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/127132
Lech ien (4) leads Broc Glover (4 4) , overall winner Jeff Ward (2) , Jeff Leisk (7 ) and Shaun Kalos (3 3) at t he start of the first 250cc moto. George Ho lland (3 ) lost the overall to Guy Cooper (5 ) wh ile Donny Schmit took third in the 125cc class. Holland leads the point standings by four. AMA/Bel~Ray 250ccjRK Chain 125cc National Championship MX Series; Round 3 , Ward,Cooper cruise to winsat Sugartree By Tom Mueller AXTON, VA, MAY I Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward and- Honda's Guy Cooper racked u p th e 250 and 125cc wins, respectively, in National - Championship motocross racing at David Bailey's Lake 6 Sugartree MX Park. Ward holes hot the first 250cc I- mota and ran away to win , and then came up wi th a repeat in moto two after Honda's Rick Johnson was sidelined with mechanical trouble. Cooper's win was nothing less than remarkable. The Oklahoma native showed up at Su~artree wi th a fiberglass cast on his still-mending broken right leg, and posted a 1-3 tally to top the class after a four-anda-half month layoff. O lder sections of the track were removed and newer areas added to make the third consecutive Sugartree National a big hit with fans and riders. This year's race was scheduled earlier- in the year to avoid the hot, humid conditions of midsummer, and everyone was treated to a sunny day in the mid-70s. Attendance was up from the '8 7 event, and an estimated 8000 specta tors made the show. T hough seemingly over-watered during the morning's practice, a loamy, tractionable surface was produced by race time . Some riders voiced complaints regarding a section where a small stream ran across the course, but a small ju mp before the water had everyone clearing the problem area. With his win, Ward moved ahead of Johnson in the series, 141 to 117, with three of six 250cc series events completed. Honda's George Holland, who claimed second overall with a 3-2 score in the I 25cc division finally broke out of a points dead lock with Suzuki's Erik Kehoe, and now heads th e small bores by four points, 136 to 132. Kehoe ran away wit h moto two , but could only muster an eighth in the first outing. Ward received $1000 for two moto wins, as $14,660 of the $22,000 AMA purse was allocated to the 250cc class, while Glover made $850 for his' 32 finishes. The remaining $7340 of the purse was paid to the 125s. Cooper netted $240 for his first moto win, and $170 for his second moto th ird, while Holland came up wi th a total of $360 for his 3-2 day. 250cc Glover got the jump off the forward-drop start gate and grabbed gears on the downhill leading into" .the sweeping right-hand first turn. He came away wtth the lead followed by Ward, Kawasa ki's Ron Lechien , Yamaha's Jeff Staton and Johnson. - . .. - ... . ~ J ohnson went overthe top of Stanton on ajump, but then misjudged a line and fell back six places to lOth. The leaderboard read Glover, Ward an d Lech ien 1-2-3, Stanton alone in fourth, Honda 's Jeff Leis k and Yamaha-supported Do ug Dub ach 56, with Fred Andrews and Shawn Kalos dicing fo r seventh place. Canadian Suzuki rider Ross Pederson, Johnson, and Suzuki's Johnny O'Mara were closi ng the gap in 910-11. . On lap three Ward pulled past Glover and began setting his own pace out front. Johnson was alsolaying dow n snappy moves and came through the pack to fifth; with a bead o n fou rth-p lace Leisk. Stanton had dropped back to sixth.. and Dubach tried to use a double jump to get past. Dubach almost fell in the next turn, and Stanton retained his spot. At the halfway point in the 30mi nute plus two lap rnoto, Ward was alone out front. Johnson disposed of Leisk, then Lechien, then Glover, but when he got to second his charge receded . Ward maint ained a comfortable 24-second cushion la p after lap, At the fin ish it was Ward, Johnson, G lover and Lechien. Stanton put on the afterburners and got by Leisk for fifth . Sevent h was O'Mara, and eighth went to Kawasaki's Mike Fisher, who passed Dub ach in the closing moments of the moto. " I wasn 't planning on running any certain pace, but I kep t it on when I could have slowed dow n," said Ward. " I did n 't want my lead to shrink to 10 seconds, and then get in tro ub le with a lapper and have Johnson win." A new face showed the way in mo to .two when Dennis Hawthorne pilo ted hi s Kawasaki into the lead. Ward, Leisk and Glover were in hot p ursuit . By lap two it was Ward and Glover 1-2, but then johnsop gained ground and moved to second by railing around Glover in a deep berm near the finish line. Johnson locked onto Ward 's pace and the pair broke free o ut front, while Leisk got the jump on Glover for th ird. Stanton had his ow n territory in fo urth , and Hawthorne was leading Fisher in fifth. Lech ien was coming off a bad start and used the o u tside-line to get