Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Team Ho nda's Jeff Leisk f in ished sixth in the f irst moto and came back to w in t he second for t hird overall. ou t, Gl over kep t hopes of an American win alive, bu t bar ely. Gl over was running l l th after the first lap, then began a driv e to th e top tha t had the crowd hanging over the fences: chee ri ng him on . Gl over , riding a n ai r-coo led YZ490, event ually found his way into fourt h befo re disaster struck. A ha y bale, cl ipped by a rider ahead of him, rolled into his path and Gl over pl owed into it . head on and cra shed. H e fini shed ninth. In the second moto Glover look ed LO have a win sewn up after taking the hol eshot, but he ta ngled with a lapped rid er and went down again, one of six tim es he would fall in th e day. H owever, Glover never ga ve up, .finishin g third in th e rnoto and taking fifth overall. Frenchman J acky Vimo nd, who was fourth in points going into the Hollister U.S. GP, piloted his factory, wat er-cooled Yamaha YZM500 to fourth overa ll wi th a 2-6 score. Vimo nd worked his way up in both mo LOS after medi core starts. The 250cc Support class loo ked like a repeat of last year 's l 25cc National battles as it featured the top three 125cc Natio nal riders of 1987 - Nat ional Champi on Micky Dymond, and H onda's Guy Cooper and G eorge Holland. The three factory riders p u t on so me of th e best . racing of the da y. Wh en it wa s all o ver, i t was Yamaha's Dymond coming from behind in both moLOS to cap ture th e overall win with a clean sweep. Second overall went to Holland, who had finished .third in th e 125cc class at the Mammoth Moun tain MX th e previous clay, with Coo per finishing third overa ll. Sunday's Internati onal actio n got underway at 10:30 a.m . with tim ed qualifyin g, which determined wh o would get first choice at starting positions. During Saturday's practice sessi o n, tho u g h, G erman y's Dietrnar Lach er, who wo n th e Ital ian GP prior LO H o llister, cras hed over a set of ju mp s and bro ke hi s arm. The jumps, wh ich riders began LO double, was prot ested by a coup le of riders , including Thorpe, and was bulldozed out. Despi te riding with a sore lower leg and ankle, Ward clicked off the fastest lap time at 1:5 1.959 seconds, a full second o ver Glover at 1:53.575. Lech ien was third fastest at 1:54.690, while the LOp European rider in fo urth was Vimond at 1:55.150. Vimond was followed by Leisk Belgiu m 's Eric Geboers t ook t he overall w in via a 3 -2 score. He gained o ne point on series po ints leader Dave Thorpe. Glover (44) chases Holland's Kees Van der Ven . An estimated 10,000 spectators attended the Hollister GP . (I:55.536), Geboers (I:55.609), American Bill y Liles (1:55.921), Nicoll (1:55.944), Thorpe (1:55.986) and Holland ' s Kees Van der Ven (I:56.789). T he Hollister 500 cc U.S. GP fea tured two 40-mi n ute-pl us -twolap mo LOS, with poin ts awarded each moto. The rider with th e mo st poin ts after fini sh ing both mot os would be th e o verall winner. Geboers ' · 3-2 rnoto finish earned him 32 points, while Thorpe's 1-5 score gave him 31 points. For his 3-2 rnoto fini shes, Geboers pocketed $1280 of th e $ 15,000 p urse, while Thorpe collec ted $1230 for second place. A mo to win ea rne d 970, while second took home $730. There was no rea l opening cerem ony , but before the first International (500cc) mot o i g o t underw ay at 1:15 p .rn., five-time 500cc MX Worl d Cham pion Roger DeCo ster, America's first a nd on ly 500cc MX Worl d Ch am pi on Brad Lackey (1982) a nd fo ur-t ime Ca rlsbad 500cc U.S. G P winner Gerrit Wol sink were interviewed o n th e track's infield in front of an estimated 10,000 spectators, International Forty riders lined the starting gate for th e first 500cc moto, with KTM rid er Kees Van der Yen nailing the early lead while Kawasaki 's Mike Fish er went down in the first turn. " So me body . ca m e acro ss a n d clipped my fro nt wheel," sai d Fisher. "The n a turn later, Wa rd a n d Lechien wen t down, and th ere wen t our whole (U.S. Kawasaki ) team. " Ward said, "The pa ck came in on th e left and someo ne took my front . wh eel o ut, and Ronnie hit my bik e and went down. H e didn 't actua lly hit me, but he h it my bik e after it was down." Bo th Wa r d a nd L ech ien rem o unted in th ird- and 'seco nd-tolast and tri ed to mount comebacks tha t never materialized. " My sho ulder is reall y sore," said Ward afte rwards, a nd ra ther th an ris king any more injury with th e 500cc Na tio na ls starting next week in Michi ga n , War d decided to pull off the track and sit out the rest of the da y since he had no ch ance at the overall victo ry. Lech ien also pulled off and chose not LO·ride th e second mot o for the same rea sons as Ward wi th th e exceptio n hi s inj ury was a da maged thumb. With Ward and Lechi en o ut of act io n , Yamaha' s J eff Stanton was th e LOp Am eri ca n in th e rnoto , running just in sid e the top 10, whi le Gl over was next American in 11th. Up front, Van del' Yen kep t KTM 's sp iri ts hi gh with th e lead , but he was being hounded by Britain's Mark Banks on a H onda. Bu t Thorpe and Geboers were on th e move. Geboers was ga ining ground o n th e lead ers before he cras hed, dro pp ing back LO sixth, wh ile T horpe stayed on the gas. At a bo ut th e l O-m inute mark , Van der Yen went down whe n he lost th e front wh eel in a turn, givi ng the lead LO T horpe. " It was just one of th ose stupid cras hes," said the Dutch rider who recovered in thi rd . By th is po int, Gl over was ma king up ground on th e leaders as he passed a numb er of riders, including StanLOn. By th e midway point Gl over had moved int o fourth and was gaining 7

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