Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

th e beginning o f th e seco nd moto, it wa s O 'M ara 's turn to make rep eated , fruit less a tte m p ts a t passi ng. His a ttempts ceased on th e fifth lap wh en hi s factory H onda q uit runn in g. " An ign it ion wire ca me o ut o f th e ignitio n a nd that wa s it," O 'M ara said. " It wa s j ust like h avi ng a kill but ton o n. I was just h ere for fun , a nyway ." With O 'M a ra o u t o f th e co m petition. Myers cough breezed to a second-rnoto win. H e was followed across th e line bv Reid . Simons. Mike Fish er (AT K), a'n d Arn et. " It went a little better th at time," sai d Myer scough after th e race "After (O ' Mara) brok e down , I just cru ised . H e was in seco nd an d I th ou ght it was goi ng to be a prett y ha rd race. th en he was go ne ." Myerscough , wh o a lso won th e O pen Pro class a t th e Four-Stroke Nationa ls in 1983, wa s sponsored for the da y by ATK, An swer Product s. Myersco ugh Racing a nd Scott Goggl es. " T he hik e worked reall y good," he said . " It handl es bett er th an I thought it wou ld. It 's so fast ! I wa nt to thank Horst Leitn er for lettin g me rid e it. " Two-stroke races in the 500, 250 a nd 125cc Pro classes fill ed o u t th e day's pro fession a l program . Doug Duhach pil ot ed his 125cc Yamaha to victory in hath mor os o f th e co m bine d 125 / 500cc Pro ra ce, while H onda-mounted Robot Rodgers took fir st pl ace in th e 500cc class ( 1-2). Ra y So m ma (Yam, 2-2) wa s second 125, whil e Yamah a rid er Bader Manneh (3-3) took third. Wood y Carlson (H a n) finish ed 1-3 to cla im second p la ce in the 500cc class. Ch ris Sh aw (Ya m ) took third with a 3-2 finish. H onda -m ount ed Br ian Manl ey swep t bo th motos in th e 250cc Pro class. Bernar d Swartz (3-2) finished seco nd and th ird p lace went to Fran • ki e Bundage (2-3). A T K- m o unt ed Brian Myerscough (above) won the Open Pro class w ith a 3 -1 performance at the CMC Four-Stroke Nationals . Johnny O 'Mara (be low) won t he f irst Open Pro moto but failed t o finish the second race . 1.985 CMC Four-Stroke Nationals Myerscough edges O'Mara at Four-Stroke Nationals By Farren W illiams CA RLSBA D. CA.. DEC. 22 ATK-mounted Brian Myerscough won an out-and-out war with American Honda's Johnny O ' Mara in the O p en P ro class at the California Mo tosport Club's (CMC) annual Four-St roke National s, h eld a t Ca rls bad Racew ay. Myersco ug h, riding a n ATK 560, a n d O'Mara, a boa rd an 14 Ame rica n H onda XR500 . battled th rou gh o ut th e fir st m ot o un til Myersco ugh acciden tly stuc k hi s han dl ebar th rou gh a sectio n o f fence o n the seco nd-to -las t la p a nd bai led off ha rd , breaki ng the fra me on his AT K. He remounted a nd managed to finish th ird beh ind O ' Mara a nd Wa rren Reid (Ya m ). O 'M a ra a nd Myer scough wen t at it agai n in the seco nd m ot a unt il a n ig n ition wi re came loose on O 'M a ra's factory H onda. fo rcinghis retirement on th e fifth lap . With O'Mara o u t, Myerscough cru ised to a n easy m o to win 10 tak e th e overa ll. Reid cla ime d seco nd with a 2-2 fini sh . a nd Will y Si m o ns pow ered his ATK into th ird overa ll with a 6-3 showi ng. O ' Mara had to seu le for sixth p lace, ( I - I I ). Alan Olsen (ATK ) won th e FourStroke Vet P ro class wi th a victory in the firs t m oto a nd a fourth- pl ace fin ish in the seco nd race . J on Mill er (AT K) took seco nd with co nsisten t 3-3 finishes, wh ile Ga ry Jones gra bbed th ird overa ll wi th a 5-2 effort. In th e Women 's Pro race. Ka wa sa ki-mount ed Mercedes Gonza les ( 1- I ) cru ised to a n easy win over h er only competi tor . J oanna Bro wn ell (H us). By virture o f a second-moto victory. Pete Whi tn ey a nd SCOll Wh itney (H o n, 2- 1) claimed th e sidecar com pe titio n over the Yama ha -powered tea m of P h ill ip Pa lfreym an and Victor Palfreyman (Yam , 1-2). Ed Arnet o u trode everybody in th e 500cc Four-Stroke Pro cla ss, pil oting h is Husq varna to wi ns in both motos . Ol sen , a lso Hu sq varn a - m ounted . gra bbed seco nd by twi ce fin ishing behind Arnet , while Gary Jones (CA, 3-6), fini sh ed third . O 'Mara took a firs t-turn lead in th e ini tial m ot o of the feature race, but a hard-chargin g Myerscough powered by on th e second lap to stea l the adva ntage . O 'Mara push ed hard, riding near the big ATK 's rear fen de r until h e was a ble to rega in th e top spot at th e halfway point o f th e race . Lap af ter lap, Myerscough tried to ge t around O 'M ara 's H onda , but he found him self cu t o ff a t every corner. On the I Ith o f 12 laps. Myerscough cha nged h is lin e in a la st-ditch effo rt to mak e a n o u tside pass, bu t he went too far o u ts ide and crashed ha rd whe n h is handlebar cli pped th e fen ce. " I made a mi stak e," Myerscough sa id after the fir st m oto . " I tr ied to ta ke a li ttl e di ffere nt lin e, but I go t too close to the fen ce. Mv h an dl eba r go t ca ugh t and I went do,~n . It twisted th e bik e arou nd a nd I flew o ff a nd landed o n m y back. I was hopin g to pull away from (O ' Mara) a t th e beg in n in g o f th e race, bu t I co u ld n 't do it. So I decid ed to try an d han g in , a n d ge t him a t th e en d. It didn 't work ou t." O 'M ar a fini sh ed fir st , Reid moved int o seco n d a n d M yer scou gh remounted to take third . ATK riders Arn et a nd Keith O 'N eal rounded o u t th e top five. While things wer e rela tively ca l m between m ot os in th e O 'M ara ca m p , crew members in Myer scough 's pits repaired a break in th e ATK 's su bfram e (loca ted just ben eath the seat o n th e rig h t-ha nd side of th e bike), and rep laced th e mot orcycle's silencer. Wh en Myerscough took the lead at / Results OPEN PRO: 1. Br ian M yerscough (ATK): 2. W arr en Reid (Vam); W illy Simons (ATK); 4 . Ed Arn et (A TK); 5. M ik e Fish er (ATKI : 6 . Johnny O'Mara (Hon); 7. Randy Rodr iguez (ATK); B. Keith O'N eal (ATK); 9. Steven Burdene (ATKI : 10 . Terry M cGinnis (ATK); 11 . Peter Murray (Hus). VET PRO: 1. Alan Ol sen (ATK); 2. Jon M iller (ATK); 3. Gary Jones (C-A) . W OMEN 'S PRO: 1. Mercedes Gonzalez (Kaw); 2. Joanna Browne ll (Husl . 500 PRO: 1. Ed Arnet (Hus); 2. Gary Jo nes (C-A); 3. A lan Olsen (Hu s). 500 PRO (2 · STRK): 1. Robot Rodgers (Han) ; 2. Woody Car lson (Han); 3. Chri s Sh aw (Vam). 250 PRO (2 · STRK): 1. Br ian M an ley (Ha n); 2. Bern ard Swa rt z (Yam); 3 . Frankie Bund age (Kaw). 125 PRO (2-STRK); 1, Oou g Oubach (Vam) ; 2. Ray Somm a (Yam); 3. Baden M an neh (Yam). BO EX: 1. Pau l Winn (Vam). OPEN INT: 1. Donn y Sievert son (Han); 2. Gregg Blech man (ATK); 3. J im O 'Nea' (ATK). 500 INT: 1. Keith Pet ran gelo (Hus) ; 2 . Ed Lowenberg (Hon); 3 . M an Schw eitzer (Hus) . 500 INT (2· STRK): 1. Roger Guard (Han); 2. John Perry (Han I. 250 INT: 1. Darren Sanford (Hon) . 250 INT f2 -STRK ): 1. Larry Na nnenga (Yam) ; 2. Leland Bacon (Suz); 3. Brett M anley (Han). 1501NT: 1. J immy Lewis (Honl; 2. Bob Carpenter (Han) . 125 1NT; 1. Fred Willen (Suz); 2. Mercedes Gon zalez (Kaw) ; 3. Mark Kar iya (Suz). 80 INT: 1. Tommy Clowers (Su z); 2. Robbie Perez (Sul); 3 . Sloa n Cooper (Vam). OPEN JR : 1. Todd Booth (ATK); 2. Mark Sm it h (Hus ); 3 . Greg M inor (Hus). 500 JR : 1. Ronald Nel son (Hon ); 2 . Douglas Gave (Han); 3 . Tom Hosk ins (Hon ). 500JR (2 -STRK ): 1. Raben Moore (Han) ; 2. Chr is Carpenter (Hon ). 350 J R; 1. Ron Wood (Han) ; 2. Glenn Turner . (Ha n) 3 . Ron Whitt low (Han). 2 50 JR : 1. Reid Fran ke (Hon ); 2. Charles Burn en (Honl; 3. Kenny Lewis (Kaw). 250 JR (2-STRK): t . Hank Reed (Yam). 150 JR : 1. Bobby Symons (Han); 2. Harry Regas (Ha n): 3 . Ron Delbosq ue (Han ). 125 JR : 1. Steve Wa nboldt (Kaw ); 2. Rick Greenlee (Yam); 3 . J im Connor (Yam). 80 J R; 1. Jeff Hopkin s (Kaw) ; 2. Der ek Nafvig (Kaw); 3 . Derek Mez er (Hon) . 250 BEG: 1. M ike O'Der (Han) ; 2. Dan Sh uck (Ha n). 125 BEG: 1. Tim Allen (Kaw); 2. Major Alford (Hon); 3 . W ayn e Raci ne (Hon). 80 BEG: 1. David Parker (Yaml ; 2. Chr ist opher Kefalas (Yam); 3 . An drew Chamber lai n (Kaw) . M INI : 1. Troy We lty ; 2. J im my Lewis (Han); 3. Gary M art in i (Han) . VET WOM EN: 1. Gale Webb (Han); 2. Den ise DeVin es (Suz). 25 0 W OME N SPTSMN: 1. Brend a Con ser (Su z); 2. Su ann e Dow ney (Suz). 125 WOME N SPTSM N: 1. J eannie Pr uitt (Kaw); 2. Thea Gavi n (Hon); 3 . M in dy Sm it h (Han ). SIDECAR: 1. Pete Whitney/Scon W hitney (Hon ); 2. Phillip Palfreym an N ietor Palfr eyman (ya m); 3. M ike BurnslTy Sch lender (Yam). VET SPTSM N: 1. Kar el Kramer (Hus); 2. Vietor Tr iepke (A TK); 3 . Phil Araga (ATK). OT SPTSMN: 1. Gen e Dempsey (Han ); 2 . Neil Flam ing (C- A); 3 . Ed George (Hu s).

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