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Brett Melton (448) leads Sean Thornton (21) and Brock Ballard (85) in a
85cc (7-11) MX moto. Melton won three out of the four motos.
Lowell Thomson (60) won three out of four events at the Winter National
Olympics in Florida; he didn't finish the hare and hound race.
J.4th Annual Winter National O/y.mR.ics
Bradshaw, Thomson
grab Olympic gold
By Mike &. Anne Adair
GAINESVILLE, FL, NOV. 27-DEC. 1
Damon Bradshaw and Lowell Thomson
topped a field of nearly 1400 combined rider
entries from 36 states, Canada and Peru in
the 14th running of the Winter National
Olympics at Gatorback Cycl e
P k In Y th di . . n ti
ar .
ou
IVISIO ac 1O~,
Moto-X . ~ox/Yamaha /Barr s
Competition-sponsored Bradsha w ea rned hi s seco n d T ran sworld
Bronz e Boot Award.
Kawasaki Team Green / JT/ DMCsu p port ed Thomson wa s th e win ne r
of th e n ew Scott USA G olden Goggle
Award . Thomson. wh o won hi s 85cc
a ge d ivi sion last yea r , m ade an
impressive j u m p to the Arnate ur divisio n with on ly a DNF in th e ha re
scra m bles event preventing him fro m
winning a ll four events . " Ida ho is a
!on g way from Fl?ri,~a , b.ut thi s event
I S wo rt h th e tn p ,
said a ha p p y
Thompson.
.
T he Yama ha-sponsored, AMA-sanctione d event is unique in that it cha llen ges ride rs to demonstrat e th eir
ski ll in four different form s of raci ng:
stadi um mo tocross. TT, har e scra mbles a n d MX. Champions in eac h
... division rece ived U .S. Sa vings Bonds
a nd m erchand ise fro m H annah Racing Products , Answer, H i-P oint, Sco tt
USA, Wiseco , Lancer an d Dunlop.
For th is event, SuperSpcrts' Bill
West -aadeu-a
-rlC':W co m bina tion TT/
26
short track and stadium -style MX
circ u it to hi s Gatorb ack facility. " By
com bi ni ng a ll th e events at one location ," sai d West, " ri ders can set up
th eir p it , camp h ere all week, an d
enjoy o ur program even more tha n
before . I have n ever received as ma ny
favora~l e c<;Jm ments on ~ ch ange we've
made In this p ro gr am Since we began
th e Winter Ol ympics:"
Yamaha , Kaw asaki an d KTM were
on hand to p rov id e technical su p port
to th eir rid ers. Sco tt USA, Hi-Po int
Racing, Lancer Leathers, O ak ley an d
./ Dunlop also had representat ives at
th e track.
Stadium Motocross
A miniature supercross circu it laid
ou t by Drew and Kyle Wolfe of Acti on
Sports opene d th e show on Wednesday under ideal warm Flori da wea ther
which preva iled th roughout th e fiveday progra m. T he exis ti ng MX starting ga te was used in th ree o f the four
even ts, wi th two ne w grandsta nds
p roviding 100%visi bility of the action
on two o f th e cir cuits. The hard lim e
ro ck surfa ces of th e stadium and TT
tracks he ld th eir shape, a nd pres ented
a fast a nd cha llengin g co ur se with
tabl etops and multiple jumps scal ed
d own fr om full-siz ed su p erc ro ss
heights.
G eorg ian Ezra Lusk stalked hi s
Kaw asaki teammate Jeff Dement for
one full lap befor e waltzing off with
the 65c c (7-11 ) Stock final win.
Dement 's fellow T exan, Colin
Edward s, too k th e 65cc Modified win
a head o f Dement and Lusk.
In 85cc (7-11) competition, Californians Dennis Dahlin a n d Sean
Th ornton won their respecti ve age
divisions. " We both live near San
Diego and have a lot of fun traveling
to races and trying to beat eac h other,"
ex p lained Dahlin. Scott Sheak a nd
Brett Melton both led th e pack before
Dahlin won th e ' Stock class , but
Am eri can Elevator/Scott-sponsored
Thornton m ak e it look easy in th e
Modifi ed ra ce.
Fromer Olympic Champion Junio r Jackson led both 85c c (12- 13)
events, but crash ed on th e multipl e
jumps, eventually withdrawing from
the co m peti tion with a jaw injury.
Kawasaki/Scott/JT-sponsored Hank
Moree started hi s 1984 Bronze Boot
defense with a Stock cla ss win. However, 1983 Bronze Boot winner Bradsh aw stayed in th e point quest , with
hi s Barry Black /Randy Bradshaw prepped Yam aha leading th e Modified class flag-to- flag. Connecti cut
rider G en e Naumec showed that it
was not going to be an all-Carolina
show by taking a pair of seconds an d
th e 85cc (14-15)overa ll stadium trophy
for T eam Green.
Dennis Stephenson, a th ird San
Diego charger, ea rn ed a win in th e
85cc( 14-15)Stock class, leading form er
Olympic class winners J ohn Kitsch
and Tim Lemire a ll th e way. Stephen son said , " Kitsch is fast a n d I
wish that we didn 't live ac ro ss the
co u ntry from eac h ot h er."
Flo ridia n J ay Man n put h is Kaw asaki ahead of th e Modified fin al , but
Sea n Dukes moved up and.wo n after
th e two staged a super dice.
Pennsylvania Mik e J ones rocketed
to the head o f the 125cc Expert class
ahead o f Br ian McElroy, Ronnie
T iche nor an d Mark Melt on. Former
Winter AMA Min i Champion McElro y was p r e s sed bar -t o-b ar by
Tichenor u n til th e pair touch ed and
Tichenor went do wn, leavin g McEl ro y all a lo ne to wi n . " Yo u ca n ' t
afford a fall in this fas t an d short
racing," said Tichenor, wh o was the
onl y previous' two-time Bronze Boot
winner . Mark Melt on a nd Shaun
Kalos moved up for the secon d and
third place spots.
Arizona's Kalos worked on Tommy
Watts in th e 250/500cc Expert bash
with Melton, Jeff Stanton, T ichenor
an d Mike Morris all in the hunt.
Honda/Lancer/ PJ -l -sponsored Kalos
passed Watts, but the Kentucky rider
refused to play dead and the pair put
on a sh ow before Kalos won. "We
were as close as you can get without
hitting each other, " said Kalos .
"It was a lot of fun, but I would've
rather been th e winner, " said Watts.
Californian Mik e Cr aig put his
Joh n Hunter-tuned Scott/Maximal .
Tony Smith-backed Yamaha ahead
of the 125cc B class, leaving Lowell
Thomson, Mike Himanek and Andy
Michner to fight for seco n d. "I just
switched from the 80cc bikes two
months ago," sa id Craig, " bu t I ra ce
with Lowell (T homson) a lot and
th is is the first time I've been able to
beat him."
Thomson romped to an easy win
in the 250/500cc B division ahead of
Michner , Eric Retti g and Todd Jones.
Lowell Thomson Sr., said, " I' m no
mechanic. Team Green's Jeff Chambers has been invaluable to us."
Pepsi-Cola -sponsored Jon Agin
n eeded only on e lap to dispose of
Rich Machniak from th e front of the
125cc Novice parade and led to the
fini sh. Todd Adams won the 250/
500cc C division , hi s Yamaha of
Fayetteville/KS I-backed Yamaha leadin g every lap.
TT
Col in Edw ards swept both 65cc (7II ) fin al s on Thanksgiving Day, ha vin g hi s tightest battle wi th Ezra Lu sk
an d Jeff Dement in th e Modified
fin al s.
The 85cc (7-11) battle featured an
east/west du el between New Yorker
Scott Sh eak a nd Californian Sean
Thornton. Sh eak an d his Mot o-X
Fox Kaw asa ki led Thornton all the
way to th e Stock win, but Thornton
evened the tall y by putting hi s H allm an Kaw asak i in side for th e Mod ified win.
The two Carol ina spee ds ters, Bradshaw a nd Moree, warred in th e 85cc
( 12~ 13) Stock even t. The pair usu all y
com pe te in different age groups, .bu t
a change in this year's 0 Iym pic " birthday" moved th e yo u nger Moree up
