Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

• ~ e 00 00 ~I tO j >- l-< , CI:.l ;j := CI:.l 10---) April ::- ~ J\Ve N 27 n a ~ ~ 1 2 3 9 10 111 2 13 141 5 1617 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 , 1988 AVON TYRE CALENDAR The infamous AVON ca le ndar ia now avai lab l. Kawasaki's Ro n Lechien scored the overall vi ctory during the f irst night of racing at the Bologna Supercross, part of the Masters of MX Series. hom HAP JONES. Send c heck or money ord er fo r ' 12. 9 6 to ; - HAP J ONES oIST. CO . • P.O . 8011 3 2318 : San JOM. CA 9 5 162 or ... yo ur motoreye" d....' R~~_ Bottom 0 . ' , Wa rd tops threerace Bologna Prices Special On A ll Dirt Bikes, We Will Not Be Undersold "We CaD sa..-e Yoa MODeY OD AU Y. . . . . . ProcIaeta" BURBANK YAMARA 1801 W. Burbank Blvd.• Burbank, CA 91506 ' - - _(8 18) 8 4 5-8 7 3 8 __ ... •• ~~. ~ MOTORCYCLE CENTERS M .Iort,c1, serYke, lun,.p., ICCIIU.ttes end Ii"s , $"_ Con....., c.IJIDntJ.~: U MI_ 1 4258E. ImperialHwy. . (213) 946-3459 ... Va/It, 9007 Su ndA... . (81 768-9021i nla 8) r."...., 2466W. sepu_ 81vd.. (213) 53f).{}JH wlJolm 828 W Vermo A.... (714) 774-7049 nt 5210 lon g 8_ Blvd (21 42U878 .. 3) ....a.r. 5861 Fimsto neBlvd (21 927-<895 .• 3) MOIIIf/'IIt 806E. Huntington OriMl. (81 3fIU3IJ2 8) LMr'_ 88YZs In St ock Now - Ready For Immediate Delvery NEED PARTS FAST? We have the Nation's Iarcest yz parts Inventory. Ovemlcht deJlyery available. UPS - III Clean out your garage this weekend with a Cycle News Wan t Ad. New 7G-75/T-6 Alumlnum"y _ .- SPROC KETS __ 520 Std. 0 ·' Custo m - Dealers W elcome S&S Sprockets - 803/895-2895 80 Old Hwy414 · Trowlen R.... SC 291190 Supercross By Alex Hodgkinson BOLOG NA, ITALY, DEC. 6-8 With th e European tour going outdoors at the Bologna Show in nothern Italy, Ame rican J eff Ward emerged as the overa ll winner a t th e th ree-race Mas ters of Motocross Supercross. Ron Lechien won th e first ra ce on Su nday, while H olland 's P ed ro Tragter topped Monday's race , wi th Ward win n ing th e final event on T uesday. Seco nd overa ll went to Rick J ohnson. World Champion Erik Geboers fro m Belgium got o ff to a bad start in Bol ogna on Monda y wh en he crashed in practice on th e muddy tra ck and sprained hi s rig h t wris t., T he inj ury forced him to give u p in th e third heat a fter he had ea rl ier finished ninth an d seventh. ' Ward dominated th e fir st hea t in Bol ogna to win from T ragt er o f H olland , wh o 'refused to be forced into mi stak es, desp ite the presence o f Lechien o n hi s rear whee l. Joh n so n had a really bad start a nd co u ld not bett er seventh , but his riva l Geboers wa s behi nd him. Ward th en fai led to figure irr th e resu lts again, going out of the secon d hea t with a stic ki ng throttle before h is Kawasaki seized in th e final ra ce. O nl y a hand fu l of riders could put together three good resu lts in the co ndit ions, a nd indeed L ech ien la p ped up to sixth pl ace in th e seco nd 12-lap m o to. Johnson ch ased him h ome in this bout, but both of th e great rival s from EI Caj o n , Ca liforn ia, had to admit defea t in the fin al encou nter whe n J oh n Van den Berk scorch ed to th e win from home rid er Michele Fanton, wi th J ohnson t h ird , but Lechien was happy with th e fourth he needed to land th e check for th e overa ll. Bo b Han n ah , wh o wo n th e Bologna ra ce two years ago, wa s n ever in co ntention for a top p lacing a nd ended th e day 10th. T he day wh en th e Eu ro peans beat the Americans in a supercross came soone r th an expected , wh en, just 24 hours after Lechien won th e fourth ro u nd of th e Masters of Motocross, the 19-year-old Du tch Honda rider Tragter thrashed the bes t stadium specia lists in the world in the 15 la p fin al of the Mas ter-cross, Mo nday. With H annah invited to ride in the fi n a l a s pro mo ter 's ch o ice a fter missing a tra ns fer from th e Last Chance by just a few yards , following a chase through the pack, a ll of th e MX gia nts fro m bo th sides of th e Atlantic were at th e start, b u t th e q ualifiers had sh own th a t, even on a drying track, a decent start a nd a m istak e-free ride were im perative as passin g was still d ifficult. The m an who made th e tu rn first was J eff Lei sk, wh ile Dave Str ijbos tu rned a m od era te sta rt into seco n d place exiti ng th e turn by turni n g sharp through a ga p on th e inside to gi ve ch ase to th e Aus tra lia n. Fanton, Alessandro P uzar , Tragter an d Carlo Rinaldi were nex t in lin e, and an ea rly fall for P uzer left th e first four drawing further and furth er away as th e big names so ugh t a wa y past ex, World Champion Mich ele Rinaldi's kid brother. In lin e as tern for half the race were Geboe rs, Ward , Lec h ien, J ohnson and Van den Berk, th eir o wn positions cha nging by th e la p , as each desperat ely so ugh t a way th rough. Fo r si x la ps, Leisk held Stri jbos a co uple o f seco n ds behind h im, bu t the situation ch an ged drama tically as the Au stralian lined up a ju mp wrong an d landed on th e tra cks ide ha y ba les. In a fla sh, Strij bo s, Fanton a nd Tragter were past a nd the Cagiva rider immedia tely sta rted to pu ll o u t a n adv an tage wh ich re mained at seven seco n ds a fter ni n e la ps, even though h e once slid momentarily to th e ground. Then di saster struck the ex-world champ. Wi th the race seemi ngly in his pocket , th e cha in broke a nd he could o n ly wat ch despairi ngly fro m the trackside as Fa nto n too k over th e lead, wh il e Tragter, sens ing th e win wa s in his gra sp, sta rted to p u ll o u t a ll th e stops to reel h im in . With two laps to go, th e two teenagers were locked together with Lei sk m oving ever closer, while J ohnson, h aving fin all y bro ken clear o f the chasing group, had th em a ll . in his sights. Van den Berk's ch an ces of getting in the six had di sappeared w hen Lechien fell right in front of him at two-thirds di stance, With just over a lap to go, T ragter mad e h is move. Lea p ing a lo ngside Fanton over a double, he kep t the power on through the following Sbend to win by two seco nds. On the final lap, Leisk passed th e I tal ia n Rina ld i on ' th e ou tside at the same point, wh ile Joh nson was in th eir wh eel tracks a t the chec kered I lag. T ra gt er's race wi n a lso secured him first pl ace in th e three race in te rna tio na l se ries, w hic h h ad . started th ree weeks ea rlier. Wa rd and J ohnson led th e USA to a devasta ting 69 point win over Eu rope in the final three-mo te encou nt er o n Tuesday, wi th onl y John Van den Berk ab le to offer resistance a t th e very front o n a ra in soa ked tr a ck , as dismal weather refurned to the nothern Italian ci ty. Ward quickly di splaced American Ron Lechien a t the fro nt in ra ce one a nd would probab ly have won but for a fou rt h lap fa ll which forced hi m to cha se back th ro ug h from sixth to third at th e fla g behind Joh nson and Van den Berk. T h e decisive move in th e fig h t for individ ual honors came in m idrace when th e Dutchman tried to go ro u nd Joh nson , but the Am eri ca n saw him com ing a nd took Van den Berk to -the hay bales. Pedro T rag ter again rode a su perb ra ce to fini sh fourth, wh ile Georges J ob e an d Pekka Veh konen were the next best Europeans crossi ng th e line side by sid e for p lace six and seven. The seco nd mot o was th e same sto ry wi th Ward, Van den Berk and J ohnson in co ntro l, wh ile Georges J ob e showed how well he copes with adverse co nd itio ns wi th h is best race of th e three-da y ex tra va gan za to fin ish a clear fourth . Again the Americans pa cked the p lacings as Tragter had to fight from well down th e field. Am erica's lead stre tched to 26. . The to p th ree gated a t the front in ra ce three a nd ran away with the m ot o in th e order of Ward , Van den Berk a nd J oh nson, until the last lap wh en th e D utchman fell u n der pressure in a turn a nd J ohnson was through for seco nd in d ividual o verall behind Ward. • Resu lts SUNDAV: I . Ron Lechien (Kaw); 2. Rick Joh nson (Han); 3. John Van den Berk (Vam); 4. Michele FanIon (Vam); 5. Ross Pederson (Vam); 6. Pedro Tragl er (Han); 7. Peter Dirkx (Han); B. Jeff Hicks (Han ): 9. J eff Leisk (Han); 10. Bob Hannah (Suz). MO NDAV; 1. Pedro Tragter (Han); 2. Jeff Leisk (Han); 3. Michele FanIon (Vam); 4. Rick Johnson (Han): 5. Erik Geboers (Han); 6. Peter Dirkx (Han); 7. Ross Pederson (Vam); 8. Jo hn Van den Berk (Yam); 9 . Tramp as Parker (KTM); 10 . Ron Lechie n (Kaw ). TUESDAV: 1. J eff Ward (Kaw ); 2. Ro J ohnson ck (Han); 3. John Van den Berk (Yam); 4. J eff Leisk (Han); 5. Bob Hann ah (Suz); 6. Ross Pederson (Yam); 7. Rodnev Smilh (Suz); B. Pekka Vehkonen (Cog); 9. Georges Jobe (Han); 10 . Pedro Tragter (Han). INDIVIDUAL OVERAL L: 1. Ward; 2. J ohnson; 3. Van den Ba rk; 4 . Hannah; 5. J obe; 6. Pederson ; 7. Sm ith; 8. Leisk; 9. Vehkonen; 10 . Tragter. J_ohnson t ops Paris Supercross By Alex Hodgkinson PARIS, FRANCE DEC. 2-4 Having lost the Paris Bercy Supercross the past two years to American teammal es David Bailey and J ohnny Q 'Mara, Team H o nda 's Rick J o h nson fina Ily took top hon ors at th is year 's runn in g o f the Pari s Bercy Supercro ss, beatin g arc h riv al Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward. In th e three-night event, Johnson sco red victories Wednesday a n d Frida y ' ni ghts, wh ile Ward ca p tu red Thu rsday ni gh t's wi n . Not on ly did th e crowd see J ohnson storm to two victories, th ey a lso saw F ra n ce 's ve ry own teenage sensation J ean-Michel Bayle, wh o by the th ird even ing wa s riding ri n gs around American Ro n Lech ien and even haul in g in th e to p two Sta tesiders - J ohnson a nd Ward. Bayle had a lready shown o u ts ta n d in g talent o n the second night by coming fro m dead last a t the start of the fin al to fo urth place inches behind Micky

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