Cycle News

CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE T he 1985 AMA Supercross Series was one of the most hard-fought titles in the history of the series. There were eight winners in the stadium series that year, all of them would become legendary riders. There was a mix of riders, brands and personali- ties and there were five riders in the hunt all the way to the last event. In the end Kawasaki's Jeff Ward, who only won a single race that season, came out on top in the championship, by just two points over Yamaha's Broc Glov- er, with Honda's Ron Lechien, Rick Johnson on a Yamaha, and factory Honda's Johnny O'Mara all very much in the picture as well. The series ended in controversy after the AMA assessed Ward a light penalty for riding backwards on the track in the final round at the Rose Bowl. Protests flew and an appeals board ultimately decided the title. It was a difficult end- ing to what was otherwise an epic championship battle among all-time great riders. The Miller High Life Superbowl of Motocross, as the series was billed, began at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium. In a historical oddity, the '85 AMA Supercross Series races would be decided in a motocross format, with the scoring of two motos deciding the overall win- ner. In San Diego, Johnny O'Mara had perhaps the first- time distinction of winning an AMA Supercross without ever taking the checkered flag first. His 2-2 in San Diego gave him the victory over Glover and Johnson, each who'd won one of the motos. Glover had the overall in the bag while running second to Yamaha teammate Johnson in the second moto, but he crashed late in the race and O'Mara slipped by to finish second and take the overall. After his San Diego miscue, Glover was out to set the record in round two on a chilly evening in Anaheim, and he did just that. Going 2-1 Glover took the overall victory over Kawasaki teammates Jeff Ward and Mark Barnett and with it Glover held the series lead by two points over Ward and Johnson. Ron Lechien and his factory Honda were unstoppable in the Seattle Kingdome doubleheader stop of the series. Lechien won three of the four motos of the double header and walked away with a convincing sweep of the two rounds. It marked the only two-race winning streak of the series. Glover was consistent, winning the first moto of Satur- day's race and finishing second overall both nights, left Seattle with a 12-point lead in the series over Rick Johnson. The series moved east to Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium at the end of February and 46,000 fans showed up to watch Mark Barnett score a historic vic- tory, his last ever in AMA Supercross. "This one feels as good as my first win," a jubilant Barnett said after scoring a 2-2 to earn the Atlanta SX win. Lechien and Wardy finished second and third on the night. Glover, who took fourth, was still leading the series, now by 18 points over Lechien and Ward who were tied for second. It was another race for the record books at Day- tona, as Honda's Bob Hannah watched as one leader after the other fell by the wayside. Hurricane was able to master the challenging Daytona Supercross track and become the first three-time winner of the race. It was a thriller as Ward led, but he got completely stopped by lapped riders, causing Hannah to hit him from behind, putting Ward on the ground and Han- nah into the lead for good. Hannah would win by 12 seconds in the only race of the season that wasn't a two-moto format. Fittingly it would turn out to be Han- nah's final AMA Supercross victory. Glover chipped a bone in his left wrist and this SUPERCROSS '85 P88

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