Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ a 1 =-1 .' " ~ ~ Team Suzuki's Johnny O'Mara (4 ) and Rick Johnson (1) dice over second place, while Hannah cruised out in front du ring the second 250cc moto. O'Mara wound up f in ish ing th ird overall. via a 3-4 tally. Erik Kehoe ran strong in both 125cc rnotos, but bad starts kep t him busy working up through t he pack. He finished second overall . 8 (Kawasaki) followed by Pederso n, Kessler , Mike Fi sh er (Kawasaki ), Lechien a nd Doug Hoover (Honda ). " I go t a good start , man , a nd I was p umped," said H annah . " I said, 'I ai n 't go ing to th ro w thi s thing a way.' So I started to cru ise for the first couple of laps to chec k thi ngs ou t, but I cru ised a li ttle too slow a nd Lech ien passed me. I didn't want him (Lech ien) ge tti n' o ut to where he thinks he could beat me, so I just passed him back. T hen I got up on th e "a-Show" and tried 10 go, ma n. " I kicked back a little in the middle of the race," conti nued H a nna h , " a nd J ohnson pulled two seconds on me, a nd I said, 'I'd bett er get on the gas, 'ca use there's 15 mi n u tes left." Wh il e all th e co m motio n was go ing on abo u t H ann ah 's seco ndmoto victory, overa ll winner J ohnson sa t quietl y in the H onda pi ts. " I feel good abo ut H annah ," said J o hnson. " I'm glad to see him do good. I get along wit h Bob , and he's o ne of the few g uys you ca n go o ut and ba ng handlebars with, and he won't really try to kill you . I wis h he cou ld do it more oft en." " T his ankle in jury is hanging in there way too long," sa id Ward . " I' m basi cally go ing to scra tch th is championship unless Ricky has a prob lem . But I'm still going to give it 100%; I have to let my ankle heal. " 125cc Dymond began hi s ro mp in th e l 25cc cla ss as soo n as th e gate dropped for th e sta rt of the first mo to. Dymond shot into the lead in ch es a hea d of Suzuki 's Keith Turpin. After th e first lap, it was Dymo nd, Turpin, Ryan, Cagiva 's Mike H ealey, H onda- mount ed Gu y Cooper and Yamah a rider Todd DeH oop in the top six po sitions. Yamaha' s J eff Leisk was invol ved in a first -lap getoff, and 125cc class points leader, Suzuki's George H oll an d . was foun d m idpack. Du ring the third lap, Ryan found a line around T urpin for second place and actua lly began clos ing a little o n Dymond. At th e same tim e, Keh oe was ga in ing gro und after a so-so start. Three laps later, Dymo nd sudden ly fou nd himself with a IO-second lead o n Ryan , who opened u p some d istance betw een himself a nd Turpin. Healey still maintai ned control of fourt h a head of Cooper, DeH oop , Kehoe a nd Ya maha rider Shawn Kalos. During the next couple la ps, Kehoe shot past both DeHoo p and Cooper a n d was c harg ing after . H ealey, event ua lly finding an opening arou nd the so le Cagiva factory ride r at Southwick. At the same time, Suzuki's Donny Sch mit a nd Yamaha rider Sco tt Brown were battling mid pack until collid ing over a fast drop-off j um p and cras hed, putting both riders out of ac tio n. Brown was tak en to th e hosp ital, wh ile Sch mit even tua lly rode back to th e pits wi th a sore hip. " I was passin g him ," sa id Schmit, "but he cut over on me and we nailed eac h o ther in the air. Wh en 1 la nded, I ju st went over th e bars. I hit the gro und so hard, I was all dizzy." At thi s tim e. the top six riders Dym ond, R ya n , Turpin , Kehoe, Healey an d Cooper - were fair ly spread out, whi le a hea led ba ttl e raged over seventh through 14th he - tween Cooper, De Van e, Ka los, Del-loop. H ollan d . La rr y Bro oks (H onda ). Eddi e Wa rren (Ka wasaki) a nd Leisk. At o ne point, Holla nd h ad worked up 10 se ve n th but crashe d back 10 nint h. "I didn 't get a good start," said H o ll a n d , " th e n about halfway th rough the first lap, someone j ust plowed me and knocked me off. I got bac k gll ng again , tried to work up, then I went over the bars .p retty hard a nd my goggles came off." At abou t the same time , H olland's teamma te, Ro nn ie Tichenor, who was ru nni ng toward the front , also bailed. " I came off a big jump a nd landed a t th e bot tom where the mud was," said T ichenor, "and my fro nt end jus t tuc ked in a nd I went over. I hit my kn ee o n the handlebar. " In pain, Tich enor decided to pull ou t of the race. Up fron t, Dymond contin ued to cru ise co mforta bly wi th the lead, wh ile Keh oe slip ped by third place T ur pi n. At th e finish it was Dymond eas i ly wi nni n g 'a h ea d o f R ya n , Kehoe, T urp in, H ea ley, Cooper, DeVa n e, Ho ll and , DeH oo p and Brooks. Rya n nabb ed the holesh ot in moto _ two a hea d of T urpin a nd Dymo nd , wh o - as did Cooper - slipped by Turpin durin g th e first go-a round. In fourth was Brooks follo wed by Kal os, DeVan e, DeHoop and Kehoe; Holland was 13th. Rya n and Dymond battled heavil y, kn ocking into each o ther a cou p le of times for the first four laps before Dymond took over. Ryan tried to keep Dymond in sig h t but couldn 't , as th e factory H onda rider pulled away - again. Back in third, Cooper was fendi ng off a freigh t train of r ider s: Kal o s, Br o oks, Turpin , Keh oe, DeVane, DeH oop, Tichen or, Leisk, Barry Carsten and Holland. The battle betw een these 10 riders raged th rough ou t the rnot o, but it was Keh oe a nd Leisk who were reall y making up ti me. Keh oe and Leisk event uall y took over the third a nd fourth spo ts a nd reeled in Ryan , wh o was begi nning to fad e. " Mic key a nd I were go ing a t it so hard a t the start, I j ust got real tir ed, " said Rya n , wh o ended u p dropping back to fifth . Once aga in, Dym ond br eezed hom e for his second win of th e day, thi s tim e a hea d of Kehoe, Leisk, DeVane a nd R yan, wh o barely held back H olland 's lat e-mot e cha rge. Seventh went to Cooper, wh ile Fred An d re ws (Ho nda), Warren a nd DeH oop rounded ou t the top 10. Desp ite fin ish in g seventh overall, Ho lland barely maintain s h is series po in t lead over Dymond , 11 6-113. • Results 125: 1. M icky Dymond (Hon) 1-1 ; 2. Erik Kehoe (Suz) 3-2; 3. R,ck Ryan (Hon) 2-5; 4 . Vin ce DeVane (Suz) 7-4; 5. Guy Cooper (Honl 6-7; 6. Jeff Leisk (Yam) 12-3; 7. George Holland (Suz) 8·6 ; 8. M ike Healey (Cagl 5-14 ; 9. Todd DeHoop (Yam) 9-11; • , O. Eddie Warren (Kaw) 11-9; 11. Larry Brooks (Hon) 10-12 ; 12. Keit h Turpin (SUl) 4-31 ; 13. Fred And rews (Hon) DNF-8; 14 . Patr ick Bart on (HonI1 613; 15. Ron Tichenor (Suz) DNF-l0; 16. Will iam Dl ielak (Hon) 14-1 8; 17. Shaun Kalos (Yam) 1337; 18. Dean Matson (Hon) 18-1 7; 19. Tyson Voh land (Kaw) 30 - 15; 20 . Billy Whitl ey 20. 250 : 1. Rick Johnson (Hon) 2-2; 2. Bob Hannah (SUl) 4 - 1; 3. Johnny O'Mare (SUl) 3-4; 4. Ron Lechien (Kaw) 1-9; 5. Ross Peder son (Yam) 6-6; 6. Jeff Ward (Kaw) 15-3; 7. M ickey Kessler (Kaw) 11-7; 8. Jo J o Kell er (Kaw) 14·5 ; 9. Joe Waddington [Hon) 5- 14; 10. Jeff Hicks (Hon) 7- 15; 11. Ray Sommo (Hon) 9· 16; 12. Dennis Hawt horn e (Kaw) 8·20; 13. Mike Fisher (KawI34 ·8; 14 . Doug Hoover (Honl 23-1 0; 15. W illie Surratt (SUl) 20 -1 1; 16. Randy McConn (Kaw) 19-12; 17. Kurt McM illen (Hon) 10-32 ; 18. David Paquette (Hon) 12-36; 19. Keith Bow en (Yam) 4 1-13 ; 20 . J ohn Dowd (Kaw) 13·2 1. . AMA 12 5 NA TIONAL CHA M PION SHIP M X POINT STANDINGS: 1. George Holland (116); 2. Mic ky Dymond (1131: 3. Ricky Ryan (107): 4. Jeff Leisk (106) ; 5. Erik Kehoe (106); 6. Larry Brooks (90); 7. Guy Cooper (89); 8. Eddie Warren (69); 9. Donny Schm it (60 ); 10. M ike Healey (571. A MA 250 NATIO NA L CHA MP IONSHIP MX POINT STANDINGS: 1. Rick Johnson (144); 2. Jeff Ward (106 ); 3. Ron Lechie n (97); 4. Ross Pederson (93); 5. Bob Hannah (87); 6. Keith Sowen (821; 7. M ike Fisher (60); 8. Jeff Stant on (57); 9. (Tie) Jeff Frisz/J o Jo Keller (44).

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