Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Glover (4 4) and J eff Leisk (7) battled du ring the main event . Leisk went on to f inish third. his best fini sh of the season. Before the first lap was complete J ohnso n was in co mmand, followed by Glover , Brooks, Ward, Holland, T ichenor, Matiasevich , Manley and Leisk. Tichenor got pa st Holland on lap two for fifth. Fisher had ·been moving up, but then came around in last . . " I went down, and something red and whi te hit me," said Fisher. " I could hardly even focus on the guy 's number , and then I saw it was Stant on." Brooks couldn't hold th e pa ce, a nd by lap three it was Ward all over G lover in a fight for second. Ward go t by on the front straight. Schmit unl oaded hard on a jump, and was beat up enough to si t out th e remainder of the race. Johnson and Ward were a d istance apart, but the two continued to expand their lead on the field. On laps four through six it was Glover and Tichenor getting all the attention. Tichenor go t close numerous tim es, a nd th en got by wh en Gl over lost his rhythm in a rough stra ight. Leisk and H olland also saw th e opport u nity, a nd pa ssed Gl over for th e 4-5 slo ts. O n laps seven through nin e , Johnson motored on. Despite sliding out twice, Ward kept p icking up and movin g o n, h oldin g a half-lap cushio n on Tichen or, who was runn ing third. Leisk closed the gap on Tichenor and finally go t by on the outside down the front straight. Holland, Glover, Manley and Kehoe were close in th e fifth through eig h th spots. Kehoe man aged to hold it on longer , and thro ttled to fifth by lap n in e. At this point Dymond had decided to call it a day. His eyes were en cr usted with Daytona dirt, impairing hi s vision to th e point ' h e couldn 't con tinue. Wh en J ohnson th rew both fists into the air off the final . ju mp, he had reason to be happy; R.J . had a 39.5 second margin of victory over Ward. Third went to Leisk, and fou rth to Keh oe, who kept his mom entu m going and passed T ichen or for fourth on th e next to last lap. Sixth went to Lechien , who overcame a poor start and moved up th e entire 12 laps. Holland, Gl over and Manley fin ished 7-8-9, and 10th was O 'Mara, wh o's trying to work back up to speed after a kn ee injury he suffered at Anaheim 'ea rl ier this year. . "The trick is to get away off the start so no one kn o ws wh a t you're doing," said J ohnson , referring to th e lines he used in the fin al. " I wo n th is race in '86, a nd th en fell off th e start and did bad last yea r. Daytona is the race to win, and I wan ted it bad. Brian (L un niss) made my bike fast a nd smooth, so th at 's th e wa y I rode it. I had pl enty of time to tra in and play this week , and it all worked together for a great race." " It was reall y rough out th ere, a nd Rick was ridi ng reall y well, " said Wa rd. " He go t th e start I needed, and by th e tim e I got clear of tra ffic he ' was o ut of sigh t. I wish I could have mad e it a tig h ter race for th e fan s, . but th ere was no way I co uld do that today." ''I' m j us t really happy to be here," said third-place Leisk. " I' ve had some bad luck at Supercro ss, and this is a cha nge of pace. I a te a lot of dirt o u t th ere, but it 's worth it wh en all of th ese fans come o ut for a race in th e ra in." 125cc Cagiva rider Robert Nau gh ton took the ho leshot in heat o ne, with Mik e J ones on a Yam ah a in second. Grabbing third th rough fifth was Carl Vai llancourt on a Yamaha, Robert H ayes on a Suzuki and J eff McCune on a Suzu ki. Vaillancourt looked ready to cha l-' lenge th e leaders, but th en fell in th e front stra ight. Naughton held off Jones until midrace, wh en J ones ga ssed up h is Yamaha and pass ed on th e outside over th e fini sh line jump. H ayes bri efly held third, but Vai llancourt regrouped from his fall and recla imed the spot. Chris Coleman fought through traffic, then worked p ast Jeff McC une's Suzuki to fin ish fifth . Mike La Rocco a nd McCune mixed ; it up for sixth, with La Ro cco holding out a t th e lin e. Eigh th was Brian Carroll o n a Ka wasa ki , a short distance off the.lead group. Denny Stephenson pointed his Kawasa ki down the middle of the front straigh t to lead heat two. H e controlled the point until midrace, when DeHoop moved past H o ndamounted Sean Dukes a nd th en sto le the n umber one spot. DeHoop was expanding hi s lead over Dukes and McElroy, but o n th e white flag circu it he fell. T he hea t belonged to Dukes with McEl ro y second, DeHoop th ird, a nd early racelead er Ste phe nso n fourth. Suz u ki ride r Rodney Barr, Yam aha pilo t Ro b H an sen , Rob ert McCullo ugh Jeff Ward overcame a couple of crashes to f inish second place but a long way behind Johnson . Johnson now leads Ward in po ints. 92-89. on a Honda and Ka wasaki rider John Thompson comp leted the top eigh t. T he l25cc Last Chance race took th e to p four to th e main, a nd it was a dogfight for the final adva nce ment berths. Yamaha rid er Barry Carsten had th e in itia l lead . Then Dan iel Ports, o n a Yarn ah a. itook th e poin t, but by lap three J ohn Thompson push ed hi s Kawasak i into fir st. Mik e Andrews was in thi rd on hi s Suzuki, but cras hed o ut in th e front stra ight. T hom pson carried th e pace to th e fin ish to. win , fo llo wed by Carsten and Kurtis Barron, who sta rte d the race in th e to p 10 and stayed consistent. The fina l slot for the main wen t to Ch esser. A light rain was fall in g a t th e start of the I25cc main. The sam e sta rt ing gate. proced urewas used , gri dding 30 riders on th e fron trow and 10 in the . rear. Stephens on ca me up with the h ol es hot followed by McElro y, DeHoop, Hayes, and Naughton. Naughton made a quick move inside of Hayes on th e front straight for fourth. Vaillancourt cra shed out in th e early going, leaving him out of th e top results. By lap three Stephenson was o ut of th e chase, another victim of the to ugh Da yto na course. De Hoop edged ou t a slig h t margin on McElroy, and th e pai r began trying to wear each o the r out. Del-loop's pa ce was a lmost too much , as DeH oop barely saved it af ter getting o ut of sha pe in th e whoops. La Rocco was th e man on th e move, movin g pas t McEl ro y a nd th en DeH oo p to lead . H e was moving away fro m the field, but one la p shy of the white flag La Rocco's bike suffered a mec hanical fail ure. As La Rocco coas ted off the co urse, DeHoo p regained the lead a nd ra n to th e finish, a head of McElroy and Co leman. Coleman hung it all out at th e finish , a nd almos t looped o ut off th e fini sh line jump. J ones and Naugh ton were fo urt h a nd fifth , followed by Ha yes Du kes, Cagi va -mounted Bill y Wh itl e y, H anson a nd Ken ny Kizz r, on a a Yamaha. "I was wai ti ng to see wh at wou ld happen in fro n t of me, but whe n people started crashing out, I just got my se nses toge ther and stayed smooth, " said win ner Del-loo p, " I've been riding in the back of the pack for a co u p le of years , but this year I just wanted it real bad. Sup port from T eam Suzuki made me ride . with con fidence. You had to ' hold _ straight on your lin es, a nd I kep i stan ding up the ent ire race. For hi s win , DeHoop earned $340 from th e $5000 125cc purse. - Results 250 : 1. R'ick John son (Hon); 2. Jeff Ward (Kaw); 3. Jeff Leisk (Honl; 4 . Er ik Kehoe (Suz); 5. Ron Tich enor (Suz); 6. Ron Lechien (Kaw ); 7. George Holland (Hon); 8. 8rae Glover (Yam); 9. Brian Ma nley (Suz); 10. Johnny O'Mara (Suz); 11 . Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw ); 12 . Larry Brooks (Kaw); 13. Fred An drew s .(Suzl; 14. Jo Jo Keller (Suzl; 15. . J eff Frisz (Suz); 16. Ross Pederson (Suz); , 7. Shaun Kalos (Vam); 18. Je ff Stanton (Yam); 19. Keith Bow en (Vam); 20. Jeff Hicks (Hon). 125: 1. Todd OeHoop (Suz); 2. Brian McElroy ICag); 3. Chri s Coleman IKaw ); 4. M ike Jones(Yam); 5. Robert Naught on (Cag); 6. Robert Hayes (Suzl; 7. Shaun Dukes (Han); 8. Billy Whitley (Hon); 9. Rob Hanso n (Cag); 10 . Kenny Kizzar (Vam); 1 1. Brian Carroll (Kaw); 12. Denny Stephenson (Kaw); 13. Bar ry Carsten (Vam); ' 14. Car l Vaill ancourt (Hon); 15. Ja son Langford (Kaw); 16. Jeff McCun e (Suz); 17. Richard Halstead (Kaw); 1B. Mike Norr is (Suz); 19. William Dzielak (Hon); 20. Mark Crozier (Suz). 250 POINT STANDINGS: 1. Rick J ohnso n 192); 2. J eff Ward (89); 3. Ron Lechien (80 ); 4 . Erik Kehoe (59 1 5. Brae Glover (57); 6. George Holland 1 ; ; 561 7. J eff Leisk (55 ); B. Micky Dymond (54); 9. Jeff Stanton (37); 10. Ross Pederson (33). 125 EASTERN REGIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. M ike Jon es (30); 2. Todd DeHoop (291; 3. Robert Hayes (251 4 . Chr is Coleman (23); 5. Br ian McElroy ; (22); 6. (Tie) Den ny St ephenson/B illy W hit ley (20); 8. Barry Carns ten (171 9. Robert Naughton Jr . (16); ; 10. C.rl Vaillancoun (15). 13

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