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/127132
Michael Clement (38) leads winner Jim Holley (20), runner-up Redman (21) and third place Billy Whitley early in the main. Jeff Mabery led the main until Holley got by, then on the final .straight lost second when a lapped rider fell over on him. He finished fourth. Terry Tinney (11) held off Dennis Hawthorne (24) for fifth in the main while Clement (38) dropped back to seventh at the finish. Holley hammers Houston UltraCross By Ken Faught HOUSTON, TX, APR.23 Yamaha's Jim Holley used an incredible come-from-behind ride to claim his first UltraCross victory of the 's eason at -rou n d four of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road 20 Championship Grand Prix in , bling his series points lead over second place Tommy Watts. the Houston Astrodome, dou- · As in past MTGP events, the UltraCross format put 12rows of two riders on the starting grid. Grid positions were determined in timed qualifiers, . with the faster riders starting in one of the middle rows. Passing points are awarded to those riders who better their starting positions and hold onto them at the finish. Bonus points are given to the four fastest qualifiers to avoid the threat of sandbagging and are contributed to the overall series championship. During the timed qualifiers , AXO /VP , R aci n g Fuels /Scott/ Shoei/Pro Circuit-sponsored Kent Howerton posted the fastest qualifying tim e at 29.730 seconds. Watts was the runner-up with a 29.811 lap over Billy Whitley's 30.417 time. Holleywould have been third with his 30.166 second effort, but he was docked two seconds for not qualifying in hi s allotted time slot. Costly time spent changing cylinders between practice and qualifying were cause for the penalty. As the riders lined up for the heat race, Andy Bradshaw and Tracy Bachman were gridded in the front row . But when the green flag dropped, Dennis Hawthorne came out of row two and holeshot Scott Ch esser, Bradshaw, Bachman and T erry Tinney, Holley, who started in on e of the back rows , quickly shot into eighth after passing several riders in the first tum while Kawasaki /DeVoliMaxima/Scott/Dunlop/Pro-Circuit/Whiskey Pete's/ Ohlins /O'Neal-sponsored Watts crashed hard off a steep jump. "They have the jumps cut off on one side for a lane used by the trucks," said Watts, "and a guy bumped me off th e edge of one and I endoed." Up front Hawthorne opened up· his lead over Chesser, Holley, Whl- tley and Bradshaw, Holley quickly cut his way through the pack, picking up positions left and right as announcer Larry Naston was estatic, describing every move that Holley made. On the second lap Holley continued his charge and .edged up alongside of Chesser off a jump. The two riders landed together and Holley tried to outbrake Chesser in the following tum, but the Suzuki-pilot wouldn't back off. Holley held on to the inside line and slowly pushed Chesser out of the corner, finally making his pass complete. Chesser crashed a few laps later and was through for the night Holley then set his sights on the Team Green /Kawasaki City / Answer/Scott/Shoei /RK Chain/ Maier/ Silkolene/Port co-spo n sored Hawthorne and rapidly decreased the gap separating the two. Once Holley cau~ht Hawthorne, the two battled until Hawthorne started to make mistakes. On the fourth lap Holley got the drive coming out of a turn and slipped past Hawthorne to take the lead. As the white flag greeted the riders, Holley and Hawthorne were way out front with Whitley, Tinney and Jeff Mabery rounding out the top five. Hawthorne chased Holley down to the finish but couldn't find the extra speed required to repass the Yamahasupport rider. "They ' added two seconds to my time which made me start in the back row and they didn't give me any passing points." said Holley. "But everything worked out good. I've , been really consistent and have won every one of my heat races in this series." In the main event, Scott Duplishan . and John Dauth occupied the first row with Russell Miksch and Michael Clement directly behind them. When the green flag dropped,