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/126847
(Above) Rodney Barr was the top rider in the 125cc East/West shootout. (Below) Terry Fowler goes underneath Holland's Davey Strijbos. Th irteenth-place finisher Georges Jobe fe lt he was deceived when he came to America to start in the second row of t he main. p ropped up on a h aybal e j us t wa it in g for us to ride by: ' Wh en Ward crossed th e finish lin e, h e was greete d by a h ea lth y dose of boos from the spe cta tors . After the heat races, th e situ a tio n was co nfusing , a n d to say the least, m essed u p. Half the Europeans qual ified for th e seco n d row , while three top Am er ican rid ers were in th e front. Obviou sly, the o ne most upset with th e turn o f even ts wa s Joh nson, wh o faced a second-ro w stan with O' Ma ra , Lechien a nd Ward in th e fir st row . " T h e people came here to wat ch rae.in g ," said J ohnson , " I' m racing and I want to win , so I go o u t to win 'ca use th ey want to try th is new system with the winners sta rring on the second row in th e main, so I go o ut a n d race. O 'M a ra , Lechi en and Ward go o u t an d clearly lead th eir ra ces, bu t wha t do th ey do? T hey pu ll off the tra ck and slo w down . O 'M ara an d Lech ien stop a nd Ward mysteri ously di sappea rs in th e per istyle so they can sta n in th e fir st row. All th ey want to do is win th e big money race . In a way , I don't blame th em, but I still th ink it 's kind o f chi cken of th em. I thou gh t they were a lot more professiona I than to sit and sandbag a race. I thought I'd show th em I'm n ot afraid to stan on the second row, and I thought th ey would think, 'that's pret ty cool th at he's do in g that.' Evid entl y, t hey 're n ot profess ion al eno ug h." "The stra tegy is to win the race," said Ward. "That 's wh at we ca rne here for. The seco nd- ro w sta n is a bso lu tely stup id; Eu ro peans are go od enough to ge t a hol esh ot a nd wi n on th e sam e lin e wit h us. J ohnn y did it (p u lled ove r), so I ca n' t stan on th e back row - th ere's no way I co u ld win . If it's go in g to be a circ us, we migh t as well ge t paid o ur money u p fro nt and then give everybody a show. T h e way it is now , it 's just a stupid idea , a nd I th in k evervbodv else does too. I kn ow th e crO~'d isn 't happy wi th it now , bu t they' ll forget abo ut it in the main." O 'M a ra wouldn't co m me nt o n the si tua tio n. " T o me ," said Bail ey, " th e o n ly rea son they would be do in g so me thi ng like thi s is to see if it works to m a ke a beuer sh ow - if it does, which I don' t thi n k it 's going to , th ey're goi ng to run this forma t next year. So I thi nk the ot her riders think th e -sa rne so they' re trying to beat them a t th eir own game. O'Ma ra a nd Lechien made their point, and I think what th ey did was right. I wou ld've done th e sa me thing. H ow ever , th e spec ta tors are unfo rt unately ge ll ing chea ted , an d I h ope th ey understand wi th us." Before th e main, it was a n no u nced that p romot er Mike Goodw in decided to go ahea d a nd run everybody on o ne lin e. Bu t rnanv of the riders were even less p leased ~'i th th is idea , including Lech ien. "This wh o le th in g stin ks," said Lech ien . " Mi ke Goodwin is bo ne less, a nd h e goes back o n hi s wo rd . All th e riders to ld h im the do u ble sta n wouldn 't wo rk. Myself , J eff a nd, I'm su re, O 'Ma ra p la y th e rules as far as we ca n take the m, a nd whe n h e (G oodwin) finds o u t, he cha nges th e rul es an d scre ws us up . If there was a sing le gate in the fir st place. I would've won and had th ird pi ck o n th e line. Now I shou ld 've been on th e first row with th e delay sta n, a nd n o w it's changed to where I ha ve 10th p ick a n d sta rt o n th e same line. G oodwin 's been sayi ng 'dou ble ro w starts, Eu ro pea n fi rst, America ns seco nd ' for two week s, and now we get h ere ' a nd he cha nges hi s . m ind . Wh at kind of racing is that? I was waiti ng arou nd (in hi s heat race) fo r th o se guy s to pass me, su re, because th ere's no way you can leave somebody o n th e lin e five seco nds in a su percross a nd ex pec t him to win the race. T his is going to hun th e spon: yo u ca n hear them boo in g . T he y want to set' raci ng," Semis In th e firs t sem i, Suz u ki's George Holland cap tured th e holesh ot a head o f' Ho lley , Yamaha rider Er ic Ea ton and Veh ko nen . Soo n aft er, H oll ey stu ffed H olland in a tu rn , th en Ea ton saw his chance and stu ffed hi s wav into second. However, Holl and wasn 't through yet. The Suzuki rider quickl y repassed Ea ton , th en proceeded to reel -i n leade r Holley a nd engage in a duel for th e top spot; th e fir st two ri de rs would transfer to th e ma in . Durin g th e fourth lap, Ea to n fell in a turn , losin g a position to Vehkon en . A lap later, Holland dove to th e inside , jammed into the lead and quickl y str etched his advantage for th e win. Holley took second; Vehko nen third. H ond a rider Michael McCov took th e ea rlv lead in th e seco nd se,~ i a nd led for alap befo re Yamaha -m o u nted Russ Wageman snuck by. Back in thi rd was Holl and 's Cert-jan van Doorn (Ha n) , followed by H onda rider Will y Simons and Steve Bur dett e (Yam) . During th e six th lap , Sim ons fell and d ro pped o u t of th e top five, mak ing the order Wageman , van Doorn and Burd et te. Van Doorn sta yed close 10 Wa gem a n for th e rest of th e race. but th e Yamaha rider h eld o n to tak e the wi n. Last Chance Qualifier McCoy once agai li blitzed . ' 10 ' th e front o f th e pack a t th e sta n of the LCQ, whi le St rijbos moved into secon d afte r p assing Fowlerand Yama ha r id er Go rd on Ward. A lap later , Str ijbos fell and dro pped to th ird ; Strij bo s p ressured Fo wler, wh om he passed during th e fourth lap a t the bottom of the peristyle; Strijbos passed McCoy two tu rns lat er. At th e sam e tim e, Ward m oved in to seco nd. With G ordon Ward pressuring , St rijbos fell in a turn ; that gave Ward th e lead. On th e white-flag lap, Ward and Strijbos were handlebar-to-handlebar. Less than 100 feet from th e finish , Strijbos pulled a lo ngside o f Ward in the wh oops, dropped back and clipped Wa rd 's rear whee l a nd cra shed. G ordon Wa rd took the win, w hi le Strijba s fin ish ed seco nd. M ain Aft er th e announcem en t o f th e cha nge to a single-lin e sta n , it wa s a nnounced tha t the stan wo u ld go back to a sp lit stan wit h O'Mara , Le chien , Ward , va n den Berk, van Doorn a nd H oll ey star ring o n th e first wave, whil e J ohnson , Bailey, G eboers , 'l obe a nd Poppel would sta n o n the second. Ward sa id he was goin g to stan on the second gate but made a la st-m in u te switch to th e first _ga le. : 'J toldthem I would stan on the , ( . I ' '<; I 9