Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Did Ron Lech ien (4 ) jump the starting gate too soon in the first 500cc moto? Team Honda thought he did but AMA ·officials didn't. backed Jim H olley and Northgate Honda's Carson. Stanton ju m ped out to a five-bike len g th lead , while Ward and Johnson diced for second. Meanwhile , Du bach , who was runnin g fourth , pulled o££ with a flat rear tire. H e replaced the wheel and go t back into the ra ce more than a . la p down. , Up front Stanton was holding o££ Ward while Johnson watched back in third, but closing in fourth was Lechien. The Kawasaki pilot was rapidly gaining on J oh nson , who was creeping up on Ward. Bu t all of a sudden, Ward was on his back. . - " I hit a root in th e ground and ~I id out, " said Ward. " I tried to keep the bike running but I cou ldn't and the motor died. I had to restart it, " • This dropped Ward back to a distant fourth behind Lechien. Two laps later J ohnson was pushing Stanton, a n d Lechien was chargi n g hard and pushing Johnson as well. Not far behind the leaders was Leisk, who suddenly came to a halt with a derailed ch ain , dropping him ba ck in the pack. .. A few turns later Johnson had slipped past Stanton, and Le chien did the same sh ortly a fter. Ward was how about 10 seconds behind Stanton. Lechien set out after J ohnson a n d closed to w ithin o ne secon d o f Johnson, but wa s slowed by lappers in the double jump sections. E About 20 minutes into th e 30minute moto, Stanto became the key factor in th e overall standings. As Johnson began to inch away from Lechien, who wa s beginning to tire, Stanton was holding o££ Ward, and if Stanton could hold Ward back to fourth , Johnson would take th e . overall, but if Ward passed Stanton, Ward would take it. Ward knew the situation a n d was closing on Stanton. With four laps to go, Stanton had Ward br eathing down hi s n eck. And shortly after th at , Ward ro o sted by into third. , J ohnson fini shed II seco nds ahead of Lechien , who wa s sick to his sto mach follo wing th e race. Third went to Ward foll owed by Sta nton. 'Fin ish ing quit e a long di stance back 'in fifth was Andrew s, who was followed in by Car son, H oll ey, Leisk a nd Fish er, wh ose Kaw asak i was running poorl y. Rounding o u t th e top 10 was Watts, whose exhaus t p ipe h ad blown ou t of the cylinder. Ward's share of the purse was $900; Johnson 's wa s $870. . f 125cc Surf Laundry Detergentsponsored Honda rider Je££ Glass stol e th e fir st moto holeshot a head of Suzuki's Schmit and Holland. Holland, Schmit and Cooper quickly ov ertook G lass. H o ll a n d found himself in the lead b ut washed o ut, giving the lead to Schmit and second position to Cooper before the end of th e first lap . . At the end of the la p it was Schmit, Cooper, Holland, Kawasaki Team Green rider Denn y Stephenson, Kawasaki-mounted Larry Broo ks, local favorite G reg Bowen and G lass leading the way . A tr ic ky doub le jump sectio n played an important ro le in th e moto. Schmit, who crashed heavily over the doubles and injured h is collarbone and hip in practice , wouldn 't double the second pair of jumps; Cooper was do uble jumping th em and making up time. Despite not jumping the doubles, Schmit and his Moto-X Fox! Arai/ CRC-Design RM was making up for that in other sections of th e tra ck, keeping Cooper and his FMF/Mal-' colm Smith/Scott-backed Honda CR at bay, while Holland and hi s H ondaline-backed CR followed in third,. In fourth was Hallman R aeing/ShoeilPro-Circuit-sponsored Brooks, who dropped Bow en to fifth . In sixth, aft er a ninth-place start, was Mi chi~an' s Yamaha Support/Bel Ray nder Mike LaRocco. By the fourth la p Cooper was all over Schmit, and as th ey came to th e doubles, Schmit ro ll ed through th em as Cooper flew by and into th e lead. Once up front , Cooper pulled away, whil e Holland ch a rged up o n Schmit, but li ke Schmit, H o lla nd wa sn 't doubling the jumps. Holland th en began to do th e doubl es, wh ich a llowed him to gain enough gr ound on Schmit to set up a pass elsewhe re on the track. By lap I l ,H ollan d had tak en over second. . Meanwhile, making up for a firstturn get-off was second-in-points Kehoe. After running near th e ba ck of th e pack after crashing on th e first lap, Keh oe, aboard the O 'NeallAraiba cked Suzuki, began his climb to ' th e front and worked hi s wa y up into fifth before having his rear wheel coll apse . H e stop ped and repl aced th e wh eel , but it cos t him a lap. By th e end of th e ra ce, Cooper held a co m fortable lead on H olland , wh o m ai ntai n ed a sa fe dista nce o n Schmit. Fo urt h pl ace went to Brook s, who was bei ng h ou n d ed b y La Rocco , Step he nson finis hed six th. T he seco nd moto was a ll Keh oe's, altho ugh Greg Bowen , Cooper a nd H olland le d Kehoe at th e sta rt. Bowen and hi s Bell /Smith/Malcolm Smith Products Honda nailed th e h ol eshot and led until th e double jumps whe re he bailed hard a nd was sidelined for the ' rest of the rnoto. Cooper took o ver th e lead ahead of H olland and Keh oe. H ow ever, th ere was no stop p ing Keho e. The Suzuki rider immediately shot past both Holland a nd Cooper (5) passed leader Donny Schmit (16) over a set of double jumps in the first 125cc mota. Cooper won the mota, Schmit took third. Cooper, then proceeded to pull away. By th e · secon d lap Kehoe was in command a nd left th e rest of th e pack in his wake all the wa y to the chec kered flag. H e crossed the finish line 14 seconds ahead o f his nearest ri val H olland; who passed Cooper o n the last la p. Holland ch ased Coo per th roughout th e rnoto with o n ly a few seco nds separating th e two th e w hole way . It was n 't u nt il th e last few laps th at H olland started gain ing ground o n . h is teammate. " I star ted ge tti ng tired and was lo sin g m y co ncentra tion," sai d Cooper. "T h e heat go t to m e more than any thing. Wh en I started ge ttin g h ot, I wandered o ff b ein g ser io us, and I opened up a bi g hole for _G eorge. But he rode real good. I ca n ' t tak e anything away from him , he was fast today." Sch m it sett led into th ird rig h t a t th e start a nd stayed the re th e. entire m ot o , pretty much all a lo ne . Cooper's moto scores earned hi in a grand total o f $4 10 plus co n tin gincies and bonuses, while Holland to ok home $380 o f th e purse p lus bonuses. For third place, Schmit collected .$280 of th e purse, pi us bonus money a nd $ 1500 from Am eri can Suzuki 's contin g ency program. • Results 500 : 1. Jeff Ward (Kaw) 1-3; 2. Rick Johnson (Han) 4-1; 3. Ron Lechien (Kaw ) 3·2 ; 4. Jeff Leisk (Han) 2· 8; 5. Jeff Stanton (Yam) 5-4 ; 6. Fred Andrews (Han); 7. Tom Carson (Han) 12-6; 8. Jim Holl ey (Yam) 11-7; 9. Billy Frank (Yam) 7 -1 1; 10. TommyWans (Kaw) 9-10; 11. Dave Newell (Kaw) 13 -13 ; 12. Doug Dubach (Yam) 8·26; 13. M ike Fisher (Kaw) 21 -9; 14. And y Stacy (Kaw) 17· 14; 15. David Hand (Han) 15-1 6; 16 . Kurt McMillen (Han) 10-0; 17. Carl Vaillancourt (Han) 22 ·12; 18. . Keit h Johnso n (Kaw) 14 -28; 19 . Dav id Bronikowski (Han) 24 -15; 20 . Kip Sandell (Yam) 19-17 . 125: 1. Guy Cooper (Han) 1,3; 2. George Holland (Han) 2-2; 3. Donny Schm it (Suz) 3-4; 4. Larry Brooks (Han) 4-6; 5. M ike laRocco (Yam) 5-5 ; 6. Mik e J ones (Yam) 7- 7; 7. Denny Stephenson (Kaw) 6-9; 8. Erik Kehoe (Suz) 23 -1; 9. Dale Spangler (Kaw ) 9- 10; 10 . Stacey Cook (Han) 12-8; 11. J im Chester (Suz) 11- 1 7; 12. Derr ick Roe (Kaw) 8-25: 13 . Barry Carsten (Yam) 14-1 6; 14. Greg Bowen (Han): 15 . Todd DeHoop (Suz) 0-1 1: 16. Jon Agin (Han) 26 -12 : 17. Br ian Austin (Suz) 20-1 3; 18. Robert Hayes (Suz) 13' 0:'19. Jim Jones (Han) 25- . 14: 20 . Corey Schw eitzer (Han) 17-1B. 500 POINT STA NDINGS : 1. W ard (45); 2. Johnson (43): 3. Lechien (42); 4 . Leisk (35); 5. Stanton (34) : 6. Andrews (31); 7. (TIE) Carson/ Holley / Frank (24); 10. Wans (23). 125 POINT STANDINGS: 1. Holland (313): 2. Kehoe (259): 3. Schmit (233); 4. Cooper (220): 5. Brooks (186); 6. Tichenor (171 ~ 7 . laRocco (166); 8. DeHoop (139); 9. Bowen (117 ); 10 . Stacey Cook (86) . 9

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