Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Keith Turpin finished second behind' Ronnie Tichenor on Saturday, but came back to beat TIchenor on Sunday. Johnny O'Mara's two fourth place fin ishes in Pontiac moved him into third place in the points race, but he trails Johnson by 54 points . 10 int o th e lead of heat one followed by Frisz an d Ro ss Pederson. R yan immediately o pe ned a lead o n th e field as fir st Fri sz and th en Kell er se ttle d into th e runner -up slo t. By th e stan of lap fou r, R yan h el d a 4.3-second lead on Kell er with Pederson third a nd Frisz fou n h. T he o n ly change ca me on th e la st lap when Pederson sh ot by Keller to fin ish seco nd . R ya n had won hi s seco nd heat in two nigh ts a nd showed w hy he is cons ide red o ne of the to p priva teers o n th e ci rcui t. The second heat saw Kehoe grabbi ng the hol eshot o ver H icks, Warren, Cooper, Eaton, H olley, H oll a nd a nd Lechien . Hick s grabbed the lea d sho n ly a fter th e sta rt to lead rh e field a fte r o ne lap. Lechien , mea n whil e, wa s o n the move and u p to fif lh a t th e en d o f o ne la p. Keh oe sta rted to pressu re Hick s, bu t sudde n ly Lechien was o n to p o f both o f th em with Warren foll o wing . On lap seve n , Lechien pulled off the p er fect pass on Warren, wh o had gotten by Kehoe for th e lead. Lechien h eld o n for th e win o ver Warren, Kehoe a nd H olland; H olley was o ff th e pace a nd wo u ld have to transfer via th e semi. Wa rd entered turn o ne with the lead i n the th ird heat with Bowen and Gl o ver si de-by -si de foll owed by Brooks. Ward 's lead didn 't last long, ho wever, as an ultra-aggressive Bowen dove under th e Kawa saki p ilo t enteri ng th e tunnel. By th e en d of la p five, Bowen h eld a 3.2-seco nd lea d over Ward with Glover hanging o n to third a fter Broo ks' race ended with a hard ba il in the whoop section. Ward closed 'th e gap in th e fin a l laps, bu t Bow en held on for the win a fte r co m p leting the eigh t laps in seve n minutes, 23. IB seco n ds, a full 14 secon ds fa ster than Johnson 's fa st h ea t o n Saturday. J ohnson a nd Bai ley renew ed th eir rivalry in the fourth and fin al h eat with Johnso n taki ng th e ho lesh o t, Ba iley d idn ' t li ke th e o rder and shot by to lead th e sta n o f th e seco nd lap a head o f J ohnson, Murphy. Fran k a nd Burn wonh; O 'Mara was back in eigh th p la ce a t the end of th e firs t lap. J ohnson took th e lead again o n th e seco nd lap a n d that held to the finis h . L ap six sa w O ' Mara go by Burn- wonh on th e insid e o f th e uphill hairpi n to take over fourth: and shortIy a fterwa rds h e zap ped Murphy to ta ke third. J o h nson 's win was a seco nd slo wer than Bo wen 's. Semis The first semi tu rn ed out to be a thriller as Coen led the field into tu m o ne; Stacy was second fo llowed by Brooks. Coen 's lead was short- lived as h e ba il ed in the uph ill hairpin o n th e seco nd lap letting Sta cy , L iles a nd Brooks fly by. T he big change came on th e fo unh la p when L iles went down trying to pass Stacy. Brooks gai ned the most fro m the misc ue as he shot by both riders to gra b th e lead. Liles got u p in founh p lace a nd started u pon a fearless rampage to wa rd s th e fron t. Brooks, m ea nwh ile , had o pe ne d up a co m fo rta ble lead . T he fin al la p s saw L iles d ispose of ca rso n a nd qu ickl y gai n o n Stacy. Liles wa s goi ng ha rd a nd a lmost cras hed twice o n lap seven . H e flew th e tabletop jump before th e sta n fin ish li ne on th e final la p in a la st d itch -effo rt to zap Stacy, but h e botto med o u t h a rd and had to sett le for thi rd. . T he second semi turned int o a H olley/Cooper war. But it was Bu rn wonh who led th e first two laps. Cooper, however , took over wi th Holley in to w a nd th e tw o were soon ba ngi ng ba rs a ll over the track. Bo th ri ders were rid ing aggress ively, a nd a t o ne time th ey nea rl y co li ided off a set o f doubles. H oll ey pushed Cooper o ut of th e wa y o n lap seven in tum o ne w ith King ta ki ng adva ntage to m oveup o n H o lley. Kin g got close, but H o lley held o n for th e win with Bu rn worth th ird and Cooper fo unh. Last Chance Qualifier Sunday's LC Q will lo ng be remem bered in Po ntiac as Th e Guy Cooper Show. Cooper, a fter crashi ng o n th e first la p a nd fa lli ng o ff th e pace, put o n a show th a t had th e p eople o n th eir feet. N ot even J o hnson was a ttempting th e doubles o n Su nday a nd Bailey tr ied it o nce a nd won't forget i t fo r a while as he nearly crashed. Bu t Cooper sto le the show fro m race winner Burnwonh by co n sta n rlv clea ring th e tripl es. H e not on ly cleared th em , but he d id it in style; ei ther fu ll y crossed-u p or w it h o ne fist in the a ir. J ohnson a nd Bailey , a lo n g wi th the rest o f th e pits, wa tched in a mazeme nt. Bu t wh ile Cooper p ro vid ed th e entertain me nt, Burnwo n h earned the fin al transfer spot int o th e main even t. 125cc Main The Turpin /Tichen or baule from Saturday never mat eri ali zed as T u rpi n gra bbed th e hol esh ot a nd led wire-to-wire. Tiche nor, m eanwh ile. got off the lin e in founh a nd by th e time he had worked h is way into seco nd, Turpin wa s hi sto ry. T he H o nda p ilot pull ed away o n eve ry lap a nd by th e fift h lap held a 6.B-seco nd lead o n T ichenor w i th Wa lls th ird a nd Mark Melton fourth. T he race settled in a nd the posit io ns d id n' t cha nge as T urp in took th e win w ith Tiche nor seco nd, WallS third , Melt on founh a n d R o d n ey Ba rr roundi ng o u t th e to p five. 250cc Main For th e seco nd da y in a ro w it was Bai ley leading J ohnson i n turn o ne with Bo wen , Lech ien a nd Bu rn wo r th in tow. Ward, meanwhile, had a no ther medi ocre sta n a nd was back in six th with O 'M ara eig h th a nd G lover 10th . T he first la p sa w Ba iley stre tch ing o u t a sma ll lead wi th Bo wen d isposing of J ohnson for second with Lechien a lso making a n a ttack o n th e point lead er. Bowen immediatly sta ned reeling in Bailey a nd a t th e end o f la p three wa s rig h t o n th e H onda ace as th e tw o went under th e tunnel. La p four saw Bo wen shoot past Bailey before the uphill ha irpin an d th e Ya maha rider started p u lling away. While Bow en a nd Bailey led th e fie ld, J ohnson had shaken off th e Lechi en a ttack wh ile Bu rn wo n h gai ned o n Lechien, Bail ey was bac k o n Bo wen o n th e si x th lap a nd h e stu ffed it under th e Michigan rider before th e tu n nel turn. Th is wa s th e sta n of Bo wen 's fad e and J o h n so n used fatigue fac to r to reel h im in. By the halfwa y mark , Ba iley led the Bowen/Johnson tu ssle by 4.6 seco nds with Burn wo rth fourth, O 'Mara fifth, Ward six th a nd Lech ien a nd Glover fight ing for seven th . J o hnso n a nd Bowen were figh ting hard fo r th e runner -up spot wi th first J ohnson laking over and th en Bo wen co mi ng righ t bac k. J ohnson, h o wever. soon got the bet ter o f th e duel and sta rted to go a fte r Bailey. M ean whi le, O 'Ma ra had zap ped bo th Burnworth a nd Wa rd to move into fou rth . By la p 19 of the 20 la p main, J o h n so n h ad gotten to withi n 2.5 seconds o f Bailey, but it wa s too late. Bai ley held o n for h is seco nd w in in two da ys o f racing while J ohnson settled for h is seco nd runner-u p finish to keep a 17-point lead. Bo wen took th ird with O'Mara founh , Ward fifth. Bu rnwonh six th , Lech ien seventh a nd Gl o ver eig h th. " It was to ug he r th an la st ni ght beGIUSe 1made i t to ughe r on myself," Bailey said. " I shou ld ha ve never sta rted look ing ba ck at R ick. 1 should 've just paid a ttention to m y m echan ic's signa ls. 1 mad e so many m istakes; I was making myself mi sera ble o u t th ere thinking ' he's ca tch ing me. he 's ca tch ing m e.' 1 wa sn ' t too worried (a bout Bowen 's early charge) and 1do n ' t wa nt to wri te h im . o ff beca use he's ridi ng reall y well th is yea r. Bu t I had a feeli ng a fter looking a t h is face a fter the h eat race th at he's in sh a pe fo r abou t a 10-lap ma in. So 1 th oug ht that h e wou ld pro bably stan makin g mi stakes." When as ked a bo ut a momentum sh ift, J o hnso n smi led a nd sai d, " Tm not worried a bo u t it. 1 haven 't been comfona ble a ll wee ken d . Da lla s is co mi ng up a n d 1 li ke Da ll as. 1 whipped hi s butt th ere last yea r, so he' ll h ave to co ntend with me the re." Results • SATURDAY: 25Occ: 1. David Bailey (Hont 2. Rick Joh nson (Hont 3. Kaith Bowe n (Yamt 4 . Johnny O'Mara (Hont 5. Ron lechien (Kaw t 6. Brae Glover (Yam); 7. Alan King (Kaw); B.Jim Holley (Yam); 9. Billy Ules (Kaw ); 10. George Holla nd (Suz); 11. Eddie Warr en (Kaw); 12. Scott Burnworth (Yam); 13. Guy Cooper (Han); 14. Mark M urphy (Yam); 15. Ricl

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