Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ Ul II: W ... X ::;) II: II: -c U ..J ::;) -c lL >- III (,0 Ul ... 0 0 00 O"l x lL ~ ~ O"l C'J >... ro :l t:: ro ~ One of the closest races of the night happen ed in semi two between Billy Frank (37). Larry Brooks (30), Erik Kehoe (8) and Keith Bowen (9) . D avid Bailey (6) leads Ricky J ohnson during the single, 20-lap main. Bailey and J ohnson traded places many times with Bailey prevail irig . AMA Supercross series: Round 1 Bai/e wins naheim y Supercross hriller By Kit Palmer ANAHEIM, CA . JA. " 18 " It's a: n ice way to start off the year," said T ea m H o nda 's Da vid Bailey a fter win n in g th e thrillin g 20-la p main fo r the open ing round of the AMA Sup ercross series inside Anaheim Stadium. " I've got a lo t o f confidence. an d I feel like I' m right back in the winner's circle, right where I belong." 6 Before 70,075 spectators, Ba iIt-y a nd and h is new teammate, R ick y Johnson , d isp la yed a s pectacular di ce for th e lead throughout th e moro. The two Honda riders traded pl aces many tim es, banging handlebars in the p rocess, Less than three laps from th e fin ish , Ba iley o nce a nd for all took the lead a nd held on Ior t he w in , ' T m not going 10 say that I'm going on to w in th e series," sa id Ba ilev, " And I'm not go ing to fig ure tha t I:\,e g o t i t.in the ba g j ust because SO m any ri ders have won the series o pe n er a nd hav e gone o n 10 win 'th e cha m p io nsh ip , b u t it is a good omen :' De spite r id i n g wi t h a se ve re ly tweaked knee, J ohnny O 'Ma ra rode conservatively and nailed down a thirdp lace finish . " It 's (th e knee) reall y sore r ight now," said O 'Mara , " I banged it at least five o r six times o ut there. I j ust kept trying to blank it o ut of rnv m ind, because I kn ew if I hung in th~e for 20 la ps, l knew th ose guys would get tired, so I just rode consisten t. I was only rid ing maybe 75%," 0 ' , la ra 's third g;1\'e T eam H ond a a 1-2-3 sweep. T h e fi rs t non-Honda rider wa s Ya maha's Kei th Bo wen, who narrow ly ed ged H ond a 's Mi ck y Dymond for fourt h . Suzu ki's George Holland rou nded ou t the to p si x, The Anah eim opener wa s disastrous for T eam Kawasaki . For starters, def ending Supercross Champ ion J eff Wa rd su ffered a serious blo w at reta ini ng h is n u m ber-o ne pla te w hen hi s rhrorrlc assembly broke duri ng th e first la p of his q ualifi er. W a rd co u ld not fi nish th e moto, which meant he was o ut for the nigh t. Ka wa sak i's o nly o ther ho pe, Ro n Lechien , d id n't fare to o we ll ei ther. des pite winning his hea t race, Lechien had a poor start in the m a in , bu t qui ck ly worked u p to thi rd before cra sh in g twice a nd fi nis hi ng eigh th fo r the night. Suzu ki's Bob H annah di sappointed th e near scl l-ou t crowd w he n it was announced rh a t he wou ld n 't race tonight . It see ms the newl y signt'd Iacrorv S uzu ki rider visited the track th e do of the race a nd d ecided he ;v wasn 't 'r(" dd\, to race, Tea m C 'n'en's T yson Voh la n d d ominated the 125cc P ro-A m sing le 20 -lap m ain after ta k in g o ver the lead from Ka wasak i rider Do nnv Schmit during th e third lap. From 'th en o n, Vohland ma i mained a fast and sm ooth p ace to ca p t u re th e win . Schm it survived steady p ressu re by Ya m a ha 's Eddie H icks to keep second at th e c heck ered fla g . After Hicks Iollo wed H o nda -mo u nted Drey Dirck s a nd Yamaha rider Bader Man neh , Heat T here wer e six lead cha nges in the fi rst h eat ra ce between Ron Turner (Ya m) , M ike Beier (Ya m ), R uss Wag eman (Ya m) , Alan Kin g (Ka w) and J eff H icks (S ill). King grabbed the ho leshot but was quickly passed by Turner. who crashed s hort ly a fter, dropping to th e ba ck of th e pack . King took o ver the lead bu t d ro p ped back to thi rd after Be ier a nd W a g eman m o to red hy. A la p la ter , Wa g ema n found th e hOI li ne a ro u nd Bei er, then Be ier lo st on e more position when Kin g m o ved ba ck into seco nd. \\rag emanl l'tl fo r tw o la ps before g e ttin g st uffed by Kin g. Mean wh il e, S uzu ki's Mike H ealey wa s o n th e gas a nd had wo rked in to secon d by th e fifth la p . H eal ey sta rted p ress u r in g Kin g until H e-dley rri ed to m ak e a move in a turn , but th e tw o riders crashed into ea ch other , g iving t he lea d ba ck 10 Wa g em a n . who was foJlowed by Be ier and Hicks. O n th e final lap, H ic ks passed Wa gem an . a nd in the final turn of the race, King stuffed th e Yam a ha pi lo t, made th e pass and cro ssed the fin ish line a few feet later in secon d . Fourth we n t to Bei er . The second heat ra ce had Ya m a ha 's J im Holl ey ca p tu re the hol esh or , foll owed bv teamma te Scott Bu rnwo rt h. A la p la ter, Bu rnwort h slipped by Ho lley and took co m m a nd. Burn wort h m a inta in ed a co m fo rt a ble lead through o u t the race to take th e win. H o lley finished seco nd a head of Alley Se mar (Ya m ) a nd Br ian M yer scough (Ya m ). T he th ird heat ra ce proved to be a p rev iew of th e m ain eve nt. Ba i ley gra bbed th e holesho t but J o h nson motored by duri ng th e fi rst lap. O 'Mara was fifth bu t wa s steadi ly fail in g off th e p ace wi th h is sore knee. The bailie fo r t he lead raged o n between .j ohnson a nd Bailey. Ba il ey kept the pressu re on fo r m an y laps unt il he finall y motored by Johnson . taking the Iea d, Johnson co u ld n' t m at ch Ba iley's pace, so Bailey ca p rured th e w in . H o lla n d took third ahead of H on da rider J df Lei sk , T h e fin al h eat ra ce p rov ed di sastrous for Ward. As th e pac k co mpleted a half la p , Ward fle w o ff a jump a nd s ud de n ly ca me to a stop w ith a broken throu le ca ble assem blv, Ward and his mech anic frantica li\' tried to repair Ward 's Ka wa sa k i fo~ h im 10 fini sh a nd p lace in the top 14. A 15t h would en d h is n ight. Wanl co u ld not re-en ter th e race, so he fin is hed a n officia l 15th a nd was o ut fo r th e ni gh t. Yamaha 's Bro c Clover, who was riding with a taped broken thum b. was try ing to keep Lech ien a t ba y, b UI co u ld n' t. L echien m ot ored by Clo ver o n th e second la p a nd wen t o n to w in the race, C lo ver took second, follo wed by Dym ond a nd Yama ha rider Da n n y S to r bec k. Semis Ka wasak i rider R i c~)'. R y~ n l oo ~ed to hav e thi ngs wrappeu up m th e first

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