Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Rodney Smith and his two-yea r-old YZ490 Y amaha won b oth 500cc motos. Smith is ge tting bac k int o action af ter suffering a bro ken knee. . Wageman 's 12-1 g a ve h im fourth. Second and third o vera ll went to Wh it in g (3-3) a nd Tarantin o (2-6) . 250cc Pro R ya n was ba ck at it again at th e start o f the 250cc mota - h e grabbed . the h o lesho t while pursu ed by Ward. Ya m a ha rider Andy Eson , Kawasa kimounted Dave Co upe' and Yamaha pi lo t Don Goe tt li ng. OUTing the first la p , Ward sh o t pas t Ry an a nd sta rred to extend hi s lead. A few turns la ter, Eson also snuck aro u nd R ya n . By th e fifth la p , the to p five were WaTd , Eson, Ryan, Suzuki ri d er Scooter Sta fford and Holley. M idway through th e moto , Stafford a nd Holley bo th roos ted pas t Rya n , then Stafford sta rt ed to pressure Eson. With Ward w ay ou t in front , Eson and Stafford wer e en gaged in a dogfight over second. Du ri ng the last la p , though, Stafford crashed w hile m a kin g an a tte m p t to pass [son . At the finish it was Ward. Eso n , Holley , Tara ntino, Rvan a nd Yamah a rider G len Bell. . "M y shock went o ut on the second la p ," said Rya n , " so I ju st rode a ro u nd and finished fift h ." The second moto featured a wild ear lv-race duel between Ward and Ho I'ley. At th e sta rt , it was Ho lley wi th the lead, but Ward was hot o n h is rea r fender. H on d a rider J o h n Ne lson, R ya n , Eson a nd Goettling follo wed . Holl ev and Ward we re ver y close for th e first few laps; th en Wa rd got a longside of Holley in the offca mber tu rn , on lv to have Ho lle y cut h im off. Soon aft er, Ward made anot her a tt em p t at the lead and passed Holle y tak in g a n inside line arou nd a turn . Bu t Holl ey m ad e a surprisi ng comeback a n d repassedWard on the do wnh ill. A la p lat er, Ward repassed H o lley on th e in sid e o f a turn, bu t H o lley zapped Wa rd again a t th e bottom of th e downh il l. H olley had abou t a bi ke length over Ward g oing ov er a large, high -speed, j ump . Bu t H olley lost h is lead over th e jump Ior th e last tim e w hen he did a o ne-handel' celebrat in g h is pass over Wa rd . The o nehan d er slowed Ho lley down just enough to give t he lead back to War.d. Fro m th en o n , Ward 's lea d grew to a n unto uchable d ista nce. Nea r th e en d o f th e race, a tough battle betw een Eso n a nd Honda r ider -Va u g h n Sty le fo rmed o ver second . T he d ice carried them u p to H olley, b u t as th ey crossed the fi n ish lin e, posi tions rem ained th e sa me: Ward , Holley, Eso n, Sty le and Wa tts. WaTd easi ly ca p t u red the ove ra ll, followed by Holley (3-2), Eson (2·3) r a nd St yle (9-4)1 J : I J .' I. " " 1 ~ J ) , } 500cc Pro Sm ith a nd his Yam aha ca p t u red th e first moto hol esh o t ah ead o f H on d a r id ers E r ic Mc Ke n n a , Lar rv Das h iell a nd Wi lly Simons. Smit h quickly jumped to a co m m a nd i ng lead , whi le Simons took ov er th e second spot two la ps la ter. Das hi ell a lso passed McKen na shortly after. At the halfwa y po int , th e top five riders - Smi th, Simons , Dashi ell , Honda ri der Greg Ziuer kopf a nd McKen na - were Iair ly spread apart. It wasn 't u n til th e last three la p s before thi ngs got close. H onda rid er Larso n got .in on th e action fo llow ing a poor start. Larson had worked his way into th ird w ith Simons a few feel in front ' of him. With o n e la p lO go , S imo ns a n d Larso n had ca ug h t up to Smi th, who no w on ly had a bike ll'ng th lead . Smith managed lO stay out in fro n t wh il e Larso n kept trying lO dive u nd ernea th Simons. A few tu rn s fro m th e chec kered flag, Larson passed Simons; so at th e fin ish it was Smi t h, L ar son , Sim on s, Zi t ter ko pf a nd McKe nna. P ete La n gley - o n a Ka wasa ki jammed to th e fron t o f the pa ck at the start o f the seco nd moro after Larson and a co u p le o f ri ders cr as he d after . th e second turn . T his ga ve Langley th e lead ah ead o f Simo ns, Breu Ca hors , Dash iell a nd Smit h . Langley h el d on to h is lead for two la p s be for e being passed by Simons a nd Smi th a lap la te r. AfteT th e fifth la p it was Simons, Sm it h, Ziuerkopf. Das hiel a nd Langley. Si mons had a bo u t a five-second lead o n Smi th, who start ed to reel -in Si mons . T h ree la ps from th e' en d , Smi th was right on Simons' T r ea fen d er. Smit h stole the lead w h en h e we nt i ns ide o f Simons in th e ' o ffca m ber turn . However , Simons wasn't about to g ive up yet - h e pi cked u p h is pace a nd started to r ide on th e rag g ed edge . .. on ly to have a few mistakes enable Smith to p ull away slig h tly , Smith to ok th e win fo llowed by Simons, Zitt erko pf. Dashi ell and Ya mah a rid er Troy Bradsha w. " I g o t a ba d sta rt o ff th e gate," sa id Smit h, " b u t th e Iirst tu rn is kind ' ve tight an d a co u p le o f g uys were bu m p in g eac h other, so I j us t tried to ge t through it sa fely . "After we rou nded the second tu rn , I saw Larson lying o n th e gro u nd. Then a ll I kn ew I had lO do was Tid e co nsis tent, a n d I worked m y wa y u p the best I co u ld ." 80cc Expert H onda ride r Kyle Le wis co nt in ue d h is win n ing wa ys by using a I-I clean - sweep in the 8()(JClExpeT!: ol ass~ J I J : (Above) Jeff Ward (2) chases Jim Holley early in the second 250cc ~oto, (Below left) Greg Zitterkopffinished third overall in the 500s. (Below rrght) Ryan (21) and Andy Eson dice in the 250cc class. Eson finished fourth. In th e Iirst.m o to , Honda- mou nted Rick Simme r took th e hol esh ot bu t crashed, ta king out th e third-pla ce ri de r Co li n Ka rcher. T h is gave the lead to Le w is, who was fo llowed by Tallon Vohland. Anoth er Honda rider, Scott Brow n fou nd hi m self in thi rd wi th two la ps left. D u r in g th e final lap, Brown slipped past Vo h land Ior seco nd . At th e fi nish it was Lew is , Brown a nd Vo hland . Brown to o k th e ea rly lead at the sta rt o f th e second moto a nd led for three la p s before crash in g a nd givi ng the lead to Lewi s, who went on to tak e the win a nd overall ahead o f Bro w n a nd Sim rne t. • Results 125cc : 1. Rick Ryan (Kaw) 1-2; 2. A.J . Wh it in g (Suz ) 3 ·3; 3. J im Taran tino (Suz) 2-6 ; 4 . Russ W ageman (Suz) 12 -1; 5. Bill y Frank (Kaw) 4-5 ; 6. Bader M ann eh (Kaw) 11-4 ; 7 . W ill iam Surratt (Han) 6-8 ; B. Bobby Mo ore (Suz) 9-7 ; 9. Drey Dirck s (Suz) 7-9 ; 10. Tyson Vohland (Kaw) 5 -12 ; 11. Erik Keho e (Suz) 13-1 0; 12. Eddie Hicks (Yam) 10 -13; 13. Doug Dub ach(Suz)8- 16; 14. Clay Hoensh ell (Suz) 17 -14; 15 . Craig Can oy (Kaw) 14·2 1; 16 . Rodney Harriger (Kaw) 18·22; 17. Kenny Clifton (Suz)24-1 B; 18. Joe Hopkins (Kaw) 22 ·20; 19. Gary Butcher (Kaw) 2023 ; 20 . Kelly Andris (Hon) 30-24. 25Occ : 1. Jeff Ward ,(Kaw) 1·1 ; 2. J im Holley (Yam) 3-2; 3. Andy Eson (Yam) 2-3; 4. Vaughn Style (Hon) 9 -4 ; 5. J im Tarantino (Suz) 4 -10; 6. Jeff ,Wat1s/Y, rnI1P -5; 7,.,J

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