Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

{Above) Jeff Ward (1) and Keith Bowen (9) placed second and third in the main. (Below) Rick Ryan (2 0 ) finished sixth and top privateer. Team Kawasaki's Ron Lechien is off to a slow start. He could do no better than a 14th in San Diego and is ninth in the series. trick in the book to get around Keller but co u ldn' t find a way . Finally, H eal ey tried 10 dou ble-jump by Kell er bu t h is fro nt wheel sla m med into the face of the seco n d j u mp. T he violent im pact wh iplashed his h ead hard , enough to slow down co nsi derably for th e remainder o f th e race. With Kell er in seco nd , O 'M ara began pressuring th e Yamaha rid er on th e final lap. O'Mara made his mov e an d doubled right past Keller a nd into th e fina l transfer spot. Burnworth won it a hea d o f O 'Mara a n d Kell er. Last Chance Qualifier 8 Th e LCQ feat u red an extremely exciti ng ba tt le for the lead between H eal ey an d Kell er. H ea ley grabbed the h ol esh ot , but Kell er and Yamaha 's Da nny Storbeck shot by. Healey came back q u ickly, disposed of Storbeck , an d reeled in Kell er. H eal ey pa ssed Kell er, bu t Kell er qu ickl y retal ia'ted. H eal ey passed Kell er aga in over a do ubl e j ump , tak in g over the lead, bu t Kell er stayed close. On th e fin al la p , Kell er, in a despera tio n move. sla m med into H eal ey through .a fast left-h and swee per, tak in g over , the lead. T h is made H eal ey mad, and two tu rn s from the finish , the Suzu ki rider returned the favor. H ealey dove to the inside of Kell er in a tig h t tu rn , and both riders went down, killing thei r engines . It was a race to remou nt a nd start th e bikes. which Kell er won. The crowd wasn 't too pl eased with Kell er 's ea rlier questionable pass o n H eal ey a nd he was severely booed a fter th e race. Main When the ga te dropped for th e main , it was O'Mara taking the hol esho t, bu t Johnson was close behind. In third was Bowen , followed by Ward , Bailey and Burnworth . Gl over was 18th . while Lech ien was 20th . J ohnson a lmost crashed whe n h e landed short o ff a double. H is feet were kicked hi gh in th e air, but h e somehow managed to save it. Durin g th e third la p, J o h nso n mo tored by O 'Mara a nd into the lead . " I' m not exac tly sure wh at ha ppened," said J ohnson. " He (O 'Mara) ca me o ff th ese jumps a litt le sideways, an d I think he mi ghr 've hurt hi s bad kn ee. I wasn ' t pl ann in g on passi ng him th ere, but he just kind 've p u lled over a nd let me by. I thought tha t he p u lled o ff th e track right th ere." O 'M ara did n' t p u ll o ff, but instead spent th e next th ree laps d ici ng with Ward. Ward found th e hot lin e around th e O 'Sho w ove r a do u ble jump th at O'Ma ra sing led . A lap lat er . whi le batt ling m idpack, Le isk an d Liles co ll ided a nd crashed over a ju m p. In th e crash, L iles' bike landed o n to p of Leisk 's face, badl y breaking hi s jaw. Leisk was carried off th e tra ck on a str etcher a nd was air-lifted toa nea rb v hospita l. Liles ma naged to co n tin ue o n. Wh ile a ll thi s was going o n , Bo wen slipped by O 'Mara for th ird . Once into second, Ward had a clear shot at th e leader, J oh nso n. At first , it look ed as though Ward wo ul d reel in J ohnso n and g ive him a ru n for h is money, bu t it never materialized. Every tim e Wa rd got clos e, J o h nso n wou ld slightly pu ll. away. Near th e end of the moto, la pped traffic wa s beginn in g to pl a y a m ajor factor in th e race . especially since th e trac k was so o ne -lined. But J ohnson kept hi s coo l a nd managed to get around th e traff ic cleanl y, wh ile Ward was sligh tly dropping back. Back in fifth wa s Bailey, wh o co u ldn 't gain any grou n d at a ll on the leaders. Ba iley sta rted th emo to in fift h, and stayed there until the finis h. With th e checkered fla g in sight, J ohnson enjoyed a two-second lead on Ward. wh o had a large di stance over Bowen . J ohnson crossed th e checkered flag with h is first win o f th e season, ahead of Ward , Bow en , O 'M ara, Bail ey, Ryan , Burnworth, Holley, Glover and Holland. J ohnson lapped all th e wa y up to Holland. " It feels so good to finall y win h ere," said Johnson. " I' m su rp rised that th e competition isn 't as tough as I thought it would be. A bunch o f th e to p g uys just aren't rid ing up to m y expectatio ns. I th ought Ward wo ul d be to ugher. Last week in H ouston , Ward wasn ' t really p us hi ng me befo re I crashed, a nd to day , it wa s ki nd o f the same way ." 125 Pro-Am The 125cc P ro-Am featured so me exce lle nt racing , a nd th e fin ish had everyone on th eir feet. Donny Sch mit a nd his Ka wasak i ja m med to th e front of the p ack a t th e start a head of Drey Dircks, Team Green 's T yson Vo h land, W ill ie Su rratt, Carroll R ich ar dson (Kaw) and Bader Manneh (Ya m) . Schmit jumped o ut to a threeseco nd lead , whi le Surra tt moved into th ird a n d sta rted ree li ng in .. ..Ja.-8 . • • • • Dircks. Surratt' s drive was ternporarily hampered when he fell over in a tu rn , bu t he d idn 't lose an y positions. Sch mi t h eld o n to h is slim lead for the first fo u r laps before Dircks bega n clos ing in. On th e fifth lap , Surratt was inches behind the lead er, Schmit, a nd wa s searching for a n ope n ing to mak e th e pass, whi ch he found shortly aft er. Dircks dov e in sid e Schmit and made th e finishing touches on Schmit over a set of jumps. After ta king over th e lead , Dircks wa s u ntouchab le. pulling away in a hurry. Dir cks developed a five-second lead by th e seventh lap, but his night ca me to a n abrupt end when his Honda came to a stop over some j u m ps. He kicked a nd kicked but h is H onda wouldn't fire. He wat ch ed Schmit retak e th e lead with Surra tt in ch es behind. With three laps rem a inin g, th e dogfight for th e lea d was in hi gh gear. S urratt, wh o came from behind to win in H ouston, was hop in g to do the sa me ton ig h t. H e put his front w hee l al ongsid e Sch mi t's rear wh eel many times, bu t Sch mi t kept sla m ming th e doo r sh u t. Dur in g th e fin al lap, th e battle was hotter th an ever as Surratt pursu ed Schm it. But th e Kawasaki rider from Bloomington, Minniso ta, held on for th e win . Surra tt took second a hea d of Vohland, Richardson, Ray Sommo (Kaw), Craig Can o y, Kurt H endriksen (Ka w), Rob ert Naughton (Han) and Eddie H icks (Yam) . Results 250 MAIN: 1. Rick Johnson (Han ); 2. Jeff Ward (Kaw) ; 3. Keith Bowen (Yam t 4 . Johnny C "Mar a (Han); 5. Oavid Bail ey (Han); 6. Rick Ryan (Kaw ); 7. SCon Burnworth (Vam ); 8 . J im Holle y (Yam ); 9 . Brae Glo ver (Yam); 10 . Georg e Holl and (Suzj; 11. Gu y Cooper (Hon ~ 12. Larry Brooks (Han ); 13 . M icky Dy mo nd (Han ); 14 . Ron Lachien (Ka w~ 15 . AJ. Wh it ing ( Suz ~ 16 . Alan King (Kawl; 17. Er ik Kehoe (S uz); 18 . JoJo Kell er (Yam); 19 . St even Burdette (Suz); 20 . Billy U les (Kaw) . 125 PRO· AM: 1. Don nie Schmit (Kaw) ; 2. W illie Surratt (Han); 3 . Tyson Vohland (Kaw); 4 . Carr oll RichardOOf1 (Kaw) ; 5 . Bader M anneh (Vam); 6. Ray Somma (Vam); 7 . Cra ig Canoy (Han) ; B. Kurt Hen driksen (Kaw ); 9 . Robert Naughton (Han); 10 . Eddie Hicks (Yam); 11. Travis Brown (Han); 12 . Kit Vick (Vam l; 13 . Oean Ma t son (Kawl; 14 . John Ray (Han); 15. DaVid Graff (Han); 16. James Chamberlain (Han); 17 . Gr eg Flana gan (Kaw) ; 18 . Lar ry Gentsch (Kawl; 19 . J ohn Zahrt (Yam); 20 . Orey Oirc ks (Han) . POINTS STANDING ; 1. Rick J ohnson (67); 2. Oavid Ba iley (631; 3 . Joh hny O'M ara (5 6); 4 . Keit h Bowen (53); 5. Jeff Ward (47); 6 . Broc G lover (42 ~7 . George Holland (40); B. J im Holley (33); 9 . Ron Lectnen (32); 10. Erik Kehoe (2 5); 11. M icky Dymond (241; 12. Rick Rya n (23 ); 13 . (Tie) Larry Brooks/ Jeff Lai sk/ BillyUles( 18); 16 . Scott Burnworth ( I 5); 17. Guy Cooper (14); 1B. (Tie) Brian Myerscough /Ross Pederson/Danny Storbeck (10). ~ .. l:,.a ..J ..

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