Trop-hee des Nations
(Above) American riders David Bailey (1), Johnny O'Mara (2), Danny
Chandler (3) and Jim Gibson in pre-race ceremony. (Below) Chandler.
Americans top the
world
again!
By HennyRay Abrams
G AILDORF, W. G ER MANY , SEPT. 5
Danny "Magoo" Chandler aced both motos
to lead the American Honda team, of himself,
Johnny O'Mara, David Bailey and Jim Gibson, to their second consecutive win in the
Trophee des Nations World
Championship team motocross
f 250 bik
G ild f
race or
cc 1 es a t . ai or ,
Wes t G erm an y. Bail ey was
18
pressed into servic e at the last min u te
to replace 250cc and Supercross champ
Donnie Hansen who suffered a co ncussion in a practice crash on Thursday and was recov ering in a hospi tal
in H eid elburg.
ยท
It was th eir consistency th a t wo n
th e race. With th e top six o u t of eigh t
po ssibl e fin ishes co u nting for the overall score, the American tea m had no
worse th an a tenth place fini sh and
every member co n tri buted to beating
the Belgian team o f Georges l obe,
Andre Vro mans, H arr y Evert s and
J ea n-Cl aude Laquaye 23 p o ints to 34
for th e Belgians. Third, after a p rot est
disqual ified the British team, was the
host West G erman squad of Rolf Dieffenbach , Arno Dresch el, Hans Maisch,
and Vilem Toman with 64 points.
Hansen crashed while negotiating a
triple-jump on Dieffenbach's practice
track; He was rushed by jet-helicopter
to a nearby ho~pital in H eid elburg
wh ere he was ~I agnosed to have suffered a co nc uss ion.
" H is body's 100%a nd hi s p u lse a nd
heart beat ar eas strong as ever. H e j ust
took a shot o n the head, " Presto n
Petty, H ansen's father-in-law, sai d.
" R ig h t now he' s under seda tio n
because of. the swelling inside h is
skull, but once th e swe lli ng goes down
he'll be fin e. It 'll be a few weeks before
he ca n fly beca use o f the pressure in
the airp la ne ." After wa tching th e
Ameiican team in the race, Petty headed
for the hospita l with hi s daughter ,
Donn ie's wife Li sa.
" I got a call at n in e o'clock for a n
11 :30 flight from Virginia to Ne w
York to Frankfurt. I got th e last sea ton
th e pl an e," Da vid Bail ey expl ained.
Arri ving in Frankfurt o n Friday he set
th e bike up and unofficially was the
fastes t.in p ractice on Saturday.
The defending champions didn 't
hav e to qualify, so they sat back and
watched the rest of the world battle it
out. The Belg ian team proved quickest wi th th e British team of-H onda 's
