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W illie Surratt loo ks over his shoulder and sees Erik Kehoe (7 6) and Larry
Brooks (not shown) w hile leading the second 125cc Pro mota.
Jeff Ward sailed to the 500cc Pro-class win and d id the same in t he 250cc
class. He w on every mota he entered.
CMC/Skoal Bandit Golden State
Nationals: Round 1
Ward, Surratt
smoke GSN opener
By Kit Palmer and Chris Boice
HUNGRY VALLEY , CA. JAN A-5
Ka wasa ki 's J eff Ward and FMF's 'Villie Surratt started o ff the new year in style by claiming P ro victo ries at th e o pen in g round of the
1986 Continental Motosports Club/Skoal
Bandit Golden Sta te National s
a t th e Quail Canyon MX track
in Hungry Valley, California.
Supercross and 250cc Nation-
8
a l Champi on Ward was nearl y unto uc ha ble in both th e 250 and 500cc
classes - onl y Tea m H onda 's j ohnny
O 'M a ra ga ve Wa rd a real cha lle nge
in th e seco nd 250cc moto before twis ting h is kn ee a nd dropping ou t. Ward's
new teammate, Ron Lech ien , kept
things interesting in the first moto by
hanging within five seconds of leader
Ward through out th e m or o , but th at
was as close as he co u ld get all da y.
Nobod y even ca me close to Ward in
th e 500cc Pro class - Ward eas ilv
.
won both motos.
Known as "the Wi ldman," H ondamounted Surratt won the highl y comp etitive I 25cc Pro class ag ainst suc h
riders as Suzuki 's Erik Keh oe and
Bobby Moore, H onda su p port riders
Larry Bro ok s a nd Au stralian J eff
Lei sk. Su rra tt led most o f the first
rnoto for th e win, but it wa s Kehoe
who broke loose a nd smoked everybody in th e secon d round. But a
'secon d pl ace by Surratt in that rnot o
was eno ugh to ca p ture th e overa ll.
Wh at ha s turn ed into one o f th e
most co m pe titive a nd excit in g classes
to watch is th e rela tively new CMC
Vet Pro cla ss. First introduced during
last vea r's Trans-Cal Seri es, the class
is ge tt ing mor e a nd more popula r.
O ver 30 rid ers sig ned up to do battle
tod ay, and it was " Roc ket" Rex Stat en
that spoiled thin gs for ATK's Ra ndy
Rodriguez. Rodrig uez won every Vet
Pro moto d uring th e Trans-Cal Series a n d wanted to keep that win
stre a k a live during th e GSN. But h is
cha nces en ded ea rly wh en Stat en
passed R od rig uez o n th e final lap of
th e first rnoto for th e win . Stat en had
it easier in th e seco nd m oto and finished the day with a I- I tally. Rod rigue z went 2-2 for second.
H onda rider R ick Simmer used a
flawless I-I sco re to nab th e overa ll in
th e Mini Expert class despite h ea vy
cha lle nges by Yamaha rider Paul
Winn. Winn event ua lly we nt 3-2 for
seco nd overa ll.
In th e first 125cc Pro mot o , Honda
rid er Scott Brown ro cketed into the
lead a nd held on to th e number-one
posit ion for three lap s before getti ng
pitched side wa ys over a steep dropoff. Brown remounted but was o u t of
co nten tio n.
Surratt inherited th e lead a nd held
it down to th e ch eckered fla g . Moore
ga ve Surratt a chase through out th e
m ot o a nd got very close at tim es, b ut
after th e halfway point, Moore fell off
th e pa ce slig htly, g ivin g Surratt some
breathing room. Moore held on for
second . Keh oe, Leisk , H onda rider
Ty Da vis, Kawasa ki pil ot Ri cky R yan
a nd Suzuki-mounted Jim T arantino
spe nt m ost of the mo to di cing over
th e third postion, a nd it was Kehoe
who got th e best of th em . Leisk fi nish ed fo urth just ahea d o f Tara n tino.
Brook s led -the sta rt of th e seco nd
moto ahea d o f Surra tt. Keh oe was
sixth, bu t it wasn 't lon g befo re h e had
tak en ove r th e lead a nd started pullin g away. Five laps into th e race,
Surra tt slipped by Brook s for seco nd,
but Bro ok s never let up . On the final
la p , Broo ks stu ffed Su rratt in a turn
a nd made the pass.
" I sa w he was going into the turn
kind o f slo w," sai d Brooks. "so I
p icked up m y leg and pl ow ed him -I
hit him hard, too. But my leg ga l
ca ugh t under hi s rear tire a nd it
a lmos t pull ed m e o ff m y bike."
Because o f thi s, Surra tt was a ble to
p ick a better line in th e foll ow in g
turn to retal iat e. Surratt took seco nd
a hea d o f Brooks, Moore a nd Suzuki 's
Mike Hea ley.
The fir st 250cc Pro mo to was a ll
Ward 's. H e blasted to th e front of th e
p ack a hea d o f Lechien, Yam aha' s
Jim H olley, Russ Wageman (Ya m) ,
Br ian Manl ey (Hon), Eri c Eaton
(Yam) a nd O'Mar a . Former Grand
Nation al ' Champion Da vid Bail ey,
recovering from th e flu, was midpack.
Ward qu ick ly deve loped a fivesecond lead over Lech ien that Lechien
co u ldn' t sh rin k. O'Mara , on th e other
hand, was bu sy working hi s wa y up
th rough tra ffic a nd eventua lly found
him self in third pl ace, but it was too
lat e in th e mota 10 hav e a ny cha nce at
catch ing Ward or Lechien .
Round IwO turn ed into a \Va rdl
O 'Mara dog fight. Ward took th e
h ol eshot, whi le O'Mara was th ird .
After bl owing by Suzuki's George
H olland up a long stra ig h t, O 'M ara
set after Ward wi th ven geance. Pushin g himself to th e limit, O 'M ara
began to ch ip away a t Ward 's lead.
With tw o seconds separating th e two,
Ward got a littl e out of shape, letting
O'Mara by. A lap lat er , with Ward
in ch es behind th e O 'Show, O 'M ara
pulled o ff th e track and fell to th e
ground in severe pa in . H is foot caugh t
a bu m p while exit ing a turn , tw isting
hi s kn ee. H e h ad to be ca rried o ff th e
track and back to th e pits. This gave
Ward a decent lead o ver Lechi en,
H oll ey, H o lland and Wagem an for
th e win.
Wa rd led fro m sta rt to fini sh in
both 500cc P ro rno tos - un ch all en ged . H is closest competitor was AXO 's
W a g em an a n d 500cc T ran s-C al
Champi on Will y S imo ns (H o n ).
Wageman a nd Simon s battled fiercely
in th e seco nd m ota over seco nd pl ace,
wh ich wo u ld determ ine second overa ll. On th e fina l la p , Si mons was
pressu ri ng Wageman h ard . J u st a fter
rece iving th e whi te flag, Sim ons a lm ost crashed . " I h it a hole a nd m y
feet went flying ," sa id Simo ns. " I
have no id ea how I saved it. " Simons
regrou ped a nd ca ugh t back up to
Wagem an a half-lap lat er , but it was
to no a vail. Wag em an held Simons
ba ck for seco nd overall; Simons took
third.Yamaha rid er Ph il Larson col lected a 4-5 score for fourth overall,
whi le Jim Ellis used a 6-4 ta lly for
fifth .
The clo sest finish of th e day took
place in th e fir st Vet Pro rnoto. At th e
sta rt, Honda CR500-mounted Gary
Jones had th e lead but was closel y
tail ed by Rod riguezand Staten. Three
la p s la ter, both Rod rig uez and Staten
motored by J ones and a nai l-biter
duel for th e lead com me nced . Man y
tim es Staten pulled up a longside Rodri guez, but th e ATK pilot would hold
hi s o wn wh ile u sing lapped traffi c a s
a weapon. For Rod rig uez, th e ra ce
was one lap too long. That 's when
Sta ten dove inside Rod riguez in a
( Co n tin ued 10 page 20).
