Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

the four heat races, the pre ss voted the "cool est mo ve" to J ohnson for coming from beh in d and passi ng Ron Lech ien for the heat win. The 125cc Ultracross race, which used MTEG 's inv erted start ing system, saw Kawasaki rider Mike Kiedrowski pass uzu ki's Jimmy Gaddis to win the main event over Kawa saki 's J eff Ma tiasevich , Larry Ward, Jim my Gaddis and Craig Canoy. But Ma tiasevich earned more points throu ghou t the even ing's qualifiers a nd mai n event to earn top money a nd the series poi nts lead. Pr ior to the start of the first 250cc heat race, a ll the factory and privateer race tea ms displayed their motorcycles and team riders on the infield. Spectators were a llow ed on the infield for a close-up look at the bik es and get a chance to meet most of the riders in person. 250cc Heats A tota l of 60 riders signed up to ba ttle at th e Coors-sponsored event . on what man y riders co nsidered 'a cha lle nging bu t "safe" Ana heim track, built by J ohn Savi tski. Suzuki 's Keh oe sa id, " T he track was excit ing but still had safety in m ind. All th e double jumps were forgiv in g if you landed sho rt. I think it was the best Anaheim track I'v e ever ridd en. " The raci ng forma t in th e 250cc class was iden tica l to the usual AMA su percross forma t - fou r heat races (top four tra ns fer di rectly to the main event), two semis (top two go to the main) a nd a Last Chance Q ual ifier (winne r goes to main ). In t he first eight- lap heat race, 15 riders lin ed th e ga te a nd when the pack ro unded th e first turn, it was Keh oe, H onda rider Allen Dyck, Kawasaki-mounted Tommy Wa tts and Yamaha- mou nt ed Jim H olley dicin g for th e lead. Du rin g the first lap, Keh oe got ou t of shape in a whoop sectio n and handed the lead over to H oll ey, who qu ickly worked his way u p to the front. At the end o f the la p (appro xi mately onemiriute lap times), H olley was leading Keh oe, Suzu ki rider Brian Man ' ley, Watts, Ka wasaki rider Gordon Ward and Dyck. Holl ey extended hi s lead wh ile Keho e a n d Manl ey battl ed for second. Most o f th e actio n took pl ace durin g th e fourth lap wh en Keh oe motor ed in on H olley, but Manl ey pulled alongside of Keh oe th ro ugh th e wh oops a nd tr iple jumped by Kehoe for second. But Keh oe qu ickl y repassed Manley a nd did th e sa me to Holley. A few turns lat er, Manl ey had second a nd was hounding Keh oe for the lead. A lap later , Manley agai n tripled by Keh oe a nd led for a lap befo re Kehoe edged by Manley for the last ti me. At th e fin ish it was Keh oe, Manley. Holley a nd TU F Racing-sponsor ed Keith Bowen (on an orange Ka wasaki) in fourth. Fifth went to Watts. The second heat was less eventfu l with Yamaha's Doug Dubach leading from sta rt to fin ish . Dub ach stole the hol eshot ahea d of Vin ce Warren a nd Kaw a saki-m ounted L arry Brooks. Warren event ually fell off the pace giving second 10 Brooks, wh o foll ow ed Dubach all the way home, a few bike len gths beh ind. Honda rid er J ason Upshaw spe nt much of th e rnot o in th ird, whi le Honda rid er Rick Ryan cruised in fourth. Running fifth until ru nni ng off th e co urse a nd tak in g o ut a stra ightaway of banners was Yamaha 's J eff Stanton. H e dro pped back to seventh. Sweden s's Peter Hansson fell a couple of times in th e rn oto a nd finished ninth. Doug Dubach (21 ) ho leshot the 250cc ma in but cl ipped a hay ba le and was hit by another rider in t he f irst turn . He recovered near the back of the pack but worked up to f inish ni nth , The th ird hea t feat ured factory riders J ohn son , R o n Le chien , J ohnn y O 'M a ra a nd J eff Leisk. J ohnson nabbed the holesho t but Lech ien stuffe d the Honda rider for the lead, while Leisk followed in third. After swap pi ng p o si ti o n s a num ber of times d ur ing the first la p , th e top four order read Lechien , J ohnso n , Cagiva's Mike Healey and Suzuki 's O 'Mara, The moto eventually wound down to battl es between J o h n so n and Ka wasa ki's Lech ien , and O'Mara a nd Leis k, who had passed H eal ey. Lechi en mainta in ed a bout a 10bik e len gt h lead over J ohnson for a couple of laps, the n J ohnson go t on the warpa th a nd caugh t back u p to h im . Event ua lly, J ohnson p u lled alongside of Lechi en in the whoo ps, over a do u ble j um p . the n J ohnson go t the adva ntage o n Lechien over a triple jump wh en a la p ped rid er go t in Lechi en's wa y. forci n~ th e Kawasaki rider to double th e tri pl es, whi le J ohnson jum ped all three. Once into th e lead, J ohnson too k co m ma nd over L echi en , whi le O 'M ara fin ish ed just ahea d of Leisk. Fifth went to Yamah a rider Sha u n Kalos: Heal ey took sixth. H ea t four featured a heated ba tt le for the lead between teamma tes Dymo nd and Gl over, but it was H onda 's George H olland who took the ho leshot. At the end of th e first lap, G lover was leadi ng followed by Dymond, H oll and, Ward and Tyson Voh land. Glover p ulled a few bike lengths on Dymond. who kept the pressure o n Glover th rough out th e mot o , wa iti ng for a m istak e th a t never ha ppen ed. Ward too k th ird from H oll and o n lap two. a nd that was it. Gl over finished com for tably a hea d o f Dym ond, followed by Ward , H olland , Yamaha-m ounted Bill y Frank, Vohland and Phil La rso n. Semis Kal os had no problems handl ing the firs t semi . He blasted his Yamaha o ut of the gate and into the lead , never lookin g back. If he had, he would've seen Wa tts a nd Heal ey argu ing over second place, a nd the fin al transfer position. Micky Dymond leads George Holland in the fourth heat. Dymond w ent on to finish second in the main event. five seconds behind Johnson. The Watts/Heal ey di ce ca me rig h t down to th e wire. Du ring th e last lap, Watts put th e move on H eal ey over a dou ble jump, whe n a lap ped rider mo ved into H eal ey's path . Kal os a nd Watts head ed to th e main; a fru strated H eal ey went to th e LCQ. The first half of th e seco nd em i was led by Sta nton with Vohland a close secon d. But Stanton landed sho rt over a do uble jump a nd Vohland flew by a nd into th e lead. Running in third wa s Frank, but he event ua lly crash ed in a tum. When it was all over. Vohland was th e victo r ; whil e S ta nto n took seco n d. Suz u ki- mo u nted R a y Sommo finis hed third. Last Chance Qua lifier Aus tra lia n Peter Melton look ed lik e he had the LCQ all locked up, after stretch ing ou t a comfo rtable lead over Frank, So m mo and H eal ey. But just after taking th e white flag, sig na li ng th e fi nal la p , Mel ton endoed over a large pl at eau jump a nd dropped to six th, giving Frank th e final transfer positi on of th e night. 7

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