Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

JoJo Keller chases series points leader in the 500cc class, Broc Glover. Glover f inished second in both motos even after a second-mota ba il off. O 'Mara came across th e fini sh line in the sa me order as th eir assigned riding numbers - 1,2 an d 3. Hannah, Myerscough , Storbeck , Hicks, Bu rn wort h , Pederson and Yamaha support rider Jim Holley filled out the top 10. As th e second moto got under way, Ward headed the pack as it tore through the firs t corner - a highspeed left-hand sweeper. T his time, O'Mara took up second with J ohnson, Burnworth, Hannah, Myers co ug h, Hicks, Pederson and Storbeck in a chase behind. As the race en tered the firth lap, Ward en joyed a five- to six-second lead over O 'Mara, with Johnson in third but fa lling off th e pa ce. " I was having troub le wi th m y front fork ." said Johnson, "and no mailer wh at I did I co u ld n ' t ca tch up to O 'Mara." , Hannah ca ug h t and pa ssed Burnworth late in lap five, and the on ly rider really on th e move in th e top 10 wa s Myer scou gh Racing 's Myer sco ugh. who had lost severa l spots a fte r sta rti ng fifth. On lap seve n, Myerscough engaged in a d ice with H icks a nd Pederson, a nd m anaged to put bo th o f th em sol id ly a wa y by th e end o f lap 10 10 secure sixth . Wa rd kept up h is pace a n d led the remain ing seven laps to win by eight seco n ds over O 'M ara , wi th Johnson keeping h is thi rd p lace o ver Hanna h . Rounding o u t th e top 10 were Burnworth , Myerscough, Pederson, Hicks, Storbeck an d Holley. " Win n ing th e seco n d moto did J eff a lot o f good," said Ward 's tuner . Mike McAndrews. " In Las Vega s, we learned th at thin gs ca n happen sa n d ' ca used th e chai n to derai l and J oh nson beat h im . J eff was reall y di sa ppo int ed wi th h is ride in th e firs t m ot o today; after he fell, he said h e wa s mak in g a lot of m istakes, but he rode his own race in moto two. Th in gs are lookin g p re tty good [or us cha mpions h ip-w ise... Myerscough , back in actio n a fter a layoff o f over a year due to hi s bail ie with th e di sea se h ypoglycemia, took a well deserved fifth overall behind Hannah with a 5-0 tally. 500cc Reign in g class ch a m p Bailey was faced with a 22-point defi cit behind leader Glover in the seri es point chase h eading into Mt. Morris. and he was looking to trim off some of that difference. Bailey got a good start in his bid by gelling away clean with th e lead over Bettencourt's Honda 's Jo Jo Keller a t the drop of th e gate in moto two, whi le Sco tt/Hi -Pointsponsored Ho nda rider T od d H arrell slipped into third ahead of G lover. " I was out front ," said Ba ilev, " a nd I pretty much felt that I as iong as I didn 't make a ny mistakes I co u ld hang in th ere." By th e end of lap two, Glover was in a safe second, four to five seconds behi nd Bai ley, while Keller was a solid third but a lready dropping off th e pace of th e two lea ders. Yamaha rider Tim .Coombs had sliced ah ead o f Harrel l into fourth , with Kawasaki' s Kent Howerton fif th . On la p rive. Howerton tang led with a noth er rider o n th e bottom o f a do wnhill , go t a handlebar jammed into h is righ t knee. a nd re ti red [or th e day . " Kent h as been helping us ou t wi th testin g p ro tot yp e co mpone n ts in the a bse nce o f injured Bill y Liles." said tuner Torn Morgan. " Kent wasn ' t serio us ly inj u red. but si nce h e isn 't in th e p oi nt chase, he decid ed to ca ll it a day." By la p seven, Bai ley a nd Gl over were st ill I-2 with Kell er hol d in g th ird , but Hu sk y's LaPorte h ad worked h is wa y into fourth a hea d o f North Carolina resident Harrell . Yamaha su pport rider SCOll Mannin g a nd Co ombs. Mann in g lat er dropped o u t a fter crashi ng on a downhill. Lap 14, th e fin al ci rcu it, was a bit unn ervin g for Ba iley. " I came u p o n three g uys that were h avin g a race among themselves," said Bail ey, " and Broc was closi ng in - fast. T hey wo u ld n 't move over for a nyt hing. It 's hard for me to decide if they should've broken up th ei r ra ce a n d let m e th rough, o r just keep g oing o n a bo u t th ei r business. It was a diffi cu lt situa tion, but it defin itely ca me a t a bad tim e; I lost nearly a ll o f th e [ourseco nd lead I had." . Bail ey wo n o ver Glover - by less th an two bikelen g ths - with Kell er co m ing in over a m inute later for David Bailey continues to dominate the 500cc class and is closing in on Glover in points. Bailey won both motos. th ird. LaPorte, Harrell, Eri c Eaton, Coombs and Phil Larson stra gg led in [or th e nex t [ive spots. The figure ahead of the horde a t th e beginning of rnoto two was aga in Bail ey, .with Glover pressin g into seco nd less than a half lap later after p assing Larson. But shortl y into lap two , G lover wrest led pa st Bailey on th e ba ck sec tion of th e co u rse and pu lled away to the tune of three seconds. Keller mov ed up [o r a n enco u nte r wit h Larson , a nd pus hed ' pas t into third behind Bailey. After leadin g for just over two laps, Gl over was in deep troubl e. " I guess I · wa s o u t of co nt ro l on th at downhill ," sai d G lover, " a nd it was my fault th at I went do wn . I hi t th e berm and the bike kicked inward ; I tr ied to mak e a rea lly a bru p t turn before ' a stack of . tires so I co u ld mak e th e jump th at follo wed . I [eel luck y tha t I did n 't get h urt." Bailey rush ed pas t before G lover had a' cha nce to p ick h is bike up. " I went to gra b the cl u tch lever 10 sta rt theb ike,' sai d G lover , "an d th e bar s were bent down nearl v to th e tank." G lo ver sig na led to tuner J on Rosen sriel. a nd a fter o ne slow lap which dropped him to mid-pack , G lo ver p u lle d 0 [ [ for 20 seco nds of trackside repairs. With th e ai d o f a sectio n o f two -in ch d iameter pipe, Rosen sti el a n d Keith Bow en 's tuner, Ron Heben , bent th e bars back to normal a n d G love r was back o n h is wa y. Bail ey was off on a ra ce of his own h ead in g into lap ei gh t, and Keller, who had assumed seco nd a fter G lover fell, dropped way ba ck a fter stopp ing to cure a cha in problem . Larson took . over seco nd ah ead o f Eaton, Gearspo nsored ' G reg Zi u er ko p f a nd H arrell. By th e end of la p 10, a charging Glover had passed a ll bu t three rid ers - Bail ey, La rso n a n d La Po rte . After ge tti ng arou nd LaPone, Gl o ver was third behind Larson bui Bailey was a minute and 12 seconds ahead. On th e fin al lap, Gl over managed to catch and p ass Larson and finished a d istant second behind Bai ley. Larson complet ed hi s ride in third to ea rn third overall . while Eaton, Zinerk opf and H arrell fo llow ed. LaP orte dropped back in th e fin a l la ps a nd came through sixth to tak e fifth overa ll behind Eaton . Harrell had a fin e dav: hi s 5-6 score earn ed him a sixth overa ll fini sh . • Results 12 5cc: 1. Erik Kehoe (Suzl r-r: 2. Ron Lechien (Hon)2·~; 3 . Keit h Bowen (Yam)4·2; 4 . Guy Cooper (Hon) ; 5 ·6; 5. A .J . W hit ing (Suz )3-12; 6 . Billy Frank (Kaw) 9 ·5 ; 7. Lar ry Brooks (Hon ) 7 ·7; 8. Eddie Warren (Kaw) 13-4; 9 . M ik e Healey (Suz ll 0 ·8; 10. M ike Be ier (Kaw) 8 · 10; 11. Rid< Ryan (Kaw) 6-17; 12 . Jeff Fr isz (Hon) 11· 16; 13. Keit h Turpin (Hon) 16 ·1 3; 14. Geo rge Holland (Su zl DNF ·9; 15 . Car lo Coen (Hon) 21 ·11 ; 16 . M ik e Larson (Ka w) 18 ·14; 17 . Fred Andrews (Hon ) 12 ·DNF; l B. 80bby M oore (Suz) 15·1 9; 19. Terry Fowler (Hon ) 14-26; 20. Cla y Hoe nshell (S uz) 23 -15. 25Occ: 1. Jeff W ard (Kawl 2 · 1; 2 . Rick John son (Yam) 1·2; 3 . John ny O'Mara (Hon) 3 ·2 ; 4 . Bob Hannah (Hon ) 4-4; 5 . Brian M yerscough (Su z) 5-6 ; 6 . Scon Burnworth (Suz) 8·5 ; 7 . Jeff Hid

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