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/126996
Gordon Ward claimed the overall victory in the 500cc Pro class with a pair of firsts. Mike Healey scored second overall ahead of John Posca : Brae Glover was unbeatable in both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes; he led all but one lap of the four motos he raced . Chris Young led the battle for second in both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes and was the overall runner- up in both classes. Glover -dominat es at Ascot Motocross By Ken Faught GARDENA, CA, NOV. 27-28 T eam Yamaha's Broc G lover rode four flawless motos to take the top h on ors in the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at the 14th An nual CMC'Night Nationals held at Ascot Park. Gordon Ward aced th e 500cc Pro class, and in Friday night's Amateur action it wa s . Gary Wagnertoppmg th e 250cc 24 J unior class . It was Gl over who stole the h oleshot in the first 125cc Pro mot o over T yDavis, Mike Hea ley, Brian Ma nley, and Chris Young. On th e first la p Manley pu lled off th e track when banners wrapped aro und his rear . wh eel and caused the mot or to slo~ : Gl over soon ~egan to open .up .h ls lead over DaVIS and set a blistering pace. Near the halfway mark carbu reto r p roblems plagu ed Healey's Cagiva, allowing Young to slip into th ird. Davi s picked up his pace and th ree laps before the fin ish Davis caugh t Gl over and an intense battle was crea ted. Davis ho unded G lover hoping for a mistake and at the finish made a last chance effort to pass Glover but it turned out unsuccessful. Glover claimed a narrow win over Davis, Young, Healey, and Manley. When the pack rounded the first turn in the second rnoto it was Manley over Glover, Davis , H ealey, and Young. In the second turn Healey and Davi s collided, sending Davis 10 th e ground and mov ing H ealey 10 th ird. Glover stayed close to Manley and looked for a place to pas s. As the two riders crossed th e starting line Gl over hugged the in side and passed Man ley off a kicker jump 10 take th e lead. Manley managed to stay with G lover for a few laps but eventua lly dropped off th e pace. . On th e fourth la p Young caug h t Heal ey a nd wasted no tim e in passing him and soo n caugh t Manley. The sixth lap saw a heat ed battle start up betw een Manley and Young since Young needed to pass Man ley in order to take seco nd overall. While Young pressured Manley, Davis caugh t H eal ey, who pi cked up his pace and p ulled away. Davis persisted though an d ca ug ht back up 10 H ealey. On lap 10 Young dov e underneath Manley and took over second. The last lap saw Davis make an unsuccessful a ttemp t to pa ss H eal ey over a huge tabl etop jump which a lmos t resu lted in Davis crash ing. When th e checkers fell , Gl over fin ished 10 seconds ahead of Young, Manl ey, H eal ey, and Davi s. Gl over too k the overa ll win , Young was second with a 3-2 score, and a 2-5 earned Davis th ird . Glover rocketed his Yam aha into the lead in the first 250cc Pro rnoto over " Radica l" Ron Turner, Young, Gordon Ward , and Bill y Frank. As Gl over opened a sizable lead . Turner on ly lasted three laps in seco nd before falling victim to Young's borrow ed Yam aha. On the sixth lap Gl over was cruising in first , Young was second and Ward piloted hi s Kawasaki past Turner and took over thi rd. After being passed by Ward, Turner slowed down allowing Frank, Heal ey, and Davis to pass also. As th ey cro ssed the finish G lover took th e win ah ead of Young, Ward, . Frank, and H ealey. There was no surpr ise at the start of the seco nd m oto wh en Glover hol eshot Frank, H ealey, Young, and Davis. Frank missed a shift which allowed Heal eyand Youngtoadvance to second and th ird. On the third lap Young closed on H eale y and for th e next eigh t laps the two bat tled wit h H eal ey never losin g secon d. The battle ended whe n Young threw awa y his bik e while tryin g 10 pass H eal ey, handin g Heal ey an easy second as Frank moved 10 third. At the finish Gl over cla imed hi s fourth win of the night beating H ealey, Frank, Young; and T urner. "I wasn 't sure what pl ace Mike finished the first rnoto: I thought he too k third. I figured I needed to pass . him for second,"said Young referring to his ba ttle with Healey. . Glover easily wrapped up the overall, a 2-4 score earned Young ' second and a 5-2 finish put Healey third. When th e ga te dropped at the start of the first 500cc Pro rnoto Ward led Tim Rutherford, John Posca, Marc Peters, and J on Ortner.·Posca quickly passed Rutherford and slid into second. On th e fourt h lap Heal ey worked his way up from a seventh pl acestart and a lap lat er passed Posca for second. Peters was al so on the m ove as he passed Rutherford then chased Posca for five laps until he pas sed him near th e fin ish. Ward took a co nvi ncing win foll owed by H eal ey, Peters, Posca, and Ortner. Peters was th e early leader at the start of th e second rnoto followed by Rutherford and H ealey. Rutherford passed Peters but was only abl e to hold the lead for two lap s until surrenderin g first to H ealey. After a bad start Wa,:d was o n the gas and already into fou rth, setting a bl istering pace kn owing he had 10 beat H eal ey to tak e th e overall. Ward soon passed Rutherfo rd over a huge tab letop ju mp and proceeded to pass Peters at th e fin ish line area. On th e fifth lap Posca broke into th e top five by stuffing Ortner into a berm. Posca topped th at performance in th e next three laps by passing Peters and Rutherford close to th e same time. As Po sca moved into third Ward passed Heale y, wh o was having clutch problems with his Cagiva. Ward th en opened up a sizabl e lead wh ere he finished over Healey,Posca,Rutherford,andPeters. Ward 's pair of firsts ear ned him the overall victory ahead of Healey, Pos ca, Peters, and Rutherford. At the start of the first 250cc Junior moto Eric Bush piloted his Suzuki into th e lead over Jason McCormick, Chris Ridgway, Tonrad Rodriquez, and Wagner. On th e first lap Bush fell and took McCormick with him, giving Ridgway the lead. Wagner was o n the move after hi s fifth pl ace start and moved to second ahead of Scott Hoffman, Jim Carley, and Steve Flynn. On th e th ird lap H offman passed Wagner over a jump and set aft er Ridgway. H offman soon found himself with th e lead after Ridgway cras hed in the" whoop and wen t on to take th e win over Wagn er, Rodriquez, Carley, and Bush. Wagn er holeshot McCormick, H offm an, Carley, and Flynn at the start of the second .mo to. Wagn er opened up hi s lead o ver McCormick