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/127121
Rick Johnson raises his arms in victory after winning Saturday night's ma in event in t he Seattle Kingdome. Johnson took third Sunday. Jeff Wa'rd (1) leads Erik Kehoe (8 ) in a heat race . Ward led the main event on Saturday before crashing and f inishing third. AMAjCoors Supercross Series: Rounds 2-3 J eff Mati asevich swept th e 125cc class, win n in g each n igh t with re la tive ease. Ma ti asevi ch 's w in Sa turday ni ght was th e most hardearned of the two wi th Yama ha rider Michae l Cra ig g iving chase the who le way. On Sunday, Matiasevich barely wor ked u p a swea t o n hi s Moto·X Fox / Bel-Ray / Bell H elmet/ Sco tt US A-spo nsored Kaw a saki , win ni ng handil y over Ka wasa ki rider Mike Kiedrowski. T he l25cc class ba tt led for a $1500 purse with the wi n ner, Ma tiasevich, taking home $341 each night. Cra ig and Kiedro wski eac h earned $301 for second p lace finishes. Going into th e Coors-sponsored Seattle Supercross, Ward hel d a three-po int advantage over J ohnso n in the seri es point standings bu t left Seattle tied with hi s arc h rival a t 67 points. Lechien is a close third a t 65. The final ro und of the five-round Masters of Motocross competi tio n , sch edu led to be held Su nday in co nj u nc tio n wi th the Su percross, did no t ha p pen. Accordi ng to the Sea ttle Supercross p ro m otor, P ACE , the Masters of Mo tocro ss, wh ich was to feature so me of Europe's top rnotocross ers, was cance led due to organization problems in Europe. Johnson, Lechien trade Seattle wins By Kit Palmer Photos by Brian Barnes SEAlTLE, WA, FEB. 13-14 Team Honda's R ick Johnson 'an d Kawasaki's R o n Lechien each bagged overall victories in Seattle's Kingdome in two days of supercross action on a typically challenging Sea ttle track. J ohnson 's moment o f gl ory ca me Sa tu r'. . d ay n ig h t In .f ro nt o f 27' 306 . ' sp ecta tors, w hi le L ech ien took 6 com man d Su n day afte rnoo n as 18,756 fans loo ked on . L echien ru le d th e Kin gdome, finishi ng seco nd Sa turday ni ght and wi nning Su nday, best ing Johnson 's 1-3 weekend ta llv. Lechien's last su percro ss win came last year in Pontiac, Michi gan , on Ap ri l 12. " It feels really good to win," sai d Lech ien afte r Su nday's victo ry. " I felt reall y good last night, too, bu t it just didn 't ha p pen for me. I was reall y looking forward to do in g it th is afternoon. I set my mind on it , and, shoot, I d id it! " Lechien had a chance a t the win Sa turday nigh t, but a roc k lodged betw een his rear brak e pedal and hi s frame, ruining hi s cha nces o f beat in g J ohnso n. J ohnson's win Saturday was hi s th ird-in-a-ro w in the Kingd ome after sweep ing last year's doubleh ead er. J ohnson powere d his Brian Lu nnist u ned H onda C R25 0 in to the winner 's circle 'but no t without a figh t fro m Lech ien's Kawasaki team- mat e, defen din g Supercross Champi on J eff War d , who ? ad won the seaso n opener the p revio us weekend in Houston's Astrodome. Ward led the early laps of the main before cras hing and givi ng J ohnson the lead. Soon after, Lechi en took o ver seco nd a nd was ree li ng in J ohnson before the roc k slowed h is effort. J ohnson took the win over Lechien , Ward , T eam Suzu ki 's Erik Keh oe a nd Yam ah a factory rider Micky Dym o nd . Sunday's race saw Lechien and Ward lead th e start of the main , whi le J ohnson was ha mpered by a IOth pl ace start . By the time Joh nson reach ed thi rd, Lec h ien a nd Ward were long go ne. Lech ien led from sta rt- to-finish with four seconds to spare over h is teammate Ward at th e fin ish . Desp ite starti ng fro m dead last, Dym ond rode a determined race to finish fourth, while H onda 's George H olland ro unded ou t th e to p five. A $25,000 p u rse was u p for grabs eac h n igh t, w i th J oh n son a n d Lechien each pocketing $1363 for th eir wins. Second-p lace finishes by Lechien a nd Ward earned $ 1227, a nd thirds earn ed $1109. Saturday heats Du e to a sma ller-tha n-norma l turnout of 250cc riders (48), a revision was made in the raci ng form at. Instead of th e us ua l fou r hea t races in which the top four riders transfer directly to th e mai n, a th ree-hea t format was used advanc ing the first five finis hers straigh t ,to the main. T hose who didn 't q ua lify right a way moved o n to o ne of two sem is wh ere the to p two riders transfered to the fin al. Followin g th e sem is was the Las t C ha nce Qua lifi e r whi ch ad vanced the top two fin ish ers to the fin al. T he first heat of th e weekend got under wa y with Suzuki 's Johnny O ' Mara roosting into the lead but he was passed by both Dym ond and Lech ien before the first lap was co m p leted. Following in fourth was Yamah a-m ounted Shaun Kala s. Lechien , wh ose helmet (as was Ward's) was eq uip ped with a o neway radio so Kawasaki team manager Roy T u rner co uld relay messages to him while he was racing, began pressuring Dym ond while pulling away fro m O 'M ar a. During t he seco n d la p L echien se t up Dymo nd a nd made his move over a sect io n of double jumps. Dym ond jumped a little too far ove r the last double a nd la nded fla t on the grou nd in th e soft dirt, giving Dym ond a shar p j ol t. Th i s d isru pted hi s momentu m just eno ugh to g ive Lech ien the advantage he needed to d ive undern ea th Dym ond in the nex t tu rn and stu ff his way in to th e lead . From th en o n, Dym ond maintained constant p ressure on Lec hien th rougho ut the heat, b u t th e Kawasa ki rider pressed on and took th e win over Dymond, O 'M ara , Kalos a nd loca l favori te Mike Larson. The second hea t race saw In ovatio n Sports-sponsored Yamaha rider Doug Dub ach nai l the hol eshot over J ohnso n, Yamaha's Jeff Stanton and Ka wasak i-m ounted, Tuf R aci n g sponsored Keith Bow en. But a few turns la ter J ohnson and Stanton shot into the number one and two positio ns, th en Sta nton mad e a su rp risin g move and stuffed to th e inside of Johnson in a ti ght right turn to take over th e lead. Bu t less tha n a la p lat er, J ohnson m otored to the o utside of Sta nton in a sectio n 'o f whoops and took over the lead for good. Whil e J ohnson cru ised o ut in fro nt, wo wing th e crowd ove r a secti o n o f triple ju m ps that only he wo u ld attempt through th e even ing, Stanton, Bow en , Dubach a nd Kehoe battled for second th rough fifth. At th e halfway point of th e eigh t-lap race, Kehoe coll ided with a lapped rider in a sectio n of whoops an d went down . Dubach was the rider to wa tch a nd he picked off bo th Bowen and Sta n to n to cl a i m second at the checkered flag. Stanton finis he d