Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ o ...... Broc Glover didn 't have any good luck at Mammoth - he crashed in both the 250cc and 500cc classes for two seconds, cou ldn't q u ite get Man ne h before th e fin ish . At th e £lag it was Lechien , O 'M ara, M ann eh , Du ba c h , an d Brooks taking the top five p osit ions. 250cc Manneh sta rted o u t in front o f the Divi sio n.I 250cc P ro class qua li fier whi le G lo ver go t stuc k in th e ga te. It didn 't tak e lo ng before G lover was u p to thi rd an d battl ing by Scott Man 'n in g (Ya m) . G lo ver reeled in Man neh a nd passed h im o n th e do wn hill, but Man neh re ta lia ted in th e next turn . G lover went by for good in the back sec tion a nd went o n to w in. Manneh was second a head of Man ning a nd Manley. O 'M a ra led the start of Divisio n II with j o h nso n q uickly m oving in o n his tail. On lap five j oh n son took the lead as O 'M ara was forced to slow • down wh en hi s 1986 H o nda motor developed a leak ca us ing i t to overheat. j ohnson won easi ly with O 'M ara well a head o f H onda 's Mike Fish er. Wh iting wo n th e th ir d divi sion qual ifi er afte r tak ing th e lead fro m Warren Reid in th e secon d half of the race. Reid hung o n to second, fin ishin g a head of j im Ell is (Ya m ), Brian Myerscough (Suz), a nd Brooks. J ohn H emme won th e co nsola tion in Division l o ver Tony Toste , Brad McLeod, Vowe ll , a nd Casey McC o y. R ick R ya n a nd Ray Su m mo we nt a t it in th e Division II co nsola tion with Ryan fina ll y wi n ni ng th e racelong batt le. Ed Arnet was th ird just ahea d of Gary DePilIo . R ich a rd Sa nds won th e fina l co n so la tio n race, bea tin g Dou g Ge ntry . H on d a -m oun ted Mou se McCo y gra bbed the lead at th e start of th e fina l with Mann ing , Myerscough and J o hn so n tra iling . Mann ing took the lead o n the dow nh ill , but was passed by J ohnson shortly afterwards. Gl o ver moved into second by lap two, a nd O 'Mara went to th ird a lap lat er. G lo ver was stayi ng just o u t of joh n so n's roost w h ile O 'M ara trai led a few seconds behind in third. Wh itin g m o ved by Mannin g a nd in to fo urt h , but wa s a good di s tan ce behind O'Mara . At th e beg inn in g o f lap seven , O'Mara 's cha in packed wi th sa nd a t th e co u n ters ha ft sprocke t a nd brough t him to a halt while G lo ver , still o n ly a few bikelength s behind J ohnson , began to devel op troubles o f h is o w n . " Abo u t fo ur laps into th e race a fo rk sea l went o u t," sa id Glover. " The o the r o ne finall y gave ou t , . . so , had no fork seals, oi l all over th e brake a nd a ll o ver me." Gl over p ush ed o n a nd stayed close to J ohnson for the next fo ur laps until he cras hed o n lap I I. '" hi t a big bump and th e for ks bo ttome d o u t really hard a n d j ust th rew me o ff," he sai d. G lo ver was able to remount in time to sa ve h is p osition , but J ohnson enjoyed a very co m forta ble lead to th e end. G lover 's front end had become too violent to a llow h im to m ak e a co me back. Whiting h eld th ird a co mfortabl e d ista nce ahead of Fish er , while Myerscough began to ge t some p ress u re from Bro oks. After freeing h is chai n O 'M ara re-e ntered the race, a nd rode beh ind Brooks fo r a few la p s, push ing h im until h e ca ught Myerscough. Brooks went by o n th e last lap , but ran ou t o f gas befo re ma king it to the fi nish line. T he final o rder was J ohnso n , Glover , Wh itin g, Fish er a nd Myersco ugh. '" had to ride hard beca use Brae was going rea l fast," said Johnson . " H e fell which gav e mea lot of brea th ing room, but he started to come ba ck which made m e ride some more, bu t ' was able to relax in the middle of the race." Ron Lechien made it two out ofthree w ins for Team Honda by topping the 125cc class rather easily, 500cc La rry Dash iell (Han ) pa ssed Ed Ma rnoc h (Hon ) o n th e downhill to lead th e star t of th e firs t di vision qual ifier. Jim Ell is a lso m oved by Marn och o n th e first lap to clai m seco nd . Ell is took th e lead o n la p two w h ile Fish er bega n to m ove u p af ter a pi leu p left h im nearl y la st j us t a fter th e sta rt , Ellis ma intained a slim lead o n Dash iell , Gordon Wa rd (Ya m) , Ed Arnet a n d Greg Zitterko pf (Hon), T h is ba ttl e co nti n ue d for severa l la p s unt il Fis her ca me th rough a n d broke i t up o n lap eigh t. E ll is fell a lap la ter , givi ng th e wi n to Da shiell j ust ahead of a charging Fish er. Ward wa s th ird o ver Ellis wi th Arnet taking fifth a head of Zitte r kopf. Man n in g led G lover, O 'M ara a nd Brad Lackey a t the start of th e second qua lifier a nd a la p lat er bo th Glover a nd O 'M ara had stu ffed by. O 'M ara took th e lead o n the fourth la p whe n G lover's motor bega n to seize, dropp ing h im to fou rth . O 'Mara we nt o n to wi n u n o p p o sed w h i le Gl o ver nu rsed h is Yamaha a lo ng, g ra d ua lly picking up h is pace a nd mo ving bac k into second on the las t lap . Manning was th ird a head of Eri c Ea ton , Mi ck y Dym ond , a nd Warren Reid , In the co nsola tions, Tracy O swell easi ly wo n the fir st di visi on over E. Buskirk. Gary DePill o took th e win .in Division II , cruisi ng in ahead o f D. Wood, Keith O 'Neal . a n d R ich ard Sa nds . O ' Ma ra blas ted u p th e start h ill wi th th e lead in th e m ain with G lo ver and Fis her in his tracks. By the seco nd lap this trio had lef t Ma nning, Ellis. Eaton and Zitte rkopf to race for fourth . For th e fir st five laps O' Mara , G lover, and Fisher were inseparable, but o n lap six Fisher bega n 10 lose sight of th e lea ders. ' 'I'm just no t used to the ir p ace," he sa id. '" backed off a nd kept m y own p ace." A la p lat er G lo ver took th e lead from O 'M a ra and quick ly pu t a few seco nds o n th e H onda p ilo t. " I knew th at it was ea rly in the race," O 'M ara sa id , " so I wasn ' t panicki ng." Glo ver co nti n ue d to p u ll a way un til h e fell o n lap I I. " I we n t to p ivo t off a berm," G lover sai d, " a nd th e back tire went over th e to p o f it." As Glover un tangl ed the ba n ners th at got ca ugh t in th e rear wheel , O 'M ara m ot ored p ast a nd i nto a good size lead . Fish er ca me up o n G lover, bu t was u nable to pass, Ellis was a distant fourth a few seconds a head o f Mann ing w hi le Zitter kopf wor ked o n Eaton for th e six th position, An u n identi fied rid er h eld eigh th, leading a n intense ba ttle fo r tha t posi tion wi th Arner. . Da sh iell a nd Reid a ll vyi ng for th e spot. In th e end it was O 'Mara crossing th e lin e wi th a big lead over Glover, Fisher, Ellis, Mann in g and a chargi ng Zitterkopf. Ea to n wa s seve nt h a nd Arnet wo n th e battle for eigh th ove r Reid a nd Dash iell. " I' m happy - I wanted to win a t lea st o ne of th e races," sa id O 'M ara a fter wards . " It 's been a to ug h wee k fo r me ." • Resu lts 125cc: 1. Ron Lechie n (Hon); 2. Jo hnn y O'M ara (Hon); 3 . Bader M anneh (Kaw); 4 . Do ug Du bach (Kaw ); 5 . Larry Brooks (Hon); 6. W ill ie Surratt (Hon); 7 . Rick Ryan (Kaw); 8 . Bob M oo re (Suz ); 9 . Russ Wageman (Su z); 10 . Rod Harri ger (Kawl. 25Occ: 1. Ric k J ohn son (Yam); 2. Bra e Glover (Yam); 3 . A. J , Whili ng (S uz); 4 . M ike Fish er (Hon); 5 . Br ia n M yerscough (S uz); 6 . W arr en Reid (Yam ); 7. Sco tt Mannin g (Yam); 8 . J im Ellis (Vam ); 9. Tracy OsweIi IH on ); 1D. Ed Arnet. OPEN : 1. Johnn y O 'Mara (Han); 2 . Broc Gl over (Yam); 3 . M ike Fi sher (Ho n); 4 . J i m Elli s (Vam); 5 . Scan M anni ng (Yam); 6. Greg Ziner kopf (Hon); 7.Eric Eaton (Yam ); 8 . Ed Arnet; 9 . Wa rr en Reid ; 10. Larry Dah iell (Hon). 7

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