Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126810
Se cond overall Mark Barnett leads w inner George Holland (27) in the f inal 125cc moto. Holland passed teammate Kehoe for the overall. Kawasaki's Jeff Ward picked-up where he left off i n the outdoor Nationals last year by win ning both 250cc motos for the overall gold . AMA National Championship MX T he start o f m o to two be lo nged to Ka wa sa ki ri der Eddie Warren, who managed to keep Lechien at ba y for a full two laps, th en, as Lechi en closed in, th e rea r suspension o n Wa rr en 's bike collapsed. Warren was left on the sideli nes and Lech ien again p ro ceeded to leave the pack in his dust. H olland, Wh it ing a nd Kehoe fo rmed a Team Suzuki trio keep in g close co mpany in a dice for second, wh il e Ba rnett soon made it a fo u r-way co nfrontation. Into lap 10, Lechien was enjoyi ng a IO-second lead, then disaster struck. Lech ien got to th e bottom o f o ne o f Gatorback's h ills an d j u mped off his bike as stea m ro lled o u t o f th e engi ne. Lechien left th e bike in th e middle o f th e tra ck a n d walked back to th e pits, his da y over. " We're not sure why it h appened," sa id L echien ' s tuner, Chris H aines, " bu t th e cyli nde r h ead cracked wide open where th e a l uminum h ead stay bolts o n." Barnett finally managed to pull a way from the Keh oe / H olland d ice a nd into th e lead. Barnett would be th e o vera ll winner if he kept th e lead, but o n ly if H olland wa s unable to get arou n d Kehoe. Through th e last five laps, Barnett put five seco nds o n Kehoe a n d H olland , an d kept it for th e win. "Team tac tics," however, were in the works in the Suz u ki camp: th e p it boards were telli ng Kehoe to p ull over and le t teamma te H olland by, bu t Kehoe didn 't give Hollandan inch . "I was saving myself for the last la p ," said H o ll and , " and as we came into a sweeper uwo corners from the finis h on the las t la p ) I we nt for it. I kn ew I had to pass Keh oe a nd jumped right into the side of h im , pushing him off th e track. That was my only cha nc e to win," H o ll and left Keh oe struggli ng to ge t back o n the track, and went o n fo r second beh ind Barnett and h is fir st overall Nationa l win. Keh oe fin ished third ahead of Wh iting a nd Honda support rider Larry Brooks. Series: Round J Holland lands • Gatorback win By Tom Kolnowski G AI N ESVI L L E, FL, MAR. 3 Suzuki's G eorge Holland pulled off a successfu l pass o n teammate Erik Kehoe in the closing moments of the final 125cc mo ta and carried the charge to his first-ever overall Nat ional win in th e seriesopening Honda/Scott USA/ T V 20 National Mot ocro ss at G atorback MX Park. H olland 's wi n ca me after a 2-2 score o n th e sa ndy co u rse, toppi ng the 4- 1 ta lly of Kaw asa ki's Mark Barnett and th e 3-3 score o f Keh oe . H on da's R on L ech ien blasted to a co mmanding win in th e first m oto a nd looked to be a repeat wi n ner in th e second, bu t th e engi ne in his works H o nda went sour in the fi na l la ps. Ka wa sak i's J eff Ward was virtuall y un tou chabl e in the 250cc class, jamming to a pair of moto wins . H onda 's Bo b Hannah had hi s best ride yet of the 1985 season, getting th e nod for second overall ho n o rs after reeling in teammat e Johnny O 'Mara in th e final moro, Yamaha 's Brae Glover and defending 500cc Nationa l Cha mpio n David Bailey picked up thei r 500cc batt le right where it left off a t the en d of the '84 season, but Bailev crashed ha rd less th a n 100 feet fro m the fin ish lin e o n the fin al la p of th e first moto . G lover , who was leading a t the time, sailed to the win th en ca me ba ck fo r ano ther ma rch to victory in m ot o two . Bai ley was bad ly shaken a nd was un a ble to finish moto o ne, yet cam e back for a second in mo to two . T ea m Tarnrn's Ala n Kin g turned in a 2-3 ride fo r seco nd overall a head o f Kaw asaki 's Billy Liles. 6 125cc Honda 's Lechien, back on a 125cc I bike in Nati onal s for th e fir st time si nce 1983, h ad to rid e a qua lifi er whi ch h e h and il y won - fo r a berth in th e National (o n ly th e top 10 in th e class from th e p revious year don 't h ave to q ua lify a t th e first Nationa l). And as th e gate d ro pped in the first o f two 30-mi n ute-p lus- two-Iap m ot os, it was L ech ien wi th th e po in t o ver Er i k Keh oe a nd G eo rge H olland. A pil e-up in the second corner claimed several riders, incl uding Mark Barn ett-" . Lech ien pulled aw ay from the pack in short order , an d held a threesecond adva ntage over th e battle for seco nd - betwee n Kehoe and Holland by the end of th e first la p . Wh ile fa lling off th e pace, Ka wasa ki T eam Green 's Rodn ey Barr, Honda support rider Gu y Cooper and Kawasaki rider Mike Jones went a t it for fourth . Methodically, Lechien increased his lea d over th e Keh oe/ H o lla nd by nearly a secon d per lap, and by la p seve n had stretched th e advantage to nea rl y eight . seconds. Holland fi na lly got the upper ha nd o n Kehoe, w h ile Cooper had sett led into a comfortab le fourth - but not for lo n g. Ba rn ell wa s passi ng rid ers i n bun ches, a nd hi s push to the front brou ght h im to the rea r w heel o f Cooper o n lap n ine. An d by la p 10 o f what would tu rn o u t to be 15-lap affai r, Barnett was arou nd Cooper and into fourth. Lech ien motored o n for the win over H olland , Keh oe , Barnett, Cooper and Suzuki's A.J. Whit ing. 250cc T he re was little doubt wh o the fastes t rider wa s in th e 250cc ranks; Ward, the '84 125cc Na tional Champ ion, gave a preview o f th e pe rformance to co me by running a way wit h th e wini n h is qua lif ier. And as th e pack thundered into th e left -hand swee per in th e first rnoto , Ward was a t the h ead of it , with teammate Goat Breker, O ' Mara , Yamaha support rid- ers Kenn y Keylon a nd Jim H olley, d efending class champ Ri ck Joh nson and H annah trai ling in the dust. Ward ca me arou nd with a twosecond adva n tage ove r Breker and O ' Ma ra at the en d o f la p one, a nd the rest o f th e pack was begin ni ng to spread itself out. O 'Mara brok e around Breker o n lap three and fo r a time it appeared O 'M a ra wou ld come up to cha llenge Ward in a replay of o ne o f their I25cc ba ttl es so typical of the '84 season. Into la p four , Han nah a nd Joh n son - in ta ndem -s- worked the ir wa y arou nd Keylo n a nd H olley and closed o n th ird -place Brek er. Short ly into la p eight, H annah a nd J o hnson, swap pi ng po sit ions from co rner to co rner, succeeded in d rop ping Breker back to fourth. Wa rd was still in com mand , leav ing O 'M ara a lone second. T here wou ld be n o more c ha nges in th e to p fou r ; Ward contin ue d h is drive to th e checkered flag for th e win over O'Mara , H annah a nd J ohnson. Suzu ki's Scott Burnworth put o n a charge in th e lat e laps and landed fifth , o ver H o ll ey a n d . Keylon. Ward agai n won th e race to th e fir s t co r ne r in m o to two , wi th Burn worth and O 'M a ra for co m pany. Keylon, J o h n so n , Holley, Husky 's Mick y Dym ond, H annah an d J eff H ick s formed a cI uster trying to ca tch th e front tr io. By lap five, Ward had o nce again pu t O 'M a ra to rest for good, this time to the tune of a lesser two- to threesecond margin. Johnson pu lled into th ir d a head of Burnwo rth , but the leading d uo had already p u lled nearly 10 se co nds ahead . H a n n a h was charging, a nd by lap six was a solid fifth behind J o h nso n . On la p eigh t, Hannah climbed around J o h nso n a nd begi n to chip away a t the gap be tween h imself a nd seco nd-place O ' Mara , an in terval o f six to seve n seconds. Ward had lost a bit o f grou nd, bu t was still in co ntro l. " I got o ff into th e co urse marker s," sai d Ward , "a nd m y rear whee l pi cked up a bunch of banners. R ig h t af ter th at, m y rea r brake went away , and it was hard to keep up a winn in g p ace." W ith o ne la p left , H annah took seco nd away from O 'M ara by doublejumping to th e top o f Ga to r bac k's steep fini sh lin e stre tch a nd held seco nd behind Ward. O'Mara ca me in for third, o ver a half minute a head of fourth place Johnson and Bu rnworth.