Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

........ . 0. ~ Jeff Ward and Rick Johnson continued their dominance at Dallas. late in the race Johnson held th is slight edge on Ward, but on the last lap Ward closed in and tried, unsuccessfully to pass Johnson in the last turn. - -- --''-----"'""~"!!Ilf=,..-... Jeff leisk rode most .of the ma in in thi rd until he was passed late in the race by Ron lechien. leisk's fourth was his best f in ish since Daytona. AMA/Coors Supercro$s Series: Round 7 Johnson nips Ward in Dallas Supercross By Nate Rauba IR VING, TX, AP R . 16 It's getting to be the same story, only at differen t venues. Just as h e did in the p ast two , races, T eam Honda 's Rick J oh n son reeled in an d passed Kawasaki 's J eff Ward to win h is th ird stra ig h t Su pe rcross race before a crowd o f 328 14 in Texas Stadium. An d j u~t as in the previous two 10 . ro u nds , Ka wa sak i 's Ron Le ch ien ro u nded o u t th e top thr ee in win ner 's circle. " It 's th e same old story , sa me as th e last week a nd th e week befor e," sai d Lech ien. But it's a story J o hnson doesn' t m in d repea ting. " Win n ing n~ver g~ts "old, every race feels good, he said. Every race is like I' m a liule kid winn in g my first race. I just get so charged." Un li ke hi s la st tw o vi ctori es, johnson didn ' t win by a bi g margin. J ohnson worked into seco nd from a .fo u rth-p lace start . th en spe n t most of th e 20·la p race reel in g in Ward. But a fter catch ing and pa ssin g Ward, Johnson co u ldn ' t sha ke the Kawasaki p ilo t as he' s done in th e past. Wa rd stayed in Johnson 's tracks an d cha rged back on th e fin a l lap , but co u ld n 't get hooked up in th e fin al corner a nd took seco nd just a few feet behind J ohnson. " It was n ' t a domi nating win, but it feels good," J ohnson .sa id, And just as Johnson a nd Ward put a new twist to the sto ry a t the front of th e field , Lec hi e n wa s busy rewriting his third-p la ce fin ish. Instead o f his usua l rid e a lo ne in third, Lechien had to work for h is p o sition alter a mid -pack s ta r t. Honda 's Jeff Leisk rode in third u nti l Lechi en sn uc k by wi th two la ps remaining, th en held fourth fo r h is best finis h in severa l races. Honda teamma te George Ho lland passed Ya maha 's Broc G lover la te in th e race to cla im fifth. In 125cc actio n, Eastern Reg ion riders faced o ff aga ins t th e Western Reg ion. Suzu ki 's Ty Davis, from th e west, ended J eff Ma tiasevich's dom in ance of th e Western Region whe n he took th e lead o n the first lap of the l2 -la p main and held o n for the wi n. Larry Ward cha rged u p to tak e se co n d at t he fi ni sh a nd Mik e La Ro cco wa s the top eastern rider in .third. Kawasaki 's Mat iasevich was near th e from ea rly, but a crash on la p two wit h Micha el Craig end ed h is cha nces for a co m p lete swe ep of th e . series . Mat iasevich d id manage to . finish 14th without a clutch to clinch th e Western Regiona l Championsh ip. A revised breakdown of the 35,000 purse, whi ch went into effect with th e Da llas event a nd gives more money to th e wi nners a nd less to those who fa il to make the main , had J oh n son po ck eti n g $5000, p lus co m inge nc ies, for h is win. Ward too k home $3000 for seco nd . a nd Lech ien received $ 1850 fo r th ird. Davi s' l 25cc wi n netted h im $1000, wh ich was more th an $600 over th e win ner's share a t previo us Supercross even ts. . Before th e progra m began riders gathered a t the sta rt ing line for a n a utograph sessio n, the firs t suc h session ever held a t a Pace/ SRO promoted event. 250cc Heats O nce agai n th ree hea ts were run , instead 'of th e traditional four, due to a sm a ll turnout o f rid ers , with th e top five going directl y to th e mai n. Tea m Yam ah a ' s J eff S ta n to n jumped o u t into th e lead of heat one a head of Tom my Watts, Suzuki's Eri k Keh o e lind Dean Mat son . Lechien ca me ou t o f the first tu rn last. In the first half of th e eig h t-lap race Stanton wa s in co ntrol as "'Va u s dropped bac k a nd was replaced by Ma tson an d Keh oe. Lech ien charged up from the ba ck of the pack a nd took filth by m id-m o ta . Just alter the halfway point Sta n to n had a few bike len g th s o n Mat son w h ile Keh oe look ed for a way into seco n d: Suzu ki 's John ny O 'Marahad moved u p to fourth a lter a slow start , an d Lec hie n 's cha rge ended wh en he cras hed just alter a jum p , tweaking h is bike and bru ising h is heel. Keh oe fin ally passed Mat son o n lap six, th en closed th e ga p o n Sta n ton and passed h im o n th e last lap to tak e th e ' wi n. O ' Ma ra charged up o n Ma tson near th e end , but Mats on held his grou nd 10 tak e thi rd behind run n er-u p Sta nton. Brian Manley fini shed a di stant fifth for th e fin al tra ns fer. . , Su zu ki's Ronnie T iche nor led th e charge to th e fir st turn in hea t two bu t cras hed wi th Den n is Haw thorne . G lover was also ta ken o ut. J eff H icks em erged wit h th e lea d a head o f Yama ha -support rid er Doug' Du bac h , Ray So mm a a nd Ward. It didn ' t ta ke long for Ward to move to th e fro nt as he leaped by bot h H icks a nd Dubach near th e beginning' of lap two. G lover had worked his way to fift h by th is lim e and was pressu ri ng So mma . As Wa rd moved away fro m Hi cks a nd Dubach a t th e ha lfway point Somma a nd G lover ta ng led in a whoop sectio n, send ing the m both to th e ground. Ti chenor was th e o n ly rider to get by as G love r remounted in filt h , o n ly to fa ll aga in a la p la ter. Ward kept flying a nd took an easy wi n, whi le Dubach took seco nd over a charging T ichenor. H icks held on to fou rt h and Corey Cope clai med fifth. L e is k led H onda tea m mates H o lland a nd Jo h nso n a t th e sta rt of th e th ird heat wh ile Sha u n Kal a s br iefl y ' h eld fou rth until 'w h a t appeared to be mech a ni ca l p rob lem s ca use d him to s lo w d own a n d a llo wed La rr y Bro o ks to go b y. J ohnson passed Leisk o n th e first la p th en moved in on Ho lland and tai led him for a .la p before taking the lead on the thi rd circu it. T he th ree Honda tea m mates had p u lled a way from ' Brooks, wh ile Tu f Racin g 's Keith Bowen and Kawasa ki's Mik e Fish er ba ttl ed for Iifth. > Dur in g th e second ha lf o f th e race J ohnson motored o u t fro nt a n d styled for th e crowd 'wh ile Leisk pr essured H oll a nd for seco nd. T ha t battle ca rne to an end o n la p seven wh en Leisk crashed tryi ng to get by a nd dropped a posi tio n to Brooks . 'At th e fini sh it was J ohnson with th e win over H oll and and Brooks, whi le Fisher passed Leis k on th e las t la p for fourth, J o h nson 's o ne-handed acro batics during th e heat a lsoearned him $500 for th e Coors Coolest Move, a co nte st in which mem bers o f th e pr ess corps vot e for the best move made by a rid er . d u ring a hea t. "Th e peop le co me to see a show, so I tried to give th em one," sai d Johnson. Semis G lover gra bbed th e hol eshot a t th e sta rt of th e fir st sem i, but Fred Andrews shot by in th e seco nd turn. An dr ews' lead didn 't la st lon g as Gl over forced h is wa y back to th e fron t a short ti me later. Once o u t fro nt G lover steadi ly p u lled away a nd finish ed nearl y 30 seco n ds a head o f Andrews.

• Cover