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/126980
Honda 's Micky Dymond clinched his second 125cc National C 'ship . cou ldn 't get it into the next gear, " sa id Lechien . By the second lap, Lech ien had fou nd his way aro u nd Walls but a lso fou nd that Ward a nd J o hnson had a lrea dy opened u p a comfortab le lead . Ward had pu lled a few seconds o n J o hn son, who seemed 10 be hang in g -b ack and scoping Ward 's . lines, W ~ il e J ohnson s ta l k ~d Wa rd , Lechien and Walls were fai rly sp read O Ul, and D ub ach, Sta nton , Holley and Frank were invol ved in a dogfight for fifth th rough n in th pl aces. Lim ping arou nd the. track in last pla ce was Ka wa sa ki ri d er Mik e Fi s her , w ho was raci n g wi th a painful knee inj ury. H e planned to try to co llect po ints a nd ma intain his th ird pl ace in the sta nd ings, but he dropped ou t o f th e m oto and for th e day, falling into a th ird-place tie with Lech ien in th e fin al point sta ndi ngs. By the eigh t minute mark of th e 30- mi n u te -p l us -t wo -la ps m oto , J ohnson was push in g Ward in every tl:lm , searching for. an opening. It didn t happen until abo u t 15 minutes into the race wh en J ohnson overtook Ward through a section of sandy wh oop s. A · few turns la ter, Ward's moto came to a n end, a nd J ohnson 's a lmost did. A lapped rider, Gary But ch er, had cr~s hed o n a hi gh speed jump and neither J ohnson nor Ward cou ld see Butcher as th ey a p p roache d the jump. J ohnson came flyi ng over the Ju m p a nd pl owed into th e downed rider. The T eam H onda ri der was on the verge of crashi ng whe n Ward ra m med into th e back of J ohnson and ac tua lly kept J ohnson from falling down. Ward , however, wasn 't . as lucky. H e was p itched over th e h a n dl eba r s, and w hen Ward remounted hi s Kawasaki it had a ben t front disc bra ke, putting hi m out of the rn oto, " T he guy fell righ t in front o f me," sai d J ohnson. " I cras hed into him a nd went sideways, then Ward hit me fro m behind and knocked me back u p." "There was nothing I could do ," said Ward. "The two of the m were . blockin g th e lin e a nd I sla m me d on the brakes, but I was up in the air. Luckil y I didn 't get hurt." . Ward walked off the track, wa tchi ng John son cruise ou t in front with a hu ge lead on Lech ien. From tha t poi nt on , th e race was uneventfu l with th e top riders even ly spread o ut. Johnson easily took th e win foll ow ed by Lech ien , Watts, Stanton , Bowen , H oll ey and Duba ch . Round in g o u t the top 10 were Jeff H icks, Carson and Kip Sandell. Frank dro p ped o u t of th e race wit h bike p roblems. " By the time I go t into seco nd," sai d Lechien , " Jo h nso n already had Team Suzuki's Donny Schmit was untouchable in the first 125cc moto. He won w ith 16 seconds to spare over teammate George Holland . Schmit took the overall with a 1-2. a big lead, so I just tri ed to stay smooth a nd use m y head ." The seco nd mot o was a ll J o hnson's. H e led fro m start to fin ish even though Lech ien ga ve him a ba ttl e in the early stages, while Ward was ru n ning a bo u t eig h th. " I almo st crashed rea l bad on the fir st lap," sai d Ward. ,,'I t was a do or -d ie si tuatio n. I'm not sure exactly wh at happened bu t th e back end, I think, hit a bump, and I rode th e fro nt wheel fo r a lon g tim e. I should've hit th e ejec t button. but I decided to ride it o u t. I saved it , but I twisted m y kn ee." Ward cruised the whole mot o and fini sh ed 13t h. Up front, J oh nson and Lechien were leadin g the wa y ahead of Sta n to n, Carson, Fra nk and Bowen. Wa tts was run ning l l th : H o ll ey 13th. J ust after the IO-min u te point, J ohnson fina lly pulled away from Lechien , a nd by the l Oth la p , j ohnso n held a five-seco nd lead. Furt her back chased Sta nton. Bowen and Ca rso n. As th e ' rn oto progressed, Holl ey was working hi s way thro ugh traffic and eventua lly passed Watts a nd Ca rson for fifth , while Bowen did th e same to'Stanton. Twenty-five minu tes into the race, J ohnson enjoyed a l G-second lead o n Lech ien ; Bow en was sligh tly pulling away from Sta nton, and H oll ey was a few seconds ahead of Wa tts. Carson had faded to seventh. J ohnson had no probl em s taki ng the win followed by Lechien , Bowen , Stanton, H olley, Wa tts, Carson a nd H onda ri der Ra y Som mo. " I just didn ' t feel comfortab le on the bike, today," sai d Lech ien. " We just co u ld n't get the suspension sorted ou t th e wa y I wa nted it. Once we got into la pped traffic, I just coo led it." A bruised and ba ttered Ward sai d , ' 'I' m just g lad th e year is o ver." 1 25cc National T h er e was no · d oubt Sc h m it wanted to win in front of hi s home crowd. As soon as the ga te dropped for the sta rt of the first mo to , Schmit a nd h is Mo to-X Fox / Ara i H el met! Scott USA-sponsored Suzuki were leading th e way ahe ad of Ka wasak i rid er Bad er Man neh , Dymo nd , Hoiland , Kehoe, Honda ri d er L a rry Brooks, Ka wasa ki's Eddi e Wa rren , T odd DeHoo p, Stacey Cook, Keith T urpin and Guy Cooper. Both Brooks a nd Cooper were riding injured. Brooks had a broken wrist after a fall in last week's 125cc USGP in Steel City, and Cooper had a brok en leg, which he suffered in a practice fall 12 days 'before th e Mill vill e National. Cooper co uld n 't finish but maintained third in the series. Sch mi t quickl y o pe ned a huge lead o n Ha llman USA's Manneh, wh o was pressured by Holland. Kehoe, running fifth, cras hed headin g into a tu rn and dropped to 13th . " I was tryi ng to pass so meo ne going into a tu rn," said Kehoe, " bu t I tri ed a different line, a nd it was rea l ro ugh. My front whee l hit a bump and I wen t down." Ten mi nutes in to the rn or o , Schmit held a 13-second lead on H o lla nd , who had jus t slip ped past Manneh. A lap lat er, Warren was dogging Ma n neh bu t dropped bac k by a few bik e len g th s. H o wever , Warren got back on track again and reeled-in and sho t by Manneh while weavin g in and o u t of traffi c for third. Keh oe was o n th e gas and th reatening Dym ond for fifth. On the last la p , Keh o e p u lled a lon gs ide Dym ond on a long uphill and passed him at the top. As th ey crossed th e checkered flag, it was Sch mit 16 seco nds a head of H olland. Th ird went to Warren followed by Manneh , Keh oe, Dym ond, Honda riders Fred Andrews a nd Ri ck y Ryan, and Kawasaki rider Tyson Vohland. Sch mi t a nd Dym ond blasted ou t o f the gate side-by-side a t the sta rt o f th e second moto, Schmit had th e edge going into the first tu rn, bu t Dymond sn uc k to the inside and momentar il y took th e lead . Schm it tr ied to stuff Dymo nd in th e nex t turn , a sharp, one- li ned leftha nder, a nd the two riders con nec ted with Dymond going down. In the tangle, Keh oe saw hi s chance a nd slip ped hi s O 'Nea l USA/Arai H elmet / Oakley-sponsored Suzuki into th e lead with Schmi t tucking in behind him. Dym ond recovered mid pack. H owe ver , D ym ond eve nt ua lly cras hed again and decided to drop o ut. Ch asing a fter Sch mit were Su zuki's Ronn ie Tichen or , Warren , H oi la nd , H onda rider Ty Davis, R ya n and Andrews: Both Kehoe and Sch mit pulled away fro m the pack, while Holland overtook Warren a nd was pressuri ng T ich enor. It took H olland just over eig ht minutes to pass Tich en or, and wh en he did, he fo u nd himself in a lonesome th ird, with Kehoe a nd Sc h mi t lon g go ne . Tichen or dropped back a few seconds behind H olland b ut enjoyed a safe lead o n Warren , wh o easi ly led Da vi s, An dr ews and Ryan. Kehoe m a iru a iried hi s sma ll cus hio n o ver Sch mit down to th e finish. Schmit was content where he was and as th ey crossed the finish line, it was Suzuki riders sweeping the first four pos i tions: Keh o e, Schmit; H olla nd and Ti chenor. Warren fin ished fifth ahead of Davis, Ryan , Andrews and H onda rider J ason Upshaw. _ Results . 125 cc NATIONAL: 1. Donny Schm it (SUl) 1· 2; 2. George Holland (SUl) 2- 3; 3. Erik Kehoe (Suz) 5-1; 4 . Eddie Warre n (KawI3-5; 5. Rick Ryan (Honl 8.7: 6. Fred And rew s (Han) 7 -8; 7. Ty Davis (Han) 11- 6; 8. Ja son Upshaw (Han) 10 -9; 9. Bader Manneh (Kaw) 4 -16; 10 . Keith Turp in [Suz! 1210; 11. Ron Tichenor (SUl) DNF-4; 12. Mi ke laRocco (Yam) 14· 11; 13 . Micky Dymond (Honl 6· DNF; 14 . Rebert Naughton (Hon) 17 -13 : 15 . Tyson Vohlend (Kaw l 9-DNF; 16. Larry Ward (Yam) DNF· 12; 17 . Bru ce Gates (Han) 19-14; 18. J eff Frisz (SUl) 18- 15; 19. Car lo Coen (Kaw) 16· 17; 20. Stacey Cook (Hon) 13 -20 . . 500cc NATIONAL : 1. Rick J ohnson (Han) 1-1: 2. Ron Lechie n (Kaw) 2·2; 3 . Keith Bow en (Yam) 5-3; 4 . Jeff Stanton (Yam ) 4-4; 5. Tommy Wans (Kaw ) 3-6; 6. Jim Holley (Yam) 6- 5; 7. Tom Corson (Hon) 9-7; 8. J eff Hicks (Hon) B-1 2; 9. And y Stacy (Hon) 11-1 0; 10. Kip Sandell (Yam) 10- 11; 11. Doug Dubach (Yam) 7· 14; 12. Dennis Hawthorne (Kaw) 15·9 ; 13. Ray Sommo (Hon) 17-8; 14. Jim Kapitan (Hon) 13- 18; 15 . David Hand (Hon) 12 · DNF; 16. J eff Ward (Kaw ) DNF· 13; 17. Ma rk Micelli (Han) 19-15; 18. Gary Bronikows ki (Han) 18-17; 19. Mike Harnd en (KTM) 14-32 ; 20 . Clay Hoenshell (Kaw) 2 1· 16. 125 cc A MA NATIONAL CHAM PIONSHIP MX SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. M icky Dymond (454 ); 2. George Holl and (432 ); 3. Guy . Cooper (386); 4 . Erik Kehoe (36 5); 5. Donny Schmit (344) ; 6. Jeff Leisk (340 ); 7. Rick Ryan (335 ); 8. Larry Brooks (333); 9. Eddie Warren (284); 10. Fred Andrews (242 ). 25 0cc AMA NATIONAL CHAMPION SHIP MX SERIES FINAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Rick Jo hnson (289); 2. Jeff Stanton (22 1); 3. (Tie) M ike Fisher/Ron Lochien (173); 5. Tommy Watt s (160); 6. (Tie) Jeff Ward / J im Holl ey (134); 8. Denn is Hawthorn e (130); 9. Keith Bowe n (126); 10 . Tom Carson (1 14). 9