10 tak e th e win a hea d o f Gl o ver a n d O 'M a ra , Semis A.J . Wh it in g , ridi ng a n inj ur ed Georg e H oll an d 's wo rk s Su zu ki , ma naged 10 ig nore challe nges by factory H usk y rider Mick y Dymond 10 cap ture the first sem i qual ifier wi n. Suzuki rider Russ Wagem an narrowly beat La Porte for th e fin al tra nsfer posit ion . The seco nd sem i featured a d ice betw een Yamaha rid er H olley and Hannah - th e most exciting ra ce of th e ni ght. Li les a nd Hicks were ea rly front -runners, but both were event ually pa ssed by H olley an d Hannah , as Han na h worked hi s wa y up from a mid-pack start. With Holley ou t front , and H a n n a h clos in g ground, th e crowd was o n its feet ch eerin g mostly for the Hurricane. Hannah dogged Holley for a bo u t five laps, but H o lley held o n to h is slim lead . On th e fin al lap, H a n n a h set H olley up through a coup le of turns, dove in side an d passed Holley, but H olley sur p r ised th e crowd a n d H ann a h a tu rn la ter by J o hnson took th e win a few bikeleng th s o ver J o h n so n , who wa s followed by Ward , Barn ett . Lech ien , Burn wort h , Breker , Bowen , O 'Ma ra a nd Kell er. G lover knew that a seco nd mot o win would giv e hi m th e overall, so he sho t h is p rod u ction -b a sed YZ25 0 Ya ma ha 10 the fro nt o f the class after passing Burn wort h in the seco nd turn . O' Mara, Ward , J ohnson , Barne tt , Lech ien , H ardick, Breker, Keylo n and H a nnah tra iled Burn worth. By th e seco nd lap. G lover had already developed a co mmandi ng lead ov er ti ghtl y-p a ck ed Burn wo rth , O 'M ara , Lech ien , Ward ,J ohnson and Barnet t. O 'M ara p assed Burn wort h over a jump JUSt before a sh arp rig hthan der. T hen Ward tangled wit h a co up le o f riders and J ohnson a nd Ba rn ell sn uck by. At th is po in t it was G lover with a large lead, th en O ' Mara , Lechien, J oh nson , Burnwo rt h , Bar nett a nd War d. J o hnson tried 10 slip u n derneath Lech ien in a hairpin turn , bu t the tw o riders went down in a heap . Frantica lly, J ohnson untangled hi s Ya m aha a nd Lechieri's H on da a nd co ntin ued on first, bu t back in 12th. Jo h n son 's problem s didn 't en d th ere, ei ther. H e crashed agai n a la p la ter in th e stu tte r bumps a nd lost m ore p osit ions. Up fro nt, Gl over still enjoyed a co m ma n d i n g lead foll owed b y O ' Mara , War d , Barnell , Breker, Bu rn wo rth and Whiting. Five laps from th e en d, Lech ien cra shed hard over a j u mp, a n d bot h he a nd hi s bi ke went ca rtwheeling off the track . Lechien was n ' t hurt in th e crash , bu t h is run a way bike p lo wed in to AMA Race Referee Ron C randall. Cranda ll had to be ca rr ied OU t o f th e stad ium by stretch er with a possib le broken kn ee, and sho u lder a nd rib inj u ries. By th is poi n t, th ere was n o stopping G love r, hi s lead had grow n, an d he event ua lly went o n to tak e th e win a n d o vera ll. O 'M a ra too k seco nd ahead of Wa rd, Barnell , Breker, Burnworth , Whiti ng,Joh nson a nd Keylon. 125cc Support T he 125cc Support ma in saw Ma n -.. CUlling in side of th e Hurr ica ne a nd retak ing th e lead. With a h alf lap left, H anna h desperately tried to zap H o lley, but fa iled. H icks took th ird. Last Chance Qualifier H a rd ick kicked o u t th e ja mms and smoked th e pack in th e LCQ, wh ile King .m an aged to work h is wa y up th rough th e field aft er a p oor start a nd took th e fina l tran sfer sp o t of the n ight. . Main Instead o f go ing two IO- lap rn oto s lik e last week in Sa n Diego , both main m ot os were l 2-lap pers. At the sta rt of th e first m o to , J o hnson, wh o rare ly ge ts good sta rts, managed a clean ho leshot a hea d o f Burn worth a n d Gl over. By th e sta rt of th e seco nd lap , Wa rd had passed Burnworth for th ird : Lechi en , Barnell , Breker , Kin g and KeyIon foll owed. In sta nt ly, J ohnso n developed a fo ur - or five-bi kelen gth lead over G lo ver, w ho was bein g hea vil y pr essured by Ward. Po sitions rem a ined the same for th e nex t co up le of laps before Barn ell slip ped by Lechi en for fift h . Wa rd co nt in ued to ho u nd G lover , but th at was a bo u t a ll Ward cou ld do. G lover was ridin g stro ng ly a nd soon sta rte d to pu ll a way from Ward whi le ga in ing ever so slig h tly o n th e leader , J oh nso n , Barn ett also started to nag Bu rn worth for fourth . At this poi nt, H a nnah , who had a no th er terrible start , was in vol ved in a th ree bi ke pile-u p in the stu tter bumps with Whitin g and Keylon . H annah wa lked a way from h is mount, co ns idera bly fa voring h is left leg. H e event ua lly hop ped back on h is bik e an d ro de back 10 th e pits a nd sta rte d getti ng ready for th e seco nd moto , Meanwhi le, the distance betw een J ohnson and Glover had narro wed 10 a bo u t three seconds , but Jo hnson looked in co ntrol of th e situation. Soon after, J ohnson regained a bi kelen gth or two on Gl over. Cru ising m id-pack was O 'M a ra he didn ' t h ave such a hot start and co u ldn 't m ak e u p m uch ground. When th e checkered flag appeared, ley roost h is H onda in to th e lead whil e cha sed by Dircks after th e second lap. Manley found himself with a huge lead, but Dircks was o n th e move. Slowly but surely, Dircks started ga in ing gro u nd o n Manley, while H eal ey was ma king up for a so-so sta rt . Dir cks's cha lle n ge came 10 a n end wh en he crashed in th e whoops, JUSt aft er Heal ey gain ed co ntrol of th ird . With Dircks crashi ng, H ea ley h ad a clear shot a t th e leader Ma n ley, wh o had a bo ut a six- or seven -seco nd lead. All eyes were focu sed on H ealey, wh o was gaini ng grou nd o n Man ley in ch by inc h. With a bo u t five laps 10 go in the 20-l ap race, H ea ley had closed th e gap co m p letely, a nd a ll he had left to do was pass Manley. Lapped traffi c mad e th in gs difficu lt for H eal ey for a co u ple o f la ps: then with two circu its remain ing, he o ut jumped Manley whi le enteri ng a tig h t right tu rn . Bu t Manl ey staye d g lued to H eal ey's rea r fender. Du ring the fin al lap , th e tWO were within in ches o f eac h ot h er, but the Suzuki ride r flew ove r th e fin ish line jump with th e w in , a rms rai sed high in th e a ir at the sa me time. Third went 10 Kawa sa ki rider Billy Fran k. Dir cks fin ished six th, while last wee k' s San D iego . l2 5cc Support winner Todd Camp bell took fou rt h. • Results 1. Brae Glo ver (Vam) 2-1 : 2. Jeff W ard IKaw) 3· 3; 3 . M ark Barne tt IKaw) 4 -4 ; 4 . Rick Joh nson (Yam) 1· 8 ; 5. Jo hnny O 'M ara (Hon) 9-2 ; 6. Scott Burnworth (Su z) 6-6; 7 . Goat Breker (Kaw) 7-5 ; 8 . Keith Bow en (y am) B- 12; 9. JoJo Kelle r (Hon ) 10 -1 3; 10. A.J . Wh it ing (Suz) 16 -7; 1 1. Ron Lechien (Honl 5-20; 12. David Bailey (Hon) 11· 14; 13. Kenny Keylon (VamI 17 -9; 14. Jim Holley IVam) 14·1 5; 15. Alan King (Kaw) 18- 11; 16. Jeff Hicks (Hon) 12·18; 17. M icky Dymon d (HusI 20 -10; 18. Clint Hardick (Hon) 13 -1 9; 19. Russ W ageman (Suz) 15- 19; 20. 80b Han nah (Hon) ONF· 16. 125 cc SUPPORT; 1. M ike Healey (Suz); 2. Brian M an ley (Hon); 3. Bill y Frank (Kaw l; 4. Todd Camp bell (Kaw); 5. Orey Dircks (Suz); 6. Fred Andrews (Han): 7. Bobby Moor e (5 uz); e. John Lambert (Vam); 9. Stacey Look; 1O. Tyson Voh land(Kaw) ; 11. Steve Schmitz (Han); 12. Ray Somm a (Kaw); 13 . Jack Lambe rt (Yam); 14 . Dennis Parker; 16 . Bart Shiflett ISuzl; 16. Dan Goett lin g; 17. Chr is Hein rich; 18 . Greg Young (Hon); 19. Jim Simm ons (Kaw); 20 . Craig Canoy (Kaw ). POINT STAND INGS; 1. Brae Glover (6 1); 2. (TIE) Rick Johnson /Jeff Ward (59); 4 . Johnny O'Mara (57); 5. Mark Barn ett (5 5); 6. SCo Burnwon h (52); tt 7. Keith Bow en (51); 8. Goa. Breker (471 9. Ron ; Lechien 141f; 10. David Bail ey (3 91. ' , 7 .

• Cover