Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

and Goodman came back from a crash to steal fourth from Button near the end. In moto two, it was Emig all the way. Button went down on the second lap trying to pass Pederson, who held second the entire race. Swink moved up to third by the end of the moto, passing Jackson along the way. Effilg went to the runoff with a point for the overall, followed by Pederson and Jackson. In the second division, Kitsch started out second behind Joel Albrecht, but on the first lap got knocked out of contention, when his carburetor pulled off the intake manifold after a hard landing off a double jump. Albrecht led for half the race until Chris Neal took the lead and held it to the finish. Albrecht finished second ahead of Butch Smith. Neal led the start of moto two, but Kitsch - after a brief battle with Jason S,chultz in which Schultz crashed hard - was in first by the end of lap two. Kitsch went on to win the moto, but it was Neal who took the single point into the runoff. Albrecht ran the entire race in third, and along with Smith who took third in the division, u:ansferred to the final with low points. Button blasted into the lead at the start of the Super Mini final over Ricks and Neal. Rick:; passed Button early in the first lap, while Emig went off the track amid midpack traffic. By the end of the first lap, Ricks held first over Neal and Kitch and Emig had moved up to fourth after Button crashed. On lap two, Ricks went down and gave the lead to Neal, who held it for a lap until Kitsch got past him. Emig was a few seconds behind in third and had Pederson on his rear fender. With just over one lap to go, Neal fell, allowing Emig and Pederson by. Kitsch had built a good lead and cruised the final lap to take the win. Pederson hounded Emig to the finish line, but couldn't get by. That gave the overall win to Emig. Pederson was second overall, and Kitsch took third overall wi th a 5-1 score. Ricks finished fourth in the moto after Neal fell again on the last lap, but Neal got fourth overall. "He (Neal) fell, so that gave me the overall if I just stayed where I was," said Emig. But he admitted he wasn't quite sure if he would stay there. "Pederson was on me the whole way, and I knew that last lap' was going to be pretty tough. But they didn't put out the white flag, so I didn't know it was near the finish until I saw the checkers." The Kawasaki Race of Champions event pitted the champions from the various NMA regions, as well as champions from other racing organizations, against each other for three motos on identically prepared stock KX80s. Each rider drew a number for the machine he would ride, and after each moto the machines were reassinged to different riders to insure fairness. Kitsch grabbed the holeshot at the start of the first ROC moto with Emig, Antunez, Gaddis, Swink and Brent Peterson close behind. Kitsch appeared to have the best running bike, as he quickly pulled away from Emig. Gaddis got by Antunez on the firs~ lap, and the two Suzuki riders seemed to have little trouble adapting to the Kawasakis as thc:y stayed close together and right behind Emig. Kitsch easily went on to win the first round, with Emig leading a tight· bunch of bikes across the line for second. Gaddis dogged Emig the whole way, but took third just ahead of Swink and Antunez. Neal took the holeshot in the second round but was quickly passed Riders gather for the riders meet before the Race of ClJampions event. Three motos were run and all the riders rode identically prepared Kawasaki KX80s. Kitsch won all three motos. by Kitsch. Antunez started third ahead of Gaddis and Emig. On lap two, Gaddis cut under Antunez, then returned the move a short time later. Gaddis got Antunez once again, then put Neal behind him too. In the last half of the race, Gaddis closed the gap on Kitsch, and approaching the finish, Kitsch, Gaddis and Antunez were very close. A few turns from the line, Gaddis got sideways exiting a turn, giving Kitsch an easy win. Gaddis stayed in front of Antunez to take second, while Emig finished fourth. Kitsch was clearly the man to beat in the final moto. Emig started second ahead of Neal, Justin Jensen, Gaddis and Antunez, and Emig passed Kitsch on the first lap. On lap two Kitsch was back in command when Emig dropped out with a rear flat. Gaddis and Antunez stayed together once again and moved by both Neal and Jensen on the first lap then closed in on Kitsch. At the halfway point, Gaddis got by Kitsch, and Neal took third from Antunez. Kitsch stayed right on Gaddis throughout the last lap, and just a few turns from the end, Kitsch went under him in a tight cotner. Gaddis went down in the tUm, and Kitsch coasted to the finish line to take the ROC crown. Gaddis remained in second and was the same overall, while Antunez made a charge at eal that came up short. Antunez was third overall, Neal fourth, and Emig managed to hold on to fifth overall despite his 22-44-16 scores. "The sun was in my eyes," said Kitsch, "and I knew if I got second I'd still win, but I wanted to win all three motos. Gaddis stuffed me, so I followed some of his lines, and on the last lap, I made my move and held him all the way. He tried stuffing me again, but it didn't happen, I wasn't going to let him!" Lewis led from start to finish in the first I 25cc Stock Pro moto. Bryan Emig started out second ahead of Frankie Brundage, Ty Davis and Brian Manley. Brundage moved into second on lap three, then fell to sixth on the fifth lap. Emig once again was second, but Davis took the position a lap later and held it to the finish. Manley moved up to take Honda-mounted Kyle Lewis dominated the 125cc Pro divisions. He topped both the 125cc Stock and Modified classes. third from Emig, and Brundage moved back to fifth at the end. Lewis took the lead at the stan of moto two ahead of Chris Young, Steve Furuya, Dennis Stephenson and Mike Kiedrowski. Lewis quickly opened a small lead, while Kiedrowski moved to third on the first lap then passed Young to take second on lap two. Kiedrowski quickly

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