Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ z < ~ c W II: u, e J: u .... ~ c z < < m l.!"') 00 O"l - => < II: w .... < z ~ C'J C'J )0- m >- III 0 .... 0 ~ ~ J: c, Broc Glover holesh ot the fourth heat ahead of Er ik Kehoe (1 6) and J eff Wa rd (2). Glover an d W ard are tied f or the po ints le ad w it h one rac e t o go. Da v id Bailey's Superbowl win is hi s first ofthe y ear, but it com es too late, (Inset) Bailey went 3 -2 in the mains to capt ure the overall. AHA/Miller High Life Supereross Series: Round 10 ey~ags Superbo~1 Dai mD By Kit Palmer LOS ANGELES, CA, MAY I I Consistency was the key for Tea m Honda's David Bailey tonight inside th e Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the 10th round of the AMA/Miller High Life Supercross Series. Even though Bailey didn 't win ei ther main mOlOS . a 3-2 score was enough to Cap ture th e overall before over 46.500 specta- 6 to rs fo r h is first su percross win o f th e 1985 season; he became th e eight h different rid er to win a supercross event this yea r. U n fort u nate ly fo r Ba iley, h is wi n co mes too late in the seaso n to put him in co nte nt io n for th e points lead ; th e cu rrent Grand Na tional a nd 500cc Na tional Cha mpion started th e supercross yea r o ff slo wly a fter su ffer ing a few cras hes a nd m inor injuri es. T eam Kawasaki 's J eff Ward, who went into th e Superbowl with a slig h t p oint lead over Team Yam aha 's Brae Gl ov er , didn 't h ave o ne o f hi s better nights but did manage a sixth overa ll, while G lover ended up fini shing seco nd with a 2-4 outing. This means that' Ward a nd Glover are officially tied in p oints for th e lead with one round rem aining to be held in th e Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California , August 17. H onda 's Ron Lech ien a n d last week 's Dallas Supercross winner, Yamaha's Ri ck Johnson, went into ton igh t' s race third and fourth in p oints (wi th in 13 o f Ward). J ohnson easi lv won th e firs t m ot o bu t co u ldn' t mak e th in gs cl ick in th e seco nd, finish ing II th forfourth overa ll. Lechie n could o n ly' m uster an eigh th in th e firs t m o to bu t came bac k to win th e seco nd a nd ta ke th ird overa ll. In th e 125cc Pro -Am mai n, Honda's La rry Bro oks collected his second wi n o f th e seri es a fte r a very exci ting do gf igh t with Ka wa sak i-m ounted Rodney Barr. Yamah a rider Mark Murphy fini shed third. ft was a n even ing fill ed with tight ra cing o n a trac k th at so me ride rs cla im ed was too dangerous, espec ia lly o ne secti on filled with ver y rough stu tter bumps, which then mad e a sha rp U-turn running parallel to oncoming traffic. Only haybales separated th e two-way traffic, and riders were co ncern ed th at people co u ld get o u t of shape, run off th e cou rse and coll ide with on-coming traffi c. A threatened boycott never mater ial ized. Heats Kawasaki's Goat Breker and Honda 's Bob Hannah started th e even in g off with a duel for the lead in the first heat race. Brek er took the hol esh ot just ahead of Hannah, Yamaha rid ers Jim H oll ey and Eri c Eato n, andSuzuki rid er Brian Myer scough, Breker and Hann ah quickl y pulled aw a y from th e rest of th e 'p ack, keepin g cl ose ta bs o n eac h ot he r. Th e Kaw asaki rider gained a bo u t two bikelengths o n Hannah, but th at mar g in narrow ed as th e race dr ew to a close. Hannah moved in a nd touched Breker' s rear wh eel a cou p le of tim es in the turns on th e narrow tra ck, but Breker was n ot in timidat ed. He h eld his grou nd a nd started pulling aw a y fro m H annah by a few yards a nd took th e win . Hannah fin ished seco nd. wh ile H oll ey took third. H eat two was a ll Bail ey's. H e gra bbed th e holesh ot a nd took co ntrol from th ere a n d was th e first ride r to clea r two double-j umps in one leap duri ng a race. T eam H usq va rn a 's Mick y Dym ond held seco nd for a lap , jumpin g th e quad s a lso . But he en doed in the whoops d uring th e seco nd lap and go t trapped under hi s bik e until so meone pulled th e bike o ff him. By that time he wa s last. T his gave H onda rider Terry Fowler second and Yamaha 's Keith Bowen third. A lap later , Bowen mov ed past Fowler for second. A few laps later, Team Suzuki's Scott Burnworth also slip ped by Fowler. At th e fini sh it was Bailey, Bowen and Burnworth. T eam Honda 's Johnny O 'Mara and J ohnson stole th e 1-2 positions at th e sta rt of th e third h eat, while Honda ride r Jeff Hi cks a nd Kawasaki's Mark Barnett trailed . Quickl y, O'Mara an d J ohnso n pulled a way while engaging in a close dice; wh ile Barnett dov e underneath H icks in a turn taking over third. U p " nt, J ohnson wa s in ch es befro hind O 'M a ra : th en h e landed a little short over a do ubl e jump a n d lost a bikelength or two to O'Mara wh ich he co uldn' t rega in. O 'M ara won it, foll owed by J ohnson a nd Barnett. JoJo Kell er fin ish ed fou rth . G lover na iled th e hol esh ot in heat four just a head of T eam Suzuki's Eri k Keh oe a nd Ward. But before Keh oe co u ld co m p lete th e first lap, h e crashed in th e whoops dropping to th e back o f th e pa ck. After th e first lap, it was Glover , Ward, Lechien a nd T eam Suzuki 's A.]. Whiting. Glover , Ward and Lechien were close together and pulling away. Ward tri ed to sneak under Glover but got out of shape instead, allowing Lechien to pull a lo ngside of him. Ward outbraked Le chien to hold on to second. Three laps from the end, Le chien became sideways in the whoops and overshot the next turn and pegged th e haybales. He dropped it but still sa lvaged third. Ward pressured Glover again. until Glover's front wheel washed out at the top o f th e per isty le turn handing Ward th e lead. At th e fini sh it was Ward , G lover a nd Lechien . Semis Yamaha rid er Dann y Storbeck took th e ea rly lead in th e first semi , follow ed by Hicks, Kell er a nd Eaton. T h en Eaton stu ffed Kell er in a turn a nd set a fter Hi cks. But Hi cks cras h ed while tryin g to pass Storbeck; he double-jumped by th e Yam aha rid er but lost it a nd went off th e track . Sto rbeck repassed Hi cks th ere, then Hicks loo ped it. Shortly after, Storbeck also looped o u t an d ga ve th e lead to Eato n. Keller follo wed in seco nd wh ile Myer scough worked hi s wa y up to third a fter passing Yamaha rider Alley Semar. Kawasaki rider Mark McLaren took the semi two h ol esh ot a n d led for a lap before Fowler sn uck in side of h im in a right turn . Yamaha rider G ordon Ward foll owed in third. Two laps lat er, McLaren went off th e tra ck after she fi nis h- line jump giving seco nd to Ward a nd third to Yamaha-mounted Scoot er Stafford. He ading up th e peristyle jump, Stafford motored past Ward for second, th en Ward wa s heavily pressured by Honda rider Greg Zitterkopf and Whiting. When the checkered flag ca me out, it was Fow ler, Stafford, Ward and Zitt erkopf. Last Chance Qualifier Kawasaki rider Ricky Ryan shot into the lead in th e LCQ, but Wh iting pulled alongside of him heading into th e fir st set of whoops. Whiting went into th e wh oops a little too hot a nd cras hed, tak ing o u t hi s teammate. Russ Wagem an . Yamaha rider J on Ortner fell into seco nd but eventuall y dropped back wh en Hicks and Keh oe slip ped by. With Ryan wa y out in front, th e battl e for th e last tra ns fer spot turned into a du el between H icks and Keh oe. Over the set of quad jumps, Keh oe jumped th em a ll, wh ile H icks doubled whi ch was enough to g ive Kehoe seco nd . A lap la ter , Hicks crash ed in th e whoops wh ile still pressuring Keh oe. Ryan took th e win a head of Keh oe a nd Hi ck . Main The start o f th e firs t main saw Breker a nd Johnson drag ra ce down the long straight - Johnson won the drag. Ward, on the other hand, jumped . the gu n and got caught by the backwards-falling gate; he was dead last heading into th e first turn. "They held th e gate for a long time and my clutch got hot, " said Ward. "The bike started creeping, and I couldn't hold it back. " As the field finished ha lf-a-lap, it was Johnson leading the way ahead of Breker, Glover. Fowler, Barn ett

• Cover