Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

-... .. 0.. ~ a Johnson (5 ) and O 'Mara (3) battle for the lead in the f irst 250cc moto. Johnson has a 23-point lead over O 'Mara . 125cc National . . Jim Holley (12, above) and Jeff Ward (1 ) f inished seventh and f ifth overalL A.J . Wh iting (10) leads Dymond in the second 125cc moto. ~~~ 12 bu t Bo wen co u n ter-a uacked back into th e lead . T h en Keh oe got in o n th e act and surp rised Wh itin g by taki ng over seco nd , Keh oe th en set h is sigh ts on Bow en a nd got h im a lap la ter. By this time. H o lland h ad worked his wa y up 10 l Sth. On ce into th e lead, Keh oe was untouchabl e, He set a pace fast enoug h to qui ckl y pull a way from .Bow<;n a nd Wh itin g . After Ioll ow in g III fo urth for much of the race. Dym ond decided to pa ss Wh itin g a nd ca tch Bowen . Bo wen a nd Dymond prod uced th e closest a nd most exci tin g dice of th e -day. Everyo ne wa s o n th<;ir feet wat ch in g th e close battle wh ich lasted ~or th e rem a ining seve n la p s. T he dice reach ed its cl im a x two la ps from the finish when Dvm o n d mad e hi s move h ead in g in to downhill. sharp left turn: the two rider s co ll ided a nd cra shed in a hea p . Bot h th eir en gines sta lled, so it wa s a race to remou n t. Dvrnon d 's H on da landed in fro nt o f B;'wen 's in th e m idd le of th e turn so h e h ad th e ad va ntage, Both riders got th eir bikes star ted at th e exact same tim e, but Dymond had th e bett er lin e a nd took o ver seco n d place. " I tho ught I co u ld pass h im in th e tu rn ," sa id Dym ond la ter. " then I th ought I'd better not, but by th a t time I was a lrea dv co m m itted. I went to th e outside of h im and we locked arms a n d fell over. After that, we had a wre stli ng match p ick ing up o ur bi kes. Lucki ly m y bike la nded in fro nt of hi s and I go t away first. I don't th in k th ere's a ny hard feeli ngs bet ween us , a t leas t I don't h ave any . . We 're just racers, that 's a ll." Bo wen said he was trying 10 ho ld Dymon d down a littl e b it as they wr estl ed 10 pi ck up th eir bikes bu t had to let Dym ond pick up hi s bi ke first , si nce it wa s o n top of hi s. " I wa s hopin g he wasn 't mad a t me aft erwards," said Bo wen . " bu t he wasn 't, We were j u st laugh in g abou t th e wh ol e thi ng lat er." After th e crash. Bo wen beca me exh a usted and lost sigh t o f Dym ond , Wh iti ng go t close by th e tim e Bo wen a nd Dvrnond remounted bu t it wasn 't c1~se enough. Kehoe eas ily took th e wi n a nd overall (h is seco nd ca reer Nat ional win ). Dym ond too k seco n d in the mo to for second o vera ll, w hi le Bowen fi ni shed th ird for third o vera ll. Fourth in th e moto went to Wh ilin g , foll ow ed by T urp in, Brooks, H olla nd , Eddie Warren , Vohland and Dubach . " I felt a litt le ten se in the fir st moto .' sai d Keh oe, " bu t I felt a lo t better in th e seco nd. At th e sta n of th e seco nd moto, I saw Keith a nd Mick y a head of m e, a nd 1 th ough t, ' O h, no , this is goi ng 10 be a long mo to .' But I reall v had fun o n th e trac k . 1 ten d to li ke rougher tracks , a nd 1j ust worked m y way in to th e lea d a n d p u lled away ." • time 1 got through traffi c, ] ohnson was already 20 seco n ds a head. 1 felt 1 rode okay, had th e speed, but . , ." " I just could n't ge t things together in the firs t moto," sa id Ba iley, "but in th e seco nd rnot o, 1 was ridi ng j ust as g??~ .il;s )~~ ~ s?n , but 1 was five. seco nd s back. H e (Joh nson ) wa s get ti ng aro u nd la p ped tra ffic a lot better than I wa s - I kep t makin g bad decisions . I ca n't believe th e sta rt s he's been ge tt ing, I just ca n 't believe it. I th in k th e worst stan he's gotten so far this year is th ird!" T he sta n o f th e first l 25cc mota had Keh oe and hi s teammat e, George H o lland, di cing for th e h o lesh oi with Keh oe co ming o ut o n to p . Keh oe edged by H olland throu gh the first two turn s, wit h Dym ond fo llowi ng in third. Yama ha rider Doug Dubach , Ka wasak i pi lot Ro nn ie Tich enor, Suzuki 's A.] . Wh itin g , Bo wen an d H on da rider Willie Surratt ro u nd ed o u t th e top eig ht. H onda rider G uy Cooper , who had ea sily won hi s qu al ifi er earlier in th e da y, crashed in th e first turn a nd was last. By lap tw o , it wa s o bvious th e rest o f th e m or o wou ld he a Kehoe/H o lland /Dymo nd duel ri ght dow n 10 th e fini sh . as they pu lled away from th e rest of the pa ck . Kehoe h eld o n to his lead until th e fifth lap wh en he mi ssed a shift up a h ill . cos ti ng h im two places. Ho lla nd now . led with Dym on d a close seco nd . A la p a n d a hal f later , Dvrno nd fou nd th e ho t line through a n ess-sec rio n and sn uc k by H oll an d . Dymon d then ga ssed it up a nd star ted p u ll ing away from H olla nd u ntil he developed a six -second lead . Kehoe stay ed close to H oll an d . w hi le Wh i tin g a nd Bowen were disp u ting o ver fourth . Wh it ing a nd Bow en trad ed places a number of times th ro ugh out th e 30-m in u te plus-two-lap rno to , Suzuki 's Mike H ea ley, who was d icin g wit h Surratt over sevent h, cras hed o ver a j ump an d dropped o u t of th e top 10. Dubach held o n 10 sixth . With a few la p s rem ainin g , Keh oe was heavily pressuring Holland. wh ile Whiting a nd Bowen were sti ll going at it. The Holland/Keh oe d ue l ca rried th em to within th ree seco nds o f Dym ond. as Bo wen fin a ll y made a pass o n Wh it in g th at stu ck , On th e fi nal lap, Kehoe mo to red by Holland , ta ki ng o ver seco nd. At th e finish , it was Dvm ond, Keh oe , H oll an d , Bow en, , Vh iting . Dub ach , Tyson Vohl and and Surratt. H onda 's Larrv Bro oks, wh o fin ished n inth in the first rnot o , started off the seco nd with th e hol esh ot ahead o f Wh it in g and Dym ond. Then , a first-turn p ile-up pou n ded H ollan d in to th e grou nd, H olland managed 10 regroup a n d rounded the seco n d turn in dead last. Bu t th at didn 't last for long - H olland quickl y got o n th e gas a nd sta rted pa ssin g riders, tw o and three a t a time. Durin g th e fir st lap, whi le exiting a n u p hil l. left-han d turn, Bro oks cras hed, droppin g 10 n int h and giving Wh it in g th e lead . Bowen wa s second , fo llowed by Dymon d . Keh oe, Bad er Ma nneh, Keith Tu rpi n and Fred An d rew s. . Bo wen set ou t aft er leader Wh iting. a nd the tw o battled in tensely. T he y ra n side- by-si de many tim cs until Bo wen slipped by. Wh iting retal ia ted , Results 1 25 NA TION A L: 1. Er ik Keh oe (SuzI2- 1; 2. M ick y Dymond (Hon) 1-2 ; 3 . Kei. h Bowen (Yam ) 4 -3: 4 . A .J. Whlti ng (Su zj 5-4: 5 . George Holland (Su zj 3 -7: 6 . Larry Brooks (HonI 9- 6: 7. Tyson Voh land (Kaw) 7 -9 : 8 . Doug Dubach (Yam ) 6 ·10: 9 . Guy Cooper (Han ): 10. Ke ith Turpin (Han) 37-5: 11. Eddi e W ar r en (Kaw l; 12 . M ike Healey (Suz) ; 13. Ron nie Tichenor (Kaw) ; 14 . W illie Surran (Han); 15 . Rick Rya n (Kaw) : 16 . Raben Na ughton (Honl : 17 . Scott Burn wort h (Yam ); 18 . M ike Beier (Yam); 19 . Bader Manneh (Yam): 20 . Ray Somma (Yam) . 250 NATIONA L: 1. Ricky Joh ns on (Han ) 1-1 : 2 . J ohnny O'Mara (Han) 2 -2 ; 3. Brae Glover (Yam)3 -4 : 4 . David 8 ailey (Han) 5-3 : 5 . Jeff W ard (Kaw) 4- 6: 6 . Ron Lach ien (Kaw) 6 -5 : 7 . Jim Holl ey (Yam) 7-7 : 8 . A la n King (Ka w) 8 -8 : 9. 8 i ll y Fr ank (YamI 9- 9: 10 . M ark Murphy (Yam) 12 - 10 : I 1.Jef f Hicks(H on): 12. Brian M anlev (Honl; 13 . Scott M ann ing (Yam); 14 . Danny Sto rb eck (Yam) : 15 . Eric Ea. on (ya m): 16 . Den nis Hawthorne (Kaw ); 17 . Ross Peder son (Yam ); 18 . J im Tara nti n o (Yam ); 19 . Bill y Liles (Kaw) : 20. Russ W ageman (Yam) . POINT STA NDI NG S . 125 NATI ONAL: 1. Er ik Keh oe (891 2 . Georg e : Holla nd (8 1); 3 . M icky Dym on d (80 ); 4 . Keith Bowen :7. (771: 5 . A .J . W hit in g (62) ; 6 . Tyson Vohland (5 51 Doug Du bach (54): 8 . Larry 8rooks (4 3): 9 . (Toe) Ronnie Tic he nor/Eddie Wa rr en (341. 250 NAT IONAL 1. Rick Joh nson (100): 2. Jeff W ard (77): 3. Broc Glov er (76 ): 4 . Johnny O'Mara (76): 5. Dav id 8 ailey (74): 6 . J im Holley (58); 7 . (TIe) ; M ark Murphy/ A lan King (481 9 . Jeff Hicks (39): 10 . Da nn y Storbeck (38) .

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