Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

T REMEMBERED Natio alM IME n Xand S percro u ssChampion Mark Barnett train ing, and running up a lot of hills, I ke p t go ing a nd go ing a nd ge tt ing stronge r. "In 1980 I staye d wi th Glover in the points. The championship we nt dow n to the very last mo to, w hic h I w on a t St. Pe te rsbu r g, Flor id a ," h e co n tin ued . "There 's an in teresting s tory from that se aso n . Bri an My er scou g h a nd h is mecha nic, Chris Hain es, who were testing with two di fferent sus pe ns ion systems at the time, sw itched from the Full Floater sing le-shoc k system to the dualshock er system. We decided to test the two-s hocke r system at Bingha mton, an d it work ed very well. So at St. Petersburg we d ecided to u se the system a nd we wore down Glov er wit h it. The su spension system made all the difference, and I was now the National Champion." In add ition to his championship, Barnett was build ing a name for himself in th e stadiu ms of th e AMA Su percross Series. At first only a part-time com petitor in the series (as dictated by Suzuki), Barnett wo n the 1979 Los Angeles Coliseu m Supercross befor e 76,000 specta- ma nce that has never been duplicated, Barn ett won every single 125cc National Champions hip moto he entered . And if not for br eaking his collarbo ne two days before the final Na tional of the yea r in Carlsbad , Cali forni a , Barn ett wo u ld likely have swept the ent ire series . "In 1981, I wo n every sing le moto in the 125cc class," said Barne tt. "I was n' t a fraid of a ny body a t al l. After Glover was gone, there was nobody else. Johnny O'Mara and Jeff Ward we re still yo ung and off the pace. It was a lot like Ricky Carmichael this year in that I was completely do minant. I bro ke my collarbone two d ays befor e the final a tio n al at Carlsbad and I felt like [ could have wo n every sing le National- easily." Th e ' 82 season was mu ch the same Then our bikes we ren ' t as good because we had to add weig ht. The 250 was really hurt by it, and afterwards was not as good as the Ho nda. Interestingly, at that tim e Hond a ca me after me, but there wasn' t as mu ch mon ey . After my 1981 season, and lookin g back, it was good for me to stay wi th Suz uki." , ' Every day I would ride and train like an animal. " " It was a great feeling to beat Glover, and it was nice to be an East Coast guy beating a Califo rnian. , , 26 tors (to this day, the largest crowd eve r to watch a supercross) . "Initially, Suzuki wanted to keep me away from supercross. " said Barn ett. "The big highli ght for me wa s in 1979, when I w on the Los Angeles Co liseum Supercross. The place was just packed with peo ple, and I really wa nted to win . It wasn' t easy , though. I rode hard and passed GayIon Mosier with tw o laps left in the race. Then, in 1980, Suzuki gran ted m y wi sh and a llo w ed me to race s u p ercross full time. I felt . th at I was capable of winning supercros s races and proved it by winning the second night of the N ew Orleans Su per cross . I lik ed supercros s and felt that the competition was a lot stronger tha n the 1155." Whether he knew it or not, win ning the 1980 125cc Cha m p ionsh ip and his fir st 250cc supercross p laced Barnett am ong the elite of wo rldwide motocross ra ci n g . A n d when th e 198 1 seas o n kicked off on Ja nu a ry 31 in Anaheim, Ca liforn ia, Barnett was poised and prepared to execu te one of the grea test single seasons in American motocross and s u perc ross h istory . Barnett, th rough w ins at Atl anta , H o u s to n , Po n tiac, Kan sas City and Los Angles, would go on to w in the 1981 AMA 250cc Supercross Cham pionship . "T ha t w in te r, Ken t H owert on a nd Mark Blackwell went to Japan to test and . develop the new su percross bikes," said Barn ett. "The bik es ended up being very ligh t and very fast. When the 1981 season started , Kent got me with tw o lap s to go a t Ana he im, a nd fro m th ere [ go t stronge r and stro nger. When I wo n the titl e, I felt li ke I w as the number-one rid er. To me, the 125cc class was something I had to go and wi n, and I really concentrate d on th e 250cc Su perc ross Series." Furthermore, in a dominating perfor- for "The Bomber" as he claimed his third consecutive AMA 125cc National Champi on ship . However, he was u nable to d efend his 250cc su percross title as a you ng Donnie Ha nsen, backed by the eno rmou s fi n a nci a l a nd tech ni cal resources of a rev italized Team Honda, snatched the title from his grasp. "In 1982 I s till d id eve rythin g th e same," Barnett exp lained . "In the 125cc class I repea ted, but Johnny and Wardy caug h t on to the training and it mad e it much harder to beat them . It was now not so easy to d om ina te the class. Th e . su percross series was going good for me, but H ond a was s ta r li ng to co me o n strong. (Roger) DeCoster ca me over and th e y really s ta rte d s p en d ing money. No matt er how goo d he was on a 250, Barnett never really perce ived himself as a " 250 rider." Then came 1983 and, wit h it, the end of Mark Barnell's totali tarian, iron -fisted rule of the 125cc class. After winning the open in g r ou nd in Sac r a men to, a n d round three at Ga inesville, Barnell began to lose groun d to the d yn am ic d uo of O'M ara and Ward. The two you ng rid ers, smelli ng bl ood for th e firs t li me, raced after the battl e-hard ened veteran, hoping to finis h him off. Barnett, however, wasn ' t quite ready to give up th e fight. The second moto at Mount Morris in 1983 is considered by many motocross insi de rs to be one of th e defi ni ng moments of Barne tt's caree r. After winning a close fig h t w ith Ward in mot o one , Barnett li n ed u p for th e se co nd moto and wai ted for the gate to drop. As the pack ro cketed up the lon g Mo u nt Mor ris sta rt stra ig ht an d d ived for the first turn, Barnett was bou nced arou nd .to the point where he u ltimately hit the dirt. He immediately ju mped to his feet, d usted himself off, hopped back on the potent Su zuki , a nd began one o f th e greatest charges of the 1980s. As the laps clic ked off and the firs t drops of ra in began to fall on the southwestern Pennsylv ania Appa lachia n foo thill s, Barn ell method icall y flew past one rider af ter ano ther. With 20 minutes to go, he put a pass on race leader Ron Lechien. Astonishi ng ly, a fter 25 min u tes, Barnett had blown by every single racer on the' track. As fa te wo u ld have it, the da zzling cha rge wo u ld be the last tru e declaratio n of Barn e ll ' s do m inance in th e class. Altho ugh he went on to win the Binghamton and Washo ugal Nationals later that summer, he co u ld never find his way to the to p of the poi nt standi ngs , ultimat ely finishing thi rd overall to new champion O'M ara and runner-up Ward - the man w ho wo uld wi n the title the very next yea r. "I was stro ng in 1983," said Barnett. "I tri ed hard to bea t a ll of th em , but I did n' t and was very d isappointed . I felt th at we shou ld have w on the cha m pionship bu t we had a lot of probl ems, like wh en we dropped a moto at Buchanan when the transmission broke. But I was alread y ou t of the points lead by then, an yway. We also had to d eal with the com pe tition. Ron Lechie n was a superfast young kid - he was just blazing-fas t on hard -pa ck. And Johnny O'M ara had started training with Jeff Spen cer, wh o was b eg in n in g to tra in a ll of Team ' Ho nda . That helped pus h Johnn y up to a new level of fitness." It was O'M ara, Tea m Ho nd a' s California Kid , w ho had to follow in Barnett' s wake of d estruction for two years befor e he fina lly figured it a ll ou t and pulled th e pieces together in ord er to snap the Suzuki rider' s reign of terror on the 125cc divi sion . "Wh en I look back at Mark Barnett, he was the gu y in the 12Sec class," said " The big highlight for me was in 1979, when I won the ' Los Angeles Coliseum Supercross. ' , 1983 AMA 125cc National Cham pion . Johnny O'Mara fro m h is office in th e Oakl ey build ing in Foothill Ranch, Californi a. "He eleva ted my career to a new level. I finished second to him two years in a row , and I had to take the challenge to train and ride cons tantly to beat him. H e w a s m y ro le model a nd I had to work harder and hard er to bea t him. He was as tou gh as th e y g e t, a nd m y mechanic used to say tha t 'Barn ett was tougher than a ratt lesnake: He used to ru n and train like an animal, and I had to do all that stu ff if 1 wanted to beat him.

• Cover