Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126919
Before a record number crowd at New York's Unadilla, Suzuki's Bob Hannah leads Johnny O'Mara. Hannah went for the win, . 2-' World Championship 250ec ItIX Series: found JJ Hurricane Hannah comes back to win U dilla classic By Kit Palmer NEW BERUN, NY, JULY 20 Team Suzuki's Bob Hannah and Team Honda's Johnny O'Mara faced off in an alltime classic motocross battle during the 250cc USGP at New York's famous Unadilla MX course. When it was all over, Hannah pulled off the overall win. O'Mara easily won the first 8 4O-minutes-pJus-two-laps molD on the grassy, hillside course, while Hannah worked his way up from a midpack start to finish second. This led to a dramatic final moto one-on-one confrontation between Hannah and O'Mara with the winner taking the overall. Unlike most GPs, the Unadilla round used moto finishes as the basis for determining the winner, instead of a timing system. The second-moto dogfight saw both O'Mara and Hannah jump imo the lead and have a clear track ahead lO fight in a extremely exciting baule. It wasn't until the halfway mark that O'Mara got the upper hand on Hannah and started to pull away. The race, however, wasn't decided umil the final lap, when, while leading by 20 seconds, O'Mara's Honda ran out of gas and rolled lO a SlOp. O'Mara watched helplessly as Hannah rode by to take the win. "I don't like taking wins like this," said Hannah. "I wish he'd (O'Mara) come on around and took the win." After taking the checkered flag, Hannah had no idea he had won, since he did not see 0' Mara standing off lO the side of the track. "I didn't know I won. I thought everyone was yelling at me for getting second. I didn't know I won, I didn't care I won, and I still don't care I won. This win doesn't please me. O'Mara rode me imo the ground." Whether he wanted the win or not, Hannah pulled it off. Team Suzuki's motocross manager, Pat Alexander, said, "He rode good. Even though that happened to O'Mara on the last lap, it shouldn't have anything to do with it. Hannah rode as hard as he could, and he deserved the win. He might not remember all the times he's lost like this." Hannah rode a production Suzuki RM250 with an Eyvind Boyesen-designed rear suspension set-up. "It definitely worked good," said Hannah. "Eyvind's been testing it for a while, and Suzuki was open-minded enough lO let me ride it. Suzuki's made a lot of other improvements on the bike all year long, and we,had England's Jeremy Whatley suffered 8 few crashes in the first moto; he finished fifth in the second but maintains third in the points standings. everything lOgether and the bike went preuy good." In the 500cc support class, Mickey Kessler captured the win with a 2-1 score on his Kawasaki, beating Honda rider Andy Stacy, who narrowly won the first molO. Honda's Rick johnson rode the support class after having won the 500cc USGP in Carlsbad, California, last month. Under FIM rules, a rider cannot compete in two different displacement GPs in one year, which left johnson lo ride the support class. johnson started behind everybody in the starting gate and was involved in a first-turn pile-up. He remounted nearly dead last and worked his way into fourth before crashing again and dropping out of the race. In the second molO, johnson again crashed out of contention, giving Kessler the moto win and overall. Thousands of extremely rowdy Unadilla spectators packed the scenic hillsides and saw some of Europe's best riders compete against the Americans for World Championship points, despite Yamaha's jacky Vimond already wrapping up the championship two weeks earlier in Germany. Vimond had a miserable Sunday, crashing a total of five times. The top European rider was Sweden's jorgen Nilsson, who took his Suzuki to a fourth overall with a 13-3 total, beating fifth-place finisher Marc Vdkeneers of Belgium and his Yamaha. The best European moto finisher was Nilsson who's third place in the second moto topped all the other European competitors. Third overall went lo privateer Kawasaki rider Billy Liles, who rode to a third in the first molO, and placed second in round two after O'Mara dropped out. Suzuki's Erik Kehoe, who rode an aluminum-tank, preproduction RM, claimed fourth overall via a 4-7 tally. Timed practice started the day off with Hannah claiming the fastest lap time at two minutes 23.167 seconds, one second faster than O'Mara's best time of 2:24.745. This gave Hannah first cboice at starting line position; O'Mara second. Vimond had the third best time at 2:25.414, followed by Britain's jeremy Whatley (2:26.031) and Swedeq'~ p'ete~ Iiansson (2:26.144). Next American was Kehoe in sixth at 2:26.263. For the start of the first molO, Hannah chose the center of the start line, right next to the starter's box. On the opposite side of the box was O'Mara. When the gate dropped it was young Rick Ryan stealing the holeshot ahead of O'Mara, while Hannah was midpack. Near the end of the first lap, it was Ryan still leading, closely followed by O'Mara, Suzuki's A.]. Whiting, Honda riders Tom Carson and jeff Hicks, Liles, Nilsson, Italy's Michele Rinaldi (Suzuki) and Whatley. Heading into lap two, O'Mara roosted past Ryan and immediately began pulling away from the pack, while Whiting started lO'pressure for second. By the end of the lap, O'Mara had already developed a 19-second lead over Ryan, but Hannah was on' the move. The "Hurricane" found his 'way into seventh, then fourth by the end of the third lap. At this point, Suzuki's George Holland, who was running midpack, pulled off the track and withdrew from the rest of the day with a twisted knee. Holland said the injury wasn't too serious but didn't want to take any chances with the l25cc Nationals in mind. Shortly after, Whatley bailed hard on an uphill section; then he, too, pulled off the track. "I crashed on the bouom straight two or three laps from the start, then I had the big crash on the hill," said Whatley. "I was out of it by then, so I just pulled oU. I was working hard, going a bit too fast, really. With the amount of people that just dropped out of the molO, I didn't have to go so fast." Hansson also had problems early in the race. "My bike was running too rich and it stopped," said Hansson. "I tried lo clean it up but it was impossible. I didn't lose too much time and I started to work back up." By the sixth lap, Hannah had taken over second after passing Ryan, but was 23 seconds behind O'Mara. A few turns later, Vimond also slipped by Ryan, making the top seven O'Mara, Hannah, Vimond, Ryan, Liles, Kehoe and Whiting. Ryan eventually crashed alld dropped out of contention.