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/126996
t- oo O"l ,....; (.D '" ,....; l-4 (1) ..0 S (1) u (1) o. Team Honda's Rick Johnson soared to victory at the Japan Superc ross,l w inning the main event from start to finish . Jeff Ward took second. Johnson.leads American sweep ofJapanSK By Ken Frankel TOKYO, JAPAN, NOV. 28 After a first corner crash by 125cc MX WorId Champion John Van den Berk that involved about six of the 22 starters, the Japan Supercross in Jingu Stadium was restarted in th e midst of deep controversy . , . 'ff . _ Honda.s Je .Lelsk got the holeshot in the first drop of the 12 starting gate and was soon passed by Kawasaki 's Ron Lechi en, who immediately opened up a commanding lead o n ly to be faced with a sea of waving red £lags about threequarters of th e way through th e opening lap. Both Lechien and Leisk were very upset at th e halting of th e ra ce, wh ich m any riders felt was . . un n ecessary sl.nce .o n ly three bik es were temporanly disabled and co u ld easily have been m oved off th e track before the held came back around. At the time the race was stopped, of the top co ntenders, Honda's Rick Johnson was ba ck in eighth p la ce after the first corn er jam, Kawasaki 's J eff Ward was i n fourth and Yamaha-mounted Jim H olley in third. Suzuki rider Keith Turpin was fifth, Yamaha's new signee Mick y Dym ond w~s sixth, and Kawasakimounted MIk e FIsh er wa s seventh. But a ll of th a.t cha nged with th e restart as,Suzuki's Joh n ny O'Mara, ~ne of th e SIX n ders caught m th e first start ~ru nch, got th e h ol e.sho t ' but was quickly passed o n the tripl ejump by J ohnson. H onda 's Guy Cooper was third bu t he was soo n passed by Dymond. Ward was way back in 10th place. Johnson quickl ybuilt up a 15seco nd lead and th en took it easy, .£Iying high over the j umps to the p leas ure of the standing room only crowd of 45,000, all the way to the checkered £lag that waved after 20 lap s had been completed. Behind Johnson the fight was more in earnes t as Ward gradually pulled himself through the p ack and th en passed Dymond at the halfway . point to take command of seco nd p lace. Ward cut away at J oh n son 's lead, bu t at the fin ish was still five seconds down on the winner. It was obvio us in the la te stages of th e race that Johnson was controlling th e paceandcloselywatching his pitsigns regarding th e approaching threat from Ward. Dymond finish ed third, followed by Yamaha's Dou g Dubach , Cooper, Leisk and Holly. Fis her, O'Mara and Lechien co m p leted the top 10 finishers, but they were a lap down to th e first seven fin ishers. Johnson received prize money 'of over $10,000 for his n ight's work and he wa s clearly pleased to h ave been able to co ntin u e his winning streak in Japan. Since 1982, Johnson has won every Japan Supercrossl J o h nson said, "I ca u gh t a cold on th e wa y over here and I was afraid th at I m ight n ot do too well. I'm really tir ed and I 'especiall y felt that way af ter th e restart, .w h ich makes it very hard to refocus your attention o n the race. It was the fans ' shouting which he lped me get back into the mood for the race. I'd like to thank Honda an d HRC for giving me wha t I feel is the bes t machine · on the track." Ward said , " I h ad a very bad start, b ut I'm not too disappointed because ' I know I rode well and did the best I could." Dym ond said, "I wa s very happy with the Yamaha. T his was my first race on the Yamah a th a t I' ll be raci ng' ne xt year as a n ew member of th eir team a n d fa m il y. T hey are very ' supportive and I feel right a t hom e with them . The bik e was great a nd I felt good m ost of th e ti me and was 'sm ooth and fast, but, u n fortu na tely, I di dn' t rid e very well throughou t the race - w hich is what it 's all abo ut." I t turned o u t tha I there was a nother win n er and that was the first Japanese fi nisher, in 12th place, Shigeki H an ada. He was n o t aware of it ~oing into the race, but as the first finisher from Japan the Motorcycle Federation of Japan will be sponsoring him as a competitor, in the Bologna (Ita ly) Supercross. "I was very surprised and hap p y," said the Kawasaki rider. "I a m looking - forward to this travel experience and hope that I can do well a t Bologna so th at th e Japanese fans can enj oy .. • th e race wi th me." Results 1. Rick Joh nson (Han); 2. Jeff Wa rd (Kaw); 3. M icky Dymond (Vam); 4. Doug Dubach (Vam); 5. Guy Cooper (Han); 6. J eff Leisk(H onl; 7. J im Holley (Varni; B. M ike Fisher (Kaw l; 9. Johnny O'Mar a (Suz); 10. Ron Lechien (Kaw); 11. Keith Turpin (Suz); 12. Sh igeki Hanada (Kaw); 13. Darryl King (Kaw); 14. Keit h Bow en (Vam); 15 , Takashi Vasui (Han),