Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

TeamHonda's Ron Lechien salvaged an eighth in th~ first moto and came back to w in the second convincingly: he f inished third overall. a n d Bailey. Ward was back in 14th . A la p later, Glover j u m ped th e quads, p assing Breker in th e process and ta king over second. For the next three laps, ' Fowler was holding his own in fourth , keeping Barnett and Ba iley a t bay. Durin g the thi rd la p , Ba iley slipped by Barnell and then Fow ler a lap la ter. By this time, Ward had wo rked his way back u p to 10th , had just passed O ' Ma ra for ninth and was closing in on H a n na h when he crash ed over th e quads. " I was j u m pin g o ver the quads, .and Hannah d id it too, " said Ward. "I h ad h im clea nly then ' he moved over in fro nt of me . I ha d so much mo m entu m tha t I landed on his rear wheel, th en he ki nd of put th e binders on a nd down I went. " W ard quick ly rem ounted but dropped back to aro u nd 15 th p lace. Once Bailey go t aro un d Fowl er, he then set his sights o n Breker a nd reeled the Kawasaki rider in. Glued to Ba iley 's rear fender was Bowen. A lap later, Bai ley dove inside of Brek er in a turn, took over th ird and was abou t four seconds behind G lover , who was trai ling j o h n son by a few seconds. With five la p s to go, it was johnson leading foll owed by G lover, Bai ley , Bre ker , Bowen, Barn ett , O'Mara, Burnworth and Le chi en. A la p later, L echien passed Bu rn wo rt h o ver the quad jumps, a nd Ward did the same the nex t time arou nd . . Both O'Mara and Ward were o n the move: O 'M ara p as sed Breker on the inside, wh ile Ward began pressuring Le chien , Hannah spent th e entire mota aboutrriid-pack. At the fin ish i t was j o h ns o n with a co m fo rt a ble lead over Glover , wh o had a bo u t th e same distance o ver Bai ley. After Ba il ey it wa s Bowen, O ' Ma ra, Breker, Ba rnen. ; Lechien, Ward, Burnworth, H annah an d to p priva teer Myerscough. Between mo tos, Hannah r1ecided to sit the seco nd moto out beca us e of injuries h e suffered d uri ng th e ra ce. Honda 's R ace Team Manager, Dave Arno ld , said that H anna h "faced " a jump very hard a nd jammed both his wrists and an ank le. The second moto saw Bai ley grab the ho leshot but he got snuffed by Lechien h eadin g into th e w hoops. In third was G lov er fo ll o wed by Ward , O ' Mara , Bu r n wo rt h a n d Ba rn ett. johnson got st uck in the starting gate this time, and his explanati on was si milar to Ward 's: " My cl utch was draggi ng a little. bit, an d they waited reall y long to d ro p the gate. It pulled m e ri g h t i nto th e gate and there wa s n othi ng I co u ld do. T hen I tr ied to pull back , bu t I d idn ' t pull back f~r en o ugh whi ch wasted time. I j u st tho ug h t, 'Sto p ! rewind, let 's do i t aga in !" Now it was j o hnso n 's turn to come from behi nd , but, like Wa rd , he crashed a few laps later o ver th e q ua d j urnp , while working his way up through th e p ack . " I was passing a bunch of riders that were a ll over the tra ck," said j oh n so n . " I jumped th e quads and o ne of them crossed in front o f m e: a nd I tried to correct fo r it in the air; ins tea d , I j u st h i t my back wheel on th e fo u rt h jump a nd slid out. It was no major dea l, but I bruised my thigh . After th e start, I star ted ro ride as fast as possibl e, and I thi n k that 's what I did wro ng . I rode too ha rd and over m y h ead - that 's ho w co me I fe ll. It probab ly wasn' t real smart of " me to jump the q uads with slow rid ers in th e wa y." Aft er th e th ird la p , it wa s L echien wa y o ut in front fo llowed by Ba iley, , Glover , Ward, O 'Mara, Barnell, Bowen, Burnworth , Eat on and Myerscough . Then O 'Mara p u ll ed a lo ng sid e o f Ward in a wide swe epe r turn, edged o u t in fro nt by a half-bikeleng th , th en cra sh ed h ard in th e wh oops. Wa rd reeled -in G lov er an d event ually passed hi m ove r a double jump. Wh ile th in gs settled down up fron t. j oh n so n was picking riders off unti l h e had taken co nt ro l of I I th oAt the fi nish i t was Le chien , Bai ley, Ward, Glover , Bo wen , Barn ett and Myerscough . . "I feel pretty ba d ," said johnso n afterwards . " I was riding good tonight; if I was ha vi ng a bad nigh t and didn 't really ride good, it would n 't hav e bothered me. I shou ld've won this one," " I go t a good start, " said Wa rd, "a nd those gu ys a re rea lly fast , but I was clos ing o n th em . I tangled with Glover a nd j oh nn y a co u p le o f tim es and I wou ld've wo n th e race if I was out i n front, becau se I was going the speed - no problem," 125cc Pro-Am In th e first 125cc Pro-Am q ua lifier, Brooks too k the h ol eshot bu t was closely fo llo wed by Barr , Greg Trachy (Kaw) , Todd Campbell (KT M ) and Suzu ki 's Bo bby Moore. A la p later Bro oks pulled a sligh t lead th en lost it when h e endoed over a double j ump . " I started screwing up in my mind," sa id Broo ks, "thin ki ng I was too good, a nd the n I cra sh ed . After that I went back to ridi ng co rner-tocorne r." Brooks re-entered th e race in fifth a nd started picking off ri ders un til h e . was in second. At the checkered fla g , With two turns left in the 125cc Pro-Am main, Larry Brooks (1 ~7) ~nd Rodney Barr are about to collide with Barr crashing and Brooks wmrunq . Barr had a saf e lead over Brooks, Carro l Rich ardson (Ka w), Suzu ki's Bo bby . Mo ore a nd Campbell. Suzuki rider Drey Dircks took th e . seco nd qualifier h ol esh o t but was . quickly passed by Kawa~,aki- r:rlO unted Bader Ma nneh . Suzuki s Mike H ea . ley was · th ird fo llowed by Kawasaki rider Eddie Warren an d Billy Fran k. Soon a fter, Di rck s dropped back to fifth , whi le Manneh , H eal ey and Warren fough t for the lead .· T wo la ps from the finish, a ll three riders tangled i n a sh ar p left turn , but th ey a ll man a ged to ma intain their o rig ina l p osition s. Mann eh took the win ahead o f Healey, Warren, Frank and Di rck s. Brooks grabbed th e ea rly lead at th e start o f th e main but was pas sed bv Barr wh en th e Honda rider overshot a turn and a lm ost crashed. Bu t Brooks' reta liated a la p lat er when Barr landed a lill ie shor t ov er a double jump, and Broo ks flew p ast. T he rest o f th e race, Brooks h eld on to a bikelength lead o ver Barr , th en Barr made a la st-la p ' charg e th at a lmos t succeeded. Two turns from th e finis h, Barrca me u p a nd ram me d Brooks fro m b ehind; th at sent Barr o ver the ba rs, a n d p u i Brooks .in to th e hay bal es. Bro oks barely saved it a nd went on to take th e win , while Barr picked up his m ount and finished second . " I sta rted maki ng a few mista kes thinking I had it a ll wr apped up" said Brooks. " Rodney kept co m in g a nd h e got a li tt le too exc i ted th ere a t the end when he tr ied to go o ver th e to p of me. H e took off half th e ski n on m y a rm, beca us e h e hit me so h ard . But h e rode really good tonigh t, a nd I' m just ha ppy I ca me out th e winner," . Results 1. David Bailey tHan) 3-2 ; 2. Br ae Glover (Yam) 2·4; 3. Ron Lech ien (Han) 8 -1; 4 . Rick .Jobnscn (Yam) 1-1 1; 5 . Kei t h Bowen (Yam ) 4-5; 6. J eff Ward (Kaw) 9 -3 ; 7 . Ma rk Barn ell (Kaw) 7 -6 ; 8. Goat Brek er (KawI6-12; 9 . Brian M yerscough (Su z) 12 · 7; 10. JoJo Kellar (Ha n) 14-9 ; 11 . Johnny O'Mara (Han) 5-17; 12. SCOll Burnworth (Sud 10-13; 13 . Rick Johnson won the first moto but had problems in round two . J im Holl ey (Yam) 13 -10; 14 . Eric Eaton (Han ) 17 -B; 15 . Scooter St afford (Yam I16~14; 16 . Terr y Fowler (Han) 15 -16; 17. Bob Hanna h (Han) 11- 20 ; 18 . Er ik Ke hoe (S uz) 19- 15 ; 19 . Rick Ryan (Kaw ) 18-1 B; 20. Gordon Ward (Ya m) 20· 19 . OFFICIALPOINTSTANDINGS; 1. ITIE)Jeff Wa rd / ; Broc Glo ver (211); 3 . Ron Lechien (20 7 1 4 . Rick Johnson (20 11 5. Johnn y O'M ar a (182); 6 . M ark ; Bar nett (163); 7. Keith Bowen (155); 8. SCOll Burn worth (14 8); 9 . Oavid Bail ey (146 ); 10 . Bob Ha nn ah (11 4). , 25 cc PRO-AM : 1. Larry Br ooj(s (Hon );2. Rodn,ey Bar r IKaw); 3 . M ar k Murphy (Yam ); 4 . Dea n M atson (Ka w) ; 5 . Dou g Dubach (Kaw); 6 . M ike Healey (Suz); 7. Will iam Surratt (Han ); 8 . Eddi e Warren (Kaw) ; 9. Craig Can oy (Kaw l; 10.Bobby Moore (Suz); 11. Car roll Richard son (Kaw) ; 12 . Robert Naughton (Kaw ); 13 . Todd Campball (KTM ); 14 . Je ffrey Glass (Han ); 15 . Drey Dircks (Su z); 16. Ray Somma (Kaw); 17. Doug O'Donnell (Kaw); 18 . Kenny Clifton (Su'z); 19 . Bill y Frank (Kaw); 20 . Br ian M anl ey (Han). 7

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