Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ..z (,0 a: 00 :I: « ~ ~ a: ... CJl ~ 0 ... 0 z « CJl w ... ~ ::::l a: a: ~ « u ~ eo ..J ::::l C'J « a.. ...... ..... > '" 0 ... 0 l-. CJl 0.. < :I: a.. """ /' Keith Bowen (9 ) leads Rick Johnson in their early race battle on Sunday; Bowen got tired as Johnson picked up the pace to finish second . Honda's Dav id Bailey dominated both finals in front of close to 80.000 in two days of racing under the Pontiac Silverdome. AMA Nippondenso Supercross Series: Rounds 8 and 9 Bailey takes two in Pontiac/ / By Paul Carruthers / , I PONTIAC, MI , AP R . 12-13 Team Honda's David Bailey gave teammate Rick Johnson a tas te of his own medicine by sweeping rounds eight and nine of the AMA6Nippondenso Supercross Cham p ionship . Johnson, who has domip . l1:a led lh e senes pnor ~o, (:>nuac, was shown what 1l s like lO be bea ten as he had to be 0 6 co ntent with lookin g a t th e back of Bail ey's jersey in bo th races. Bailey beat J ohnson sound ly in both Sa turday and Su n day's fin al s, but the figh t is far fro m ove r as th is year 's cha m p ions hi p h as d wind led to a two-rider duel. Defending Su percross cha m p Jeff Ward sa w h is cha nces of repea ting go down th e dr ain with a crash on Satu rday a nd a filthpl ace finish o n Sunda y. T eam Yam a h a 's Ke ith Bo wen proved he co u ld run wi th the big boys as he fini sh ed th ird bo th da ys. O n Su nday, Bo wen showed th at with a lit tle tra inin g h e could be a force to be reckoned wit h as h e caught and pa~ ~th Bailey an~ Johnson before ge lli ng tir ed a nd fadi ng. Fo urth place in both rounds went to Team H onda 's Johnny a/Mara, who mo ved h imself int o third p lace in the points race and in position to a ttack if the leading two falter. T ha t doesn' t seem likely, however, as both Bai ley a nd J oh nso n seem 10 be peaking a t th e same time. Saturday Kawasaki -moun ted Ri cky R yan got th in gs ro ll ing under the Silverdo me with the hol esh o t in the first h eat. Dean Ma tson wa s si tring in seco nd followed by Ala n Kin g. Mi ke Heal ey a n d Ca rlo Coe n were the first casualties of the event when they tangled a n d dro p ped ou t of contention. King q uick ly moved by Matson in th e whoop section fo llowing the tripl e jump, but R ya n ha d p u lled a slight lead . Ross Pederson made a nice move 10 zap Ma tson for th ird as the seco nd lap came to a close. Kin g cha lle nged Ryan in th e midd le stages of th e race, bu t the rider from Sa n J ose , Ca lifornia held on for the wi n. Pederson followed King home for third wi th the fina l tra nsfer going 10 Mat son: Larry Broo ks finished fifth . Jeff Fr isz gra bbed th e hoIeshot to lead heat two , but it was on ly momentary as Ron Lech ien took th e lead before th e en d o f the firs t lap whi le Fr isz crashed in a section o f w hoops. Yamah a 's Jim Holley got a bad sta rt bu t wa s o n th e move to co m p lete th e first lap in fourth p lace. At the end of two laps it wa s Lechien, Billy Liles, George H o lland, H o lley and Mark Murph y ro undin g o u t th e top five. H olley started working o n Ho ila nd to start th e thi rd lap whi le Lechien wa s cr uising o u t front. H ol ley ma de hi s m ove stick o n lap three a nd by la p six ha d moved by L iles to ta ke over seco nd. Lechien 's o n ly anxious moment ca me on th e la st lap when h e dropped hi s Kaw a saki four tu rn s fro m the finish . H e m anaged to pick it u p and get goi ng in .rime to take the win o ver H olley, Li les an d Holla n d . Tea m Yamaha's Broc G lover a nd Honda's Joh n ny O 'Mara found th em selves side-by-side in tu rn one o f h eat th ree, bu t G lover emerged with the lea d . Bow en a lso shot by O'Mara a nd a t the en d o f o ne th e order read: Glover, Bowen , O 'Ma ra , SCOll Burnworth and Tom Ca rso n. Bo wen started th rill in g the ho me crowd by ga in ing qui ckly o n G love r. And on la p th ree, Bowen pulled up next to G lover in th e wh oops a fter th e tripl e jump, but G love r h eld toug h . Bowen th en cras he d h ard on a set of do u bles, a llow ing both O' Mara a nd Burnworth to go by. G lo ver cruised in for a 4.9-seco nd win over O'Mara wi th Bu rn swo rth and Bowen rounding ou t th e direct tra nsfers to th e mai n. Glover's h ea t was th e fastest of the n igh t to this point with a time of seven mi nutes, 4 1.S-seconds. H ea t four was the one evervone was waiting for : a Joh nson vs. Ba iley vs. Wa rd duel. J ohnson grabed h is usua l holeshot, bu t Wa rd was qu ickl y byon the o utside. Ba iley, mea nwhi le, was off in fourth, bu t qu ickl y passed both Eri c Keh oe and J ohnson. Lap two saw J ohnson co ntroll ing th e fan support as he clea red th e tri pl es to ga in on Ba iley, T he order stayed the same, ho wever , until th e fourth lap wh en Ba iley bobbled a llow ing J ohnson to sq ueeze by. J ohn so n wa s still the o n ly rider doing th e triples, but that changed on the last lap. Ba iley, who had sell led for a n easy th ird , slo wed a t th e to p o f th e hill and wa tched the triple-j um pi ng J ohnson. Bailey th en go t o n the ga s a n d cleared th e trip les: he now knew h e co u ld do it if he had to. Ward took th e win o ver th e two -T eam H onda riders, with Keh oe taking fo urth . Heat fo ur was four seco nds faster th en Glover's heat a n d became th e fastes t eight laps of th e n ight. Semis Eric Eaton led the firs t sem i into turn one, bu t h e went wide a nd gave the lead to Bro ok s, That d id n ' t last long as Brooks falt ered before the end o f th e firs t la p to g ive th e lead to Fred And rew's Yama ha with Carson righ t on h im . Bro ok s, mea n whi le, was wav . back in the pack. Carson took th e lead before th e end o f the lap wh ile a cras h brought o u t th e a m bu la nce flag . Suzu ki's Mik e H eal ey had cras hed, break ing h is right wr ist, according to Suzuki motocross team manager Pat Alexa nder. Ca rso n co nt in ued to lead An drews with Billy Fra n k an d Ca rlo Coen fol lowing , Ea ton started pressuring Coen on th e si xth la p and by lap seven wa s in fourth pl ace. Carson too k a 4.5seco nd win over Andrews. Fri sz grabbed th e lead in tu rn one of th e seco nd semi with a p ile-up fo llow in g h im on the uph ill turn two . Frisz led th e field a t the end of the first lap followed closely by Eddie Wa rren an d A.J. Whi tin g , Cooper, who had

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