Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Broc Glover f inished second overall in the 250cc Pro class. More than 3000 spectators watched Jeff Ward win the 250cc Pro class without win ning a moto. CMCjDodge Truck Golden State Nationals: Round I , Kiedrowski, Leisk, Ward top GSN opener By Nate Rauba SAN BERNARDINO , CA, J AN. 3 Team Kawasaki's Jeff Ward took the overall victory in the 250cc Pro class without winning a moto at the opening round of the 12th Annual Golden State Nationals, held a t Gl en Helen OHV Park. Ward bri efly led th e first '1 K asa' l ki moto unu a:v teammate Ron Lechien took con- 6 tro l o n th e thi rd lap. . Ward stayed close for a whil e, but Lech ien slipped away to an easy win as Ward fough t off Rodney Smi th for second . In m o to two Ya m ah a 's Bro c G lover sho wed that he is well on hi s way to a comeback by taking th e lead fro m th e sta rt a nd never letting up. Ward got a bad start and didn 't move in to h is second -p la ce fin i sh in g posit ion un til just over half way into th e mo to, Gl over' s win assured him second overa ll wh il e Lechi en , wh o also go t a terr ibl e start, ended up thi rd overall after fin ishing eigh th in the second mo to. Prize money was paid o ut based on fini shing positions in each moto, making Ward's pay for the da y $360. Mike Kiedro wski also put Kawasaki in the winner's circle wh en he took the 125cc Pro cla ss wi th a 2I score. Kiedro wski chased Cagiva' s Mike H eal ey through out th e first rnoto th en came back to dominate the secon d round. H ealey ended the day second overa ll and Sm ith took thud. Ki edrowski ' s pa yoff wa s higher th an Ward 's, th ough, since he won a moto: he took hom e $465. In th e 500cc Pro class, H onda's Jeff Leisk pre vented a Kawasaki sweep wh en he took th e overa ll win with a 1-2 perfor ma nce. Kawasakimou nted Tom my Wa tts ~ook the seco nd m o to from Le is k a nd wrapped u p second overall. Goat Breker, wa rmi ng up fo r a possibl e assault o n Europe aboard a privateer H onda, cla imed thi rd overa ll with 5-3 moto fin ish es. Wh en the first 250cc Pro moto left the sta rt ing line it was Lechi en o ut in fro nt followed by Ward, Smi th, G lover a nd Suzuki's Eri k Keh oe. Leisk was involved in a first turn pile-up and got away near last. On th e first lap Ward passed Lech ien for the lead while Keh oe put a move o n Gl over. War d was able to gain a few bike len gths o n Lechi en , but that was all as L echi en hung close. For the next few laps Lechien kept Ward in sig ht, th en on lap four Lech ien came out of the back sectio n of th e track wit h th e lead , making the order Lech ien , Ward , Sm ith , Keh oe th en Gl over. By lap six of the 12-lap moto L echien h ad m o ved away from Wa rd , whil e furth er back Keh oe began to drop off th e pace and let Gl over by. Back in sixth Shaun Kal os led a battle betw een Michael Crai g, Pete H art and Doug Dub ach. As th e mot o neared its end Lech ien enjo yed a comforta ble lead wh il e Ward came und er a ttac k from Smi th . H art a nd ' Craig co ntin ued to battle a nd on the la st lap Billy Frank came up and moved between th e two. At . the fini sh it was Lechi en taking th e win by a lar ge mar gin over Ward, who held off Smith to 'the finish. Glover wa s fou rth , Keh oe ma intain ed fifth foll owed by Kal os, H art , Fra nk, Craig a nd H eal ey. "My a rms .were so pumped up I , was just trying to hang on ," said Ward aft erwa rds. " H e (Lechien ) was riding rea lly smooth and he go t by really easy. I d idn 't even fig ht wi th h im becau se I wasn 't flowing a t all. I felt terrible, but that 's wh at we're here for, to ge t warm ed up for th e beginn ing of th e year. " At th e start of th e second moto, whi ch was sta rted by flag since th e starti ng gate had malfuncti oned , G lover grab bed the hole sh ot followed by Dubach , Denny Stephe nso n , Smi th, Cra ig a n d Su zu ki moun ted Ray Som mo. Ward was ' a li tt le bett er tha n m id-pack a n d Lechien was stuc k wa y back in th e pa ck. Nea r the end of th e first lap Step henso n had dropped ou t of th e . top five as Sm ith advanced a position a nd Leisk moved into fourth and , Ward ma de his wa y to fifth. On lap two Glover had pu t a cou p le of seconds o n Dub ach while both Leisk and Ward went by Smi th. Leisk began to pu t the pressure on Dubach , a n d Wa rd erased the di s tan ce between him a nd Leisk. On lap four. Dubach fin ally gave in , allowing bo th Leisk a nd Ward to get by. Sm ith had slowed drasti cally a nd dropped back behi nd Craig, Kalos and H art. Out fro nt Gl over maintained a health y lead for th e first half of the race, despite th e fact th at Ward was pushing Leisk ha rd and looking for _a wa y to ge t pas t. Leisk mad e Ward look for several laps, the n near th e end of lap seven Ward saw his cha nce a nd stu ffed in side at th e bottom of a do wnhill making th e o rder Gl over, Ward , Leisk , Dubach and Kalos. Ward co u ld n ' t put a dent in G lover's lead as Glover just kept right on mov ing out front. Soon after being passed Leisk .began to drop back, while further back a good battle for seven th ' was developing betw een H art, Lechi en and Kehoe. With a few laps remaining Ward suddenl y began to slow down after ca tchi ng hi s foo t in a hole in the ro ugh track. Gl over cru ised on to win by a large margin a nd Ward lim ped home in second, well ahead of Leisk. Dubach finis hed fourth, followed by Kalos , Craig, H a rt , Lech ien , Kehoe and Somma. In the overall colu mn it was Ward over . Glo ver, Lechien , Kalos and Leisk. " I was n ' t ready for t he s ta rt, n obody was," sa id Wa rd o f his second-mo ta performance. " T he guy threw th e flag when we were looking a t the guy telli ng us how to do th e flag (start ). I' m loo king at him a nd the next thing you kn ow th ey th row it, so I go t o ut mid-pack a nd Ronnie (Lechien ) di dn 't even get off th e ga te. He was sta nding right in fron t of us. I had to charge real har d in the beg inning, th en I stubbed my foot in one of th e holes abo u t four laps from th e end. I tried to get go ing again after th at ' and almost went down again , so I figu red I'd j ust take second a nd race nex t weekend." Kyle Lewi s led the first 125cc Pro charge off th e line as Paul Winn, H ealey, Crai g Canoy and Kiedrow ski c hased from behind. L ewis was flyin g and quickly put a co u p le of seconds on H eal ey, on th e first lap, wh il e Kiedrowski moved by Can oy. H eal ey was also on the gas , a nd as th ey began th e second circ uit he had ta ken th e lead from Lewis. Winn dropped from th e top five as Kiedrows ki led Ca noy a nd Smith in a tigh t battle for third. Wh en th ey ca me around for the th ird lap H eal ey was still o u t front but Lewi s was nowhere to be seen. Smith moved into third a nd Kawasaki support rid er J eff Matiasevich was righ t behind. Lewis event ually appeared, bu t he was riding very slowly with a flat rear tir e. For the fir st half of the l2- lap moto Kiedrowski d ogged H ealey bu t co uldn 't find a way by. The two had put several seconds on Smith, wh o had Matiasevich in his tra cks. Ri ck Ryan , aboard a n '87 H onda CR125, held fifth but was bein g cha lle nged by Brian Manley. Healey eventually began to get away from Kiedrowski, and Matiasevich began to fall further behind Smith . Manl ey fin all y worked pa st R yan on lap eigh t. With two laps to go Kiedrowski began to ca tch H ealey as the lead er encountered heavy lapped traffic, but H ealey thread ed hi s way through th e slower riders while th ey became a 'p ro ble m for Kiedrowski. Healey made it to th e checkered flag with a co u ple of seconds to spare as Kiedr owski got hung up with th e lappers. Smith pulled a way from

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