Bob Hannah on his infamous battle with Kent Howerton: '81 Saddleback National

“Kent Howerton had something to prove. Through the 1980 season all he heard was, "If Bob Hannah would have been here, you wouldn't have won." He was pissed. He disappeared at Hangtown. He would have won Saddleback if had left me alone. But he started playing games and running into me. He did it four times in the first moto. One time I gave him the bird. Then he nailed me again and I flipped out. My agenda was then to break his leg. I knocked him down at one point, but he came back and passed me to win. In the second moto, we raced the entire time. He had me everywhere: on the hills and everything. He was lucky I wasn't on that Suzuki. It went down to the last lap, then to the last corner. I had been taking the inside line in second gear in the corner the entire race. I knew he was going to ram me. So at the last second I hit the outside line in third gear, clutched in, and pinned it. I looked over and sure as hell he had squared-off the inside turn and was coming right at me! RIGHT before he T-boned me, his front end washed out. I tried to kick him in the head when I went by. That was absolutely the hardest moto I had ever ridden in my life.”
- Bob Hannah