1981 Supercross San Diego Mike Bell Hannah Motocross - 3-Page Vintage Article

Description

1981 Supercross San Diego Mike Bell Hannah Motocross - 3-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage motorcycle advertisement / article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)
Condition: Good
COCA COLA MOTOCROSS FINALS
SAN DIEGO
SUPERCROSS
Mike Bell Adds a Cherry to the Top of Hs Series Sundae
The 1980 AMA Supercross Series
closed with a bang Saturday night,
October 27, 1980, playing to nearly a
full house of screaming, rabid San
Diegans. The series championship had
already been decided more than two
months ago in Philadelphia, but you
could never guess it by the reactions of
the crowd. 43,000 strong, they were
carrying on as if every move on the
track was worth a pot of gold for every
contestant on hand.
A major part of the enthusiasm was
for Bob Hannah who was making his
Supercross debut after recovering
from a badly broken leg. In the past
couple of years, Bob has acquired a
considerable groupie status, and the
popular consensus Saturday night was
that he could have entered the first
qualifier intending to run it on foot
and still pulled no worse than 5-to-l
odds.
Sadly enough, this was only the
opinion of the fans. Anyone who’d
read even a scrap of material on the
preceeding races knew that there were
only a few hot properties tonight.
Mike Bell and Kent Howerton were
right at the top of the list. Mark Bar-
nett and Broc Glover both had a
chance, and Marty Tripes, putting in
his last ride for Yamaha, is always a
factor at any Supercross he enters. No
matter who your favorite rider was,
San Diego, as all races, was up for
grabs tonight.
Heavy Construction
Creating a Supercross track is not as
simple as pounding a few stakes in the
ground and then dropping the flag.
Tons of dirt have to be hauled in, and
then a track must be designed around
the particular problems each stadium
presents. The promoters of the San
Diego event originally had planned on
running the track up into the stands,
much the same as the infamous “Toy-
ota Tornado” of the L.A. Supercross
but soon got the word from the owners
that this couldn’t be done. Add to this
Chuck Sun had a tooth-and-nail battle
going with Bell for most of the race, but
had to settle fora fourth-place finish.
250cc World Champion was the lone
European; he coutdn't come to an under-
standing with the indoor track.
the fact that it isn’t possible to run the
track over the infield, lest the grass
playing surface be damaged, and track
design is severely limited.
What we wound up with was a
U-shaped layout with the track doub-
ling back on itself to complete the
loop. The first impression of the track
from high up in the stands wasn’t very
exciting, but in practice, it became ob-
vious that the riders would have a
rough time after all. The entire track
was a collection of every type of jump
and whoop-de-do known to man, and
in certain sections, it was all most
riders could do to stay on their bikes.
Tonight, the Gladiator ethic would
prevail: 43,000 fans screaming for the
next crash to be even harder that the
last. What the heck? We all just go to
these things to watch the crashes any-
how. In this light, there couldn’t have
been a better track design!
Qualifying
The qualifiers were run with only a
few exciting moments. In the first one,
Broc Glover got out of shape on the
first lap and had to restart in dead last
postion. He didn’t make it up to a top-
five transfer spot, and Mike Bell took
the win, followed by Darryl Shultz and
Jeff Ward. Broc was still one of the
favorites, but now he’d have to work
his way through a semi before earning
his starting spot in the main.
The whoops took their toll in the
second qualifier, as even the leaders
found new positions to ride in over the
gnarly bumps. The lead was swapped
back and forth as if all the riders were
rubber banded together, but Kent
Howerton was the first to the checkers,
followed by Marty Tripes, Jim Gibson
and David Bailey.
The third qualifier turned out to be
an open brawl between Bob Hannah,
Chuck Sun and Steve Wise; there was
no mistaking the fact that Hannah was
on the track. The crowd nearly leveled
the stadium cheering him on, but all he
could manage was a second-place fin-...
16685-AL-8102-22