Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

ana , won a thrilling main event over Suzuki 's Paul Winn, Kawasaki rider Mike Kiedrowski , a n d Yamahamounted Michael Crai g. Kiedr owski , however , ea rn ed th e ' most points to cla im th e overall top honor s with 51, wh ile Craig fin ish ed . second overa ll with 48. Crai g was foll owed by La Rocco (47) and Ward (47). Kawasaki 's J eff Matiasevich , wh o is sideli ned with a brok en leg he suffered a month earlier in a practice accident, ended up th e Ultracross Champion. Matiasevich had earn ed enough points at the first two Super Crown of Stadium Motocross events in Anaheim , California , and San Diego , California , to clinch th e Championship without riding in th e Los Angeles event. The standard AMA-style Supercross format was used in the 250cc class with four heat races, two semis, a Last Chan ce Qualifier a nd o ne 20lap main, while th e l25 cc Ultracross format used the inverted start system wit h the heat winners starting in th e middle of th e pack in the 12-lap main event. A combinati on of passing points a nd hea t race fini sh poi nts de termined the winner. . For winning th e 250cc main overall, G lover pocketed $5000 of th e $35 ,000 purse, wh il e Ki edroski earned $574 out of th e 125cc Ul tra cros s $5000 purse. Heats When the gate dropped for th e start of the first heat race, T eam Yamaha's Micky Dymond blasted his YZ into th e lead, closely pursued by teamm ate Duba ch an d Su zu ki's J o hnny O 'Mara. But O 'Mara lost h is spot to Suzuki-mounted Ross Pederson a nd a nother Suzuki ' r ider, Brian Manl ey, wh o short ly a fter slipped past Pederson . By the second lap Dymond had extended hi s lead while Dubach was a lo nely second, th en came ' a close battle between Man ley, Pederson and O 'Mara. From that point on, the riders to watch were O 'Mara a nd Kawasakimou nt ed Larry Brooks, who were on the gas as th ey began putting th e pressure on Pederson a nd Manley. Brooks was th e first to make a move as he slid ' past O'Mara and Pederson , taking over fourth behind Man ley. By th e midway point of the eight-lap race, Brooks was pressuring Manley a nd O 'Mara was sear ching for a line around Pederson. Event ually, Broo ks and O'Mara got around Manley and Pederson, then O 'Mara set aft er Brook s for third. A half-lap later, O'Mara shot past Broo ks, but Brooks stayed on O 'Mara's rear fender. As they di ced , O 'Mara and Brooks had closed in on second-place Dubach. With one lap to go , both O'Mara and Brooks charged past Dubach , taking over second and third. But there was no ca tch in g Dymond, wh o was long gon e. As they crossed th e finish line it was Dymond, O'Mara, Brooks and Dubach. The second heat race was all Suzuki 's Erik Keh oe. But he didn 't have it easy, th anks to Yamaha's J eff Stanton. Stanton kept the pressu re on every in ch of the way, while Suzuki rider Fred Andrews cruised in third waiting for a mis take by o ne of th e lead ers. Andrews, however, had Jason Upshaw, riding a H onda, to contend wit h . Alth ough the lead positions never - changed throughout the heat, the race itself remained clo se betw een Kehoe and Stanton, and Andrews and Upshaw. Stanton cou ldn't find the opening he needed to sneak past Kehoe, who flew across th e finish line inches Jeff Leisk (7) looks over his shoulder and sees teammate Rick Johnson (2) closing in during the main. ahea d of Stanton . A few seconds back Andrews fini shed third, jus t ah ead of U pshaw. Fifth went to Kawasaki rider Mik e Fisher. The third heat ra ce featured a hot dogfight betw een Honda teammates J eff Leisk and George H olland. Leisk go t th e upper hand with th e holeshot, while Holland chased in second. Back in th ird was Kawasaki rider T yson Vohland, th en Tuf Ra cing' s Keith Bo we n , on a Kawasaki. It wasn't until the halfway point when H olland made his move o n Leisk. Holland pulled al ongside Leisk over a triple jump a nd th e two drag-raced to the next corner and over a tabl etop jump, then H olland edged ahead of Leisk and into th e lead. Once out front H oll and took com mand, but Leisk stayed close. Whi le Leisk and Holland were dicing, Yamaha rider J im Holley was fending off Vohland, but on th e gas and making his way through th e pack wa s Honda's Cooper, wh o cra shed in the first turn and was dead last at th e start. Cooper moved up fast and took over fourth by the fifth lap, th en worked on Holley and motored into third. Cooper found too much distan ce betw een him self and second place L eisk to mak e a serio u s challenge. At th e fini sh it was H oll and, Leisk, Holley and Bowen. J ohnson was th e h igh light in th e fourth heat race , but it was Glover nailing the hol eshot ahead of Johnson , Lechien and Suzuki's Donn y Sch mi t. During the second lap J ohnson put th e mo ve on Gl over over a tabl etop, and that was it. Fro m the n on, Johnson spe n t h is tim e ente rtainin g the cro wd with clickers and no- . handers over th e ju mps. The only battle was over second betw een Glover and Lech ien. Glover was on th e gas and keeping Lech ien at ba y unti l he lost control of his bik e over a tabletop jump and went down. Lechien pl owed into G lover 's . downed Yamaha but managed to keep his Kawasaki up righ t and mo ve into second p la ce. G lo ver had Doug Dubach (21) jumped out to an early lead in the main event after successfully avoiding a first-turn pileup. Dubach went on to finish third . eno ugh insurance over Schmit to seu le into third. J ohnson went on to easily win th e moto over Le chien, Gl o ver a n d Schmit. Semis The first sem i was dominated by Yamaha rider Shaun Kalos. Kalos had th e fastest clutch work and j u mped o u t into the ea rly lead, closely chased by Vohland, Manley ' and Pederson. Voh land ma naged to stay close to Kal o s bu t co u ldn ' t m atch th e Yama ha rider's fast pace and Kalos slowly pulled away from Vohland. When the chec keredflag flew, Kalos stormed across the finish line th e w in n er, with Vohla n d , Manley , Yam aha rider Bill y Frank and Pederso n following. The second semi featured one of th e best dices of the night. Suzuki rid er Dean Matson jammed into the earl y lead a head o f Fi sh er a n d Suzuki-mounted Robert Naughton. Those three bauled every lap. The climax of th e ra ce took place on the final lap wh en Naugh ton gave it all he had and tried to pass both Fisher and Mats on in one move over a table top jump. Naughton actually moved alo ngside leader Matson but ra n out of track and slammed into a hay ba le, came to an abru p t halt and took a sudden trip over the handlebars. Naughton got back up and fini shed thi rd behind ' winner Matson and runner-up Fisher. Last Chance Qualifier The LCQ was just as intense, as th e second semi. T h is tim e it was a battle be tween Naughton, Manley, Pederson and Yam aha rid er Billy Frank. Man ley got the jump on the pack and led Na ughton, Pederson and Frank for most of the race. By the 7

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