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/126820
Ricky Johnson's Dallas SX win is his first of the year. (Below) Jeff Ward ' and Jim Holley provided one of the best duels of the night. . ' AMA!Milier High Ufe Supercross series: Round 9 Johnson wins in Dallas By Kit Palmer DALLAS. TX. MAY 4 Team Yamaha's Ricky Johnson won his first supercrossof the year by narrowly beating Kawasaki's Jeff Ward and Honda'a David Bailey inside the Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, Texas. for the ninth I Life Suoercross Serie s. John~'i · ,... "" ' ' · 10 • round of the AMA/Miller H igh' son s WIn.-puts 'nrrn In tIie rrucI, Bob Hannah: "One more supercross for this kid, and I think that's it:' stated the Hurricane afterwards. He finished seventh overall. 1. J ,J I J L J j . • t di e of the closest p oints battle si nce Su percross bega n back in 1972. Going into tonight 's race, on ly five points sepa ra ted th e to p three riders: J eff Wa rd ( 174), Bro c Glov er (173) a nd R on Lechien (169) . N in e poi nts ba ck fo llo wed Joh n ny O 'M a ra an d J ohnso n a t 158. J ohnson finish ed seco nd in the first moto (behi nd Ward ) a nd won th e seco n d. co llec ting 47 points and jum p ing to th ird in th e sta n d ings, 12 poi nts beh ind lea der W ard , w ho n ow ha s 2 17. Lech ien has fo urt h, o ne poi nt beh ind J ohnson. "Every thi ng is workiri ' o u t p retty good now, I'm 12 p oints o u t o f th e lead, a nd I ho pe I ge t so me good fin ish es in Ca lifo rnia, " sai d J ohnso n. "Thi ngs a re cl icki ng, I'm gett ing m y tra in in g done du rin g th e wee k, I'm riding a lot, my mech an ic, Cliff Lett, is do in g a great job a nd m y bi ke is runnin g good. I'm gettin g pretty good sta rts : I'm rea lly happy a bo u t tha t. I kept telling m yself 'I'm go ing lD win , I'm goi n g to win ' a nd I did, " Ward led from sta rt to fin ish in the firs t m ot o , but a first-turn traffi c ja m in th e seco n d m o to cost him a shot at overa ll victo ry; he ca me arou n d th e firs t lap n ear the back o f th e p ack bu t qu ickl y work ed hi s wa y lD th e front to finish fourth , seco n d overa ll. ' H onda 's David Bai ley fin all y put together a couple of good rides, almost w in ni ng th e second rnoto a nd ending third overall with a 3-2 tally. " It feels good for a ch ange but Ri ck was better ," sai d Bailey. ' " I' m j us t g lad I did what I did ," said Lech ien after h is fourth overall fin ish . " I hurt m y other a n kle pra cticing during the week, an d I knew I wa s in trouble wh en I rode pra cti ce. It was tough en o ugh just ge tt ing out th ere a nd riding." On a clear an d warm night in Dallas an estimi,l led 32 000 spectators ~ " ~ e ' '' '' s l ' tl l ,rlJ +" f I' I lea1 tn" sta n al a n 'a sa 'w some 01 t I'i"e : best supercross racin g of the year, incl udinga fantastic dogfight between ane" Keith Bow en a nd Bob " H urr ic H annah , an d another fierce d uel between Ward an d J im H olley during th e n ext races. T he tra ck dri ed out a nd beca me ver y hard-packed as th e ni ght wore o n. Heats T he first heat race sa w Kawasaki 's G oat Breker jam to th e front o f th e pack , whil e Suzuki-mounted Br ian M yer s cou gh . Bail e y a n d T eam Ta rnm's Alan Kin g (Kaw) closely p u rs ue d. T hese p osit ions remained th e sa me for a lap, th en Myerscough went wide in a turn a n d both Ba iley an d Kin g sn uc k u nd erneath him. Ba iley set a fte r Breker, a nd th e two p u lled away from th e res t of th e pa ck af ter Kin g went do wn in a turn , recove ri ng in fo urth. With two la ps 10 go. Bailey mo to red by Breker in the w hoops a nd too k th e lead . th en th e w in . T h ir d and fou rth went to King a n d Su zu ki's Russ Wagem an, th e top three go in g directl y to th e ma in . H eat two featured the nail-biting feud be tween Bow en a nd H annah, H annah took th e ear ly lead with Bowen , J eff H ick s (Han) and Dennis H awthorne trailing. H annah led for a lap before Bowen pulled up a longs ide the Hurrican e for th e next two turns th en stuffed h is wa y into th e lead, H annah certa in ly wasn 't through yet. H e retal iated a few tu rn s lat er, and th e two slammed into each other w ith H annah retaking the lead, wh ile mana ging to tap Bowen 's shoulder, but Hannah 's lead didn 't last for long. Bowen banged handlebars with H annah again while forging ahead. Hannah stayed close for another lap before doing a spectacular loop-out over some whoops. Bow en went on to win th e race a head of ~~zu k i 's Scott Burnworth a n d Hicks.' f ihought we going w ere