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/127148
00 00 0") .-4 Eric McLear (27) won both the Stock and Modified Schoolboy classes after holding off week-long assaults by his competitors. Br ian Swink (1 ) and Buddy Antunez battled in every 85cc /14- 15 ) race, with Swink picking up the Stock class win and Antunez t he Modified . AMAjHonda Amateur - National Motocross Championships Bowen, Childress back on top at Loretta Lynn's By Davey Coombs HU R RICANE MILLS, TN, AUG. 9-13 West 'Virginia's Steve Childress 'an d Michigan's Greg Bowen led a wave of repea t winn ers at th e AMA/Honda Amateur National Motocross Championships at the Loretta 12 Lyn n 's Dude Ranch in H urricane Mills. Ch ildress, a dou - I ble National Champion in .last year's 250cc Intermediate class- es, used a dominating first moto win ' to show that he was ready to defend his number one plate in the 250cc A Stock class this year while Bowen, previously the 125cc A class champ, -racked up a pair of moto wins and a runner-up finish in the three-heat format to lock up the 125cc A Modified title. Also returning to the winner's circle fro m last year's championship event were South Carolina's Robbie Taylor and Robbie Neeley, Mich igan's minicycle whiz Bria n Swink and four-time Senior Plu s 40 ti tle holder Doug Sanger. T he AMAlHonda Na tional s, held at the Dude Ranch for the seventh year, were attended by nearly 1200 racers in 27 different divisions that ranged from the 51cc Automatic class for riders aged four to eight years to the Senior Plus 40 category. Support trucks from all of the major manufacturers were on hand to assist the riders as well as to help out in the evening activities. The Tennessee event has became as popular for its post-race family acitivies, such as the H RC Chili Cook-Off, the P J I Remote Control Car race and 'the Gear Racewear/Tearn Green Volleyball Tournament, as it has for its , racing. This year's National track remained much the same as in the past few years; aone mile-plus circuit with n umero us jumps and switchbacks, but the course did have one added feature. Over 100 loads .of sawdust were brought in by MX Sports organizers to ensure a dust free circuit. Alo ng wi th over 80 Na tio nal class motos, the trac k hosted a mock 20-min u te hea t for H onda professional superstars Rick Johnson, Guy Cooper and George Ho lla nd to display the new '89 H o nda models for the riders and fans, Bowen opened his defense of the number one plate with an impressive display of mud riding in the week's first moto, the 125cc A Modified class, which was run after an hour- lon~ cloudburst. The Malcolm Srn i t h z Oh Iins /Dunlop /Smi th Goggles-backed Bowen overcame early leader Derrick Roe but m issed a set of whoops on the very next lap to fall back mto third behind Roe and Honda pilot Sean Du kes. Less than two loops la ter Bowen was back out for good. Bowen followed Answer-backed, Kawasaki Team Green rider Mike Kiedrowski, who finished a dismal 16th in the opening moto, across the line in hea t two and th e bad-luck rider of th e week, Yamaha's Larry Ward , in rnoto three to retain the number one p la te. Dukes' 3-5-4 ride was good fOTsecond on the week with Steve La mson (4-8-6), Roe (2-9-7) and Dal e Spangler (7-4-11) following. Childress, considered along with Bowen to be the best you ng wet weatherriders in the country, opened with a fine poor-weather effort in the first 250cc A Stock moto, beating a poor-starting Damon Bradshaw across the line by over 20 seconds. The second heat belonged to Hallman-sponsored Jeff Emig, riding his first Expert class National, while Childress chased from behind. In the final heat Bradshaw, who fell out of contention in heat two when he lost a rear-brake pedal while leading, battled John Kitsch to win going away, but it was the Scotti PJ I/DMC/ Answer-backed Childress who snared the title with a finalrnoto fourt h . Emig, Kitsch, Bradshaw and Fo x/ Sem in ol e H o ndabacked Kevin Fo ley ro unded o ut the top five overall. Ne braska Tea m G reen ri der Denn y Ste p he ns o n, a double National champ in the 1986 event, won h is thi rd ti tle wi th th e 250cc A Modified class win a head of Kiedrows ki. Stephenson went 3-2-1 on hi s Malcolm Smith-backed Kawasaki to better Kied ro wski 's 4-1-2. Dukes, runner-up in the 125cc A Modified division, placed third with Stahlman in fourth. Greg Bowen , the first rnoto winner, went 19-3 in the final two stanzas for fifth place.