Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

of G lover who recovered to tak e third. Kalos and Manley stay ed close right to th e end, but Manley couldn't get a drive to make a pass. Semis Holley led th e sta rt o fthe first semi, but Ra y Sommo passed h im on the fi rst lap. H olley stayed right with him for the first co uple of laps, the n took the lead on th e th ird lap whe n So mmo made a m istake on a jump. So mma stayed cl o se to H olley throughou t th e race but could n ever ge t by, yet sti ll ea rned a trip to the main with hi s seco n d p lace fini sh . Phillip Sargen t led Watts a t th e sta rt o f th e seco nd sem i, but Manley shot by both of th em a nd into first place. Manley quickl y opened up a lead he would keep to th e finish whil e Sargent, Kip ~a n de ll a n d Watts battled for th e fma1 tra ns fer postion. Sandell crashed on lap two, th en Watts dogged Sargent until he found a way by on lap four. Sargent exc h a n ged secoml a gain but th e chec kered flag saw Watts ta ke runnerup honors and advance to th e main. Last Chance Qualifier Sargent came ba ck to lead th e LCQ, but Vohland wa s on th e m ove after a fourth-place start a nd flew into first o n the . seco nd lap. Dean Mat son came up to challe nge Voh. land on th e next lap, and for th e rest of th e ra ce Matson stayed rig ht in th e leader 's sha dow. On th e last lap Matson was cha llenging for th e lead , but he crashed in a wh oop sectio n just before th e fini sh. With o n ly th e winner of the LCQ advancing to th e m a in , on ly winner Vohland had a sm ile on h is face a t th e finish of th e race. 250cc Main Johnson led Dymond; Ward, Stanton, Lechien, Holland, Glover and Sommo out of th e firs t turn a t th e start of th e 2 1·ride r main. Dubach, who was near the front, clipped a berm in th e first turn and went down, taking Leisk with him. Lechien m oved by Stanton a nd by the beginning of th e second lap th e four dominant riders in stadium racing this seaso n , Johnson, Dymond, Ward and Lech ien , wer e n eck -andneck. On lap two J Ward got b y Dymond, a n d Lechien soon fol lowed. Glover wa s on th e m ove and was fifth a t th e beginning o f lap three. ' f' I As th ey entered th e fourth lap Johnson wa s hounded by Ward, who had Lechien on hi s tail. Near th e en d o f th e lap J ohnson landed a little short from a j u m p up to a pl ateau and n earl y stop ped. T his was all Ward n eeded as he sq ui rted into the lead . Ba ck beh ind L echien a nd Glover, Holland, Stanton an d Frank began a battle th at wo u ld last several laps. Gl over 's cha rge was set back o n lap six when he fa iled to mak e it u p the face of a steep jump. Both Holland a n d Sta nton got by, 'w h i le Frank moved right in on Gl o ver 's tai l. Back u p front J ohnson was a co uple of seco n ds beh ind Ward and still had Lech ien right o n his rear end . By la p eigh t th ey were lapping rid ers. Several of the about-to-belapped rid ers d idn 't rea lize the leaders were co mi ng through a nd trie d to h old them o ff. As they th readed th rough the lappers J ohnso n was able to keep Ward in sight, b u t Lech ien co u ldn' t keep Johnson in view an d began dropping back. At th e halfwa y point ofthe 20-lap race Ward had a few seco nds in ha nd o n Joh nson a nd Lechien was droppi ng off the pace he had be en run ni ng, but was still well clear of Doug Dubach (21) won t he f irst heat after battling with Jeff Leisk. Dym ond. H olland held fifth, while Gl over had passed Stanton to ta ke over sixth a nd was moving in on H olland. Fran k was seve n th fo llowed by Keh oe , Bowen and Sommo. Ward was ab le to main tain abo ut two seco nds o n J ohnson as long as he' h ad a clear tra ck ahead of h im . Bu t o n lap 12 Ward began to enter h eav ier traffic and Johnson was able to erase Ward 's adva n tage in two more laps. Glover had gotte n arou nd Holland, but wa s still a wi de margin beh ind Dym ond. With o n ly a co u ple o f laps rem ain ing Ward hit a n o th er bunch of lapped riders again , and this tim e it worked to Johnson 's advantage. John son pulled al ongside Ward several tim es before h e moved to th e inside of a h airpin tum a nd stu ffed Ward for th e lead. " 1 think I used th e lappers to m y advantage," said J ohnson. " Whe n you 're ge tt in g ch ased (like Ward wa s) it 's reall y hard to keep your coo l a n d to stay real smooth. He made a cou p le o f little mi stakes and I just got. c,lpse enough. I was drawin g him to. He'outs ide (of th e tum) because. I wa s' rid ing th e outsid e rea lly fast, ar;a 'so whe n he went o uts ide I ca rne , in on the in side. " "I ca rne over a j u m p a n d look ed up a nd sa w abou t eig h t (la ppers) in a row," Ward said. " I had a little cus hion a nd ' kn ew he'd be o n me . It 's rea l easy whe n you're beh in d so me body wh o 's going slow to dive u nderneath, a nd he did th at." Wh en th ey crossed th e finish lin e o n that lap the w hi te fla g was waved, a n d Johnson managed to p ut a few bike len gths o n Ward o n the fina l la p to take h is seco nd win of the Super Crown Ser ies. Lech ien came horne a d istant third, wh ile G lover had caught Dym ond o n th e last la p a nd pressured h im to the lin e, bu t was u na b le to find a wav aro und h is teamma te. Holla nd was sixth followed by Keh oe, Sta nton a nd Frank, while Bowen ro u nded out th e top 10. " When ' passed Ward I saw the whi te flag , a nd I was pretty stoked," said J o hnson . '" knew where he was going a nd where his strong points were, a n d knew if I rode the right lin es there was no way he could pass me unless I madea b ig m istake. I ro de rea l safe lin es and pu lled off the win; it feels good." " It was going good until about a la p-a nd-a-h a lf from th e end," said Ward. "Lappers got in m y way real bad; I usually don't complain ab out Ro n Lechien hounded Johnson for second in the first half of the mai n. but dropped back when he twisted his knee in a be rm and finished third. th em too much, but th ey go t in m y way in th e whoop sectio ns, which is the worst part since I had nowhere to go. H e wa s right on m e a nd had nowhere to go too , but it m ad e m e tak e lines I wouldn't normally tak e. H e made a good pa ss on m e a n d got a good dri ve wh en 1 went too hard into th at section and flew up in th e a ir. I think 1 co u ld 've go t h im ba ck if I wouldn't have jumped a j u mp a n d went inside, but that's racing. He rod e good an d I ro de good but he j ust sn uck by." " I just kind o f lost my drive," sai d Lechien. " I caught m y leg in a mull berm a nd twisted m y kn ee, which kn ocked m y drive in th e dirt. From the n on I just tried to stay back in th ird a nd hope so mething happened to R ick." " It was a to ugh race for me," Dymond said hoarsel y through a stuffy nose. " I' ve been sick a ll wee k and just was n't ab le to ru n wi th those ,guys; th ey were just go ing faster th a n 1 was." 125cc Ultracross The I25cc class ranthe Ultracross format, which p ut th e fa stest riders from timed practice in the midd le o f the pack for the heats, and the heat winners in mid-pack for the start of the mai n. Paul Winn and Kyle Lewis spent the firs t hea t battli ng for the lead 'wit h Wi nn coming out on la p over Lewis and putting th em at mid -pa ck for th e start of the main. J o in in g them from heal IwO were wi nner Jeff Matiasevich and second p lace Mike Kiedrowski. Tony Graves led the start of th e ma in from the front row with Nicky P o u n d s a nd Eddie H ick s right behind. On the first lap both Lewis and Mariasevich did a lo t of passing and were up to fourth and fifth by th e end of the lap. For th e first two laps th e top five remained very close until th e en d of lap three when Lewis to ok the lead from G ra ves a n d Mati a sevich follo wed him in to seco nd. On th e foll owing lap Kiedrowski moved into fourth beh ind Mich ael Craig , while up fron t Ma tiasevich found h is wa y to first. Halfwa y into th e 12- la p race Matiasevich had sha ken off Lewis . while Kied rowski began to cha llenge Craig for third . Crai g fell on la p eigh t, m oving Kiedro wski up to th ird. Behind Kied ro wski Ty Davis an d Larry Ward diced fo r fo u rt h. In th e closing laps Kiedro wski m oved up on Lewi s, cha llenged for a short time the n dro p ped back a few bike len g th s before the finish. Ma tiasevich took the win fo llo wed by Lewis. Kiedrow ski, a nd Davis held off Ward for fou rt h. • Results 250 MAIN: 1. Rick Jo hn son (Hon) ; 2. Je ff W ard (Kaw ); 3 . Ron Lech ien (Kaw); 4 . M icky Dymond {Yam}; 5. Sroc Gl over (Yam ); 6 . George Holland (Hon); 7. Er ik Kehoe (S uz~ B. J eff Stanton (yam); 9 . Billy Frank (Yam); 10 . Keith Bowen ( Ka w~ 11. J eff Leisk (Hon); 12 . Johnny O' Mara (Suz); 13 . Ray Som mo (Su z); 14 . Tyson Vohland (Kaw~ 15 . Ross Pederson (Suz); 16 . Br ian Manley (Suz); 17. Tommy Wans (Kaw); l B. Shaun Kalos (Yam); 19 . Doug Duba ch (Yam); 20 . Jim Holl ey (Yam); 21 . Fran kie Br undage (Kaw) . 12 5 ULTRAC ROSS MAIN: 1. Jeff M at iasavich (Kaw) ; 2. Kyl e Lewi s (Hon); 3 . M ike Kied ro wski (Kaw); 4. Ty Oavis (Sud; 5 . Larry Ward (Yam); 6. Ji m my Gadd is (Suz); 7 . Eddie Hicks (Va m); B. Tall on Vohland (Kaw); 9 . Lowell Tho mson (Kaw ); 10 . Kerry Mulligan (Hon); 11 . Ton y Gr aves (Hon); 12. M ichael Craig (Vam); 13 . Chris Young (Vam); 14 . Paul W inn (Suz); 15 . Rick Simmet (Hon); 16 . Erick Hilton (Vam); 17. David Mc Dermon (Hon); 18. Darrin Hoett (Yam); 19 . Robert Naughton (Cag); 20 . Shawn W yn ne (Suz). 125 OVERA ll: 1. M at iasevich; 2. L.ewis; 3 . Kiedr owski; 4 . Davis ; 5. W ard; 6. Winn; 7 . Craig : 8 . Nau ghton; 9 . Yo ung; 10 . Hicks. POINT STANDINGS 2 50 : 1. Jo hn son (50); 2. Wa rd (42); 3. Dymo nd ( 40~ 4. Lechien (35 ); 5. Glover (34); 6 . Kehoe (30); 7. Holl and (2B); B. (TIE) LeisltlStanton (24); 9 . (TIE) Frank /O ·M ara. 12 5: 1. Matiasevich (160t 2. Kiedrowski (9 6); 3 . Lew is (92 ); 4 . Larry Ward (79~ 5 . (TIE) Craig Canoy / Chris Young (53); 6. Davis (44); 7 . Thomson (37); B. Hicks (3 2 ~ 9 . (TIE) GaddislWinn (30) . 7

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