Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

,....; C'f .... CU ..0 S CU U CU o (left) Overall winner Rick Johnson easily won the first moto at the Super Mo~ocross. but had. t~ hold ~ff teammat~ Warren Reid to wi~ the second mota, (Right) Japan Gran Prix winner Jeff Ward ran well in the first moto. placing second, He finished fifth overall. first non-Yamaha, (File photos), Japan Super Motocross Johnson scores second Oriental • supercross wIn By Larry Huffman KYOTO, JAPAN, DEC. 4 Yamaha's Rick Johnson notched his second career supercross victory at the second annual KBS-Kyoto Super Motocross held in this ancient Japanese capital on a cold, clear Sunday afternoon. Thirteen American supercross riders made the transPacific flight this year to meet a vastly improved contingent of japanese riders. johnson led the Yamaha team, backed by Broc Glover, Warren Reid, jim Holley, Rodney Smith and Keith Bowen. Kawasaki's lineup included jeff Ward, fresh from winning his second straight japan Gran Prix, and Billy Liles. Honda opted to give their up-and-coming stadium riders experience in a pressureless situation, with Goat Breker backed by "Mr Mike" Fisher, Larry Brooks, A.J. Whiting (riding a CR250 for Team Tamm) and Steve. Martin. Kyoto is situated 450 miles south of Tokyo and the weatber was very chilly. The riders arrived Wednesday night after a 10-bOUT overseas fI igh t, followed by an hour-long flight from Tokyo. It was, incidentally, 16-y.earold Mike Fisher's first time on an air· plane. Yamaha had their act together both on and off the track as the corporate bosses instructed both team manager Kenny Clark and all riders and mechanics to step off the plane'in crisp blue blazers with slacks and tie. Yamaha also had an edge on the competition in the machine department - they shipped in specially prepared 1984 YZ250s direct from the factory to a large Yamaha dealer on the outskirts of Kyoto. Their riders spent a lot of time preparing for this event and it paid off. Kawasaki sent in two of the latest production KX250s and Ward and Liles went off to practice on a special outdoor supercross track complete with stadium· type double jumps. The Hondas, on· the other hand, were supplied by a local dealer and Chris Haines, Breker's mechanic, was more than a little upset when he saw his rider's bike for the first time as it was unloaded from the truck. "This has already been ridden! Goat's not going to ride a used bike for this race," exclaimed Haines. And sure enough, the '84 CR250 did have a few miles on it. Team Tamm's Gordon Tamm shrugged and said be'd take the bike for his rider, A.J. Whiting. Tamm confided that he thought he "could make this thing go fast enough." He was right. as Whiting blew the doors off Broc Glover in the first heat. Goat ended up on one of the new CR's and fini~hed a respectable sixth in the main, and first Honda. Race day dawned bright and cold. The temperature was in the high 30s by the time the riders rolled into the stadium outside Kyoto. As the bus rounded the last corner they were flabbergasted to see approximately 20,000 fans lined up waiting for the gates to open. A japanese official later said that many of the spectators had begun lining up before dawn! When they saw the busload of Ameriean riders, they began cheering and waving. And our riders waved back. The supercross fans in this part of the country had waited a long time to see the American riders they'd heard so much about. The event's promoter, KBS-Kyoto, a huge japanese conglomerate of newspapers, TV stations and radio stations, had constructed a challenging but narrow track on the floor of the baseball stadium. They had included two sets of double jumps, one of which one was a nasty-looking one tbat nobody dared to double jump until the final practice. Kei th Bowen was the first rider to attempt that jump and almost ended his career when he landed a little out of line on the third bill. He saved it, though, and all of the Americans and two or three of the japanese riders managed to clear the jump. After several hours of practice, tunes from a local high school band and the usual speeches by the VIPs, the riders lined up for the first heat. A.j. Whiting got the best start of his young career and beat an astounded Glover to the first turn. The Honda people went crazy as Whiting started to pull away from Broc. Glover, unlike the other riders, had opted to fly in from California the night before the race, arriving at the hotel at 9:40 the previous evening. A reporter, asked Kenny Clark if he felt that was enough timefor his riderto acd imate himself to the track, the new bike, the time difference, etc. Clark just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hell I don't know. Broc's still on California rime!" Glover hammered away at Whiting for 10 laps until he settled for second behind the former national Minibike champion. Billy Liles crashed hard and had to transfer to the semi before making the main event. In heat numbe.r two, Rick johnson pulled off one of his patented holeshots and ran away from the rest of the field, with his teammate, Mike Fisher, a distant second. johnson is one of the biggest American stars in japan and, when he realized he was far out in front, he amazed the japan- ese by launching himself 30 feet into the air over the double jumps and waving one hand at the crowd. In the final qualifying heat, jeff Ward got the gate and won wireto-wire. jim Holley, after a terrible start and a first-turn crash, finished second. Finally, after another hour's delay and more ceremonies, the riders lined up for the two 15-lap main events. Main number one was a follow-theleader affair, with johnson leading Ward for the entire 15 laps. Glove: was third. Main number two was a completely different story. johnson gOlthe holeshot, followed by Re.id and GJcver. Reid kept the pressure on Glover until he could get close enough to johnson to pass him. The crowd really went crazy when Reid slipped by johnson late in the race. Then johnson caught on fire and passed Reid right back. Glover finished again in third. After the race the Kirin Beer came out, along with the $25,000 in prize money. The top three, johnson, Reid and Glover, received both the traditional trophy and each a beautiful japanese doll in a glass case. "Hollywood" jim Holley came out with several of the other riders and threw Yamaha hats to the wildly cheering crowd and, after another couple of hours of packi ng up, the riders loaded up the bus for the 30-minute trip back to the hotel. With that the second japan Super Motocross was history. Rick johnson proved once again he's almost unbeatable ouride the U.S.; the japanese riders improved tremendously; our young racers got a lot of good stadium experience (and signed autographs until their arms fell ot£); the KBS-Kyoto people discovered that motorcycle racers and fans are pretty weJl-behaved; and everyone brought back a lot of good memories. • Results ,. Rick Johnson (Yam); 2. Warren Reid (Yam); 3. Broe Glover; 4. Keith Bowen (Yam); 5. Jeff Ward (Kaw); 6. Goat Breker (Hon); 7. Steve Martin (Hon); B. Jim Holley (Yam); 9. Mike Fisher (Hon); 10. Rodney Smith (Yam): 11. AJ. Whiting (Hon); 12. Billy Liles (Kaw); 13. AkiraWatanabe(Suz); 14dda Isao (Han); 15. Sugia Koshieomi (Han); 16. Latry Brooks (Hon); 17. Fukumoto Toshio (Hon); 18. Ozeki Masanori (Suzl; 19. Sasaki Hiroyuki (Yam); 20. Asano Nasayuki (Han). 11

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