Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Honda's George Ho lland nailed the holeshot at the start of the second 250cc Pro moto. He was chased by overall w inner Rick Johnso n (R1), Broc Glover (54), Johnny O'Mara (27 ) and Ro n Lechien (beh ind Glover). M ike Healey (17) led Ty Davis (1 X), Denny Stephenson and Cra ig Canoy during the first 125cc Pro moto. Healey took first 0 / A w ith a 3 -2 tally. CMC Golden State Nationals: Round 4 John-son scores win at Carlsbad MX By Kit Palmer Photos by Bernadette Phillips and Palmer CARLSBAD, CA, JAN. 24 Team H o nda 's Rick J ohnson was put to the test Su n day 'o n a fast, h ard-packed and dry Carlsbad Raceway, and he passed the test with flying colors - but it wasn' t easy. Th e H elm ets/ d rid O a kl ey -s ~o ns? re n er us ed a . 2-\ co m b inatio n to wrap up th e overa ll vic tory in th e 250cc 8 Fox/B ell Pro class , edgi ng Kawasaki 's J eff Ward wh o pos ted a 1-2 score. Si ni sa lo / Shoeil Oa k ley -backe d Ward led from start- to-fi nis h in th e first mo to, wh ile J ohnson worked hi s way up to second after passin~ rival ~roc Gl over and Yam ah ,!- pnvall;er rider Shaun Kalos, But m the u ebr eaking second moto , J ohnson slipped pa st Yamaha/jT Ra cin g/ Scott USA-bac ked Gl over in th e early stages and sailed hom e th e winner, 'wrappi ng up the o verall victory. T hird overa ll went to Gl over, while Kawasaki's Ron Lechien (6·4) and Suzuki's Eri k Keh oe (4· 7) rounded o ut th e top five. J ohnson wasn 't o ver ly exci ted about his victory. " I wasn 't riding real agressively like I wanted to do," said J ohnson . Ward was co ntent with hi s secondplace sho wing: " He (Johnso n ) rod e well , today, and he rid es Carlsbad grea t. I hate the p lace, so I'm happy (with second)." In the 125ccPro class, Cagiva's Mik e H eal ey sco red th e vi ctory, using consistency as the key. H ealey went 3-2, sq uea king ah ead of second overa ll fin isher Suzuki-mounted T y Davis, Third through fifth went to second mo to winner Larry Brooks, first mo to winner Mike Kiedrowski and Honda rid er Scott Brown. In Open Pro a ction , Hondamounted Goat Breker collected yet another victory despite heav y o pposition from Kawasaki rider Tommy Watts and Yamaha-mounted Bill y Frank. Breker is using the Golden Stat e Nationals as a tune up·before head in g to Europe to co ntes t the 500cc GPs. " I haven 't ridden mu ch in two years, bu t now I'm train in g really hard, a nd to tell you th e truth I'm pr ett y proud with myself with the way I' ve been riding," said Breker. I'm no t beating top caliber guys , but I ca n' t com plain - I'm doing the best I ca n. I hope Europe wor ks out for me. I'm going over there to win; I don 't want to go over just for th e money. I'm going strictly to win." Suzuki' s Buddy Antunez had no problem s wh at soever taming th e 80cc Expert class , winning both motos with relative ease. Second went to anoth er Suzuki rid er, Butc h Smith. On the opposite end of -the spectru m, Yamaha rider Ron Turn er held off Michael Preston in two close motos to win th e Vet Pro division. Action in the first 250cc Pro mo to featu red a classic battle betw een J ohnson , Ward, Glover, Lechien and Suzuki 's Keh oe. But at the start, Arizona' s Kalos got in on so me of th e ac tio n by snea king into th e number two position behind Ward after the first lap , Close behind Kalos were Glover, Jo hnson, 125cc N ational Champion Micky Dymond, Kehoe and Lechien. Team Suzuki's Johnny O 'Mara bailed in th e first turn along with Honda's G eorge H olland. Both riders remounted nearly a half la p down. Riding a battered Suzuki without a front fend er for nearl y half the race because of th e cras h, prompted O'Mara to pull out and concen traie on the second moto, while Holland kept going and event ua lly finished 11Ih. All eyes were focused on J ohnson who was qu ickl y closin g ground on th e leaders. By th e fifth lap, Johnson had worked his way around both Kalos and Glover and was in second place, about seven seconds behind the leader, Ward. As Johnson slowly closed th e gap on Ward, Gl over had sole possession of th ird, whil e Lechi en moved into fourth ju st a hea d of Ka los a n d Kehoe. Dymond, in his debut rid e with T eam Yam aha, had dropped , back to seventh. By lap seven, Kal os had moved back into fifth with Kehoe fourth and Lechien sixth . On th e next goaround, Kehoe had displaced Kalos and was mak in g hi s move on Glover. By thi s poi nt, the race had settl ed down with J ohnson chasing Ward and Lechien hounding Kalos. Both Gl over and Kehoe were unthreaten ed in third and fourth, . Up front. the ga p between J ohnson and Ward was ge tting narrower a nd narrow er. On th e final lap, th e duel was o n and Ward was J ohnson 's target. At one point J ohnson slipped a front wh eel in on Ward, but th e Kawasaki rid er never ga ve an in ch and held o n fOT th e narrow victory. Gl over coas ted home in third wh ile Kehoe di d the sa m e i n fourth. Lechi en never did catch Kalos and had to settle for sixth , while Dymond took sevent h. " I go t off to a not- so-great start ," said Johnson. " I swept a little wid e in the first turn , and then I came out a little bit beh ind, but it was good because I got to work my way up, My arms pum ped up and at the end , . o f th e race, my grip started to slide off, so I was afraid to h it anything hard, because I was afraid it wou ld co me of£." " I was a little tight out there," said Ward. " My arms pumped up - I think everybody's did . Then a lapper got in my way on the last lap in one section and Ricky got right on me." Glover bla sted his Yamaha into the early lead in the second moto but th e lead didn 't last for long. During th e seco nd lap, Johnson screamed his H onda past Gl over up th e Carlsbad Freeway (a long, fast uphill ) and set th e pa ce of the race. In third was Holland wh o dropped back after having nailed th e holeshot. Behind Holland came Ward, Lech ien , H on da 's J eff Leisk , O 'Mara, Suzukimounted Ra y Sommo and Yamaha privateer Frank. Ward got o n th e gas and slipped by Holland o n lap two, th en waited until the sixth lap to get by Glover. Once into second, Ward pr oceed ed to creep up o n Johnson , while Glover kept a close eye on the Supercross ch amp, Ward. Running a distant fourth was Lechien, who maintained a safe distance on Leisk. Sweden's Peter Ha nsson , who fin ished 17th followi ng a crash whi le running ninth in moto one, was running eighth in moto two befor e pulling off th e tra ck on lap five after twi sting his ankle. For the rest of the race, positions near th e front remained pretty much th e same, but by the tim e the checkered flag came out, Ward was within

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