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/126973
The start of the first 500cc moto saw Jeff Ward (3 ) take the holeshot ahead of Jeff Stanton (5 6 ), Rick Johnson (2) and Jeff Hicks (33) . Johnson won both motos. Team Honda's M icky Dymond soared to his f ifth overall 125cc National w in with a 1-2 tally. Dymond has a commanding po ints lead. The battle of the day - Dymond (1) vs . Donny Schmit (401) . AMA National Championship 500/J.25ee MX Series: Round 2/8 Johnson, ~mond seoreh Red Bud By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones BUCH ANON, MI , J ULY 5 You might say the R ed Bud T rack 'N' Trail 500cc National ended before it even began. But no matter how you look a t it, it was T eam Honda's Ricky Johnson claiming, yet another outdoor N a ti ona l victory ~ h i le h is teammate ' M I·Ck Y D y m~n d ca p tu re d h IS . . fifth overa ll victory of th e senes 6 in th e hi ghl y-competitive 125cc class . The facto ry Kawasaki team ran in to ser ious p robl em s a nd were pr etty much kn ocked outof th e 500cc co mpetition even before th e stan of th e first mOIO, wh en former 125cc Na tional Champion Ro n Lechien miscued a d ouble jump during practi ce, cras hed a nd injured hi s sho ulde r. And to add to Ka wasaki's Red Bud blu es, 1987 Supercross Champion J eff Wa rd also cras hed over a doub le jump in practice, injuring his tail bon e and ri bs. Wit h · Lech ie n o ut a n d Wa rd injured , J oh nso n had it easy goi ng into both motos a nd wo n go ing away . Onl y local h ero J eff Sta nton a n d h is facto ry Yamaha co u ld so me wha t keep J ohnson and h is Moto-X Fo x/ Bell Helmets/Oakl ey-sp onsored facto ry H onda in sig ht . < • J ohnso n went 1-1 for the overall a hea d of Sta nton's 3-2 ta lly and Ca nadian Natio na l cham p R oss Pederson 's 5-3. Ward managed to rid e th e fi rs t mo to 10 fi nis h a respec ta ble seco nd, but a seco nd m oto , seco n d- tu rn cras h re- aggrava ted th e practice cras h injuries, pu ttin~ Ward ~ut for t~e day . Ward said of hi s pracuce crash, "The cra nk brok e in half rig ht when I went off the big do u bles a nd locked up the rear whee l. The bik e went sidewa ys so I ju mped over the bars and flew about 60 feet without m y bik e and landed on my tailbone, th at was about it. I didn 't think I was going to ride when I did it. " In th e 125cc class , Hondalin e/ Arai H elmets-backed Dymond had to work extremely hard for h is 1-2 rnoto fini sh es wh ich was eno ug h to gi ve th e defending 125cc ch a m p th overall victory over Yama ha 's J eff Leisk a nd Suzu ki 's Erik Kehoe, Dym on d ca me bac k from an eigh th pl ace sta n in th e first rn o tn before claimi ng th e win, while in ro und IW Dymond. again , had to O mak e u p for a so-so start to finish seco n d , AXO Spons /S hoeisponsored Leisk went 5-1, wh ile' Kehoe went 4-3. By winning both rnoto s, J ohnson co llected $ 1000, o u t of a to tal $22,000 pu r se in the 500cc class, whi le Dymond pocketed $408 for hi s overall victory, ou t of a $7332 purse. The Red Bud National, sponso red b y Ma lc olm Sm it h P r oducts, a ttracted a n estima ted 6000 specta-, tors to the T 'N 'T MX pa rk. T he hill y