Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) David Bailey (6) passes Keith Bowen for the lead in the main. (Below) Rick Johnson and Bailey dice. A.MA NippondeR80 Supercro88 Serie8: Bound J 0 . Three in a roUJ for Bailey! By Kit Palmer IR VING, TX. AP R. 26 For the third straight time, Team Honda's David Bailey aced poin ts leader a n d teamm ate Ricky Johnson to the checkered flag during the l Oth round of the AMA Nippon- 10 de nso Supercross Series. This time it happened inside Texas S ta dirum, Just outsiid e Da IIas, where H onda riders swept the first three positions. Bailey, j o h nso n a.n~ the consistent Johnny O ' Mara f!mshed 1-2-3 on the double-Jump hlled. dry , hard-packed track. The first non-Honda rider was Kawasaki's JeH Ward. who at times held second place in the main, whi le . '. Yamaha's Scott Burnworth put in his best ride of the series to round out the top five. "I went bananas the' first three laps," said Bailey, regarding his seventh-place start. " I was riding as hard as I could; real aggressive, and casing it off the double jumps a bunch of times." Bailey fou nd his way into the lead during the" third lap af ter passing Team Yamaha's Keith Bo wen . . From that point on, Ba iley stole the show and took the win unchallenged. In the extremely competi tive 125cc Pro-Am class, Honda-mounted, Moto-X Fox-sponsored Keith' Turpi n passed Hallman's Bader Manneh (Yamaha) on la p two and proceeded to ru n away wit h the win , Kawasaki rider Tyson Voh land, Manneh, Donny Schmit (Kawasaki) and local favorite Carroll R ich a r d so n (Kawasaki) rounded out the top five. Over 20,000 spectators witnessed Bailey and Turpin romping to victories, as well as participating in the filming of " Su percross - The Movie " to be released la te this year. Prior to the start of the 250cc main, a mock race was filmed. using Rick Johnson, David Bailey and other top star looka-likes. The actual main was also filmed to be used in the movie. Team Yamaha's Broc Glover was a spectator for tonight's race, wearing a cast on his right wrist he injured while practicing before the Dallas Supercross. . Qualifiers The first heat race of the night saw Suzuki riders Erik Kehoe a nd JeH Frisz jam into the lead. Bu t after a set of triple jumps on the first la p , Frisz crashed, handing second to Yamaha rider Mark Murphy, who the n set after the lea der Kehoe. In th ird was Yama ha rider Ross Pederson , followed by Kawa saki-m ounted Eddie Warren a nd Ala n -King, Murphy reeled -in Kehoe an d dove to the inside of him in a (urn, fo llowing a do ub le j ump. O nce into the lead. Murp hy pulled way and looked to have the win in the bag. Bu t three laps from the finish, Murphy overshot a berm, following the triple ump..s and crashed hi msel f out o f th e i. race. Kehoe cruised by a nd easi ly motored to the win . Pederson finish ed second a head o f Warren an d King. Burnworth stole the holeshot at the start of the second heat race, but was passed by Suzuki 's George Hoiland a few turns later. Holland opened up a decent-size lead while Burn worth, Kawasaki's Ron Lechien, Jeff Leisk (Honda) and Yamaha-mounted Brian Myerscough battled over second . Holland's lead radically diminished during the third lap when he got ou t of shape over some jumps and fou nd himself running along side his Suzuki to keep from falling. With Burnworth and Lechien now inches behi nd, the dogfight for the lead Became intense - too intense for Lechien. -Mo men ts after passi ng Burnworth, Lec hien fell down in a turn and dropped 0 t of contention. Burn worth had a clear shot at H olla nd and passed him three la ps (rom the finis h. Bu rnwort h won the moto, followed by H o lla nd , Yamaha's Jim H oll ey and Myersco ugh. T he third heat race feat ured an ex tremely excit ing ba tt le for the lead between Suzu ki's A.J. Whitin g and Bowen . Whiting grabbed the hole.shot with Bowen close behind. Ward was third, but was being dogged by Kawasaki rider Bill y Liles. Whiting and Bo wen engaged in a duel that lasted for ha lf the race, while Ward and Liles were p u tting on the same kind of show for third. Whiting and Bo wen traded places a number times before Bowen bega n to pull. The Ward/Liles du el went back an d forth for a while, until Ward got the upper hand and reeled-in a nd passed Whiting. Bowen went on to win, followed by Ward. Whiting and Liles. The final heat race was a cat and mouse affair between Johnson and Bailey - Johnson was the mouse and Bailey was the cat. Joh nson took the holeshot followed by Ba iley an d O ' Ma ra . As the race progressed, O' Mara dropped off the pace, lett ing J oh nson and Ba iley have th e spo tligh t. The two riders stayed within inches of each other th ro ughou t the race , doi ng side-by-side clickers over th e do ub les, tradin g pl aces a few times, and putting on a good show for the spectators and the movie cameras. According to J oh nson , " We were just feeli ng each ot her out, getting ready for the main:' Johnson wound up taking the win, followed by Bailey, O'Mara and Honda rider Guy Cooper. Semis Honda support rider Larry Broo ks did the honors in the first, fai rly uneventful semi race. He charged into the early lead, while Murphy pursued. During the second lap. Mur phy double-jumped by Brooks for the lead. but Brooks quickly retaliated back into the top spot. From then on. Brooks dominated. pulling way from Murphy, who was ridi ng conserva- . tive ly to make the main. Brook s won it , followed by Mu rp hy, Frisz and Yamaha-mounted Scooter Stafford. The second semi saw Lechien lead fro m start to finis h. Kawasaki rider Denn is Ha wthorn e ra n second for a whi le before getting passed by Hon da pilots Jeff Hi cks a nd Leisk. It was Leis k's firs t race since his horrifying cras h at the Sa n Diego Supercross, in which he severely broke his jaw. Now wearing a fu ll-coveragehelme t, Leisk set a fter a nd passed Hicks to q ualify for th e main. Last Chance Qualifier Yamaha rider Bill y Frank led every lap in the LCQ to ta ke the fina l transfer spot of the night. Kawasa ki ri der Rick R yan made it a race by tryi ng to squeeze by Frank through a

• Cover