Throwback Thursday: Johnny O’Mara Winning at Sunrise (1984)
Larry Lawrence | January 30, 2025
The O’Show Took Victory in the Highly Competitive CMC Golden State Series
Kit Palmer photo
In this week’s Throwback we dial back the clock to February of 1984 and visit Sunrise Valley Cycle Park in Adelanto, California, the site of that year’s round five of the CMC Golden State/Skoal Bandit Series. The Golden State Series was used as a warm-up for the upcoming season and many of the top AMA national pros raced the series.
In this case we see factory Honda racer Johnny O’Mara ripping around a corner en route to a victory in the first moto and eventually the overall victory. When Cycle News reporter and photographer Kit Palmer went to talk with the “O’Show” after the race, the ever competitive rider wasn’t in much of a mood to talk, even though he’d won, because he’d crashed in the second moto and was only able to make his way back to the runner-up spot behind second moto winner Ross Pederson.
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