Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff.Ward (3) pulled a killer holeshot in the second 500cc moto , but Johnson (2) dove inside of Ward in the first turn for the lead. Ward. Billy Fr ank , a pri vatee r Yamaha rider from California who fini shed ninth overall in th e 500cc clas s, sai d. " Yea h , it wa s a long supercross. It 's h ard o n a 500, because if you're n ot timing everythin g jus t ri ght, yo u're going to get out of sh ape." The 500cc class featured a $13,400 purse, and for winning both rnotos, johnson p ocketed $914 (p lus bonus monies). In th e l25cc class, a $6600 purse was up for grabs, an d it wa s Cooper taking th e big sh are a whopping $370. 500cc National Forty-one riders lined th e sta rt ing gate for th e first 500cc Na tional moto , a nd it was j ohnson taking th e early lead a head of Stanton a n d Fisher. " I d idn 't get a real good jump," said j ohnson, " b ut I held my line going into th e fir st turn. Fish er kind of swept wide an d took Ward with him. I just held my line on th e ins ide and ca me o u t with the h ol eshot.' Kawa sak i ri der, Whi sk ev P ete 's Casino -sponso red T ommy Watts wa s ru n n in g third ahe ad of Lechien and Ward, wh o ba iled th rough 'a secti on of wh oops halfway into th e first lap. . " I h itsomebody's rear w heel," sai d Ward. " I veered off to th e right an d hit th e th ird or fourth whoop with my one foot off th e footpeg, and I couldn't get to th e brake. This threw me up and over the handlebars, and then I h ad no con trol. So I was off the side of the track , and I hit a pole which made me fall ove r. Then my leg got caught back, so I couldn' t ge t up." The pole caught Ward in the chest, where h e's healing fro m a rib inj ury. Ward rejoined th e race near the back of th e p ack. From that point on, all Ward could do was strug!?le to ninth b y th e fini sh, d esptte cra sh ing two more times: Up ' front , johnson continued to lead and began pulling away from Stanton , Fisher , Watts , Lechien, Frank and Honda-mounted Tom Carson. About five minutes into .th e 30minute-plus-two-lap moto, Lechien passed Watts through the section of whoops, where Ward had crashed, then set after Fisher. About another five minutes went by before Lechien flew by Fisher over a double jump. Onl y a few seconds se pa ra te d Lechien fro m seco nd pl ace Sta n to n , a n d th e fa ctory Ka wa saki rider quickly made up th e difference. T he two riders battled for a few laps, then Lechien tried to block pass Stanton in a. turn , but th ey co llided with Le chien going down. Lechien quickly remounted but not before Fi sh er roosted by. Fisher co n ti n ue d his drive b y catch ing up to Stanton, and at the 30-m in ute point, Fish er slip ped by Sta n to n for second: A few minutes later , the checkered flag was out and johnson took an eight-second win over Fish er , who was followed in by Stanton, Lechien, H onda-mounted Ray Sornm o , Yam ah a ' s Keith Bow en , Frank, Yamaha rid er j im H olley a n d Carson . Even though j ohnson wrap ped u p th e ch am p io nsh ip in th e second m ot o, th e ra ce was fairl y uneventful after th e fir st few lap s. Ward timed th e ga te perfectl y an d led th e pack into th e fir st turn, but . j oh nson dove to the' inside a n d sna tched th e lead away . " Wa rd h ad a tremendous start an d was two b ike len gths a head of me," sa id j ohnson, " b ut h e let o ff a little bit too ea rly a nd swept wide. I just tucked in on th e inside a n d got him down the straightaway." " I jus t wasn 't aggressive enough," said Ward. " I th o ugh t th e turn was going to be slippery , but it was tacky. Rick just mono-railed it around. I wa s just sitting there being lazy. Right now I don 't have th e drive; I've just been hurting so much lately, and I didn 't have the motivation." A few turns after th e start, Watts sn u ck by johnson for the lead, but johnson, " go t a good drive going over th e jumps and passed h im ' back." After the first lap, it was johnson with a big lead over Ward, who was followed by Lechien, Fisher, Watts and Stanton. But during the seco nd lap, Ward cras hed again. " I wa shed ou t in a corner, then th e front wheel hooked up, and th e bars got m e right in the ri bs, again," said Ward. " It kn ocked th e wind ou t o f me." A lap later Ward pulled out. " I couldn't ride anymore," said Defending 125cc National Champion Micky Dymond (1) spent nearly half the first moto trying to get around Fred Andrews (44). . Ward. " I don 't want to go th rough th e p ain a ny more." With Ward out of the race and Stanton taking over fourth from Watts, the race was basi cally over except for Bowen also sl ipping by Watts. For the remaining 20 m inutes, the top 10 positions'were very sp read out with nobody cha lle ngin g. johnso n easily won th e moto, and th e overa ll , while Lechien took seco n d. Third went to Fisher, foll owed by Sta nto n, Bowen, Watts, Sommo and H olley. 125cc National Cooper nabbed h is first o f two holeshots, on his FMF Honda, in ro u n d one but was snuffed out for the lead by Schmit. At the compl e- tion of th e first lap, it was Schmit out in front followed by Cooper, Kawasaki support rider Bader Manneh, Kehoe, Carlo Coen , Yamaha 's j eff Leisk, Holland, jason Upshaw, local favorite Mark Mussleman, Rick Ryan and Larry Brooks. . " O ff the sta r t," said Cooper, "Holland was on the left of me , and Kehoe was on the right of me . They actually got th e jump, but I was pulling right with 'em - elbows lo w, tryin g to go in between th em. It turned out pretty good , then 'Sch m it came lo w an d took me to th e . tir es, so I ca me o ut behind h im. " It wa s during the second lap wh en four T eam Su zuki riders a ll co ll ided into eac h other with all of them crash ing. Suzuki support rider Ron- . 7

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