Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Ward led for eight laps before crashing in a turn and letting Hannah by . . Ward remounted in time to collect second overall. H annah had the ball and im mediately ran with it; by th e end of la p n in e, he h ad stretc hed h is lead to seven seconds o ver Ward, wh ile Lech ien, Gl over , Ba iley, Barnett and O 'Mara were stru ng out behind. And wi th th e exce p tion o f Bailey swa p ping po siti ons wi th G lover o n th e fin al lap to finish fourth, th at order held the rest o f th e way. After wi nnin g by nearly 12 seco nds and throwi ng hi s hand into th e a ir, a n o bvious ly-j u bila nt H annah gave tuner Brian Lunnis a nd tea m ma nage r Dave Arn old impromptu "s h u ttle bu s" serv ice straigh t to victory lane. ''I'd have to call this a rea l nerveracking race," sai d Hannah, la ughing, " bu t it su re feels aw fu lly good to wi n o ne "of th ese. An d I'd lik e to th ank the people a t H onda fo r building such a good bik e, a nd Brian for lu n in g il for me." " After the sta rt I got, I'm p rett y h ap py to ge t th ird ," sai d Lechien . " Barnett and I go t tangled up off th e lin e, a nd I j ust tri ed to ride a cons islent race. I kn ew it was go ing to be hal a nd peopl e wo uld be ge tting tired , a nd th ey were goi ng down left a nd righ t. I saw two head s o n th e o the r side o f th e double jump, a nd I j ust too k a line stra ig h t betw een 'em . I fou nd o u t lat er one o f th e g uys (Above) Bob Hannah leads fourth-place Broc Glover. (Below rt.) Hannah and mechanic. Brian Lunnis. (Below lt.] Pro-Am winner. Eddie Warren. Supercross .10 (Continued from page 5) front straightaway. King, h owever, was a lready out of ac tion. " I went down right af ter th e sta rt," said King , "and my bars got tweaked pretty bad a nd bro ke off one o f th e fork caps . All o f th e oi l came shooting o u t o f th e forks." Ward a nd Bail ey stayed wit h in a few bi kelen g ths of eac h other for th e first two laps, whi le Hannah was getting battered from behind by Bowen . At th e sta rt of lap three, Bowen p ressed a hea d of Hannah into third , while Glover , Lechien and Barnett formed a tight string for fifth, sixth and seventh. . Once into lap five, the fireworks began; Hannah was no longer co ntent following Bowen, a nd jumped past h im and back into third , wh ile Ward was still in co m plete co n trol, holding runner-up Bail ey two seconds behi nd. Bow en , h ow ever , pulled o ff the trac k a nd re tired, with G lover movi ng·~o fou rth several seconds behind Hannah. La p seven proved to be Bail ey's undoing . " I was pa cin g m yself th rough the first severa l laps," sa id Bailey, " picki ng m y lin es a nd wa tching the ones o f War d , a n d I co u ld feel th e heat fro m Bob (Ha n na h). I kn ew the last part of th e race would be th e ,' . ,. . .' most cri tica l part, so I was n' t going to mak e a n early charge a nd lose it a ll in th e end. T he n a lapped rid er cras hed on th e double j u m p a nd his bi ke wa s lyin g in the trac k. It look ed to me like th e guy in front o f me wa s . going to go to the rig h t, an das I made it my cornrru men t the guy s lam med on the brak es a n d went across th e trac k in front o f me. I went down, a nd Bob, Bro c and Lechien came by befor e' co u ld get goi n g." T ha t in cid ent cha nged th e order o f . d h ' th e top srx to War, H anna, Le ch len, Glover, Ba iley a nd Barnett, a nd then, less than a lap lat er, th in gs cha nged again. " I h ad bu ilt up a four-second lead a t o ne point," sai d Ward, " bu t with 40 riders o n a one -line sta diu m trac k, it was just ridicu lo us. Five lapped rid er s in fro nt o f me came to a dead stop, and I ga l block ed. I had 10 really wick it to ge t a ro u nd th em, a nd en ded up getting a bit o ut of shape -my front end was hed o ut a nd I went down." Hannah, ru n n ing a close seco nd , h ad no pl ace to go a n d hit Ward 's bike, a nd a fter backing hi s bike aw ay, tore off with the lead. " Bo b ran over m y bike - n o t o n purpose - a nd I was trapped under the bike," sai d Ward. " I fin all y got free a nd resta rted the mo to r. an d Bob wa s gone. ' g uess I sho u ld've mellowed O U I a bit a fter go ing arou nd th e la p pers." Much to the,delight of th e crowd, •: • • ' " '4 ~ .. ' . : " ':: . down was Bailey. I gai ned a few po ints on Broc, which is m y ma in concern at th is poin t." '" got pa ssed in th e end because' was hesitat in g just a bit, " said Gl over. " Going into some thi ng like this with basicall y o n ly one hand working right is to ug h. Luckily' have three weeks I f to hea up be ore th e next ra ce. I feel fortunate for what I got here today." 125cc Pro-Am Kawa sak i T eam Green 's Eddie Warren kicked uphis heels and danced aw ay from th e field in the early laps oft he I25cc Pr o-Am main event, then 'survived a last-l ap/last-second cha llenge by teammate Rodney Barr to put h is second stra ig h t series win in th e su percross record books. Barr got a w hee l a head of H onda p ilot Brian Manley a nd barely mi ssed n ipping Warren to nail down seco n d as the checkered flag dropped . For Warren, winner o f th e Atlanta rou nd of rh e ser ies, vic to ry a t Daylana a lso icnrea sed hi s point lead in the Eastern Regional sta nd ings; Warren lead s Denn is Daft by 21 po ints, 62 to 4 I. Sin ce the Pro-Am program was forgotten in the Sat~~.day schedule • ~~.: " : : :" ::":-~~ ::'_ pla n n ing a nd th ere was in sufficient time to work it in between th e races in th e Sa tu rday 250cc Pro Supercro ss show, th e decision was made 10 run it a lo ng with th e Wednesday Amateur Super cross prog ram . SuperSports Promo tions' Bill West ca me up with a $3,000 Pro-Am purse. Final In much th e sa me manner as hedid in th e Atlan ta ro u n d , Warren sho t o u t o f th e gate a nd esta blishe d a co mfortable lead of five-to-six secon ds th rough th e first five of the 10 laps. Man ley, who wo n th e seco n d heat race, fo llo wed in seco n d. whi le, firs t heal winner, Barr, a fter gett ing off the ga te mid- pack , was kept busy th readin g hi s way into thi rd . Ca nadia n Terry Fo wler held fourt h over O 'D onnell and Todd Pol in g. Warren 's lead look ed secure until la p eight , whe n he began to slice th rough lapped tra ffic, and the Manley/Barr ba tt le raged close r. On th e fin al lap , less th an 20 feel separated th e top th ree, a nd as they navigat ed th e final few corners, thi ngs took a turn . "The o n ly way I co u ld get" a cha nce at (lea der) Warren was 10 . j u m p over Manley," sai d Barr, " an d th at' s wh at I did. If I on ly would've h ad a no ther lap , I co u ld' ve go t Wa rren. " Warren sq uea ked to th e win - by mere feel - over Barr, while Manley was kn ocked 10 th ird by Barr. Fowler held O 'D onnell a t bay to nail fourth a t th e finish, many seconds behind th e top three. " T wo in a row 1This feels great I" sa id Warren . " I was really having trouble with lappers; th ere were some real jokers O U I there. Things got tight in th e en d, but that 's racing. The main th ing is th at I won . Right now, I'm looking forward to the (Ap ril 1314) Pontiac Sil verdome rounds back home in Michigan. If I ca n sweep those, I can wrap up the Eastern title." • Results 12-LAP FINAL: 1. Bob Hannah (Hon); 2. JeffWerd (Kaw); 3. Ron Leehien (Hon); 4 . David Bailey (Hon); 5. Broc Glover (Yam); 6. Mark Barnett (Kaw); 7. Johnny O'Mara (Hon); B. Scott Burnwonh (SUl); 9. Rick Johnson (Vam); 10. A.J. Whi t ing (SUl); 11. Ross Pederson (SUl); 12. Jim Holley (Yam); 13 . Rodney Smith (Yam); 14. Danny Storbeck (Yam); 15 . Mike Beier (kaw); 16 . Billy Liles (Kaw); 17. Eric Eaton (Yam); 18. Guy Cooper (Hon); 19. Erik Kehoe (Sul); 20. Jo Jo Keller (Hon). 1D-LAP FINAL: 1. Eddie Warren (Kaw); 2. Rodney Barr (Kaw ); 3. Brian Manley (Hon); 4. Terry Fowler (Hon); 5. Doug O'Donnell (Kaw)1 6. Mark Crozier (Hon); 7. Todd Poling (Yam); B. Tim Brill (Hon); 9. Davey Coombs (KTM); 10. Dennis Dah (Kaw); 11. Mark Costa (Hon); 12. Donn ie Delgado (Hon); 13. Richard Carrino (Kaw); 14. Kevin Moore (Hen); 15. Eric Varnell (Kaw~ 16. Taylor Marcell (Kaw); 17 . Steven Bailey (Suz); 1B. Jeff Glan (Hen). . , . _. ~ . -,

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