Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

James Eicker (295) leads 250cc B winner and champion Butch Smith ' (7 10 ) and Jamie Morabito (20) into the first turn in the motocross event. 17th Annual Florida Winter National Mini Olympics Rand, Smith top Gatorback Olympics By Mike and Anne Adair GAINESVILLE , FL, NOV. 22-26 Greg Rand and Butch Smith . earned top honors in the Florida Winter National Mini O lympics at Ga torb ack Park by bea ting a record 2400 en tran ts from 37 states. Smith, who scored th e h ighest po in t tota l of a ny rider in the Amateu r division was a warded the 'c ' Id C I SCO lt USA 0 en ogg es 6 T rophy a nd a new SCOll Mounta in Bike. T he Ca li foria na tive sai d, " I to ld my da d befor e th e event th at if I di d well , I wanted to ded icate the victory to the me moryof Alan Barker." Barker, a p rofessional mechanic for Team Suzuki's Ron T iche nor , died in a recent train in g accident. .Sm ith added, "A la n was a rea l specia l person a nd we will a ll miss hi m ." O hio rider Ran d , wh o won every 65cc point-paying event excep t for a third in o ne moto, received the Wor ldsports Bronze Bike Award for th e top performance in th e Youth divi sion. The l l- year-old Ra nd sai d, "This will be my final event on a 65cc machine. My mo m and dad are allowi ng ":Ie to '!love to Florida for the u pcommg ~mter AMA Sene~ i n Jan ua ry a nd. I. m rea lly loo!,mg forward to ga m ing more expenence on th e 80cc bike." T he 17th An nual Olym pi c event was presented by Suzu ki , Kawasaki, Yamaha a nd H onda , with additional sponso rship p ro vided by Scott USA , Dunlop T ires, PJ -I L ubricants, Gear Racewear, Answer Products, Ch ariot T ra ilers, Wiseco Pi stons, Tsu ba ki Ch ain and Mo to rworld. SuperSports' executive Bob West ex p la i n ed, "The m a nu fa cturers rea lly got be hind the event th is year an d we are truly p leased wi th the ir participati on. Suzuki pos ted the lar gest cont ingency a nd Kawasaki , Yamaha an d Honda sent techn ician s and serv ice truc ks to support the event. " Jerry West welcomed the record crowd by sayi ng, " My brothers Bill , Bob a nd I want you to kn ow that we enjoy promoting this event a nd we're su re g lad that you like it too. T his year we mad e every effort to incorpora te your requests a nd sug gest io ns, We added Pee Wee and Senior di visions to the p rogr am for '89." The Min i Ol ympics is unique in th at it cha llenges riders to use their TT, stad iu m MX , motocross a nd gra nd prix skills to determine o lympic cha m p io ns in II d ivisions. After ' five days o f inten se co m pe titio n, titles were earn ed by Donald Leed y, Rand, Kevin Windham , Ezra Lusk , Bill y Sch lag, David Beckin gt on, Bob Bean , Den n is Ste p henso n, Tim H odes, Smith a nd La nce Shana nBrannon. T eam Yam aha 's three-tim e Bro nze Bike wi n ner Dam on Brad sh aw , who jo in ed the ' event late after winning a pro supercross in J apan , sai d, " By competing tim e a nd ti me again in th is event, I have learned how to handle long-term p ressure aga inst the toughest com peri tio n. l owe a lo t to Bill West for p ro mo ting th e Mini Ol ym pi cs a nd I wa nted to come down again th is year and su p port it." Bradshaw wo n his only event, th e Grand Prix 250cc class . Last year's Bronze Bike winner Brian Swink, recoveri ng from a broken femur, was in a tte nda nce as a specta tor but ended up helping n ag the race. TT Eq uip me nt opera tors J erry West a nd David Brown had groomed th e TT circuit to perfecti on, bu t no o ne p la n ned o n the u n time ly arriva l o f tro pica l storm Keit h and th e resu ltin g ra in. TT skills were replaced wi th end uro techniques and stay ing u p right was a prereq uisite to success. In Pee Wee class actio n Do na ld Led dy, a fte r ed g i ng o u t Mason Williams, said, "I've never raced in mud before, bu t I o n ly fell o nce." Greg Ra nd stormed 10 a sweep in th e 65cc heats o n a Gerry Emig p repped mach in e. T he Yamaha/ Gear/ Beachmont Cycle-backed rider is a lso an A an d B stude nt and an a ll-star o n h is school baske tball team. Kevin Windham , Bobby Reynard, lack Bradshaw, Cl int Latham and Rand pro vided th e fireworks in th e 7-I I 85cc classes, wi th Reynard a nd Windh a m tak in g the wins, O klaho ma rider Reyna rd sai d, " I had to pass G reg on a jump to wi n the Stock class. It was tricky, he's a good rider. " In 85cc (12-13) ac tion, Kawasaki teammates Ezra Lusk an d J eff Dem ent began an intense battle th at .wo u ld see-sa w through a ll four even ts with eac h taking a class win . Dement, who wo n the TT cham p ionship via a ti ebreaker , co mmented, " I was rig h t on Ezra , but cou ldn' t ge t by in the Stock class." Bill y Sch lag mixed it up wit Danny Ulvi n, Ha yden Richards and Sh ane Lawson in th e 85cc (14-15 ope ne r. Rich ards th warted Ulvin Io th e TT ti tIe. The I25cc Youth class featured th Da vid Beckingt on, J eromy Bueh a nd Derek Yo ungblood tri o. Beuh a nd Beckingt on shared wins, bu H onda /Preci si on Fabri cati ng Scott/Gear-supported Becking to took th e TT crown. Bueh l said, " cras hed a fter a bad sta rt in the Stoc final and could n't catch em." ISDE rider Bob Bean blitzed th Sen ior class in bot h TT and stad iu mot ocross events aboard a 350 KT end u ro machine which was weI sui ted for the bl eak co nditio ns. Th KT M/ Sco tt / H i-Point sponso re rider said smiling, " My wife Sharo a nd da ugh ter La ura have made vacation o ut of th is trip. We hav e enjoyed the wet and wi ld attractio down here, and have really love thes e O lympics so far. " The 125 and 250cc A match -u p

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