Carlsbad Usgp

CARLSBAD USGP

Ron Griewe

Danny (Magoo) Chandler Smokes Europe’s Best

For motocrossers the U.S.G.P. at Carlsbad is The Race. It’s the American round of the 500cc World Championship. For nine years the Europeans came over here and ran away with the race, the prestige and the money. Marty Moates broke the spell by winning both motos two years ago and Chuck Sun took the overall win last year. American riders were told they should do it, then they saw that they could do it, so now Carlsbad is every racer’s dream.

Pre-race favorite had to be Brad Lackey, top American in the world series and leading on points so far this year, closely followed by Andre Malherbe, the current world champ.

Almost nobody thought of Danny (Magoo) Chandler, who’s mostly known for going fast and being wild at the worst possible time.

Even the weather seemed to favor the Europeans. Past races have been run with the temperature over 100° and the track in normal condition, meaning rock hard, slippery and super whooped. But this year the weather was unseasonably cool, between 60 and 65° most of the day as a month-long fog and cloud bank complete with drizzle persisted. The track stayed muddy and tacky most of the day.

Forty-one riders were listed in the program, about half Americans, half imports. But when they lined up at the starting gate, only 26 showed. Many racers from other parts of the world didn’t appear. Additionally, several American stars including the first American U.S.G.P. winner Marty Moates were missing. Moates was still recovering from a leg injury as was Kent Howerton.

Carlsbad’s tight left first turn, after the top gear start straight, furnished the spectators with lots of pushing, bumping and crashing. Team Honda’s Darryl Shultz emerged first with Lackey (Suzuki) and Kawasaki’s Goat Breker hot on his rear wheel. Another Kawasaki ridden by Jeff Ward, Magoo Chandler on a Honda and Bill Grossi on a new 500cc Husky were right in there for the fight for the lead. By lap two Magoo had moved up past Breker and Ward for a solid third with first and second staying the same. Alan King suddenly appeared from back in the pack running in sixth. Mike Bell looked smooth and under full control back in ninth and 250 world champ Neil Hudson was running 11th.

By lap three Magoo had passed Lackey and Shultz for the lead. The positions stayed constant for five laps as Magoo strengthened his lead a couple of seconds each lap. By lap nine Jeff Ward had started a charge toward the front. The same lap spelled disaster for champ Andre Malherbe when his factory Honda bottomed in a cross gully, jamming his foot under the footpeg. The instant pain was obvious and he just let the bike go and fell to the ground. Later reports indicated a broken leg, ending his bid for a third world championship. King was in sixth, Vromans in seventh and Bell in eighth. By lap 14 Ward’s charge had moved him past Shultz and into second 20 seconds behind a disappearing Magoo Chandler. Ward’s charge stopped when he bailed at the bottom of Carlsbad’s infamous freeway on lap 15. By the time Ward got the bike back on its wheels and his breath back in his lungs, he was sixth. Laps 16 through 18 stayed about the same with Magoo running away with the show, Shultz second about 25 seconds back, Lackey seemingly content with third and an impressive Alan King in fifth on one of Howerton’s factory Suzuki’s. Ward’s crash had been painful and he hung it up on lap 19. The 40 min. plus two lap race lasted 20 laps total with Magoo Chandler holding his incredible 25 sec. lead, Schultz taking a solid second, Lackey third, King fourth, Vromans fifth, Bell holding sixth despite a misfiring engine, Hudson seventh, former world champ from England Graham Noyce in eighth, Goat Breker in ninth and Sun in tenth.

Chandler proved the first moto was no fluke when he came around on lap two of moto two in second. Shultz had control of first again with Semics in third aboard another Honda entry, Vromans was fourth, Bell got a better start and held fifth, Sun also got a better start and a new front fender after riding most of moto one with the front of the fender broken off, King was seventh and riding well. Breker was next on his Kawasaki followed by Hudson, Noyce and Lackey. Things looked grim for Lackey clear back in 11 th place but his smooth style, experience and good conditioning would show before the end of the day. By lap six Lackey had started a slow charge to the front, passing Sun and Breker. Magoo got around Shultz on lap seven when Shultz’s factory Honda started having shock problems. Shultz continued his drift to the back and disappeared from the top 10 by lap 13. As Shultz moved slowly to the rear between laps 7 and 15, Magoo recreated some of the first moto by pulling a big lead. Bell slid his factory Yamaha into second with Vromans in third, King in fourth, Lackey up to fifth, followed by Hudson and Sun. Magoo proved the skeptics correct and crashed on lap 15, giving the lead to Bell. That moved Vromans into second, King into third, Lackey to fourth and remounted Magoo in fifth. Lackey moved past Suzuki teammate King on the next lap.

Bell extended his lead to about 20 sec. by the end of the moto. Lackey made a last lap charge on Vromans for second but couldn’t quite get around. They crossed the finish line almost even, with the advantage going to Vromans. Second would have given the long elusive Carlsbad win to Lackey but it wasn’t to be this year. King got fourth, Magoo motored in for fifth, Sun had worked his way up to sixth and Hudson seventh.

Everyone started checking the score sheet to try and determine the winner. Amazing. There was a three-way tie, Magoo Chandler, Andre Vromans and Lackey. Scored by their finishing positions, i.e., one point for first, five points for fifth etc., lowest score winning, all three had six points! Final positions were then determined by combining the elapsed time of each moto. Chandler’s first moto blitz paid off, giving him the overall win by 22 sec. Lackey got second by a scant 4 sec.

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Naturally, Chandler was delighted to become the third American to win the U.S.G.P. at Carlsbad. When asked about crashing out of first place in the last moto he replied, “You're not going fast enough if you don’t crash once in a while, but I did think I’d blown the overall. I'm happy I won.’’ Brad Lackey accepted second gracefully by congratulating Magoo on the trophy stand. Magoo playfully placed a team Honda hat on the factory Suzuki ace while Brad was explaining this race and his attempt at consistency to win the world championship. “The shock spring broke in the first moto and the front brake cable came adrift in the second and kept getting caught in the spokes. I was afraid it would catch and send me over the bars. So I just cooled it and tried to get to the finish ahead of Malherbe (his nearest rival going into the Carlsbad race) and maintain my points lead. With only four meets left, I think I'm going to do it this year. When I do I’m going to take a pair of cutters to Malherbe’s number one plate and remove it. I’m going to tell him it’s going to the States,” Lackey beamed. &

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