Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

l25c c than earlier in the season. Pos itions seemed to sett le o nc e again , with th e exception of th e Gibson / Hannah duel, with Wa rd in th e lead with a l 6-second adv a ntage over Hannah.:Three seconds in arrears of H an nah wa s Gi bso n with ro ugh ly eq ui distant gaps between H olland , O'Mara and Mverscough. A large gap sepa rated Sun and Ken tucky's Yamaha support rider, LIlUg J ackson from th e leaders. The front-ru n ners rea lly did settle after Gibson put on a hard ch arge near th e en d of the moto a n d passed H a nnah. Alt h ough they sta yed d ose, Gi bso n held h is second to th e flag over H an n a h , O'Mara, Holland, Meye rsco u gh , Su n , Jackso n, Erik Kehoe and Sch lega L With O 'M ara lopping off 18 poin ts of Barnett's lead in th e first rn o to, th e two entered the secon d mo to as close as they had been all year and th e cro wd wa s ready for a race I T hey di dn 't expect it to come from Hanna h and Ward . 0 ' Mara wen t down in the th ird turn , inj urin g h is wris t, and had to p ull o ff the tra ck. Barn ett gra bbed th e lead from th e start, towing Gi bs on , Ward , Ha n n ah a n d Myerscough. Before the first lap was out, Hannah p u t th e move on Wa rd over the finish li ne jump and moved to th ird. Hannah then led the seco n d la p over Gi bson with Barn ett unexp lainably in third. Ward gassed his Kawasaki past Barn ett , with what loo ked li ke very little trou bl e, as Barnett went o n cru ise with O 'M a ra coasting ou t of .the bac k sectio n to retire for th e day. . Midway th ro ugh the third lap, G ibson outjum ped Han na h on th e giant ski-jump downhill and went to the he ad of the class. T he n coming into the first turn area, Gibson h it a slick spo t a n d the back end ca me aro u nd, th e front end was h ed o u t, th e rear whee l ca ugh t and jetted h im in to a hay ba le-co urse marker. Gib so n return ed to the rig ht side of th e handlebars and into third , h is chance a t the overall win gone with H an nah and Ward. The lead in g p osi tio ns had finall y stabilized with Hannah in th e lead and ridi ng stron g. Ward in second then G ibso n, Barnett, Myerscough , Holland, seco nd qualifier win n er Gary Di rck s on a Roost Fac to ry/ H -P Suzu ki, local Honda rider Robb Mannin g, Kehoe a nd Suzuki Support's Gary Denton. Wa rd bega n another d r ive a nd moved in on Hannah a nd began wo rki ng the whole track for the lea d, even tho ugh he was in the overall wi n ner's seat already. Ward and Hanna h kept th e crowd on its feet for a wh ile as the sun peaked th rough . Hannah saw Ward's front wheel peek up alongside on the turn befor e th e stadiu m section and then sa w th e wh ole Ka wasa ki go by as the whoops rolled benea th their wheels. Ward looked like h e would re pea t h is first rnoto blitz until Hannah suddenly passed him on a downhill with n o problem. Ward sai d la ter, "I was riding in so much pain in the first moto th at I almost pulled off. I kept ridin g and things went m y way. T hen in the second moto, I h ad my bi ke wash o u t in a turn a nd slapped the sore foo t down. I rode for a whole la p j ust try in g to get th e pain under control an d the foo t swe lle d up so bad I h ad trou ble shifting." Ward trie d to cl ose the gap before the flag, but H annah took a deserved win . Ward was second an d Barnett p u t a lat e p ass on G ibson for th ird. Gibson was fourth followed by Myersco ugh, H oll a nd an d Denton. Dircks , Kehoe and R ick Rya n on a Su zu ki su p p ort R M ro unded the top 10. 500cc National As has happened so many ti mes this year, a red blu r went arou nd the first tu rn. A collective roar fro m the ' hill people signaled Chuck Su n 's fact ory -Hon da -motiva ted h o lesho t followed by another north ern favo rite, Dann y " Magoo" Chandler. In third was a n old/ new face; J immy Ellis looking like th e rea l Captain Cobalt. Goat Breker put a green streak in the H onda train a nd was followed by Shultz an d o ff-an d-on H onda sta r JoJo Keller. Kell er was "on" in th e U nadilla support class and rode a strong day for fourth overall. J im m y Holley was the only real privateer in the to p 10; h is Yama ha 490 inhabiting seventh p osition . Chandler did a little hop and ski p front whee l sli de/crash at the bottom of the big dowhill and dropped to third. Ellis kep t th e wick turned on his p ro d uction H on da and didn 't give Sun an inch . Sun got eclipsed on the fo urth lap as Ell is wicked by a nd just k ept going , r idi ng ve r y smooth ly. Factory bik es d id n o t seem to have a deci ded edge wit h the tr icky track condi tio ns. Just as Ellis went . in to the lead, Breker came out of the back sectio n in thi rd and Chandler followed with a trash ed fro nt end on his works H onda. Mike Bell had slipped almost unnoticed in behi nd h im . Bell had had a bike flip into h im on the start and had started last. Alan King and Phil Larson had not been asleep. either and bot h were in a position to threaten the leaders. As the others bega n their drives, Shultz began to fade into the pack a bit, leaving the order at: Ellis, Sun, Breker, Chandler, Bell , Shultz, Keller, Holley and La rso n. Breker made his move on Sun on the downhill an d took second when sudden ly Ellis faded bad ly and left Goat in the lead . Positio ns back to Bell remained the same, but then King, Larson, Keller, Jerome He iberger (Mai) a nd Sh ul tz made up the front-runners. Su n bega n a dri ve on Breker tha t (Left) Jimmy Ellis led both motos. here he sails off the ski jump. (Middle) Goat Breker was third with a 2-5 score. A fall at the start of the second moto cost him . (Above) Chuck Sun (10) tied for the overall win with Bell. Jo Jo Keller (39) put in a good ride to place fourth : kept the race from beco mi ng boring at th is p oint as they were invo lved in th e onl y close raci ng. Sun stuck a wheel around Breker in the same place that Ward too k Hannah and went into the lead on th e next-to-last lap. Sun had it sewed u p, but fell only feet before th e flag a n d eked across ahead of Breker. C h a n d ler, Bell , Keller, La rson , Shultz, Heiberger, local Husky rider Er ic Eaton and Billy Grossi on the factory Husky fill ed in the top 10. . Bell , Sun, Shultz, Chandler and Ell is were out of th e fir st turn th e best, but Chandler was into seco nd as they made the firs t loop. Chandler th en led th e second lap over Bell , Su n , Ellis, Kin g a n d Shultz. T h ree tu rn s into the th ird la p , Chan dl er took what most people assume d was a simple, tim e-wasting fall in between the third and fourth turns. Danny p icked the bike up in the rear of th e p ack, fell again shortl y af ter a nd ro de look ing very ti red for the remainder of the race and fin ish ed 12th. Ap pa ren tly, Chandler had taken a landing on his face a nd upon return in g to the pi ts complained of " freezin g " and h avin g pins a nd n eed les in one a rm and shoulder. Wh en the ambu lance made it to th e scene they reco mmended he be transported immed iate ly by helicopter to a hos pi ta l. J ust before Chandler's fall , Ell is h ad put a just-like-in-t h e-m ov ie s mov eon Bell through the mech anic's area a nd was on ly de mons tra ti ng that hi s first moto ride was not a flash in th e pan . His cha nce of a firs t moto wi n was ended by a seal blown in two in his rear shock. " It does n't ma tter how it broke, it broke," said Ellis wh ile stagi n g for moto two , (bo unc ing on th e seat) " this one does n 't feel too goo d ei ther." Ell is was followed . by Bell , Kin g - who had disa p peared from the first moto resu lts on th e last lap when a slideo u t a nd a wea k, tired kick in g leg cost him a ny points he would have ga rnered - a nd S un after K e ll e r we n t do wn bri efly. Bell started to charge on Ellis as th ey mov ed through som e traffic and as a la pped rider slo wed Ellis for a spl it second, Bell we nt into the lead over th e finish line j u m p . Bell took the win and the overall on a second moto score higher than Sun's, who scor ed identical points. Breker took fift h and th ird overall. JoJo Keller and Larson were fourth and fifth for th e da y after consisten t rides. Even though Bell won th e Superbowl of Motocross and nearly tied for the USGP win he sai d of his win, " It's about time! I' m prett y pumped, but even though I won, I just couldn't quite get things th e wa y I want them to go." Breker h ad been in the hunt all da y but, " tha t crash a t th e start of th e second moto rea ll y cost me," he said after the race, " if I cou ld have gotten a start, I would have been in there. I thi n k I could have wo n." Obvio usly, a hard day for man y, but a da y of close and com pe titive racing. _The Pacific Northwest specta tors may h ave to wa it awhile to see racing wi th leadchangeslikethat~gain .• Results · 125cc NATIONAL: 1. Jeff W ard (Kaw) 1-2 ; 2. Bob Hannah (Yam) 3-1; 3. J im Gibson IHon) 2-4; 4. Brian Myerscough (Hon) 6-5 ; 5. George Holland (Suz) 5-6; 6. Erik Kehoe (Yam) 9- 9; 7. Mark Barnett (Suz) 8-3 ; 8. Johnny O'Mara (Hon ) 4 -8 ; 9. Fritz Schlegal (Suz) 10-15; 10. Gary Denton (Suz) 19-7; 11. Troy Blake (Yam) 14 -12 ; 12. Doug Jackson (Yam) 8 -19 ; 13. Ron Sun (Hon) 7-8; 14. Gary Dircks (Suz) 8-8; H,. Rick Ryan (Suz) 27 ·10: 16. Robb Manning (Hon) 8-11 ; 17 . David Wea k (Suz) 16- 17; 18. Ron Turner (Hon) 11-24; 19. Mike Beier (Yam) 12-26; 20 . Roger Hensley (Suz) 26 ·13; 21 . David Jansen (Kaw ) 13 -22 ; 22 . Fran k Lamp (Suz) 22-14; 23 . Clay Hoenshell (Yam) 34 - 16; 24. Mark Butler _(Hon) 17 -20; 25. Dean Cates (Hon) 16-8 . 500cc NATIONAL : 1. M ike Bell (Yam) 4 - 1; 2. Chuck Sun (Hon) 1-4; 3. Goat Breker (Kaw) 2-5 ; 4. JoJ o Keller (Hon) 5-6; 5. Phil Larson (Hon) 6-7; 6. Danny Chandler (Hon) 3-12; 7. Darre ll Shu ltz (Hon) 7 -8; 8. Jimmy Ellis (Hon) · -2; 9. Alan King (Suz) 8-3; 10. Eric Eaton (Hus) 9- 13; 11. M ichael Kessler (Mai) 14 - 10; 12. Donn ie Cantalo upi (KTM) 13- 11; 13.TIm Locey (Yam) 17 -9 ; 14. J im Holl ey (Yam) 12- 14; 15. Jerome Heiberger (M ai) 8-· ; 16. Bill Gross i (Hus) 10-·; 17. Andy Stacy (M ai) 16 - 16; 18. John Finke ldey (KTM) 15- 17; 19. Steve Rhyan (Hon) 11-· ; 20 : Rick Burgett (Yam) · - 15; 21. Tom Carson (M ai) 18 18; 22 . J im Turner (Hon) · - 19; 23 . Eric McKenna ); 26 . ) 20 -20; 24 . M icky Dymond (M ail 19-· ; 25 . Don Griewe (SuzBili Jewell (Ma i). AMA 125cc NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STANDI NGS: 1. Mark Barn ett (292); 2. Joh nny O'Mara (269 ); 3. Jeff Wa rd (259); 4. J im Gibso n (24); 5 . George Holland (221 ); 6. Bob Han nah (20 6); 7. Gary Denton ISuz); 8. Erik Kehoe (156); 9. Ron Turn er 1 119); 10. Chr is Heisser (116); 11. Doug Jackson (89 ); 12. Troy Blake (89); 13. Bria n Myerscough (73); 14 . M ike Beier (66); 15. David Weak (65); 16. M ike Presto n (54 ); 17. Je ff Surwall (4 7); 18. Rick Ryan (4 5); 19. Frit z Sch legaI (42); 20 . Karl Jordan 1 38). . AMA 500cc NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Darre ll Shultz (27 5); 2. Ch uck Sun (235); 3. Alan King (226); 4. Danny Chandler (219); 5. M ike Bell (218); 6. Goat 8re ker (208); 7. Phil Larson (166); 8. Jo hn Finke ldey (158); 9. JoJo Keller 1 149) ; 10. Je ff Hicks (123); 11. M ichael Kessler (11 1); ,12 . Bill y Gross i (10 7); 13. Jerome Heiberger (104) ; 14. Kent Howerton (103); 15. J immy Ell is (94 ); 16. Kevin Davis (60); 17. Andy Stacy (57); 18. Eric McKenna (53); 19. Tom Carson 151); 20 . J im Holley (46 ). 9

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