Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

fo llowed in seco nd . In third was H a waii's num ber one motocross rider, Matt Ly man n (Hon). Myerscough wa s un tou ch abl e a n d eve n t ua lly lap ped th e seco nd pl ace rider, DeSoto , by th e end o f the race. L ymann finish ed th ird just a head o f Dennis H ethcot. T edder and T ahitian Na tiona l MX Ch ampio n , Karl Vernoude n (Hon ), spent most o f th e th ird qual ifier di cin g fo r th e lead . At th e sta rt it was Tedde r with th e hol esh ot followed by Ro yce Racom a a nd Vemou den , bu t Vernoude n slip ped by Racom a durin g th e first lap to tak e over seco nd . T he th ree leade rs staye d close fo r th e next co u p le of laps, th en Vernouden mad e hi s move a nd sli pped by Tedder. T he n Kaw asaki rider Neish a Kah oopi i mo ved into third after passi ng Racoma. Tedde r tried to keep th e Na tional cha m p in sigh t but started losing groun d , instead . At the finish it was Vernoude n, Tedde r, Kahoopii a nd Racoma. Turner was th e favorite to wi n th e fourth qual ifier but got stuc k in tra ffic in th e fir st turn a nd wa s n ear th e back o f th e p ack a fter th e first lap . Turner got o n th e gas right away and sta rte d pick in g o ff r ide rs one by one . By th e en d o f th e race, he h ad worked hi s way up, p assed Dicki e Steven s, Jr. a n d took ove r th e lead. Turner wo n it, followed by Steven s, Guy Key a nd Da ve Patton . There were local fa vorites in this race but neither far ed too well , Steve Zoll, on a Suzuki, crash ed very hard over a double jump, while KTM-mounted Ph il O veland was nursing a bad ly tweak ed kn ee. Quarter finals Brian Myerscough gets the checkered flag for his fir~.ever supercross w in before 22.000 spectators. Second Annual CMC/Skoal BanditHawaii Su~ercross Myerscough takes Alohacross thriller By Kit Palmer H O NOL U L U, O AH U, HI , J U N E 30 Suzuki-mou n ted Brian Myerscough captured h is first-ever supercross win after ban ging h andl ebars in th e sem i and main with Yamaha rider Jim Holley. The event was the second ann ual Ca liforn ia Motorsport .Clu b 's Skoal Bandit-sp onsor ed supercross held in side the Alo ha Bowl on th e island of O ahu , 16 H awai i a n d was promoted by Alo ha Funway Prod uctions. T h e 25-yea r-old from Calimesa , Ca lifornia, went home with a $ 1600 check for h is win,w h ile H o lley took hom e a hea lt hy $1300 for ta ki ng second. Last year's and firs tever Aloha supercross wi nner, Cagiva ride r Ron T urner p laced third. " I'm really happy I won ," said Myersco u g h. "I finished seco nd last year so I rea lly wanted to win this one. I pu t a lot o f pressure on m yseI£, a nd I was a littl e nervous, but it felt great taking th e win." T his year 's race was slig h tl y di fferent than last year 's: in stead o f riding . 125s, the Ron Cr andall-bui lt tra ck was len gth en ed slightly and made wider thi s year to accommoda te 250cc mo torcycles, whi ch m an y o f th e local riders felt wou ld make the raci ng more c o m pe titive - which it d id . T he ra ce format, how ever , rem ained th e same: four qua lifiers, two quarter fina ls, two semis, a co nso la tio n race a nd o ne 20-1ap ma in. T here were four main land rid ers invited to co m pe te in th e Hawaii s upercross : Myer scough , Ho l ley, Turner and CM C' s number one 500cc rid er last season, Matt T edder. (O n ly fo ur rid ers from th e main land are a llowed to enter the race). Ov er 22,000 spec ta tors fill ed almos t half th e stadium , whi ch is abo ut 8000 more th an las t year's even t, Lo ca l hero. a n d for mer Inter-A m Champion, John DcSot o . once aga in ret urned to supercross racing but ad m itted th at age is ca tchi ng u p to the Flyin ' H awa iian . T he 37-yearold na tive H aw a iian pl aced 10th in th e ma in an d o £ficia lly an nou nced hi s reti rem ent fro m p rofessiona l ra cin g . "I' m g lad I'm ca ll in g it qui ts," said DeSoto. " It just tak es too much now . I ha ve to do a lot, a lo t o f tra in ing fo r m y age to ge t read y just for one race. It just isn 't worth it a nymore. Racing was rea lly good to me; I've had my ups a nd downs, I'll st ill ri de, like the Ma u na Kea 200 enduro a nd th in gs like th at , bu t I'm th rough w ith supercross and m otoc ro ss." Qualifiers The firs t q ua li fier fea tu red H olley wh o jammed into the fro n t of th e pack a nd was follow ed by Kauai 's David Amorin, ridi n g a Su zu ki, th en Yamaha -mou nted J ace Furu ike, Leonard Ontai and Desm ond Ca rav a llo . H olley quick ly jumped to a co m mandin g lead, whi le Am orin bailed over so me whoops, giving seco nd to Furui ke. At the sa me time, Caravallo made hi s move an d darted passed Onta i. For th e next six la ps of th e 15-l ap q ua li fier, things pretty m u ch stayed th e sa me until Am orin en doed over a ju mp bu t h ad enough cus hion to keep h is num ber th ree posi tion . At th e finish it was H o ll ey way o ut in front, wi th Furuike ta ki ng seco nd. Third and fo urth went to Amorin a nd Hagi Alexander , who passed Caravallo la te in th e ra ce. Th e seco n d quali fi er featured Myer scough wh o s h o t h is R &D, George McQuiston-tuned RM to th e front o f the pack, whil e DeSoto a nd h is J oh n Brodie-sp onsored H on da Mike Zane won th e fir st quart er fin al after p assing Ca ra vallo on the eig h th lap, when Caravallo cra shed in a shar p left turn . Caravall o managed to finish seco nd ahead o f Matt Kresser a nd Curtis Akio na , The seco nd quarter fin al went to a not her Sa n dy Brodie- sponsored rid er , S tu Whitt in gham when h e pa ssed Ka yo Kni ght at the hal fway point. Wh ittingham p ulled u p a lo ng side Kni ght in a section o f double j u m ps, stuffed him in th e nex t ri ght turn an d took ove r th e lead for good. Bla yn e Soma fin ish ed third ahead o f . Pa tton. Sem is T he first semi p itted Holley a n d Myerscough in th e sa me race , which turned out to be th e m ost exciting ba ttle o f th e n ight. Holley stole th e hol eshot , th en after passing Furuike, Myerscou gh mo ved into seco nd, a n d th e na il-biter duel fo r the lead co mmen ced. By the third lap , Myerscough had m oved to withi n in ch es of Holley an d tried a num ber o f times to ge t arou nd but co u ld n ' t. T he crowd was going cra zy, screa m ing an d jumping u p and down wildl y. Myerscough sa id af ter th e race: " Every tim e I m ade a move, th ey screame d so loudly it startl ed m e. It so u nded more like th e L o s A ngeles Co lise um pac ked with 70 ,000 p eople ra ther 20,000 people. It was crazy." The war raged on - Myerscough would di ve in side H oll ey in the tu rns, p ass him , go wide: the n H o lley would cu t back in sid e, repass Myerscough , go w ide, get passed and so on. T h is h appened a number of times for th e rem a inder of the 15-lap race , They tan gl ed ba rs a co uple of tim es a n d were h avin g a to ugh tim e getting around lap ped tra£fic. With less th an two la ps to go, Myerscou gh m ade one last clean p ass in a tu rn , bu t Holley had th e better dr ive com in g out of the turn over a se t of dou ble jumps. Myerscough singled them a nd H olley dou bled righ t p a st the Suzuki rid er. " I went u p h igh a n d h e went dow n low an d tri ed to block m e," sai d H olley, " bu t I sh ut back

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