Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Ward (1) and Doug Dubach (21 ) lead the pack out of the second turn at the start of Sunday's main. Ron Lechien helps Rick Johnson (left) celebrate his second consecutive victory on Sunday by dousing M iss Coors w ith champag ne . AMA/Coors Supercross Series: Rounds 5-6 Johnson sweeps Silverdome doub'leheader By Nate Rauba Photos by Tom Strattman PO NTI AC, MI, APR. 9-10 Honda factory rider R ick J oh nson couldn't be stopped as he rolled through the P on tiac Supercross, winning both Saturday night and then again on Sunday afternoon in the Silverdome. In both contests Johnson h a d to overta. e.Kawasa ki' s J ~ ff k 1 Ward, who finished seco nd III 16 both events . Ward's teammate, Ron ~ech~en , k e.ptth ~ top three'p<:>sitio~s identica l with thud place fin ishes In each event. In Saturday's opener John son came from fifth and chased Ward until th e Kawa saki team ster almost crashed o ver a triple jump. J ohnson used th e mi stake to close in a nd mak e a pass, then pulled away to win by nearly 30 seconds as Ward couldn't ge t back up to speed following th e mi sh ap. Lechien over~me a ba,d sta rt to place th u d, while Yam ah a s Broc Gl over put in a fine rid e to tak e fourth after passing Honda 's George Holland near the end. Team Suzuki's Keith T ur pin ~as knocked out of acti on on th e fir st night wh en he crashed and su ffered a broken femur in th e th ird heat race. Sunday 's race turned o ut to be a thriller as J ohnson a nd Ward staged a classic battle wa y o ut in front of the pack. Ward led the main ea rly but J ohnson cha rged up and pa ssed him, on ly to cras h a short tim e lat er. Ward went back into th e lead a nd Johnson played ca tch-u p o nce again. Despite another fall Johnson reeled Ward in , and as the two battled side by-side th ey touched entering a turn , send ing Ward off into the hay bal es and o nto the ground. Ward recovered in time to maintain second over tea m ma te Lechien . Suzu ki's Erik Keh oe finished fourth a nd Yamahasu pported Doug Dubach claimed fifth .after a race-long battle with Su zuki 's Ronnie T ichen or . " It was a good race betw een th e two of us," J ohnson sa id. " It 's easy for me to say that it was-a good race because I won, but I think even if I would've fini sh ed second I still would th ink it was a good effort by both of us." J ohnson left Pontiac with a n 11 point advan tage o n Ward with four ro unds rem aining in the series, bu t J ohnson was quick to po int o ut that any thi ng can happen . " O ne mi stake, one good crash in a main event a nd th at cou ld be gone." . In I25cc ac tion Yam aha-mounted Mike La Rocco came from behind a nd passed Mi ch ael J ones, a lso aboa rd a Yamah a, for th e win o n Sa tu rday. Kawa sak i rid er Ch r is Co lema n ro unded o ut the top three. Jones' co ns istency pu t' him into l25cc Eastern Region po ints lead , two a hea d of DeHoo p. Suzu ki's T odd DeHoop clai med Sunday's I25cc win by lead in g from start to fin ish. Young cla imed seco nd with Co lema n third o nce again. . A tota l o £ 65,194 spec ta tors over the two da ys gave Pontiac th e best a ttenda nce record it 's had in severa l years. On Saturday 4I ,893 filled th e lower levels o£ the Silv erd orn e, wh il e 23,301 witnessed Sunday's ac tio n. J ohnson's pa y for the weekend was $2 726, plus co nt i nge ncies a n d bonuses, Ward took hom e $2454 in purse money, while Lechi en grabbed $22 16 of the purse. LaRocco and DeH oop each pock eted $341, plus cont inge ncy prizes, for th eir l25 cc class wiris. Saturday Due to a shortage of rid ers, only .three heats were run eac h day with th e top five transferring directl y to th e main. Erik Kehoe grabbed th e hol eshot at the start of Saturday's first heat, foll owed by David Hand, J eff Stanton , and Fred Andrews and Ra y Sommo. Lechien was involved in a first-turn pileup and got away near last. Stanton quickly moved by Hand and into second, and by lap two Andrews had al so gone by Hand. Kehoe had put severa l seconds on Stanton, and at th e hal£way point of th e eig h t- la p race th e top three remained the sa me a nd spread out. Suzuki-mounted Carlo Coen had moved into fourt h a nd had O'Mara o n hi s tail , whil e furth er back Lech ien was cha rgi ng tow ards th e top rive. . On th e sixth lap Lechi en passed both Coen a nd O 'Mara in o ne mov e, then rapidl y closed in and pa ssed Andrews with just over a lap remaining.D'Mara £inall y pa ssed Coen and the top rive were set for the last lap. Keh oe took th e 'win nine seconds ahead o£ Stanton, while Lechien finished a distant third. Andrews was n ext across th e fin ish line and O'Mara grabbed the fin al transfer position. . Broc Glover jammed into the lead of heat two with Ward, J eff Hicks, jeff Matiasevich a nd Brian Man ley in tow. Mat iasevich passed Hicks on the first lap and Man ley £ back and ell was replaced by Keith Bowen. Vp Iron t G lover and Ward began a battle for the lead whi ch carried them away from Matiasevich, Ward spent a few laps tailing G lover , then took the lead at th e beginning o£ th e fourth lap. Hicks dropped back to fifth on the sam e lap wh en he was passed by Bowen . During th e last hal£ of th e race Ward slowl y pulled a way a nd even tuall y took an easy win wh en Gl over backed off near the end. Matiasevich cont in ued to ride alone .in third, while Bow en put o n a charge late in the race tha t brought him close to Matiasevich a t th e finish, but not close e no ugh to s tr ike . H ick s rounded out th e transfer po siti ons. At the sta rt of th e third and £inal heat race Jeff Leisk jumped ou t in front £ ollowed by Honda teammate George Holland, J eff Frisz, Dean Matson and Shaun Kal os. Johnson wa s buried in mid-pa ck and almost had to to sto p in th e second turn, a horsesh oe up in th e sta nds, to avoid a potential pileup. On the first lapboth Matson and Kalos disposed of Fri sz, but by th en Leisk a nd Holland were already pulling awa y with th eir own battle. For th e first two laps Holland sta yed right on Leisk 's rear fender until he fell in th e horseshoe. Holland go t up qu ickly and was going before Kal os co uld get by. At thi s point J ohnson had cha rg ed through th e pack and was in fifth. J ohnson contin ued to cha rge and passed Ma tson by th e fourth lap , but lat er in the lap it was Matson wh o' nearl y ended the cha rge. As J ohnson ducked to the insi de of Kal os in a Uvtu m. Matson a nd Frisz clipped in th e air as they battled for fifth . The im pact knocked Matson over the ha y bal es separating th e track and right i n to John son 's path. The tw o colli ded nea rly head-on, but lu ckil y J ohnson o n ly dropped his b ik e mom entarily. " It was spoo ky," sai d Johnson, " I ca me around the turn trying to pass Kalos a nd all of a sudden there' s a bike coming a t me. I just let go with one hand and rammed my bike into him so he wouldn't hit me. I feel lucky, blessed; I co u ld' ve been hurt really bad, but nothing happened excep t it just folded up my clu tch lever. " Johnson was soon charging again and caught Kalos a short time la ter. Kalos pu t up a fight, but lost third to Johnson wh en he got out of shape in a whoop sectio n. Third was as far as Johnson would get, since Leisk took the win several seconds ahead of Holland. Kalos hung on for fourth , just a head of Suzuki's Ronnie Tichenor. Allan Dyck charged into the lead

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