Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126666
da, took over the lead while pursued by Todd Peterson, on a Yamaha and JohnFinkeldey,aboardaKTM, Yamaha's Rick Johnson followed in fifth. Through the double-jumps, Johnson snuck by Finkledey and took care of Peterson on the next lap. Bailey developed a somewhat comforta advantage over Johnson, who had a few seconds over Peterson. However. BaiJey'scomfonable lead was trinuned to only a bikelength with one lap to go over Johnson. The crowd was on its feet as the two dueled for the top spot. On the white-flag lap, Johnson held the throttle open just a shade longer than Bailey over the diet Coke launching pad and lOOk the lead. f« the remainmg half lap, the two were side by side while weaving through lapped traffic. But Johnson held c.only inches ahead of Bailey. Fi~ dey and Peterson followed. After the race Johnson said, "The track is pretty smooth and one-lined. That is why it took me so long to get around. I just had to follow him." Scott Burnworth proved his factory Suzuki was the fastest by easily pulling everyone to the first tum at the start of the third qualifier. How· ever, the awesome horsepower turned out to be a disadvantage as he overshot the first tum and ran into the haybails. This stunt gave the top spot to Lechien on his production Yamaha. Lechien actually bought his bike with cash out of his own pocket, for tonight was his last ride for team Yamaha, as he had just inked a contract with Honda for 1984. Teammate Donnie Cantaloupi cruised in second ahead of Honda's Jim Tarantino and Brian Myerscough. For the next three laps, things remained the same until Myerscough fought around Tarantino and Cantaloupi. For Myerscough, there was no chance at reeling in Lechien with only a few laps left and such a large margin to make up. On the last lap, Cantaloupi ran into problems' by crashing and dropped back in the pack. Keith Bowen look over for fourth. Lechien easily took the win ahead of Myerscough, Taranlino and Bowen. The fOUTlh round was all Team Yamaha's Broc Glover. Glover jammed imo the lead and he never looked back, but if he had, he would have seen Suzuki's Clint Hardick, Honda-moumed Mike Fisher and 125cc National Champion, team Honda's Johnny O'Mara. Theonly.battle of the moto was for second between Hardick and Fisher, but Hardick man· aged to keep Fisher under wraps. Glover easily look the win ahead of Hardick, Fisher and O'Mara. l-4 V ..c 8 v ;> o Z On his last ride with Yamaha before switching to Team Honda. Ron Lechien led from start to finish in route to the San Diego Supercross win. He also went home with the CMC Trans-Cal Supercross Championship. CMCIMiller High Life Supercross Trans-Cal Series Final Round Lechien lassoes San Diego Supercross win By Kit Palmer Photos by David Edwards SAN DIEGO, CA, NOV. 5 "Although the track was fairly easy, the starts were very important. Luckily, I grabbed the holeshot; that was all I needed," said a very happy Ron Lechien after his victory at the final round of Continental Motorsport Club's Miller High Life Trans-Cal Series at Jack Murphy Stadium in San DieQ. go. Not only did Lechien steal the 0" win, but hdi~Mcapt'u~ed'th~ b~~ta\f' for the two-race Supercross TransCal Championship, while Team Tamm's Jef£ Hicks was another big winner after wrapping up the TransCal Grand Championship title after tonight's race. The Grand Champion· ship series consisted of all th'e'dayana night events combined. Qualifiers Team Suzuki's "The Bomber" Mark Barnen shot into the lead at the start of the first ten-lap qualifier while Yamaha-mounted Waren Reid, Kawasalci's JeU Ward, Rodney Smith and Honda's Goat Breker pursued. During the first lap, Ward shot down Reid for the second spot while Breker slipped by Yamaha-armed Smith. Two laps later, The Bomber blew it by crashing through a section of tight turns. It took Barnen quite some time to get going and he recovered a lap down, which put an end to Barnen's night. Ward inherited the lead still ahead of Breker and Reid. Smith held on to fourth followed by Mickey Dymond on a Husky. With only a few laps remaining, Breker started to pick up some ground on Ward and on the final go-around, the action got close. But Ward held on for the win, followed by Breker, Reid and Smith. "I had some problems getting around the lapped riders near the end and it's preny hard to pass out there. I got lucky at the start when I started to go down. Somebody ran into my elbow which kept me up, then, on the next turn, I passed about four riders which helped out a lot," said Ward. The Trans-Cal holeshot king, Hicks, outpowered everybody to the first turn at the start of the second qualifier, but he went down hard in the turn, and was run over by a couple of bikes. Luckily, Hicks quickly remounted his Honda but was out of contention. CurremSupercross Cham, pion David Bailey, on a factory Hon~ Semis In the semi where only the top lWO transfered to the main, il was Hicks who came back from a fourthplace starl to take the win. Russ Wageman took the early lead but dropped lO third by the end of the moto. Gary Bowman PUl his Suzuki into the second Spol on the final lap after dicing heavily with Wageman. Burnworth jammed into the first lurn ahead of lhe pack at the starl of the second semi bUl again had some problems in the lurn and dropped lO second behind Cantaloupi. For the reSl of lhe race, lhe lWO banled for the lead. BumwoTlh, riding a linle oUlOf shape, could nOl find a way around a much smoother Cantaloupi, but the Suzuki pilot didn't have lO pass Can· laloupi to transfer to the main so he contently settled for second. I Last Chance Qualifier The Last Chance Qualifier was probably the most exciting race of the night. Honda-mounted Larry Brooks stole the holeshot followed by Richard Sands and A.J. Whiling, on his firsl rili~dn a/Honda' for Team "Pamm.