Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Carroll Richardson stea ls the holeshot in the f irst 125cc mota. He is chased by Terry Tinney (113). Rodney Barr (8 0) and Clay H08nshell (3 8). Honda/Scott USA Florida Winter-AMA MX Series: Final round Barr, Stafford, Keller wrap titles at Croom By Mike & An ne Ada ir BROOKSVILLE, FL, J AN 19-20 R odn ey Barr, Scoo ter Stafford and J0 J0 . hi . Keller earned P ro class champions IpS In . t h e senes f'Ina I e h eId at e M otocross room R aceway. The circuit, laid out o n a h illside, 16 c o m bined ti ght turns , sh ort jumps a n d d e ep b erms , all eonn e eted by a seemi n g ly e n d les s string o f whoops . , Bet ten cou rt s H onda -~pon so~ed Kell er, w ho ea rned $500 m co nu n~ency mone y from Scotl l!SA [or ta km~ t~e 500cc P ro c1a~s ti tle, placed !hlrd in 2~0~c Pr? ac tion f~)T th e serI ~S. In addi tion, Kell er rece ive d a specia l a wa rd [rom SuperSport s P ro m otions ' Bill We~t. " ~,elle~ is t~e ep ito me of th e p ro n d.e~ , sa id \\ est as he handed th e s",l,J1 mg ! ed head a n ex tra $!?OO . bonus. H e rides hard , n ev~r g~ ves up, a nd a lways has th~ crowd m hi s co rner. The sta ff a nd rid er s ha ve vot ed him R id er o f th e Yea r. " . T he 250cc P ro cl ass cha m p io n, Stafford, to ok seco nd o vera ll [or the da y be h ind Kenn y Keylon and ad de d a nother $ 1.600 [rom Suzuki' s con tin ge ncy p rogra m 10 h is series purse. Stafford, w ho ge ts su p port from R a nd D Suzuki, joked, " I enj oye d th e series a n d rode as hard as I co u ld . But if I had kn own Bill West was havin g a p er sonality co ntest, I would hav e worked on that too," . Barr, who u sed a double-rn ot owinning pun ch to br ing his quest [or th e 125cc; P ro cha m p io n sh ip 10 reality, sa id , " I wanted 10 win th e fir st mota so I co u ld cruise in the seco nd. But in th e second race I felt so g ood that I wanted to take o vera ll for th e da for Kawasaki Team Green a nd • • • •• ~4~ ~.~ • • • •• • • • • ~ ••• ~ A ~,. p m y dad a nd th e crew a t Ba rr 's Cornpetitian ." In the first 12.5c~ moto start. on Sunda y, Kawasaki pilot ~rroll Ri ch a rds o n led jeff Glass, Jim Veugel er , Cl a y Hoenshell and Greg Mayo a ro u n d the right hand swee pe r and over th e grandstand jump. j eff Frisz, who had the best shot at catch ing Barr in th e series, cras hed on th e jump a nd wa s near last. " Frisz was ri ht in front of m e " sa id Barr. " He trred to cha rge too ;oon a nd j u m ped ri ght o n top of Ma rk Crozier. I was luck y 10 miss the m ." Fri sz sa id, " I broke m y clutch lever a nd tr ied 10 ca tch up. I finall y p itt ed for a new lever. " R ich ardson led 13 laps before Barr reeled h im in for th e win . " I lik e this track it's m ore lik e T ex as " sa id runn~r-up R ich ar dson. " Ba rr i us t had better lines," Barr exp la ined h is ride: " I [ell ea rly and co u ld n' t get m y rh ythm goi ng well, so I back ed o ff. I got m y co ncentrar ion back a nd wa s a ble to ride faster. " Crozier paced th e seco nd mota with Mik e jones, Robert Delgado, R ich a rds o n , Hoen shell a nd Barr follow in g. " I had it, then [ell o n the seco nd la p ," sa id Crozier. j ones had one lap o u t front , before Barr found a clean line a ro u n d h im. Frisz rebounded from a mid-pack sta rt, [ell , a n d ca me ba ck to second place by th e finish , but it wa s Barr with th e win and titl e. • • • • • • ~&j'J J • •••• t •• ~~~ • • • • a • • • • Jo J a Keller leads Keith Oelerich in the 500cc class. Keller went on to w in t he class. and he also took f ifth overall in the 250s. Frisz rook seco nd ov era ll for the se ries. Barr, a forme r Am a teur ser ies ch a m p io n, sa id , " It was a good series a nd I' m lookin g fo rw a rd 10 co m peting in the new I 25cc Su percross class." Scooter Sta fford a nd Ken n y Keylon spe nt the winter practi cin g toget her, an d S ta ffo rd wanted not o n ly t he 250cc ti tl e, but a win ove r h isbu dd y as well. In m ot o a nt', St aff ord, o n a n E d d ie St afford -pr ep ared S u zu k i, ' ho ok ed th e lead with Keylon , j o j o Kell er, T odd H arrell a nd Tom Carso n in pursu it. Keyl on m o ved a head o n lap two , a n d it look ed lik e a ha hum race until th e la te la ps . " A la pped rider [ell o ver into m e and p u nct ured m y radiator," exp la ined Keylon. As Ke yl on ' s Support Yam ah a belched stea m , Stafford cl osed th e gap , bu t Keylon qu ickl y p itted [or water a n d held o n for th e win . The radi at or was replaced between moros. Keylon descr ib edthe second m ot o sta rt: " Scooter got a way clean a nd I raced Todd H arrell for the third turn . 1 followed Scooter for a while and th en to ok h im o n th e triple j u m p ." Keylon looked sa fe in th e lead until he tried to pass four lapped rid er s in o ne turn a n d crashed. " I had 10 get up a nd look [or m y bike," sa id Keylon , w ho remounted in time to win ove r Sta ffo rd . St afford, th e class cha m p, sai d, " I would hav e been closer to Kenny, but I h ad a lo t of trouble gelling a ro u nd riders," john Collins put in h is finest ride of th e ser ies and rook third for the day with a 3-4 tally. Todd Harrell , who was fourth for the day , lost third overall in the series to Kell er. The 1984 500cc Pro champ in the seri es, Mark Murph y, had th e best shot at knocking Keller out of the class lead, but found himself m idpack in rnoto one with Alan Crurn, Fred Vertucci, Keller, Tom Rice and Steve Martin out front. Keller, Keith Oe1eric h a nd Martin led the J?arade a&'L • • • 1 ., • • • • •• • •• • , • • • ' . while Murphy, o n a Su p port Yamaha, clim bed th ro ug h th e pack . Murphy g o t close 10 leader Kell er o n lap 12, o n ly 10 dump it. Kell er won over Martin a nd Murphy. " I felt fas t enough to win th e series," said Murphy. " It j us t wasn ' t 10 be,'Kell er sai d, " I usually have more m echan ical problems. Bill Bergen kept my Hondas running flawl essly throughout th e series." Kaw asaki-support ed Martin led th e 'fin a l m ot o and swa p p ed th e lead w ith Kell er, until Murph y bl itzed by o n lap II a n d won o ver Keller. Kell er, wh o was quite co ntent with secon d ov er all a nd th e titl e, was congra tulated by his sp o nso rs, Savage Racing's Paul Puffer a n d Bill Mao. The hap py winner sai d, " I' m glad th ese g uys ca me down from Massa ch usetts toda y. Withou t th eir h elp 1 wouldn 't eve n be her e," Martin 's th ird in th e fin al mota g ave him a on e-po int ed ge ov er Murphy for runner -u p in th e ser ies. • Results 125<:<: PRO: 1. Rodney Barr (!(a wl: 2. carroll Richardson (Kaw); 3. Greg Mayo (Suzl; 4 . Je ff Glass (Hon): 5 . Jeff Frisz (Suz): 6. Jeff Surwall (Kaw) : 7 . Terry Tinney (Su z); 9 . Er ic Yarnell (Kawl; 10 . Steve Burdett e (Yam). 250cc PRO; 1. Kenny Key lo n (Ya m» 2. Scooter ; Staff ord (Suzl : 3. John Collin s (Su zl: 4 . Todd Harrell ISuz): 5. Jo J o Keller (Hon): 6 . Tom carson (Honl: 7 . John Shay (Yam); 8 . Ear l May (Hon); 9 . Arnaud Bernard (Hon); 10 . Keyin Foley (Yam) . OPEN PRO: 1. JoJo Ketter (Hon) ; 2. Mark Murphy (Yaml: 3 . Steve Martin (!(aw): 4 . Tom Rice (!(aw): 5 . Dennis Hawth orne (Kaw) ; 6 . Keith Oelerich (Hon); 7. Earl May (Hon); 8 . Ron Dunfee (Hon); 9. Shan e Drew (Hon); 10 . Tim Dohm (Yam) . FI N AL SER IES PO INT STAN D INGS . 125cc PRO: 1. Rod ney Barr (1B6 1 2. Jeff Friaz : (152): 3 . C. Richardson (12BI; 4 . Clay Hoenshell (11 B): 5 .Joff Surwall(1 021: 6. Steve Burden e (1001 ,; 7 . Terry Tinney (971: B. Greg Mayo (B3): 9. Er ic Yarnell (76): 10 . Mlchae' Crane (73) . 2 50cc PRO: 1. Scootor Stafford (169) : 2. Kenny Keylon (157): 3. Jo Jo Kollor (12 4): 4 . Todd Harroll ( 121): 5 . Tom carso n(113~ 6 . John Collins(105~ 7 . Kevin Foley (101); B. Bob Hannah (100); 9 . Bill y Ules (94): to. Joe Waddington (BO). OPEN PRO: 1. JoJo Keller 11761: 2. Steve M artin (1 BOI: 3 . Mart< Murphy (159): 4 . Kolth Oelerich (1401: 5 . Ron Dunf. . (1 09~ 6. Oennis Hawthorne (105); 7. Tim Doh m (10 3 1;B. Thomaa Rico (10 n 9 . Fred Vortucci 841: 10 . hane Drew 17 61. I"; I ' ~ .'J J.I

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