Tom Carson holeshots the first moto, while JoJo Keller (55), JohnnyO'Mara (33), RickJohnson (18), Brian Myerscough (69) and Bob Hannah
(25) pursue. (Below) Johnny O'Mara finished second in the first moto and easily won the second to capture his third career GP win.
~
w
w
>
~
o
...
:I:
C
z
'"
lJl
~
o
:I:
c..
World Championship 250cc MX series:
Round 9
O'Mara king of
Unadilla hills
By Tom Kolnowski
N EW BERLI N, N Y, J ULY 14
American Honda's Johnny O'Mara didn't
.a llow a painful first-mota knee injury and a
second-mota drizzling rain from stopping
him from leading a thundering horde of
fo ur fellow Americans to a
sweep o f th e top five spots at
the Bel-Ra y/Ford MOlar Co.sponsored 250cc United States
14
Grand Prix a t Unadilla Valley Sports
Center. The toughest co m pe titio n
for O 'M ara , who won with a 2-1 tally,
ca m e fro m within his own H o nda
ca m p ; Bob H a n na h won the o pening
mo ta after break ing free from O ' Mara ,
th en ca me back in mo to two for a
fifth to put a lock on seco nd overall.
Kawa sak i 's Mark Barnett, Savage
Racing's Jo Jo Kell er a nd Yamaha 's
R ick Johnson rounded out the top
five overall .
For 1984 Inspo rt / Wra ng ler Supercross Champion O 'Mara it marked
his th ird career GP win, hi s other two
victories co m ing in th e 125cc division - o ne in the U.S. in 1981 and
the other in Switzerland in 1982.
Reign ing 250cc World Cham pion ,
KTM 's Hein z Kin igad ner, was the
first European to show in the final
res u lts beh ind th e to p five Ame rica ns. The lanky Au strian put in a
so lid 6-6 pe rforma nce which earned
him sixth ove ra ll , but more impor-
ta n tly, he moved a h ealthy step closer
to catchi ng th e current ser ies p oint
sta ndings leader, Sonauto Yamaha' s
J ack y Vimond. Fren ch man , Vimond ,
who h eld a command ing 35- poin t .
lead ove r Kinigadner before the U na d illa ro und , went 7-DNF o n th e da y
and saw h is lea d sh rin k to 22 p oints.
Vimond h as 227 p oints to Kin iga d ner 's 205 an d West G erman Arno
Dr ech sel's 177. T h ree ro u nds re mai n
in the series.
Wh ile weather for Sa tu rday 's practice sess io ns included bri ght su n a nd
tempe ratures i n th e hi gh 80s, Sunda y
brought heavil y overcast skies, per iods of li gh t rain an d slig h tly cooler
- a lbeit sti ll very humid - co n ditions. A crowd es tima ted a t 14,000 by
promoter Ward Robinson, was o n
h and to cheer the 50/50 mi x of North
Am eri can a n d Eu ro pean riders in th e
$15,500 race.
Before Saturda y's p racti ce sessio ns
began, the I. l -mile course was entire ly
covered in a bl anket o f th ick, foot-tall
gree n grass. As the p ractice sessions
wore o n , defin ite li nes develo p ed ,
ex posi ng a sur face o f m oist ea rt h li ttered wi th sm a ll roc ks.
On Su nday morn ing, riders were
required to put in a mi nim u m of fo ur
lap s in th e co m p u lso ry timed session.
A ride r's fas tes t lap was u sed to determ in e th e starting p osi tions o n th e
ga te fo r the first m oto. Kinidagn er
was th e fas test q ua li fier , cl icki ng to a
time o f two m in u tes, 15.57 seco nds.
Next ca me Ka wasaki 's J eff Wa rd a t
2:17.98, O 'M a ra at 2:18.03, Barnett a t
2:19.93 a nd J ohnson a t 2:20.37. While
H annah would go on to .win moto
o ne, h e qual ified 24th at 2:25.67.
As th e ga te d ropped short ly after I
p .m . for the first 45-m in u te-p lus tw o-lap moto , it was Northgate
H onda 's T om Carson leading Johnso n, Vimond, Kinigadner , Yamaha 's
Keith Bowen , Wa rd, Dutchman G ert·
J an van .Doorn , O 'M ara a n d H annah . J o hnson passed Ca rso n a half
lap into th e race to tak e the lead, and
a fte r the fir st full lap th e orde r was
J ohn so n , Carson, Vimond, Kinigadner a nd Bow en .
Kin igadner, h owever, was forced
to pi ck hi mse lf u p off th e grou nd on
lap two . " I lan ded from a j u m p th en
tumbled end -over-end ," sai d Kin igadner, who was unh urt in the crash
but dro p pe d well o ut of the top 10.
Things sh uffled agai n on lap three;
Carson had dropped we ll back, wh ile
Joh nson was six seconds clear o f
Bowen , Ward a nd Vim ond. See m ingl y out of nowhere ca me Kell er into fif th .
"I came off th e sta rt abo u t 12th,"
sai d Kell er, "and th e fir st few laps
went very sm oo th ly: I was pumped
because I had passed Hannah. O'Mara
a nd a bunch o f othe r g uys ." H annah ,
O'Mara a nd Ven ko H onda 's va n
Do orn were in line behind Kell er.
Ward struck di saster lat er i n th e
lap. " I en doed - ver y h ard,': sai d
Ward, who dropped back and retired
m id-rnoto. " T he banners had been
pulled do wn on the front stre tch an d
I got off th e track a bit, hitting som e
boulder s just o ff to th e side. I went
down an d my back hurts, as well as
m y shou lder a nd m y neck. I'm defi nitel y ou t for this da y."
As th e race entered lap four, it was
J ohnson with a five- to six-seco nd
cus hi on o ver seco nd - which was
still in the hands of Bowen, but Hannah was into third a nd pressirig close r
with O'Mara in tow . Keller wa s
kn ock ed back to fifth a head of
Vimond, wh il e another 30 secon ds
back ca me Barnett, va n Do orn, Bri an
Myerscough a nd Kinigadner.
An other lap lat er O 'Mara had
scooted p ast what h ad become a
H annah/Bowen battle into possessio n o f secon d , while Keller was still
a strong fifth over Vimond.
By lap eigh t, O 'Mara was on th e
rea r wh eel of lea der J ohnson . "The
bik e started to run erra tic,': sai d Joh n so n, who was pa ssed by O'Mara later
in lap eigh t, a nd th en by H annah o n
th e fo llo wi ng lap. " We fou n d a pi ece
of pl astic i n th e floa t bowl, an d th at
was stick ing in th e main jet. I was
a lso ha ving so me su spension p roblems, a nd crashe d not long af ter
O 'M ara passed me."
By lap 10, i t was O'Mara with a
slim two- to three-second cu shion
over H annah, with J ohnson str uggling to keep third over Kell er, Myerscou gh a n d Barn ett. Bowen h ad
dropped o ut: " H a n na h a n d I h ad a
co u p le of laps where we were right
together - we even bumped a few
times. But I h ad go tte n a bunch of
banners ca ugh t in m y rea r wheel a
lap into the race, a n d we th in k i t was
putting too much of a load on th e
en gine . T he cra n k went out and I was
all done. "
H ann ah reel ed i n a n d passed
O 'M a ra on lap 13, but O 'Mara ca me
right back o n h im. " I tried to pa ss
Bob back," sa id O 'M ara , " bu t we col lided . My left kn ee got twisted between
th e two bik es - it wasn 't reall y
an yone's fault. Bob ca me o u t of th e
ber m and I tried to go in side a t th at
instan t. It took a bo ut three laps for
so me of the pain in the kn ee to go
away before I was back up to speed ."
H annah led through th e 18th and
final lap for th e win by 14 seco nd s
over O 'Mara, with Kell er hanging on
fo r third ov er Myerscough. "I tried to
sta y stea dy when a lot of guys were
crashing," said Myerscough , "and I
closed to within three bike lengths of
