Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

a:: UJ :E ..J ~ ~ .. « C- t:: '" '" '" 0 ... >- 0 J: C- l!) OO O"l ....... ~ -e- ... Q.) ...0 E .... Q.) 0.. Q.) IJ) Johnny O'Mara (3 ), Jeff Wa rd (2 ), Rick J ohn son (1, left) , David Bai ley (1) and Terry Fowler (450) at t he start of t he f irst 250cc m oto. Two turns int o the second 125cc rnoto, Eddie Warren (8 01 l. A .J . Wh iting (1 2 ) and Ricky Ryan (2 1) di ce for the lead. AMA National Motocross Series: Round 9 ard wraps Up another title By Kit Palmer WASHOU G AL, WA. AUG. 25 Eig h t days after clinchi ng his first-ever supercross cham pionship, Kawasa ki 's Jeff Ward added a noth er title to his credi t- th e 250cc National Mo tocross Championship , " I 8 worked just as ha rd to wi n th is cha m p ion sh ip as I did th e l25cc cham p ion sh ip last year," said Ward , " but thi s one means a lill ie bit more 10 me, because I t had to , " I , I . I•• J bea t a lot more peop le." The people Wa rd had 10 beat included H onda 's Joh n ny O'Mara , who made a last -la p pass on teammate Ron Lec h ien 10 w in tod ay's 250cc race. Some ,o bserves felt.. ~ that ~ Lech~ ien , • ~ ' • I • • I 1 "1. f I . I _ I c ! 'If , f y wa s g iven T eam H onda orde rs to let O ' Mara pass h im for th e overa ll w in . A lill ie o ver halfwa y th rough th e race , Lechien held a co m man d ing lead (a bo u t IO seco nds); th is m ar g in d wi ndled rapidl y near th e en d of th e race . During th e last lap, O 'M ara bobbled in a turn , but still m a naged 10 reel-i n and pass Lechien over a series o f whoops less th an 50 yards from th e finish 10 tak e th e win. BOIh rid ers qui ck ly got o ff the ir bikes and wa lked back 10 th e pi ts without speakin g 10 a nyone or each o ther. Wh en asked about th e sit ua tio n, O ' Mara said, " I was ca tching h im , but 1 didn ' t kn ow if he was goi ng to le t me by or what he was th ink in g, a nd 1 didn 't know wha t ki nd of p it signa ls h e wa s gelling. All I kn ew was that I was ca tch ing hi m .", Lechien wasn 't a va ila ble for com me n t. Wh a tever th e case, O 'M ara took the overa ll, while Ward, wh o won th e first mot o , cruised in fo r third in th e mo to an d wo n th e cha mpio ns hi p. Wa rd had a 20-poi m lead go ing in to the fina l ro u nd o f th e yea r over O ' Mara and defendi ng 250cc Nat ional Ch a m p io n Ricky J ohnso n (Yam ). Si nce the 125cc a n d 500cc titl es were already wrap ped up, H onda en tered Da vid Ba ilev and Ron Lech ien in the 250ccclass, hoping th ey co u ld fin ish , alo ng with Bo b H annah . between O'Mara a nd Ward in both motos to giv e O ' Mara th e champ ionship. Th e p la n didn ' t work. Ward beat th em all in th e firs t moto, so all h e had to do in th e seco nd was finish in the top 20, which he did . J ohnson 's ch ances a t retai ni ng his cha m p io n sh ip ended early in th e day. About th ree la ps into th e first more .johnson was hit in th e ha nd by a rock thrown by a no the r bik e. Johnso n pulled off th e track and went to th e hospita l wit h a broken finger. Loca l hero (and Yam aha support rider) Eri c Eaton rod e magnificently in both 500cc rno ros to ca p ture his first-ever Nation al win . " II (the win ) ha sn ' t su nk in vet ," sai d Ea to n , " bu t I'm sure hap p y." Eato n ca me from behind 10 wi n th e first rn o to : pl ayed it safe in the seco nd for a seco n d to la ke th e overa ll a nd finish u p the year seco n d in th e sta nd ings . Yama h a 's Broc G lo ver. wh o a lready cl in ch ed th e cham p io ns h ip, did n ' t ride du e to inj u ries. T h e o n ly factory rider who en tered th e 500cc class wa s Ka wasa ki's Billy L iles. a nd he too k seco nd. H owever , J oJ o Keller rod e a works H onda for third , a nd Alan Kin g ro de a wo rks Kawasak i for fifth . With Lech ien rid in g the 250cc class a nd Mark Ba rn ell o u t with a kn ee inj ury, {he 125cc class was U D for I ( ,,. 1 t t ·r' J J I J 1 , ( • . :I i I I '1 , ~ t gra bs, a nd it was Suzu ki's A.J . Whi tin g who sto le th e overa ll, eas ily wi nning both rn o to s a nd ta ki ng h is firs tever Nat ion a l wi n. H is ma in co nce rn each time ou t was Suzu ki tea m ma te Erik Kehoe, who ended up placin g seco nd overa ll with a 3-2 sco re. " II rea lly feel s great win ni ng ," said Wh itin g . " II's been a lo ng tim e co m ing." The Washouga l track is co ns idered as o ne of the best o n th e National circuit , but this year du st p la yed a major ro le. A few riders, in cluding Ka wasa ki's G oat Breker a nd Ba iley, pulled o ut of th e race in th e seco nd mo to because of the choki ng dus t, a nd many bikes suc ked en o ug h of the din to seize eng ines. " I co uldn ' t believe how bad th e dust was ," said Breker. " David (Ba iley) and 1 p u lled off th e side o f th e tr ack in th e bac k sectio n in th e seco nd moto a nd started ta lki ng - we co u ld ba rel y see eac h o ther. Th ere were guys wh o ha d cras hed and co u ldn ' t fi nd th eir bike. I said 'forge t it', it was n ' t worth it: ' Much of this d us t p ro blem was beca use of an un usu a l d ry weather spell in th e Wash ing ton a rea . T empera tur es were in th e 90s. 2 5 0 cc Even th ough th e 250cc ra ce was filled wit h fac tory riders, priva teer Dann y Storbe ck (Ya m) aced bo th O 'M ara and Ward thro ugh the firs t tu rn and took th e lead a t th e stan o f th e first m ow. J ohnson qui ck ly slipped by Ward a n d a fter a lap, th e top seven rid ers wer e Storbeck , O 'Ma ra , Johnson. Ward. Suzu ki 's G eorge H o lla nd , Bailey and Suzuki rider Brian Myersco ugh. torbeck wa s o n th e gas a nd wa sn 't a bo u t to give up th e lead without a serio us fight. As th e p ack head ed in to th e secon d lap , Storbeck had about two seconds o n O 'Mara , Then ca me Ward , wh o sq ueezed by Joh nson . H a n na h was pressuring Myerscough for fifth. whi le Lechi en was in the back o f th e p ack. Storbeck st ill h ad command heading into lap three. bu t O 'M ara was m aking a move. T h e O 'S how o u t- bra ked Stor beck in to a fast righ t-h ander. bu t Storbeck dove back ins ide O 'M a ra a nd retook th e lead . T his m ove blew th e wind ou t of O 'M ara 's sa il s a bit , so Ward saw h is chance a nd a ttac ked . T he Kawa saki ri der went 10 th e o utside and passed O ' Mara a nd th en set after Stor beck: a few turn s la ter. Wa rd zap p ed th e Yama ha rider. At th is time, Ha n nah fi na ll v fo und a line arou nd Mverscough for fifth but washed o Ul'in a turn a la p la ter a n d los t o ne posi tio n. Sh ortl y a fter. H annah passed Myersco ugh again. At th e halfway point, w ith Johnso n a lready o u t o f th e race with a • 1J I t ,l I " I : ; t i l ':. I I r .(: ~ I

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