Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Du ring the first lap in the main , Yamaha's Broc Glover crashed in the sand pit, while Ron Lechien motors by. Glover took seventh. sem i rJC~. but th ings qu ickl y changed. While enjoy ing a huge lead o ver O ' Mara, Ryan tried 10 cl ear a se t of tr ip le jumps but landed too short and crashed . T h is ga ve O 'MarJ a h ealthy lead over H eal ey which h e kept 10 th e checkered fla g . Bowen ca me Irom beh ind to win th e very exc it ing second semi. Yamaha 's Bill y Frank took th e ea r ly lead. while H onda 's Larry Brooks. H eal ey a nd Keh oe closel y Ioll owed. While those four riders fought for the lead, Bowen was snea king up from be hind. H~ even tua lly m o tored into the le ad on the final lap. By th is rime, Brooks had dropped to lou rth , while Kehoe pressured Fra nk. One tu rn from th e checkered flag. Kehoe st uffed Frank and doubled the fo llowing jumps 10 take over seco nd, just a few feet from the finish. Brooks fini shed fourth . Last Chance Qualifier Brooks blas ted into the lead at th e sta r t of th e Last Chance Qualifier but cra shed a half-lap later. giving th e lead to Ryan. However . Ryan crash ed o ver the triple jumps a ga in, giving th e lead 10 Frank. who al so bit the dust a few turns lat er. AII ~n Dyck found h imself w ith th e lead with Bill y Liles in pursu it. Dyck held o n 10 th e lead fo r two la ps befo re Liles shot by. Liles star red to pull away, while J oJ o Keller (Ya m) pressured Dyck . As Liles crossed the fin ish Iine with th e win . Kell er stu ffed his wa y by Dyck tw o turns from th e fi nish. Main When th e ga te dro p ped for th e start o f th e single 20-la p main even t, BurnwOTlh narrowl y edg~'t! J ohnson out o f th ~ fir st turn . H owever. tw o jumps lal er . Bu rnw orth and J ohns on touch ed. with Burnworth crJsh ing hard to lh e grou nd a nd getting pinned u nd er h is Yamaha . " I had a g oo d jump." sai d J o h n so n . " a n d th en BurnwoTlh sq ueezed in o n me. Then we ca me off tha I doubl e j u m p. a nd h ~ landed 100 hard . did a h ~adsh ake. h il me. Ih en fell down." Burnworth wa sn 't th~ onl y r id er \\'110 crashed o n th e fir st lap. G lov~r got.o u t l)f sha pe. Qve r so me whoo ps d rop ping 10 the rear o f th e pack . This made t he top Iive J ohnson. Holland. O' Man , Bail ey a nd Bowen. H owa ever . tw o la p s later. Bailey had taken over second but fou n d himself a lmost 10 seco nds behind th e leader J ohnso n . w h il . Bowen mO\'ed.I into thi rd a fter p as sin g O 'M a ra a nd Holland. For th e nex t Iew lap Johnson mainta in ed hI s ra ther larg er lead. but he s ta r ted ] having troubles- getting around "Ia p p~d traffi c.!es p ecia l ly Burnworth . J " Sh oot, he held me up for a lm os t IWO laps," ,ex p la in ffi Johnson. '" had a n i n e -se co n d lead. wh ich dropped to I t' 0 ,in th.0'sc two la p s. I wou ld say tha~ w;~~/a rea l big key. bcGIIlS~ a t th a t lime I was ridi ng rl.""a 1 relaxed , I was eli king a ll m y jumps and p ulling a wa .. Then ' got tight and s lart~~ m aking mistakes." . Now Ba iley was ~u~'t! to Johnson s rea r lender and the puel had begun. " \V~ to ld ea ch oth er be for e the ra ce th at, h ey, we're goifll: 10 bump into each other a bit but, dang' ir.the track's so tight, we have to . We,both realized that before we eve n went out there." As it turned o u t both riders were r ight as th ey bauled handl eb ar-to-handl eba r. A t the halfway point . Bailey made hi s first m ov e a nd doubled-jumped ri gh l past J ohnso n . bUI Joh n son reta liated in the fo llow ing turn w h er e J o h nson had the better l in ~"'lIl d dove in side Ba il ey. Ba il ey dropped back a few b ik eleng rh s and d idn't ta rt atlack ing again unt il a few laps lat er. Bail ey's second a tte mpt was' m uch like rlu-first - Ba i ley double-jumped by th e II."" der, b ut this tirne j o hnson a cou ld n' t retalia te r igh t a way. -T wo la ps later, Johnson dove undernea th Ba il ey in a t u rn takin g over the number- on ~ jx)s ition. b ut it d idn ' t last for lon g as Bailey f(x>st~'t! I> )',a turn lat er. T h is trend we ill on for ~ nu mber o f la ps unt il Bai ley b~gan to p ull a way la te in the race. Bai ley a nd J o h n so n were by far Ih e fastes t riders o n the track as Ihev den'loped OVl'T a half-lap lea d on th~ third · p lace r ider. O ·Ma r.... w ho was closely fo llowe d by Oym ond. B~i~r. Bow~n ~ n ~ H ollan}!. . Back .it:! eigh t h was Rick Ryan leads Johnny O 'Mara in a _mi. Ryan never m ade it t o the main, but O 'Mara did. Injured knee .nd . 0, O'Mara fin' ed third. Lechien, who had probl ems s taying on two wheels. " 1 spun on the sta n." said Lechien, "but 1 worked m y wa y up to third. then I , missed a double jump a nd Iell down. After that, I was beh in d Bo wen , and h e ran into a haybalc and knocked it onto th e track right in front o f me; I hit it and went down. 1 bent up m y bike and that was about it for me. " After a fifth-pla ce s ta rt, BoW~"Il worked up to third by the fift h la p and stayed there for two more laps before cr s h ing a n d dropp ing to a eigh th . H owever, there was enough time left for Bo wen 10 la bor up to fourth by moto's en d . Three la ps fro m th e finish , Baiky started ta ki ng control by pulling a,,-a y fro m Joh nson. Ba il ey ev entually crossed the fi nish lin e wit h the hardfought win in ha nd. Johnson fin ished second way a head o f O 'Ma ra, Bow~n .-D\'mond. H o ll a nd . G lover, Lechien, L iles, and Leisk, "My thoughts out there were.jf 1 get second - good. If ' wi n - great!" said Bailev. " It' s a Tl."" 1 bonus to w in a because R'ick was running good and we ' re bo th riding rea l aggressin >. 1 think w~ pu t o n a heck of a show for the s pectators. My hea rt was doing !OO m iIcs per hour out Ihen'. Onl' tim e it got rea l rddic ...1outthcrc when R ic ky and ' both d id the tr iple jumps w hen t here wa s a lapIX'ti rider riding through it. At t ha t time' wa s consideri ng d e-.. lh . Bu t I'm g lad i t a ll t u m ~'t! . out and ' won." 1 2 5 Pro Am As th e gate droPIX't! for the 125cc P ro Am 20-lap main ~p rid~rs jamn;tc;d int o th e first turn a nd it wa s Kawasaki rider Dean Ia tson lea ding th e wa y. However Matson 's lead wa s s ho rt-li ved after another Kawasaki rider Do n n y Schmit motored by. A lap later T yson Vohland slipped into second and started hounding Schmit fo r the lead, Vohland's determinauon paid off on the next la p when he bliued by Schmi t and s ta r redpu ll ing awa y. Once into se cond Schmi t's p ro blems cont inued when Yamaha' s Eddi e Hicks m oved in to th ird. A few seco nds behind H icks followed Cra ig Canoy (H o n ) and Drey Dircks (Hon) . W ith half th e race remaining H icks se- rched a fo ra Iine around Schmirevery lap. As the race dwindled down Sc h mi t sti ll had H icks be h in d him as they dueled . Wh en the checkered flag appeared it was Vohland taking rhe vic rorv a head of Schmi t a nd H icks . Dircks wound up p lacin g fourth ahead o f Bader Manneh, Ra ySommo (Ya m )and Keith 0 -. '< (H on), ':II • R esults 25OMAlN: 1. David Ba iley (Hont 2. RickJohnson (Hont 3 . Johnny O 'Mara (Hont 4 . Keith Bo wen (Yamt 5 . Mdy Dymo nd tHon); 6. George Holland (Suzl; 7 . BrocGlover (Yamt B. Ron tech;"n (Kaw); 9 . Billy Uies (KawI; 10. Jeff leis!< (Hon); 11. Br ian Mye1scough (Yamt 12. Jim Holley (Yam); 13 . Erik Kehoe tSuz); 14. Russ W ageman (Yaml; 15 . Mike Beier (Yam t 16. Jell Hid

• Cover