Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Rick Johnson (2 ) crashed in his heat race and had to qualify from the semi before taking yet another main event win. Here he passes Larry Brooks. (Below ) An estimated 37.000 spectators filled Tampa Stadium. " Broc almost' kill ed me in a turn, so I th ou ght I'd try and put him in the sta nds," said Lechien. " It's slick, but th ere are some grea t jumps to show off a li ttle for the cro wd. " Honda 's George H oll and pos ted the race of his life when he went whee l-to-w heel wi th Ward in heat two and came up th e winner. Ward set up to pass a number of tim es, but Holl an d held a tou gh inside line to keep control. Kawasaki's Mike Fisher and Yam ah a's J eff Stanton voll eyed for third, and Fisher ~Ol the transferto th e main. Suzuki rider Ro ss Pederson mo ved past Stant on late in the race, but with the revised form at fourth wasn 't good enough. " I don 't mind racing with J eff. H e's a clean rider and I know he won't take me out," said Holland. " I've been feeling good about supercross , and I told my mechanic that I wanted to win." Suzuki's Erik Kehoe, Kawasaki 's Jeff Matiasevich and Johnson ran into the lead in the third and final heat, but a fall left J ohnson dead last on lap one. " I hit third (gear) too q uick and the motor bogged, and that put me way bac k," said Johnson. "I found a turn that I cou ld square off, but when I did that I hit (Keith) Bowen and went down." On lap two it was Matiasevich whofell. "I was trying to keep up with Kehoe , and I got into some big whoops too hot and dropped the front end," he said. By midrace Kehoe was in control with Tuf Racing's Bo wen holding second on his Kawasaki and Yamaha rider Doug Dubach third. Bo wen missed a shift on a big double jump, and it was Dubach and H onda 's J eff Leisk who skated by for the two -three transfer spots. " You have to put together some smoot h laps 10 win out there tonight," said Kehoe. "A good start in the main is going 10 mea n a lot " Semis AMA/Coors Supercross Series: Round 8 Johnson beats the heat in Tampa By Tom Mueller TAMPA, FL , APR. 23 250cc Heats H e may have had to ride a semi to advance, but H onda 's R ick Joh n son grabbed his sixth main event win ' this season at the Coors Supercross in Tampa Stadiurn. Second and th ird once aga in wen t to Kawasa ki teammates J eff Ward and . R on L ec hilen. " W ar d y " was In . the h u n t for a por tion of th e 6 race, but two fall s relegated h im to runner -up; with Lechi en a dist ant third. J ohnson co pped a $5000 pay day from the AMA p urse for his efforts , but more i m p o rt ant was h is increased poi n ts adva ntage in th e series. Wit h onl y two ro unds remaining, Johnson now leads War d by 15, 192 to 177. T he 37.000 estimated spec tators a t . the event got what they paid for in Region al Su percross Champio n ship. One of the biggest problems at Tam pa was the riders - there were just too few of them. A marginal 30 250cc and 25 125cc riders entered the event " We're all going 10 have to spread the word and get more riders to the races, " said AMA Pro Motocross Manager Roy Jansen. "We had to give money back to th e promoter (Su pe rSpo n s' Bill West) because there weren 't enough riders for the pr e-set payoff." race ~ctio n and . J oh ns~m 's crowdp leasi ng acrc;>baucs. Wh ile C? ut front In his sem i and th e main , R.J. di sp layed clic kers and no-handers on a cour se th at was too tou gh and slippery for man y to master. Uns easo na bly hot and hum id weat he r made the race a game of end ura nce, and J ohnson po unded awa y lap after lap with consistency and ease. Suzuki's Todd DeHoop cla imed h is thi rd Eastern Regi o n l25 cc Supercross win by staying o ut fro nt from start to finis h. DeHoo p grabbed 1000. in purs e mo ney for the win a nd pulled to wi thi n two poi nts of Mike J on es in th e 125cc Eastern Riders were stop ping to mop sweat out of th eir goggles during th e first practi ce session, o n a course so hard th at bik es were leavin g rubber marks on th e wh oops. " It' ll take a good start and hard racing 10 win," said Yam aha 's Broc G lover, and he go t wh at he ordered in heat one wh en he took tne lead off the gate. Lec hie n moved up quickly and goton G lover's li ne, and wh en the two coll ided early on la p o ne, G lover was down and Lechi en claimed th e lead and event ual win. Suzuki's Johnny O 'Ma ra held o n . to second for h is transfer, and Suzuki r id er Br ian Manl ey, Yamah a mou nted Bill y Frank a nd G lover ba ttled over th e th ir d and fin al transfer (a revised race format was used due to th e low turnout of rid ers). G lover ga ve it 100% and slid o ut in th e last turn tr yin g . but it was Manl ey tak in g third. In semi o ne Glover, ' Kawasaki rider Larry Broo ks, Pederson, Frank and Su zuki-mounted Fred Andrews ran one-five from start to fi nis h, wit h tho~e positions transferring to the mam, Semi two starred J ohnson, wh o pulled an insta nt lead and th en began setting up high-flying clickers for the crowd over the fro nt straight triple. T he crowd roared louder every lap , and on the fina l circui t Johnson sho t the crowd number one - using bo th hands. Matiasevich ran a consistent second and Stanton ~ot the better of Dean Matson for thud. Bowen was fifth , and Suzuki rider Ray Somma got th e sixth transfer slot (the fastest of th e two semis transferred six instead of five riders) when Honda pilot Jeff Hi ck s slid out while challenging. . " I pretty much had it down where I was jumping, and I wasn't taking any big chances," sai d J ohnson. " In th e first sem i people were falling asleep , and puttin g o n a sho w for the fan s is wh at it 's all about." Last Cha nce Qualifier Onl y seven riders gridded for th e co nsola tio n race. Hi cks bob bled a few times, bu t had enoug h of a cus hion to take th e win and fina l slo t for the 21-rider main event. Main Ward and Matiasevich ran onetwo off th e start in the main. J oh nson got pas t Keh oe for third ear ly in lap o ne, and by the second circu it it was Ward and J ohnson loo king for a perm an ent way ou t front. Brooks, Lechi en and Dubach were running five-six-seven . For th e fir st few laps it was

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