Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

through most of the tu rns and j umps, especia lly Fr iday . So me of th e grooves were engi ne -case deep. Friday: Ron Lechien (6 ) holeshots the first ma in mota Friday night, wh ile Erik Kehoe (16) and Johnny O 'Mara (1) follow. AMA/Miller HighUfe Supercross Series: Rounds 3-4 Lechien sweeps Seattle doubleheader By Kit Palmer SEATfLE, WA, FE B. 8-9 Ron Lechien a n d h isfa cto ry H o n da were red hot inside the Kingdo m e for the third and fourth rounds of the AMA/Miller H igh Li fe Supercross Series. Lech ien was u ntouchable Friday nigh t - despite a second mo to cras h, L echien easi ly topped bo th motos. On Sa turda y n ight , Lech ien split moto 20 wi ns wit h T eam Yama ha's Bro c G lover. G lover won the first mo ta when Lech ien crashe d wh ile leading , whi ch ruined th e H onda rider's cha nce a t a fou r-moto ma in sweep. After two nights of racing, Lech ien sa id , " I lo ve it. Bu t 1 just wis h 1 co u ld 've wo n a ll four motos - that wo ul d ' ve been even better. 1 came close, j us t about as close as you can get." Temperat ures in the mid 30s m ig h t have ham pe red spectator a tte nda nce Fr iday n igh t - only an est im ated 15,000 fa ns showed up . Even though the Kingdome has a roof, tempera tures insi de ra nged from the low to mid 40s. H ow ever , the co ld di d n ' t seem to effect th e spectators as much on Sa turda y - o ver 30.000 wa tched . Drama best des cr ibes the action Sat u rday ni ght - the lo ng -awa ited co n fro n ta tio n bet ween Yamaha 's Keith Bo wen a nd T eam H o nda 's Bob H an nah finally happen ed . H a n na h , who co u ld n' t even transfer to the finals two weeks ago in San Diego , is a lm ost bac k to " H urr ica ne" streng th. Friday, H a n na h finish ed sixth o ver- all, and finished fo urth overa ll Sa turday , rid in g li ke the H annah of o ld. T eam Ka wa sa ki's Ma rk Ba rnett had his bes t ride yet o n his ne w mount Saturday. Ba rn ett worked his way up to second place in th e second mota on lv to have his cha i n come off one turn before th e ch eckered . He had to push h is bike up a steep hi ll to the flag, whi le riders flew by him one by o ne. Honda 's Da vid Ba iley had to spectat e Saturday n ig ht 's raci ng fo llowing injuries he received in a crash in the first qualifi er Fri day . " I jammed my fin ger and bro ke off a p iece of bon e. It rea lly h urt m y co n fid ence more th an anyt hi ng. " C urrent 12Scc Wor ld MX Cha mpion Michele Rin aldi, fro m Belgium , made appeara nces bo th n ights but had trou bles adapti ng to supercross racing. H e a nd h is Suzu ki co uld n 't ma ke it to th e fina ls either night. T he track was ru n in th e same direction both n ig hts, unlik e la st year, but it was marred by deep grooves 250cc qualifiers Team H o nda 's David Ba ilev took his works R C2S0 in to the lead 'a t th e start o f the first qualifier, closely chased by Team Tarnrn 's Ala n Kin g , Ya ma ha rider Mark Murphy, Ca nad ian Nat ional Cham pi o n Ross Pederson a nd Suzu ki 's A.]. Whiting. Two la p s lat er, Wh itin g a n d hi s wo r ks Suzu ki passed both Ped erson a nd Murph y but was a few seco n ds behind King . Bailey, a t this point, had devel o ped a co m mandi ng lead a n d looked to hav e th e wi n sew n up; but, at th e halfway mark, Ba iley go t ou t o f sha pe in o ne o f th e deep grooves in a rig h t turn . H e goth u n g up in th e groove, an d it p u lled h im o ff th e back of th e bike. With h is sto mac h o n th e sea t, a nd h is leg s d raggi ng in th e dirt beh ind , Bai ley grabbed a handfu l of th rott le a nd . looped h is H on da . H e la nded hard o n h is face a nd gouged hi s u pper lip a nd chi n, " I rea ll y do n ' t kn ow wha t happened ," sai d Ba iley. " I wa nted to ge t ba ck o n m y bike, but 1 d idn 't kn o w where 1 was , It shoo k m e up p retty good ." T his gave the lead to Kin g who ea silv went on to tak e th e wi n a head o f Wh itin g' a nd Ped erson , Lechien d idn 't have any problems winni ng th e seco nd qualifier - h e sto le the hol eshot a nd never looked back . Ya ma ha riders Da nny Storbec k, Keith Bowe n and Eric Eaton follow ed . Bo wen shot past Storbec k durin g the firs t lap but h ad no chance a t ca tching L ech ien , who was way o u t in fro nt. At th e finis h, i t was L echien, Bowen , Storbeck a nd J o J o Kell er. C u rre n t supercross c ha m pio n J ohnny O' Mara p ut h is factory H o nda o u t in front a t th e sta rt of th e third qual ifi er and was heavil y pursued by fac tory Ka w a sa k i rid er Barn e t t. Ya maha pi lot Rodney Smith a n d Suzu ki's Sco tt Burnwort h . By th e end of th e seco nd la p , Burn worth h ad slip pe d pas t Sm it h but was a few bikelengths behi nd Barnett. T he top three riders wer e fa irl y sp rea d apa rt fo r mu ch of th e race. Nea r th e en d, Ba rn ett had a n encou nter with a deep groove a nd got p itche d o ff h is bike, losing two positio ns , P h il Larson, ridin g a 1984 C R2S0 H onda , chased Smith th roughout th e mo to a nd even tu all y passed the Yamaha rider nea r th e end of th e mo to. O 'M ara easi ly took the win , fo llowed by Burnworth, La rso n, Smi th a nd Barn ett . T he fo urth qualifi er featured G lover, Tea m Kaw asak i's J eff Ward, Yamaha 's R ick J ohnson and H o n da 's Bo b H annah , At th e sta rt, it was Gl o ver gelli ng th e jum p , wh il e Yamaha rider Kenn y Keylon , Ward , J oh n son and H an nah followed. It took Ward tw o la p s to get aro u n d Keylo n , which gave G lover a few seco nds on the pack. Then Joh nson had a to ug h time ge tti ng around Keylon , bu t before J ohnson co u ld mak e a move, thc ch a in o n h is Ya maha derai led th ro u gh o ne o f th e whoop sections. J ohnson managed to re-enter th e ra ce a few laps down . Mean wh ile, th e batt le fo r the lead go t righter betw een G lover ;m d Wa rd . At th e sa me time, H an nah was having a ha rd tim e ge tt ing aro und th e pesky Keylon . With two la p s remainin g , H annah st u ffed th e Yama ha rider in a turn for th e th ird spot. A la p la ter, Ward pull ed a lo ngsi de of Gl over in the stut ter bum ps, th en passed G lo ver. G lover stayed close to th e Ka wasaki p ilo t but co u ld n ' t retal iat e. Wa rd took th e wi n, fo llo wed b y G lo ver, H annah a nd Keylon. J ohnson fin ished last .

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