Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Rick Johnson (5) leads Keith Bowen (9 ) as he stuffs it under Ronn ie Lechien (2) in tum two of Sunday's main; Bailey is already out of the photo . (Below) Saturday's 125cc winner Ronnie Tichenor. 8 been do in g th e trip les in p racti ce. wa s Iourth but ga in ing o n th e leadin g trio . Whitin g bailed in turn three. a llowin g Cooper to snea k into third place while sett ing hi s sig h ts on Warren a nd Frisz. La p th ree saw Warren an d Frisz side -by-side th rough the whoops before the tu nnel a nd across the startl finish line. Cooper was o n th e m ove a nd ga ini ng sligh tly as Warren took th e lead for good o n th e fifth lap. Cooper set Fri sz up for a block pa ss a fter th e tr iples a n d pulled it o ff clea n ly. Mu rphy a lso ga ined on Fr isz a nd passed h im o n the la st lap to finis h th ird behi nd Wa rren and Cooper. Last Chance Qualifier Yamaha-moun ted Murph y led th e LCQ pa ck into th e fir st turn a nd n ever look ed back to take the fin al transfer to the main. Bro oks got o ff th e lin e seco nd, but a battle for th e lead never mat erialized a nd Brook s was o u t o f th e p ro gram . T h ird p lace wen! to Frank with jeff Hicks a nd Wh it in g round in g o u t the to p five. 125cc Main Event T he 125cc Main p itt ed h eat o ne winner Keith T u rp in on h is H onda aga i ns t th e seco nd -hea t-wi n n ing Kaw a saki of . Ron n ie Ti ch enor. As th e ga te dropped , however, it wa s th e Kaw a sak i of Mik e Morris gra bbing th e hol esh ot with Turpin seco nd, j a so n Veigel er th ird a nd Tiche nor fourth. Turpi n took th e lead befo re the end of the first la p with Tichenor soon followi ng in seco nd . T he two leaders ins ta ntly p ull ed a way fro m th e pack a nd were in a class by th emselves, but th e race fo r the lead wa s far from ove r. Tiche nor slow Iy moved up o n T urpin and just . when it seemed th e H onda rid er had ' th e edge, 'T iche nor zapped h im o n th e seven th lap. Tiche nor a lmost sta lled th e Kawa sa ki a la p later , but h e held o n to tak e a 6.6-seco nd win over Turpin . T ary T in ney pu t hi s Honda in thi rd af ter sha ki ng loo se from th e ba ttl e for fourth. T ommy Watts edged Todd Del-loop's Yamaha fo r fourth with Richa rd Ha lstead taking sixth. 250cc Main Could j ohnson cl ea r th e triples for 20 la ps, a nd if he co u ld, wou ld it m atter? Would Ba iley need to do th em ? The q ues tions were SODn a nswered as th e p a ck jammed into turn o ne. Bailey eme rged with h is first holeshot of the year foll ow ed by O 'M ara , j o hnso n , Holland, Bu rn - worth, Bow en , Li les, Warren a nd G lover. Wa rd a nd Lech ien were th e victi ms o f a m id- pa ck sta rt a nd were stuck in traffic. • j ohnson was ted no time a nd quickly had th e crowd o n its feet as he clea red the triples o n th e seco nd la p a nd in th e p ro cess p assed O 'Ma ra . Bo wen was a lso o n O 'M ara a nd at th e en d of la p three th e o rder read Bail ey, (with a 3.3-second · lead ), j o hnson , O 'Mara , Bowen . G love r, Holl and, Ward a nd Lechien. By th e end of lap five. Bailey was beg inning to stre tch a lead a nd led by fo ur-seco nds, a ll with o ut doi ng the tr iples. Meanwh ile, j ohnson roru inued to a ma ze th e crowd, but was losing sigh t o f Bail ey. O 'Ma ra cras hed in th e turn foll ow in g th e triples a nd Bowen went by for third. Gl over was up to fourth , but was in a battle CD n sistin g of himself , O 'Ma ra , Ward a nd Lechi en . Lap seven saw O 'Ma ra ge t back by G lo ver and moments la ter Ward virtu a ll y en ded a ll cha nces o f a repeat Supercro ss Championship. Comi ng o ff th e doubles, Gl over hi t a rut a nd veered in front o f th e in -the-a ir War d . Th e Kawa saki fa ctory p ilot slam med in to G lo ver and crashed o u t o f th e race . At th is p oint G lover began to fad e a nd Lech ien went by to cha llenge O 'M ara . At th e halfway p o int, Ba iley led j ohnson by 8.6 seco nds foll ow ed by Bow en . O 'Ma ra , Lech ien, Gl over , H oll ey a nd H olland. The o n ly race th e rest of th e wa y home was H oll ey's cha lle nge of Gl over; Holl ey ended up lead ing his tea m m a te for five la ps before slowi ng in th e lat er stages of th e race a nd a llowing Gl over to rega in sixth place. j ohnson co nti nued h is assa u lt o n the trip les; whe n he d id it rig h t th e section of whoops follow ing tne jump was a breeze, but if he got o ff lin e h e was slowed dramatically. By th is tim e, Bail ey had it o n cr uise co nt ro l a nd took a n l l- second win a nd a gai n of three points o n j ohnso n. Bo wen rode a co ns istent, smoo th race for third in fro n t o f th e home fan s wh ile O'Mara co nti n ued to ha ng in th ere wit h a fou rth . Lech ien took fifth with G lover sixth . " I was really uncomfortable to ni gh t," joh n sDn sa id a fter th e race. " In th e q ua lifier I wa s breathi ng reall y. hard a nd then th e p ar ad e lap sta rted me breath in g, I knew I wou ld be in trouble wh en 20 la ps ca me. As soon as I p assed O 'Ma ra I sta rted breathing hard , lik e I wa s a lready tir ed, I co uldn' t ga in tha t back a nd I wa s j us t riding rea lly tig ht ; I wa sn ' t flowing, I wasn 't riding lik e I usu a lly ride. The best thing I d id a ll ni ght wa s jump th e triples; wh en I wou ld do it rig ht I wou ld mak e u p a n a wfu l lo t o f tim e, but I was hav in g a h ard ti me co nce ntra ting." " I fel t co m forta ble," Bailey said. " I was a little bit tense in my heat race. My mechanic built some a rm warmers m ad e o ut of sheepski n a nd everybody kind o f laughed a t m e because o f th at. Bu t m y forearms d idn't ge t-p u mped in th e fin a l a t a ll. I felt terrible a fte r m y hea t ra ce a nd I co u ld n' t rea lly pu t a ny th ing togeth er, but I knew I would do well if I co u ld just ge t relaxed and loose before th e fin al. Tha t's the first h olesh ot I' ve go t a ll year. He (Joh n so n) ca n be beat en. I fclt lik e I co u ld have beaten h im a few o ther tim es, bu t th at's racing ; yo u' ve got to ge t th e sta rts. The triples were prett y rutted , so wh y take th e risk? I chose no t to do it because I wa s pu lli n g away; if Rick wa s ca tch ing m e th en I think I ma y have sta rte d to jump it. but as it was I didn 't have to. It feels rea l good." Sunday Su nday's p rogr am sta rted in th e same fashion as Sa turday , in fact it a lmost repea ted itself. Ryan leaped

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