Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Winner Ross Pede rson (1 ) gets away clean in the start of the final ahead of Joe Waddington (69 ), Allan Dyck (3) and Doug Hoover (2) . Oh ioan Jeff Hicks charged through the pack to finish th ird . Pederson wore an ear-to-ear grin in w in ner's circle . .... Pederson takes third Montreal Supercross win By Marc Lachapelle MO NTREAL. Q UEBEC. CAN ADA. J UN E I Canadian Supercross Ch a m p ion Ross P ederson turn ed his Iuck arou n d a n d won the ni n th editio n of Le SuperMotocross Laurentide at Mo n treal's O lym p ic Stadiu m , as well as a pound o f gold (wo rt h approximatel y $5.000). Earli er . . d I~ .t he even in g t :Pe erson , 24. riding for SUZUkI Can ad a . met 26 with a variet y o f p robl em s th at forced him 10 cha rge th rough th e pack just to qualify for th e 15-lap fin al. Second in th e final fell 10 Doug H oover o ver J err Hicks. ' When th e gat e dro pped for th e fin al , th e 62,067 spectato rs witnessed Pederson's clear holesh ot an d, seconds la ter, a ser ies o f crashe s a nd pile-ups in co rner o ne . Among th e riders invo lved were Am eri can riders Hi cks a nd Jim H oll ey, both easy winners in th eir respective quali fiers. Hi cks lo w-sided a t th e front o f th e pa ck after making co n tact with Darren Sh aruga, but after remount in g irn mediatel y fo und h imself blocked by the mach in es of All an Dyck and Dou g Brown . St ill. H ick s was n imh a l ter only a lap. H olley was held.up eve~ longer a nd complet~d. the first lap In th e nex t-to-l ast posmo n, H icks. wi n ne r o f the Vanco uver Supercross, and H olley both im proved thei r p ositions by th e finish . tak in g thi rd an d l l th respective ly, Pederson sai led 10 th e finish wi th Yamaham ourned Ontario riva l H oo ver in lOW. Ped erson was ecsta tic in wi n ne r's ci rcle after equaling Mark Barnell 'S ' record o f three stra ig h t wins in Mon trea l, " Boy , thi s feel s so good ," sa id Ped erson a fter th ankin g th e crowd Cor th eir vocal support. " We (Pederso n a n d tun er Bla ir Sha rpless) h ad a hard tim e torri ghr . bu t a ll th is more th an ma kes up for it." Pederson was blocked a t th e start of bo th h is qua lifi er a nd semi , a nd had 10 ride ha rd 10 make up time, hi s feet ofte n way o ff th e foot pegs. Th e first qual ifier wa s a clear run - Afte r winning his qualifier, Yamaha Canada's Hoover pu lled into second behind Pederson early in the final and held to the finish . a way fo r Californian H olley a board a Gregoire Sport Yamah a YZ250. H ol ley quickl y di spat ch ed Ontario rider Pat Bast edo a n d led by six secon ds by lap two . Th e lWOtop fin ish ers ea rned a d irect tran sfer to th e fi nal. an d Ont ari o ride r Gl en Ni chol son passed Ba stedo fo r second p lace halfwa y into the eig h t-la p sp rint a nd fini sh ed the re beh in d H oll ey. Ma in e rider Dav id Rudn icki, o n a Suzu ki , a n d Quebec hope G ab y Gregoire. riding a Yamaha, were next in . In the second quali fier , H icks fir st ha d 10 ca tch a nd pa ss ea rly leader Alla n Dyck before see ing a clear tra ck in front o f h im. " It was sti ll a lilli e muddy a nd slip pe ry in some SpOlS, but I liked th e tr ack ," sa id Hi cks . It took th e H annah Ra cing Productssponsored Ohioan th ree laps to ge l into th e lead, but Dyck fought back , co m ing within a seco nd of Hicks halfwa y into the race. Dyck cro ssed the fini sh line seco nd behind Hi cks, a head of Kevin Moore, Pierre Couture and Mark Med ock . Th e third qualifi er wa s hol eshot by Yamaha rider Sharuga, wi th Mario Paquette a nd Connecticut rider Joe Waddington"in close pursuit. Ped erso n was IOth a l ter half a lap an d charg in g. On th e next-to- last lap , Ped erson gOI by Paquette. who had been pas sed by Waddington, WaddingIOn resisted Ped erson 's a track 10 th e wire fo r second behind Sh aruga . Ped erson would have to ride a sem i to q ua li fy. In the last qual ifier, it was Arnaud Ber n ard 's turn 10 run o ut fro nt, a n d h e sta yed there unr il rhe la te stages of th e race, when h e fell a n d h anded th e win 10 Yamaha Ca na da 's H oover. Bernard co pped seco nd a nd still managed th e longest jump o f the qualifying sessio ns (83.6 feel), good fo r 500. L uc Robert, Paul Kin g sley a n d J a ri H einonen crossed th e lin e next . Canadia n Open class cha m p io n Mik e H arn den , aboard a H onda , won th e fir st quarter-final co n vinci ngly, whi le th e second fell to New Yo rk ri der Dan iel H afner o n a Yam ah a . Th e first sem i o f th e even ing was led wire-t o-wi re by Illinois born Jeff Surwa II, now riding for Can adian Kaw asaki . S urwa ll was chased by KTl\I rider Denn is Jam es um il th e last la p , wh en Gregoire hopped by J am es 10 fin ish seco n d. Th e la st sem i brought th e cro wdto its feet wh en Pederson sta lle d h is Suzu ki in cor ner o ne . " I co u ld n 't be lieve it; th is g uy just ra n stra ig h t 10 th e o u tside," sa id Pederson . " H e never turn ed and I sure d id n 'I. " Pederso n was eig h th ~ n h alf a la p , fourth by lap three and first on th e sixth la p. H e won by 10 seco n ds o ver Hafn er, Paquett e an d Co n nec ticu t rid er Chris Fisch er . Aft er th e fir ew orks sho w, Onta rio rider Dav e Beau v, o n a Yamah a, became th e 25th en tr a nt quali fied for th e fin al by winn in g th e Last Cha nce Qual ifi er. From h is ch osen posi tio n, Pederso n had an exce llent view of th e sta rt er a n d mad e good use of h is adva n rage by bla stin g o ver th e ga te first. " It wa sn 't exact ly th e spo t I wanted, but was good enough ," sa id Ped erson. As Ped erson went for the o u tside berm, followed by Moore and Hoover , Hi cks a n d Sharuga tangl ed in th e cen ter. On th e fir st lap, Pederson and Hoover pulled o u t in front followed by Mo ore, Bernard , Waddington , H arnden , Gregoire. Glen Hoar and Hi cks. By lap two, it was Ped erson, Hoover, Bern ard , Hick s and Moore. Passed on lap five by Hick s, Bernard touched a hay bale an d fell , damaging hi s ri ght Iootpeg and brake pedal in he process. The order a la p later was Ped erson o ver Hoover by some six seconds, Hicks a few seconds ba ck , then Moore, Gregoire, Harn den . Cou ture a nd Sh aruga, who had charged ba ck from l Sth. Wilh th e top tr io solidly esta blished, the order next cha n ged o n lap 12. wh en Grego ir e sli p pe d by Moore i n to fourth , a nd Dyck got by Sh aruga fo r eigh th . T enth was Su rw all , H olley was 11th a n d th e o rde r held 10 th e fini sh . In winn er 's circl e. Pederson didn 't see m to bel ieve it him self. " T he fina l went so smoothly a fter everyth ing th at happen ed in m y q ualifier and se m i;" sai d Ped erson . " I hurt m y thum b in th e fir st qualifi er p ile-up a nd had to ride with th a t p a in , a nd I ro de th ose tWO races with broken bear in g , o n th e rea r suspe ns ion linka ge." Ri d in g th e eleva tor that was taki ng takin g him to th e pressroom. Pederson 's sm ile never fad ed : "The th ird win is even bet ter . You learn 10 ap p recia te th e,, ' things mor e full y wh en it 's happen ed 10 yo u befor e. I'm reall y enjoy ing i t now , a nd I haven 't even though t of the go ld yet! " • Results • 1. Ross Pederson (Su z); 2. Doug Hoover (Yam); 3 . Jeff Hicks (Hon); 4 . Gaby Gr ego ire (Yam); 5 . Kevi n M oore (Ha n); 6. M ike Harnd en (Han); 7 . Pierre Cou l ure (Ho n): 8 . Allan Dv ck (Yam ); 9 . Dar re n Sharuga (Yam): 10 . Jeff Su rwall (Ka wl: 11. J im Holle y (Yam ); 12. Ma r io Paqu ette (Han); 13 . Glen Nicholson (Yam ): 14 . Denni s J am es (KTM ); , 5 . Glen Hoar (Han); 16 . Dan iel Hafner (Yam); 17 . J o seph Wad · dington (Hon); 18 , Paul Ki ngsley(KTM I; 19 . Ted Van Nest ; 20. Tob y St oll (Yam); 21 . Chris Fishe r (Yam); 22 . Pierre (Ch ai ne (Hon); 23 . Dav e Beatty (Yam) : 24 Arnaud Bernard (Honl; 25 . Doug Brown (Kaw) .

• Cover