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AMASupercross Series: Round three
Rhinestone Cowboy shines in Oakland
By Mark Kariya Photos by Jim Gianatsis
OAKLAND, CA, FEB. 24
Having the third race of the AMA Supercross Series delayed by the recent stonns in California might have been just what Kent Howerton
needed. After badly bruising his ann in an endo two weeks ago at the Seattle Supercross, the "Rhinestone Cowboy" demonstrated ample strength to toss his factory Suzuki
but twice after the bri~, effectively handing Howenon the WID.
Chuck Sun was an easy winner in
around the extremely rough, sandy track to victory at the Bay Area Supercross. In doing so, he also vaulted himself closer to Yamaha's Mike Bell in the series point standings.
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Preliminaries Winner of the first and fastest qualifying moto was Honda's Jim Gibson who held off a hard-charging Mike Bell aboard his factory Yamaha. PDQ'sJimmy Ellis came up third. The second qualifier went to Howenon who pressed Kawasaki's Warren Reid the whole way until a fall in a slow, tricky comer a couple laps from the end seemingly put the Suzuki teamster out of the running for the win. However, Reid got off not once,
the third qualifier followed by Honda teammate Donnie Hamen and Arlo Englund on a PDQ.Yamaha. Tommy Croft, another PDQ. rider,
cked out the win in the last qualifier, Team Honda's Steve Wise surging in the last few laps and nudging him at the finish.
The first semi-final went to Marl. Gregson on a LOP Yamaha who got Kawasaki's Larry WOIick just before the white flag. Semi number two belonged to Yamaha's Many Tripes with Danny LaPone trailing him in on a works Suzuki.
LaPone's teammate Brian Myers·
cough went wire-to-wire in the COD· solation event to earn a stan in the fmalalso.
