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/127123
line and moved ou t front, with Ward watching every m ove from th e best sea t at th e track. Lechien moved to thi rd when Leis k got sideways near th e dr opa way jump. By mid-mot e J ohnson an d Ward were keying up the pace. turning .la ps in the 2:05 range. Ward cu t inside of Johnson to lead. but lost momentum after the p ass an d J ohnson o nce agai n took over. While fans were kee p in g th e ir e yes o n th e skirm ish for first. D ym o n d was £lickin!? his Yamaha u p to thi rd. · " T h is is the mo st co m pe titive ou tdoor racing I' ve seen in years ," said m ulti-time World Cha m pi o n Roger DeCoster. As the race neared th e closing la ps J ohnson led Ward; Dym ond was ahead of Lec h ien, a nd Leisk had th e edge o n Gl over, Watts. Suzu ki rider Mike H eal ey. Fri sz and Yamaha pilot Sh aun Kal os. Gl over was headed up tow ard th e lead pack wh en he stalle d in a rut. putting him out o fthe ch ase. Ward let it hang out o n th e last lap. but Johnson took a qu ick signa l from hi s me ch anic, Brian Lunnis, and maintained his drive to win. Ward . Dym ond, Lechien, L ei sk , Glover, Watts, He al ey. Kalos and Frisz claimed the top 10 spots. Johnson's biggest p roblem a fter the moto was clearing h is throat. Somewhat dusty con ditions had him co ugh ing for quite a while. : "The pace stayed so rt o f up a n d down." said Johnson. "T he co urse fell like you were skating o n marbles; I was really hanging o n a few times." " I got a little ten se during th e firs t part of th e mot o, an d ' let Ri ck y by," said Ward. '" slo wed up in a corner and h e didn 't wa n t 10 go by at first. Then I dropped off th e pace and came u p short. H ey, J ohnson an d ' are two guys w ho want to win. It 's a longer race here today th an at a supercross, but who cares? We co u ld run th at close for an h our if we had to."' ''I' m not used to th ei r pace yet , I wa s goi ng as fast as I co u ld withou t crash in g ," sa id third-pl ace Dym on d. "You ca n ge t a good ra ce ou t of this p lace. but' think th e track is worn out and slop p y." Mike Jones showed th e way o ff th e gate in moto two , but J ohnson was soon out front with a comfortable gap. The Kawasaki co ntin gent o f Ward and Lechien had worked into second and th ird. followed by Leisk, Glover. Yamah a ' s J eff Stanton . Dymond , Yamaha-m ounted Billy Frank. H eal ey a nd Kalos. Frisz was co ming up for th e hunt when h e fell in th e S-tu rn before th e dropaway. J ones dropped o u t of th e ra ce with bike trouble, an d Johnson was doirig h is job o u t front lik e clockwork. At th e h alfwa y ma r k . Ward was ma inta in in g seco nd. ' but Lech ien dogged h im at every turn. Lei sk , Glov er a nd Dym ond h eld fou rt h th rough sixth , wh ile Fran k. Sta nton an d Kal os were jockey ing for seventh th rough ninth. Just wh en it. look ed lik e J ohnson had it in th e bag. h is bike em itted a puff o f smoke off a jump-and Ward took the point. Rick h eld o n to seco nd for another circui t, a n d then L echie n went a rou n d : J ohn son didn 't volu nteer th e spot; the pair ma de co n tact before Le ch ien got by. T he chec kered £l ag prod uce d a Wa rd . Lech ien , J o hnson. Lei sk , Gl over . Dymond, Kal os an d Stanton lineup. '" got in ra nge of Ri cky, and when hi s bik e started to sm oke ' went on by," said Ward. " I 'rn n ot ge tting any you nger, a nd every year I have to use m ore e x p er ie n ce to ge t to the winner 's circle. This yea r I'm riding uninjured an d ha vin g fun , an d th a t's still wh a t motocross is a ll abo ut ." " I landed off a jum p an d there was n' t a ny rear brak e... · said J oh n - 00 00 0') .-t Jeff Leisk (7 ), Johnny c .'Mara (19 ) and Ward (2 ) get the jump at the start of the first 250cc moto, so n. " I think' bl ew a puck ou t, a nd th en th e wh ol e thing broke o ff. I co u ld n' t cha rge th e corners after it happened . but I'm not whining, I'm o n ly do wn two po ints. a nd I'm feel in ' ' rea ll y g o o d for Da yt ona (su percross next weekend}." 125cc Nat ional It was privat eer H onda versu s th e -wo rks eq ui p me n t wh en Ri ck Ryan and H oll and jumped th e pack a t the sta rt o f m oto o ne. Sc h m it was running thi rd . Keh oe fourth. a n d first -year pro Larry Ward put his Yamaha in fifth. During laps two a nd three H oi land took th e lead, while Keh oe a nd Sch mit jockeyed past Ryan. Ward held on to fifth. a nd new ho tsh oe J eff Ma tiasevich thro ttl ed h is support Ka wasaki to six th. Kawasa ki 's La rr y Brooks, Suz uk i 's R onn ie Tiche nor a nd Kawasa ki rider Mike Kiedrowski owned seventh th rough 10th. . Keh oe was looking fast in a series of jumps th rough th e front spec ta tor area. and he put it all together and pas sed H oll and to tak e first. T he two fro nt runners broke ·away from th e pack . leaving a five-second gap to Sc h rni t," Ma tia sevi ch a n d Brooks diced for fourth. with Brooks grabbing th e spot before th e more's midpoint. Keh oe came o ff th e groove and slid side ways in th e S-turn just before th e dropa wa y•.a nd H oll and rifled by to lead into G atorb ack 's bi g uph ill sweeper. On th e next la p Keh oe regained th e lead, but co u ldn 't lose H olland. It a ll came down to th e final turn of th e last la p. Keh oe left the doo r slightly open on th e ins ide. a nd H olland stu ffed in ha rd enough to kn ock him o ff th e berm. H olla nd took the win . Keh oe was a close seco nd. and Sch mi t. Bro oks. a nd Ma tia sevich were third through fift h. Sixth went 10 T u ff Racing 's ' Kei th Bo wen , who worke d h ard o n a Kawasa ki . an d seventh wa s Tich en or, who is currently recoverin g from a shou lder injury he got while riding his bicycle. " He left th e door open and I moved . h im over ," said H o llan d. " I d id n 't th in k it was tha t bad o f a mov e. I p ushed hard 10 pass, go t right on hi m , a nd th en did th e job ." " Wh a t can I say , man ? H e rammed me fro m the inside. I didn 't even kn o w he was in there th a t close," said Keh oe. Ho lland and Rya n hol esh ot mo ta two and got away clean. while Mi ke LaRocco cartwheeled his Yamaha Team Kaw asaki' s Ron Lechien put in two consistent rides. going 4 -2 for thi rd overall. Fourth place wen t to Ya maha's Micky D ymo nd, down the fro nt straigh t. By the time La Rocco got sorted ou t, Holland was p u lling a three-second lead over Keh o e. Sc h m it wa s third , a n d Brooks. Tiche nor a nd Ward were a tigh t fourth 10 si x th . A few circuits lat er Keh oe used th e same h o t line th rough the fro nt jump sectio n to lead. H e soon had a threeseco nd gap on H olland. a nd af ter . th a t it was red chasing yellow for th e dura tio n of the race, Bot h ride rs had a bit of .trou ble wh en th ey h ad 10 move off their lines to p ass lapped riders. but Keh oe maintained his cus h io n to the finish for th e overa ll wi n. Schm it an d Bro ok s ra n unco ntested in th ird a n d fourth . a nd Tichenor claim ed fifth . • Resu lts 250 NATIONAL: 1. Jeff Ward (Kaw) 2-1; 2. Rick J ohnson (Hon) 1·3 ; 3. Ron Lachian (Kaw); 4-2; 4 . Micky Dymond (Yam) 3·6 ; 5. Jeff Leisk (Hon) 54; 6. Broc Glover (Yam) 6-5; 7. Shaun Kalos (Yam) 9-7 ; 8. M ike Healey (Suz) 8- 11; 9. Ross Pederson (Suz) 12-9; 10. Tomm y Wans (Kaw) 7-14 ; 11. Johnny O'Mara (Suz) 11-12 ; 12 . Bill y Frank (Yam) 15-10; 13. Jeff Stanton (Yam) 18 -8; 14 . JoJo Keller (Suz) 14 -15 ; 15. Brian Manley (Suz) 13-18 ; 16. Jeff Frisz (Suz) 10-35; 17. M ike Fisher (Kaw ) 21 13 ; 18. Fred Andrews (Suz) 32 -16 ; 19. W illie Surran (Suz) 16-22; 20. Ray Sommo (Suz) 36 -17. 125 NATlONA L: 1. Erik Kehoe (Suzl 2-1; 2. George Holland (Hon) 1·2; 3. Donn y Schm it (Suz) 3,3; 4. Larry Brook s (Kaw) 4-4; 5. J eff Matiasevich (Kaw) 5-6; 6. Ronni e Tichenor (Suz) 7 -5; 7. M ike Kiedrowsk i (Kaw) 8 -7; 8 . Keith Bowen (Kaw) 6 ~ 11; 9. Larry Ward (Yam) 10-8; 10 . Todd Deh oop (Suz) 13 -9; 11. Keith Turp in (Suz); 12. Chris Coleman (Kaw) 10 -13; 13. Rick Ryan (HonI17·1 0; 14 . Mi ke laRocco (Yam) 9-31 ; 15 . Bar ry Carsten (Yam) 1814; 16. J immy Gaddis (Suz) 16- 19; 17. Brian Carroll (Kaw) 14-34 ; 1B. J ason Langford (Kaw) 25 15; 19 . Guy Cooper (Hon) 12-DNF: 20 . Willia m . Dzielak (Hon) 26 -1 6. POINT STANDI NGS 250 : 1. Ward (47 ); 2. Jo hn son (45); 3. Lech ien (40); 4. Oymond (35); 5. Leisk (34); 6. Glover (3 1); 7. Kalos (26); 8 . Healey (23 ); 9. (TIE) Pederson l Wans (2 11 . 125: 1. (TIE) Holla nd/ Kehoe (47); 2. Schm it (4 0); 3. Brooks (36); 4 . Ma tiasevich (3 1); 5. Tiche nor (30); 6. Bowen (25); 7. DeHoop (20); 8 . Turp in (181 9. ; Ryan (15). 9