Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Runner-up Broc Glover leads Jim Gibson who was slowed with vision problems. (Below) Third placer David Bailey chases Glover an~ Gibson while Jeff Ward leads O'Mara. (Bottom) Mark Barnett led for a lap then fell . ... a n d h e stuck a wheel u ndern ea th and th en past Benolkin on lap three. Two laps later , he managed to get th e dr ive on H olland u p the peristyle, a nd th e lead was hi s th e rest of th e wa y. In stead of m aking it a boring run aw ay , th ough , J ohn son e lecte d to th row h is YZ nearl y to the sto ps sideways off th e big j ump after th e .peris tyle to tak e the win in sty le. Benolkin took second fro m H oll and a few laps fro m th e finish , thus sending th e you ng Suzu ki rider to th e co nsola tion. Ro n Turner returned in the seco nd semi , lead ing from start to finis h. Ano ther H onda support rider , form er Superbowl winn er J im Ell is, jockeyed hi s way from a n o pe ning la p seventh to tak e second fro m Ka wasaki su p port rid er C urt McCu istion by la p three, but he cou ld't ca tch Tvrner .by th en. , .. .. a ... . . ~......_ Suzuki of Pasaden a 's (CA) David T a ylor a nd Suzuki 's Alan King took th e ea rly lead in th e co n sy. King led for two laps before go in g down in a sa nd pit a rea a t th e west end of the . Coliseum . That allow ed Suzukimoun ted Rodney Smith to take th e lead, but co mi ng up strong a nd fast was G eor ge Holland. The two factory aces ran down th e p ri vat eer to secu re th e top spots as th ey took th e white flag , but o n ly th e win ne r, H olland, took a sta rt ing gate bert h in th e ma in. Final T he stage was set for th e fin al event , and ma ny eyes were a wa iting a Ba rn ett /H ansen duel. O u t o f th e ga te it was Barnett, Gl o ver , Ell is, Bell a nd Gibson . H ansen was mi red in traffic. Ell is got by Glover a nd drew a bead o n Barnett. Going into th e high• •' . " bermed first turn, how ever , Barnett went down, and Ellis also visited the turf. "I j us t got into some braking bumps a nd in stead of being abl e to turn , I just hit it stra ig h t," said Barnett la ter. " I go t o u t of co n tro l a little bit a nd fell over. I j us t went in too fast, I g uess, because it had cha n ged so m uch from th e qualifier. It was pretty smooth goi ng in the qualifier a nd I went in th ere that fast befor e." Ell is was the firs t to ge t restarted, fin ish ing a n eventua l 18th , but the ent ire pack, incl ud in g H ansen, ro de by befo re Ba rn ett was a ble to get going again. Bell too k th e lead from "here, cl ic kt ing off th e la p s precisel y and in smooth fashi on , wa iti ng for a cha llenge that n ever m at eriali zed. " I thought Barnett would be knocking on m y doo r beca use he's prett y tough , and he ca n pi ck it up and come back from th at kind of a thing," Belf admitted lat er. " I didn 't kn ow how J much o f a mi stak e he mad e. I didn ' t know if he was second or not, so I never even looked over m y shou lde r. " I look ed a t m y sig n board and Ron sai d, 'Go! Go! Go!' (T he n) I kn ew Broc was seco nd because Ron was gi ving me a sig n, but he sai d just keep cha rgi ng. It doe sn't matter who's behind yo u as long as nobodv's in fro nt of you." Try as he might, Glover couldn 't close up eno ug h on Bell to set up a pass and took seco nd a bit disgruntled. ' 'I' m not h appy taking a second place," Glover stated afterward. " I would have really liked to win; I had m y heart set on winning, and second place is a tremendous letdown. I think in the main event I tried too m hard a nd made a lot of mistakes. a i Congratulations to Mike, though; he rode real well. " rlJ Gibson had a solid third for much ? of the rac e, but then started slowing , visibl y because of visibility problems; : '1 got a lot of water in my goggles," said a di sappointed Gibson. "I tr ied Ai to pull th em down , but I just got a little sand in my eyes. Once Bailey got by me, I co u ld n' t see. I got too much roost in my eyes , so that was it." Fourth afte r two laps was Ba il ey. When Gibson was for ced to back off th e pace, Bailey closed in, pas sing him a lap from th e finish . After a good start, Bailey said, " I thought , 'O K, this is a good sho t. If I just stay away from a ny body th at might crash, stay out of a ny kind of congestion, I sho u ld be a ble to do well.' The best I ever had before was Sa n Diego last year - I go t a fifth - and I got a sixth in Kansas City this year, but this was definitely th e top! I'm prett y excited ." O 'Mara followed Bailey to fin ish fourth. "Tha t wa s about th e best I could do without crashing or going over my head. I'm pleased with that. " Ward was close behind for fifth followed by Hansen, Gibson, Barnett, Reid a nd J ohnson. " T h is is th e first win in a Supercro ss I've had in almost two' years," th e 1980 ~upercros s Seri es Champion sai d. (His first Supercross win ca me here in 1978.) " It feels good to win the big one, th e gra nd-daddy ." • Results FINAL: 1. M ike Bell (Yam); 2. Brae Glover (Yam); 3. Dav id Bailey (Hon); 4 . Johnny O 'Mara (Hon) ; 5. Jeff Ward (Kaw ); 6. Donnie Hansen (Hon) ; 7. J im Gibson (Hon) ; 8. Mark Barnett (Suz); 9. Warren Reid (Suz); 10. Rick Johnson (Yam); 11. Goat Breker (Kaw) ; 12 . Danny Chandler (Hon) ; 13. Steve Manin (Hon); 14. George Holland (Suz); 15 . Bill Liles (Kaw); 16 . Ron Turner (Hon); 17 . Tommy Benolkin (Kaw) ; 18. J im Ell is (Hon ); 19 . Jim Tarantino (Hon ); 20. Jo Jo Keller (Hon ); 21. Denny Bentley (Suz). AMAIWRANGLER SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Donn ie Hansen (257); 2. Mark Barnett (22 7 ); 3. Johnny O 'Mara (195); 4 . J im Gib · son (180 ); 5. Brae Glover (16 21 6. Darrell Shultz ; (157 ); 7. Warren Reid(139);8. Bob Han nah (137); 9. Jeff Ward (127); 10. David Bailey (102); 11 . Rick Johnson (95) ; 12 . Goat Breker (OO); 13. Scott Burnworth (83) ; 14 . Steve Manin (75) ; 15 . Kent Howerton (741; 16 . Tom Benolkin (70); 17 . Mike Bell (65) ; 18 . Jim Ellis (56) ; 19 . (TIE) Kenny Keylon / Chuck Sun (51) . .. .. t;. •

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