Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

TEri YEARS AGO Factory Can-A m rid er Jimmy Ellis cl aim ed both m oto s before 50 ,000 fan s to win th e Fourth An n ua l Ol y Superb owl o f Mot ocro ss in Los An g el es, Califo rnia. Ellis cl o sed th e door on ldnek Velky in th e last lap of the first mot o, but during th e seco n d m oto Velk y fad ed ba ck to e ig h th place, leavin g Ellis to battl e wi th Jimmy Weine rt. Ellis a nd Wein ert pulled a 30-seco nd lead o n th e fie ld , but Weine rt ' s bid fo r vict or y fell short, lea ving him with seco nd overa ll. Gaylon Mosier rode hi s Ma ico to the o vera ll in th e 50 0cc Na tio na l , foll ow ed by Tomm y Croft a boa rd a Honda . epic run -off battle in Bradfo rd. Englan d. Shawn Moran leads top Englis hman Kenny Carter in their M or an ca pt ur es ,-fi na l in B ng la nd By John Hipki ss BRAD FORD , ENG LA ND, J ULY 14 Sup er show man Sha wn Mor an put him self amo ng the fron t runn ers for the 1985 Spee dway title at Ods al Stad ium in Brad ford with of an imp ress ive victo ry in the.ove~seas roun d wit h packed th e cham p ion sh ip here in Engd . Ian ' . Mo~an . who ~I~es for Shefh eld In the Britis h Leagu e, 16 sto rmed to four im macu late wi ns before droppi ng his only point in hi s fin al rac e w hen h e was o u rga ted by yo u ng Engl ish rider Kelvin Tatum . U p to that point, Moran looked unbearabl e. H e was fast from th e tapes, ro de a pe rfect lin e and when he was h eaded into th e turn h e sh owed he had th e co ntrol and speed to battle h is' wa y th rough fro m beh ind; as he did wh en h e cl ashed wi th fell ow Americ an j ohn Cook in the third race. The two di ced for the lead rig h t to th e las t co rne r wh en Moran fo und th e extra p ow er h e n eed ed to beat Cook to th e line. T he on ly o th er man to mat ch th e 23 -yea r-o ld Moran , whose h ome is in La kewoo d, Ca liIorn ia , was Engla nd's num ber o ne, Kin g Kenny Ca.rter .lt was Car~erth a t wa s involv ed m th at ex p losive enco u nter wi th Bruce Penhal l in th e L o s Angeles fin al three years ago . Caner was well beat en by Moran in th e openi ng heat wh en th e Cal iforn ian broke th rough th e o ne m inute barri er to set a new four-la p record of 59.4 seco nds o n th e track w here th e ch a m pions h ip fi n al will be h eld o n August 31. Carter, howeve r, bounced back to stri ng togethe r four succes si ve race w i n s a n d wh en Moran dro p ped his point to T atum it m e~nt th at he a nd Caner had tied for first p lace in t he scorec hart; both h a d earned 14 p oints. It set th e stage for a specta cu lar run -off to decid e th e Overseas crown and bring d o wn the c u rtai n o n a !Uet;tln g whlch .had been inc ide n t . exc ite me nt a n d super b speedway raci ng. Mo ra n won th e to ss a n d s uprisi ngly c hose to ta ke the o utside lane a n d it seemed h e mi gh t h a ve made a m istake whe n Carter beat him into. the !i ~st tu rn ..But Mora n showed hIS brillian ce wit h a pe rfect ~urn . switc hi ng to the insidt; a n d leaving Caner o n the back straigh t, Th e tigeri sh Yorksh irem an , wh o won the Bri t ish fi na l a few weeks ea rlier, tried to co me back a nd stuc k close to Moran ' s rea r whee l, but h e was relying o n hi s ri val to make a sl ip tha t never came . Moran crossed th e fini sh lin e with a bi~el en gth to s p~re. Moran h eaded a h st of 10qual ifiers wh o n ow go to Vetl anda, Sweden o n Au gust 3 w.hen th ey link up with .six Sca ndana vian co n ten ders, in cludin g th e reignin g World Champ ion , Denm ark 's Erik Gunde rsen. From Vet1anda th e top l lsco rers a n d th e five qu alifier s fr c;>m the Ea st ern Euro p ean bl o c w il l return to Od sal to d ecide th e World Cham pi on ship , a nd on hi s perform ance in th e Ov erseas round Moran must ra n k as one . o f th e favor i te~ .. Fell ow Califo rnian La nce Kin g , wh o wo n th e O verseas stage las t year a nd went on to take thrid pl ace in the Wo rld Fi na l i n G othenb urg , wa s a lso i m p ressi v~. Kin!? h a s o p ted to ract;a t h? me thi s y~~r ins tead o f co m perm g m the Br i t i sh Leag ue and a d m i tted h e t hou~ ~ t h !s a bse nce fro m the top co mpeti tion In Engla nd may have t~ken ~ome of the sha rpness from hi s racmg. . It showed.i n the first hea t wh en h e li ned up w it h Mo ran , Ca rt er and Andy Smi th . Kin g wa s never in co n- ten tio n a fte r m akin g a ha sh o f th e star t. It was e no u g h to up set a ny rider, but th e 21-year -old King kept h is coo l. He switch ed to a n o the r mach ine, sh rugged o rr th e setbac k and went o n to win hi s other four ra ces in fin e style. Kin g p ro ved h is gr it a nd determ ina tion in his third outing wh en h e made a no ther p oor sta rt and h ad to force h is way p ast Sam Er molen ko a n d j ohn Davi s, and aga in in the foll owin g ra ce wh en h e fou ght a wh eel -to -wh eel ba ttl e with T atum. Hi s i2 poi n t tot al gave him th e third pl ace on th e ro strum and a lthoug h o n th is occasio n he h ad to giv e wa y to Moran a n d Ca rte r, h e co u ld g i ve th em a few probl em s whe n th e ac tion . returns to Odsal. Four o f th e five Am eri can co nten ders success fu ll y negot iat ed th e hurd le to get a mo u n g th e qu alif ie rs fo r Sweden . Nation al Champ ion j ohn Cook had m echani cal p robl em s with hi s Weslake an d wo n only one o f his five rides but hi s o ver all eigh t-po int total was enoug h to see him sa fely th rough . Erm ol enko fad ed badl y aferr taking five points from h is first two ra ces, but he still manag ed ninth spo t o n the qualif yin g list. Li ke Kin g , Ermol enko is m issin g th e h ot co m pe ti tio n of th e British Leagu e which kept him keyed up la st seaso n. T he odd man out was Rick Miller wh o is riding in En gl and with Coventry. It was th e first time Miller had got p a st the Am er ica n qu alify ing 'ro u nd and th e occasio n wa s just too much for him. H e could not sha ke off hi s pre-ma tch n erv es a n d hi s fiv e ra ces brough t him o n ly one point. The biggest shock, h ow ever, wa s th e e li mi nati o n o f Engl and 's Les . Collins who was seco n d in th e Los An gel es Wo rld Final in 1982 . H e fa iled to pi ck up a point in five path eti c o u ti n gs. His yo u nger brother Neil a lso mi ssed o u t, bu t th e third me m ber o f th e Co ll ins cl an , Phil , whose brother Peter , th e 1976 World Cham p ion , wa s ac tin g as h i s m echanic , kept th e famil y Ila g £lyin g by beati ng C h ris Morton in a run-orr for • th e last q ualifyin g p lace . Resul ts 1. Shawn Moran (USA) 14 pts. ; 2. Kenny Carter (GBI 14 pts. : 3. Lance King IUSA)12 pts .; 4. Andy Smith (GBI 11 pIS.; 5. John Davis 1GB) 11 pIS.; 6. Kevin Tatum (G B) 10pts.; 7. Phil Crump (Aus) 8 pts .; B. John Cool<(USA) B pts .; 9 . Sam Ermolenko (USA) 7 pts .: 10 . Phil Collins 1GB) 6 pIS. But th at wasn 't th e on ly ac tio n a t the Superb owl. Durin g p ra ct ice, so me kid g rabbed Teri Kezar's bike a n d rod e it ou t onto th e track. H e cras hed before officia ls co u ld get h im o ff th e bike, b reak ing the fr am e a n d th e tra ns m issio n in th e p rocess. Th e kid was appreh ended by th e police, but lat er relea sed because " the re were no cha rges to hold him on ." Terry Tierna n had left Yamah a to join Norton -Trium ph, a n d was inter vi ewed for co m me n ts a bo ut the future of the Briti sh m a ch in es . " T rue, th e older model s are due for updates," sa id Tierna n , " Howev er , the enginee rs haven 't been drinkin g tea for th e last five years; th ey've been design ing engines. We ha ven 't seen th em in this market because th ey've been waitin g until th ey kn ew th ey co u ld really sell them in this market. The wh ol e industr y is j ust waitin g for us to fall Hat on o ur faces.. . we'r e no t goi ng to." Mil e racing retu rned to Sac ra me nto, Califor nia, a nd Gary Scott took the c hec ke rs in th e Expert main, followed by Rex Beauch amp and Ya m ah a-m ounted Chuck P a lm g r en . Franki e Adamo rode to a stu n n in g co m e-fr o m -beh in d ph oto-fin ish in th e junior main , edging ou t Steve Eklun d and third-p la ce Dan McWh orter, Phil Read, re igning 500cc World Champ ion, won the Belgian G rand Prix and moved to a 12-poin t lead in th e seaso n p oint sta nd ings . Giacom o Agosti ni retired o n the sixth lap wi th a leak y water pump, and Barry, Sheene droppe d o u t on th e 11th lap, h anding R ead a n ea sy vi ct ory. Johnny Cecott o took hi s Yam aha to th e checkers in th e 250cc event, ahead o f Michel Rou gerie a nd Walter Villa.

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