~
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t~rt L
moto, but Yamaha 's Broc Glover
press u red a n d rai~ed pas t a t th e h alfw~y mark ~hen Jammed on to .the
win . Lech ien too k a n exc u rs ro n
th rough a len gth o f co urse m arkers
in the late laps, a nd Barn ett and
Ward sailed p ast to finish 2-3 a hea d
of Lechien .
Mich igan residen t Edd ie Warren
was th e class ac t of th e 125cc Pro-Am
division, piloting h is Kaw asak i 10 a
runaway win in th e ma in event over
H onda Support rider La rr y Bro ok s.
Glover, with a 10-1 score which
ea rned him fourth ove ra ll, still has a
stra nglehold o n th e series p oint lead
with a total of 131 po ints. From th ere
on, th e standings sh u ffled co ns ide rabl y; Ward and Lechien pulled in to a
tie for seco nd a t 11 3, wh il e Barnett 's
win vaulted him from sixth to fourth
with 109 points.
Cl ogged freeways, a sig h t co m mon
10 a ny Atl anta co m m u ter, were th e
norm in th e vici ni tv o f the stad iu m as
the 8:00 p .m. starti ng time alip reached . and a record crowd Cor a n
Atl ant a Supercros s - 45,974 .1' . 1 1' / l ~ JI9·
r
f.'(
Brae Glover finished fourth overall with III 10-1 tally. However, Glover
maintains the series points lead over Ward IIInd lechien, 131 -113.
jammed the gates a n d eventua lly Iiltered into th e stands. U nseaso na bly
warm temperatures in th e 70s and
clear skies prevailed.
Heats
The first of Cour 250cc hears on the
red cla y-based track turned out 10 be a
T eam Tamm show, as team members
Alan Kin g and Andy Stacy ca u gh t
and pas sed leader J eff Hicks in th e
final laps. King made his break aro und
Hicks on lap seven and pulled away
Cor th e win, while Stacy cut inside
Hicks on th e last lap 10 finish second.
Hicks, Suzuki 's A.J. Whiti ng and
Yamaha Support rider Jim H oll ey
rounded out the top five.
" I' m getting u sed 10 the feel of th e
Kawasaki," said King, " bu t I feel a
bi t cramped si nce they are a bit shorter tha n the H o ndas we rode last year.
I've had lo ts of good hea ts this year;
a ll I have 10 do is get it together in the
main Cor a ch ange. "
Yamaha's Kei th Bowen only needed
two laps to ca tc h Suzuki 's Scott
Burnworth a nd Husqvarna 's Danny
LaPorte in the next heat, th en proceede d 10 leave th e pack Car behind.
Yamaha-supported Dann y Storbeck
d iced with th en passed LaPorte on
lap four of th e eigh t-la p affair and
settled into a co m fo r ta b le th ird.
Bowen , doing crowd-pleasing crossups over th e jumps, had th e track all
to himself a s he not ch ed th e win.
Burn worth, Storbeck , LaPorte and
Su zuki 's Erik Kehoe Coli owed.
Ba iley, rid in g with still -tender fin gers fr om a cras h in the Seattle
Supe rcross, was back in Corm in heat
three. After dicing with Barnett in th e
ea rly laps , Bail ey sn uc k aw ay a nd put
in a Ilawl ess rid e C th e win.
or
Barnett, however , had co m pany:
Lechien . Lap aft er lap, Barnett a nd
L echien went at it , with Ba r n ett
alwa ys h olding a slim adva ntage. Bu t
in th e final swee pe r heading tow ard
th e C sh lin e o n th e Iin al la p ,
ini
Lechi en took an in sid e lin e, knocked
handlebars wit h Barnett and sai led
across the lin e C second over Barnett
or
by a ya rd . Ward a n d Malcolm Smithbacked Alley Sema r co p ped fourth
a nd fifth, respectively, but would
hav e to ride th e sem is Cor a cha nce at
th e main .
" Wi n n ing did a whole lot Cor m y
confidence,' said Bail ey. "This sea. ' ..
l;·~ ' 111' ) ( 4 ) .
•
Jo
- ~
'I'li r
ae a
son started out bad for me , but so did
la st year. We have two more rnotos 10
go here tonight, and I have to keep it
going."
" I kept on making mistakes," sai d
Lechien, " a nd I sa w the ch an ce to get
around Barn ett right th ere in the end.
I just had 10 giv e it a try, and it
worked."
Glover took off and left the pack in
the last heat, riding with two broken
toes sustained in a practice crash a t
home in EI Cajon, California. " I got
caught in a rain groove and went
down hard, " said Glover, "and the
toes took the bru nt of th e fall. I have
them taped pretty heavily, but it's
hard 10 shift.' Still, Glover appeared
10 have little trou ble winning over
O ' Mar a , Rick Joh nson, Bob Hannah
and TuC Racin g 's Tom Rice. Team
Tamrn's Mi ke Beier ca me fro m near
last 10 finish sixth behind Rice.
Semis
Floridia n Ken n y Keylon and his
Yamaha Support teammate Holley
put on a show in th e first of two
semis, with Holley leadin g Keylo n in
th eir battle through most of the first
seven laps. But late in lap seven, Keylon launched himself off a jump and
sailed past Holley into the lead, which
he kept. Holley lost a few seco n ds on
th e final go-round and placed second,
while Bettenco urt 's Honda-sponsored
Jo Jo Keller managed 10 get the
upper hand in a dice with Ward to
tak e th ird a t th e Cinish.
"I had a terrib le start," said Ward,
an d always seem ed 10 get caught
behind slo w riders when I needed to
pass." Finishing fourth meant Ward
would hav e to ride the Last Chance
Qualifier for a chance at th e finals .
Hannah jumped out front on la p
two of th e second sem i with La Porte,
Beier and Rice in lOW . La Porte took a
sp ill on lap four, and Kehoe picked
up the sla ck to follow win n er H a n na h across the finish line. Rice a nd
Beier fin ished 3-4.
Last Chance Qualifier
Wh iting assu med :\0 immediate
lead as th e gate dropped in th e Last
Chance Qualifier , and he led every
in ch of th e wa y for hi s ticke t to the
finals. Ward got another back-of-thep ack sta rt, an d by lap five of th e eig h t
laps was knocking on the door on
I Jt ~
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