Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brian Myerscough rode his privateer Honda CR500 to his second 500cc class win in a row at the GSN. He went 2-1 beating Tommy Watts' 1-2. Cagiva's Mike Healey leads Rick Ryan (1 R) and Manneh during the second 125cc moto. Healey was literally knocked out of first place overall. With four laps LO go, Waus outbraked Fisher at the bouom of the .downhill and reLOok the lead. Meanwhile, Myerscough began charging after Fisher and a few turns later LOok the inside line under Fisher and into second. Immediately after the pass Fisher dropped off the pace, letting Myerscough and Watts goat it. Waus managed LO keep Myerscough at bay for the win while Banks and Torgerson both found a way around Larson. In the deciding second moLO, it was Larson steal ing the holeshot ahead of Fisher, Myerscough, Willie Simons and Watts. During the third lap, Wa.us mOLOred by Simons up the Carlsbad Freeway and took control of fourth. He then found himself in third after Fisher and Myerscough collided in a turn with Fisher going down. "I was holding my line on the inside," Fisher said. "But Myerscough was more inside than meand twice as fast. I just bailed." It was also at that time when Simons had a spectacular get off, putting him out of the race. While heading upan uphill, banked horseshoe, right hand turn, Simons was making a move on Watts when he hit a big hole in the track and lost control of his Honda. Simons grabbed a handful of throttle by accident and went flying straight up the bank and off the track where his bike hit a fence. The bike stopped but Simons literally flew over a Pro-Trac mOLOreycleltrailer that waslparked alongside the track. He landed on the other side of the trailer shaken up but otherwise okay. "That was the scariest thing I've ever done in my whole life," he said. "I couldn't believe I didn't get hurt." Meanwhile, after Fisher went down, Waus had control of third behind Myerscough and leader Larson. Two laps later, Myerscough squared off a turn and dove to the inside of Larson, taking over the lead. And two laps after that, Watts also found a way around Larson. With four laps remaining, Myerscough and Watts bauled for the lead with the winner set LO take the overalL After passing Larson, Waus turned on the boost and gained noticably on Myerscough, but Myerscough got the word that Waus was closing in, and he too gassed it up. "He kind of surprised me," said Myerscough. "When I saw that he followed by Ward, Leisk and HoIland. However, by the end of the first lap, Ward was in the lead and pulling away from Kehoe. Holland had dropped back LO sixth and was being chased by Glover, while O'Mara wa trailing in 11th and Lechien held 13th. Johnson was fifth and was closing on Yamaha rider Billy Frank. On the second lap, Johnson motored to the outside of Frank, taking over fourth and making the LOp five Ward, Kehoe, Leisk, Johnson and Frank. Glover had moved up LO sixth, ahead of Hoiland, Collin Dugmore, Davis, Burnworth, O'Mara and Lechien. Ward extended his lead with every lap, while Johnson tried LO find aline around Leisk but was having a hard time of it. Leisk held Johnson off for six laps before Johnson moved into third. Once into third, Johnson's next goal was passing Kehoe which he did two laps later over a drop-off jump. With only a few laps remaining, five seconds separa ted the leader Ward from Johnson. Ward had no problems maintaining the lead to the checkered flag; he took the win with Johnson taking second and the overall. Third in the mota went LO Kehoe followed by Leisk, Holland, Glover, Lechien and Watts. O'Mara fell down late in the race and dropped LO 15th at the finish. Close racing was featured in the 80cc Expert class and in the first moLO, Kawasaki rider J erf Emig edged Suzuki-mounted Gaddis. BUllon, Chris Neal and Chad Pederson rounded out the top five. But it was the second mota when the overall winner was determined in a super close dice to the finish. Gaddis jumped out to the early lead ahead of Bulton, Emig, Suzukimounted Buddy Antunez and Neal. By the end of the first lap, both Gaddis and BUllon had started LO pull away from the rest of the pack. The duel for the lead became intense, since the winner of the moLO between these two would claim the overall. ButLOn tried to stuff his front wheel inside Gaddis' Suzuki in every turn, but Gaddis kept slamming the door shut on the Honda rider. On the final lap, Button had to make his move, and he did. Bulton stuffed his way around Gaddis with half a lap remaining. Gaddis tried to return the favor but Buuon held on for the win and overall. Gaddis finished inches was coming, I turned it up a little bit and pulled on him. After that, I think he kind of gave up." Myerscough went on LO take the win and overall ahead of Watts, Larson, Fisher, Andrews, Phil Larson and Torgerson. The first 250cc Pro moLO was a Johnson runaway, butthestaTtof the moLO saw Waus take the early lead followed by Davis, Jeff Hicks, Kehoe, Leisk and Johnson. After completing one lap, Watts still had control of the lead while Kehoe had taken over second. In third was Johnson, followed by Davis and Leisk. A lot of passing Look place during the second lap. Leisk snuck by Davis for fourth, while Watts and Kehoe were trading places with the lead. Then Johnson shot by Leisk and Kehoe. So, by the third lap, Waus still had control of the lead but Johnson was second ahead of Kehoe, Leisk and Davis. Suzuki's O'Mara followed Davis with Lechien and Hicks in LOW; Ward was I Itho On the following lap, Leisk slid underneath Kehoe while Johnson overtook Watts on the uphill, making the top five Johnson, Watts, Leisk, Kehoe and Davis. Meanwhile, Lechien had passed O'Mara for sixth with Ward back in 10th. Yamaha's Broc Glover was back in the pack. Once into the lead, Johnson took command of the race and opened up a huge lead. Watts stayed in second until he started LO slow with a flat tire, giving Leisk second. Kehoe LOok control of third ahead of Lechien, Ward, O'Mara and Davis. A lap later, Ward dropped out of the race with a collapsed rear suspension. "The linkage broke," said Ward. "We tried some new parts, but it didn't work. It's back LO the standard stufr." At this point, Leisk started to drop back with a broken exhaust pipe. After dropping LO fourth when Lechien slipped by, Leisk was feeling pressure from O'Mara. On the final lap, O'Mara out-ju'mped Leisk on the downhill and took over fourth. At the finish it was Johnson, Kehoe, Lechien, O'Mara, Leisk, Davis and Honda-mounted Scott Burnworth. The second moLO got off LO a rocky start when Glover jumped the starting gate three times in a row, resulting in three restarts. Finally, on the fourth try, a clean start prevailed and Kehoe nailed the holeshot and was behind ButLOn, while Antunez finished third. Neal and Pederson rounded au t the top fi ve. In the Vet Pro class, Staten captured the overall, but the win didn't come easily. Staten took an earlymaLO tumble in the first round when he got tangled up in the first tum, lelling Kawasaki KX250-mounted Marty Smith and Honda CR500 rider Gary Semics duel for the lead. Smith managed LO stay in front of Semics for six laps before fatigue set in and Semics slid by. While Semics and mith were battling, Slaten worked his way up through the pack LO finish third ahead of Zahrt and Mark Brooks. In the second moLO, Staten led from start LOfinish while mithchased him. Semics had crashed in the first turn after banging bars with lahrt and had to work his way up from last place. The Honda rider eventually worked his way up to third but had no chance of catching second-placed Smith by the time the white flag appeared. Staten wound up taking the overall ahead of Semics, Smith and lahrt. • Results 125 PRo: 1. Larry Brooks (Hon) 5-2; 2. Mike Healey (Cag) 2·5; 3: Bader Manneh (Kaw) 9-1; 4. Michael Craig (Yam) 4-4; 5. Tyson Vohland (Kew) B·3; 6. Shaun Kalas (Yam) 1-14; 7. Doug Dubach (C8g) 7·9; 8. Kyle Lawis (HonI12-10; 9. Bob Moore (Honl17·8; 10. Eddie Warren (Kaw) 19-7; 11. A.J. Whiting (C8gI14-13; 12. Rick Ryan (Hon) 10-19; 13. TyDavis(Hon)6-23; 14. Mike Kiedrowski (Kew) 25·6; 15. Jeff Reynolds (Suz) 20-11; 16. Scon Brown (Yam) 13-18; 17. Jeff Pestana (Yam) 22-12; 18. Craig C8noy(Kaw) 18-16; 19. Eddie Hicks(Kew) 16-20; 20. Micky Dymond (Hon) 3-38. 250 PRO: 1. Rick Johnson (Hon) 1-2; 2. Erik Kehoe (Suz) 2-3; 3. Jeff Laisk (Yam) 5-4; 4. Ron Lachien (Kawl 3- 7; 5. George Holland (Suzl B-5; 6. Scott Burnwonh IHonI7-9; 7. Ty Davis (Hon) 6·10; 8. Johnny O'Mara (Suz) 4-15; 9. Billy Frank (Yam) 9-13; 10. Collin Dugmore (Kawl 12-11; 11. Jeff Hicks (Hon) 11-12; 12. Jeff Ward (Kawl 29-1; 13. Jordi Elias (Yam) 15-14; 14. Rodney Smith (Hon) 10·19; 15. Doug O'Donnell (Hon) 16-16; 16. Atsushi Dkabe (Kaw) 17-17; 17. Tommy Watts (Kaw) 27 -8; 18. Corey Cope (Hon) 18-18; 19. Broc Glover (YamI3B-6; 20. Takeshi Tabuchi (Yem) 21-20. 500 PRO: I. Brian Myerscough (Honl 2-1; 2. Tommy Watts (Kaw) 1-2; 3. Mike Fisher (Kaw) 3-4; 4. Mike larson (Kaw) 6-3; 5. Rob Andrews (Hon) 4·5; 6. Greg Torgerson (Kawl 5-7; 7. Phil Larson IKaw) 8·6; 8. Nip Sandall (Yam I 9-8; 9. Dave Newell (Kaw) 12-9; 10. Tim C8uby (Yam) 10-11; II. Dan Barg (Kaw) 11-12; 12. Pete Murray (M-S) 13-13; 13. John Ray (Hon) 19-10; 14. Tim Hanna (Honl 15-14; 15. Mark Banks(HonI14-15; 16. Scott Niel· son (Hon) 18-16; 17. Creig Hofmeister (Honl 17-17; 18. Chris R_insky (Yam) 16-18; 19. loren Pochi· rowski (Hon) 20-19; 20. Vincent Deluca (Hon) 22-20. 80 EX; 1. Jimmy Button (Hon); 2. Jimmy Gaddis (Suzl; 3. Jeff Emig (Kaw); 4. Chris Neal (Kaw); 5. Chad Pederson (Yaml; 6. Tommy Clowers (Yam); 7. Randy Moody (Hon); 8. Phillip Lawrence (yam); 9. Brien GipSOn (Suz); 10. Buddy Antunez (Suzl. VET PRO; 1. Rex Staten (Yem); 2. Gary Semics (Hon); 3. Marty Smith (Kawt, 4. Ken Zahn (Hon); 5. Merk Brooks (Hon); 6. Reed Mayne (Hon); 7. John Baumgarner (Hon); 8. Alan Olson (Suz); 9. Jack McCormick (Han); 10. Jeff Thomas (Yem). 7

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