Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Clockw ise fro m top left) Rick J ohnson poured on t he coals for second overall. Danny laPorte padded his points lead to 16 with two rounds rem aining . David Bailey won t he first moto. D utchman Kees van der Ve n t urned a 3-1 performance into the overall win . but spread apart in rough areas. With two laps to go , J o be we nt over La Porte's front wh eel, bu t both riders stayed upright. T he crowd sp urred Danny on, he regained fo u rt h at the flag wit h J obe fifth . Glover, Burnwort h, Ma r t i n , Di effenbach and Yama ha's Mark Murphy rou nded out the top 10. The tra ck had become very roc ky and rough ; Murphy 's pi pe was smashed flat by a flyi ng roc k. American GP contender Mike Guerra finished ou t of the p o ints in 15th. La Porte ha m mered out fro nt in rnoto two . G uerr a start ed in back a nd began to charge, th en hit Ge rmany's Arno Drech sel and fell. Murphy fell o n lap one and wa s out o f contention for a top pl acing. Van der Yen ran seco nd in fro nt of Lu xembourg's Joha n Martens and Jobe. Gl over was having problems work ing h is OW through the rough stuff an d crashed wh il e running fift h. He restarted eigh th and was soon sixth, behind Martin. Then Glover pu lled off and headed for th e pits with more mechanical problems. Bailey was in sixth wh en he looped out over a back section jump, th e bi ke bo unci ng on his body. H e remounted and reco vered for an eventual sixth. Near th e 15 minu te mark, van der Yen powered past LaPorte on a downh ill to ta ke the lead for good . LaPorte hel d second all the way, while Marten s sta rted to fade. Jobe too k th ird, bu t the n Yamaha team strategy ca me into play when Johnson worked on jobe, finall y claiming th ird and a id ing LaPorte in his points race with ' J obe. Hansen was also on th e move a n d took fourth during th e closing laps. Jobe retained fifth . Jean-Claude Laquaye was seventh behind Bailey. Martens, Hollis and Guerra were 8-9-10. Some American/European -oa u les were intense. Bailey stuffed undernea-th Martens and took out Johan 's front whee l, leaving him on the ground shaking his fist. Marti n ran Dieffenbach off the course in a " first man to this line wins" battle. Other Europeans recorded fruitless performa nces. Henk van Mierlo of Holland lost all of his gear during his trip to America. He borrowed a Suzuki from WP Racing, but garnered no points. T eam Maico riders Maurieio Dolce and Benny Wi lken both had dismal days, suffering crashes a nd related DNF's. " I just did my best ," said van der Yen as hundreds of fans cro wded into winner's circle. " I love Unadilla there are hills all over. The tra ck is the best, and the fans in America are the greatest! " . " I knew this would be 'm y most difficult race ," said LaPorte. " I' ve battled with J o be before, but today everything worked out great. The harder you try at Unadilla the slower you go - it's a really technical track. Kees was fast, his rear wheel never left the ground." Concerning Yamaha's team effort, LaPorte said, " Rick helped by fitting between Jobe a nd me. If I was pushing a Yamaha rider he wasn't supposed to fig ht, but all of th e riders were charging." O nl y two rounds rema in in th e ser ies. LaPorte hol ds a l-lpoi n t lead on Jobe. 500cc Support H onda 's Jo J o Keller wa s th e cl ass ac t of the 500cc Support class, taking the win with a 3-1 tally. In mo to one Yamaha's Jeff Hicks took the lead , but he bailed off on a low sectio n a nd DN F. Jimmy Ell is too k the lead but oversh o t a turn when h is bike's rear bra ke jammed. Billy Grossi took th e po int position bu t Ellis use d a lapp ed ri der to his advantage and repassed G ro ssi to ta ke the lead to the fin ish . G ro ssi retained second a nd Kell er displaced Maico's Mickey Kessler for th ird, late in the race. KTM 's J ohn Finkeldey was fifth, despite a hard crash near mid-moto. Mo to two was Keller 's fro m start to fini sh . Ell is had second but Kessler put in one of the hardest rides'o f the da y to ta ke th e ru n ner.- up slot. Bo th Kell er a nd Kessler could ha ve tak en th e overall wit h the second mot o win, so it was a battle to the finish, o ne whi ch Kell er wo n. Ellis finished th ird, good for second overall , followed by Kessler, who was th ird overall . " Some say 1 won because this race is in th e east, b u t it 's the people h ere too . U nadilla is the p lace to win a t!" sa id New Englan der Keller as the • cro wd roared. Results 1. Kees van der Ven (KTM) 3-1; 2. Rick Johnson (Yam); 2-3; 3 . Danny LaPorte (Yam) 4 -2; 4. David Bailey (Hon ) 1- 6; 5. Georges Jobe (Suz) 5-5 ; 6. Jean-Claude Laquaye (Hon) 1 1-7; 7. Scott Burnworth (Yam) 7-14; 8: Dave Hollis (Suz) 12-9; 9. Johan Martens (Yam) 14- 8; 10. Steve Martin (Hon) 8-15; 11. M ike Guerra (Hus) 15- 10:-1 2. Mark Murphy (Yam) 10-16; 13. Broc Glover (Yam) 6-23 ; 14. Donn ie Hansen (Hon) 28 -4; 15. Henk van M ierlo (Suz) 21-12; 16. Rolf Dieff enbach (Hon) 924; 17. Gaston Rahier (Suz) 24 · 11; 18. Ivan Bulos (Kawl 18-17; 19. Rob Hodgson (Kaw) 17-18 ; 20 . Kris Bige low (Hus) 16 - 19; 21. Erik Sundstr om (Suz) 23-13; 22 . Benny W ilke n (Mai) 13- 25; 23 . Tom Benolkin (Kaw) 19 -20; 24 . Heinz Kinigadner (Yam) 20 -22; 25 . Matti Tarkkonen (YamI 22- 26; 26 . Mau rie io Dolce (M ai) 22 -26 ; 27 . Ar no Drechsel (Hon) 25 -27 ; 28 . David Watson (Yam) 27 -28 . 250cc WORLD CHAMPIONS HIP POINT STAND· INGS: 1. LaPorte(193); 2. Jobe( 179); 3 . vanderVen (17 0); 4. Watson (112); 5. Dieffe nbach (85); 6. Guerra (73); 7. Laquaye (61); 8. Kini gadner (57); 9. . van Mierlo (41 ); 10. Tarkko nen (38). 500cc SUPPORT: 1. Jo Jo Kell er (Hon) 3-1 ; 2. J immy Ellis (Hon) 1-3; 3. M ichael Kessle r (Ma i)4-2; 4 . Bill Gross i (Hus) 2-5; 5. Ken Adams (Ma i) 5-6;.6. John Finkeldey (KTM) 10- 4; 7. Wem yss Scott ffI (Suz)7- 7; 8. Gary Pustelak (M ai) 6-8; 9. Keith Mann (Hon) 8 -10; 10 . Brian Thompson (Hon) 9-12 ; 11. Mark Page (KTM) 14 - 15; 12. David Leinbach (Hus) 13-16; 13. Greg Mayo (Suz) 27-9; 14. Duane Skof ield (Hon) 16-14;·15 . Gle nn Gra cey (Mai) 29-11 ; 16. Chr is Redelico (Ma i) 15 -17 ; 17. Jeff Ellens (Hon) 11·DNF; 18. Fred Vertucci Jr. (Suz] 12-27 ; 19. Terrence Martz (Suz) 25 - 13; 20. Neal Wh itney (Yam) 17 -18; 21 . John McCon nell (M ai) 19-19; 22 . Shawn Player (Suz) 18-23; 23. Donald Briggs (Hon) 20 -20. 7

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