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/126911
George Holland (above. 11) gets the jump in the second heat race. Johnson (below. 5). Ron Lechien and Jeff Leisk (203) battle in the main. Rick Johnson sails over the finish line jump in Phoenix. taking the main win and the Supercross Championship as well. before 32.900 spectators. AMA/Mlpponclenso Supercross Champlonshl~ Series: Round 11 Johnson clinches title . in Phoenix . By Kit Palmer TEMPE, AZ, MAY 9 It didn't seem likely it would happen tonight, but when the checkered flag dropped in the 250cc main, Team Honda's Ricky Johnson had won the race and had also clinched the 1986 AMA/Nippondenso Supercross Series Championship inside Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium. Johnson took over the lead during the second lap and raced home for the relatively easy win, unaware he had taken the championship as well. The only rider who had a chance at catching Johnson in points was teammate David Bailey, who had a miserable night. It was annonced earlier in the evening that if Johnson won and Bailey finished ninth or worse, the title will be clinched for Johnson, but that eemed very, very unlikely, since Bailey has won the last three supercrosses in a row. As it turned out, though, Johnson did win and Bailey, to everybody's surprise, finished ninth. A few minutes after getting the checkered nag for his sixth win of the series, Johnson was given the official news'that he had won the championship, which came as a complete shock to him; Johnson was e tatic. His first words were, "I'm so excited - I won the championshipl Oh man, I can't believe it. I just didn't think it would happen like this. I thought it would come down to the last-race duel like it usually does. I definitely didn't expect to wrap it up before the end of the series. Jeez, I'm so happy righ now, and it hasn't even sunk in yet." While Johnson whooped it up, Bailey was obviously angry and upset about the whole night 10 general. Ba iley, as well as most of the riders, wa displeased with the track, and losing the championship without a one-on-one dice with John on didn't set well. Bailey left the stadium immediately after the race. Kawaskai's Ron Lechien rode his best race of the season, finishing second ahead of Honda's Johnny O'Mara and defending Supercross Champion, Kawasaki's Jeff Ward. Australian Jeff Liesk rounded out the top five. Honda rider Willie Surratt had the crowd on its feet during the 125cc Pro-Am 20-lap main. Surratt worked his way up from fourth place in a knock-down, go-for-it ride, passing Kawasaki rider Tyson Vohland late inthe race. The event also featured off-road cars, racing on pretty much tht; same course as the motorcycles raced on, which made many of the riders extremely upset. Most of them said the ears made the track dry out too quickly, throughout the night. The riders agreed the course was too easy and not technical enough for a supercross. One rider who was fuming over the situation was Yamaha's Jim Holley, who finished seventh in the main. "The track was terrible," said Holley. ''It's not technical enough, there's no whoops; it was made more for the cars than the motorcycles. I think all of the riders should've packed up their things and gone to dinner instead of racing. We need a riders' organization to prevent things like this happening again." o 'Mara said, "The track was terrible. It was more of a car track than it was for the motorcycles. I just wish the people here could've seen a better race as far as spectacular things, such as jumps and stun." "I could go on for hours," said Bai- ley, "but I can sum it all up in one sentence: Phoenix is one of the few facilities I've seen, where the bathrooms were nicer than 'the track." Even Johnson said, over the loudspeakers, that the cars running on the same course" makes it kind of screwed for the motorcycles." Heats Despite having a sprained, heavily taped left wrist, Suzuki's Erik Kehoe captured the holeshot at the start of the first heat race and immediately pulled away to a comfortable lead. Canadian Ross Pederson followed in second, while Kawasaki riders Eddie Warren and Alan King, and Yamaha rider Russ Wageman fough t for third. Wageman found his way into third during the second lap but came to a sudden stOp when his chain snapped. "I haven't had a chain break on me in five years," said Wageman, "I can't believe it happened." This gave third to King, after he passed Warren, Kawasaki rider Rick Ryan was on the move and passed both Warren and King halfway through the race. From then on, King and Warren traded places a few times. At the finish, it was Kehoe way out in front, followed by Pederson, Ryan and King, who edged Warren. Another Suzuki rider, George Hoiland, found the hot line into the lead at the start of the second heat, but for the first two laps, Holland, Leisk, Holley and Lechien were bouncing off each other, trading places. By lap three, Lechien slipped into second, then sought Holland. Four laps later, Lechien made a contraversial pass on Holland through a wide, sweeper tum. "He (Lechien) came underneath