Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Johnny O'Mara said that the 125cc cla ss is his fa vorite. t hen proved it by do m inat ing th e 1 2 5 cc Experts. Tyson V ohland (3 ) and M ike Pascarell a tang led at the st art of the Open Expert race. but both came back to finish second and t hird. respective ly . Johnsen, 'O'Mara jam at Mammoth MX By Nate Rauba and Ken Faught MAMM OTH LA KES, CA, J U N E 24-26 T eam Honda 's R ick J oh n son turned a " workin g vacation" into a profitable one by winning the 250cc .and O pen Expert classes at the 21st Annual Mammoth Mo u ntain Mo tocross. J ohnson bega n the three-day I even t by leading the O pen Expert class fr o m start to finish, beati ng Tyson Vohland a nd Mike Pascarella. He th en top ped off the weekend wit h the 250cc Expert class win after ba ttling wit h former uzuki facto ry rid er A.]. Wh iting a nd Team Suzuki's Ty Davis. Da vis also worked by Whitin g 10 tak e the runner-up spot whil e Whiting, in his first ride in over a year, held o n for th ird. " It's a p leas ure to be up here with th e people who run Mammoth , th ey're just reall y nice people," said J ohnson. "It's so rt of a break for me, lik e a vaca tio n but I still -get a lot done." . While J ohnson took the day off du r in g Sa tu rday 's 125cc ac tio n, Tea m Su zuki 's J ohnny O'Mara was busy wrappi ng up th e 125cc Expert class wi n. O 'M ara took th e lead o n the first lap of the fina l and steadi ly in creased h is margin to th e end. Yamaha-su pporte d Mich ael Craig rode mos t of the race in second pl ace and was ab le to edge Honda 's Geor ge Ho llan d at the finis h despi te a fla t rear tire. " It wasfun 10 ge t back o n a 125," O'Mara said, "it's a lways been my - favori te class. " J o hnson went ho me with 3500 for ' his efforts, while O 'M ara ea rned 1750 for h is victory in the 125cc Expert class . Two hea ts qualified many of the more th a n 800 rid ers for the mains, wi th the top 10 from each of two Expert divisions transferring dir ectly from th e first heat. The remainder of th e field rod e the second moto for furth er transfer po sitions to th e 45minute-plus-one- lap main event. Amateurs transferred to a main by overa ll finishing order in the traditiona l two-morn format , wit h poin ts for each rnoto finish carried 10 the main. The main event the n co unted for double points. J ohnso n and Pascarella eas ily won their Open Expert q ua lifying motos to go directly to the main , a nd whe n the main started J o hnso n ca me up with the ho leshot followed by Ray Sommo, Craig Da vis a nd J e ff Mabery. " I spu n a little off the ga te but I goosed it rea lly hard when I hit th e sand and pulled myself out front a nd never lo o ked back , " sa id Joh nson. Both Vohla nd a nd Pascarell a fell in th e corner at the bottom of the big downhill. " I ca me down th e hill, took a n outside line a nd Tyson took the in side wi th every bo dy inside of him ." Pascarell a said. " T hey all just floa ted o ut a nd I wasn't going 10 giv e up my line so I fell over the berm and off th e tra ck." Up front J ohnson quickl y pulled away a nd by lap two had put seven seconds o n o mmo, who had Mab ery o n his ta il. The two battled for second for several laps and were soon joined by Jim Ellis, who had Voh land charging after him. Vohland pa ssed Ell is on lap eig ht, then spent ano ther two laps working to second. At the halfway point Johnson , wh o had built a su bsta nt ial lead, sudde nly backed off. Vohland had co n tro l of second over Sommo and Davi s, whi le Pascar ell a charged u p and took fifth wh en Ell is sta lled. "We were trying a new tire with th in sidew alls," said J ohnson. " It got a li ttl e loo se a nd I thought I had a flat. " . J ohnson got th e feel for the tire and con tin ued to stretch hi s lead , while Pascarella cha rged up to third and pressu red Vohland fo r severa l laps. Although Johnson took it easy lat e in the race, he still cros sed the fin ish line nearl y a minute ahead of Vohland. Pas carell a wa s a few seconds behind in third while Som mo was a dis tant fourth and a few seconds a hea d of Ell is. • " Our tangle a t the start really did n 't make much differen ce in th e end result," Vohland sa id. " O the r th an J ohnson th e pack was pretty dose together a nd I was able to pi ck off a few pe r lap. I go t to seco nd th en j ust tr ied to ride smoo th ly." " I was ge tting a bit sq uirre lly everyw he re, so I just calmed down," said Pascarella. "I'd like to give a specia l th anks to Brian Fry and 1'6 Racing, without Brian I wouldn 't have been abl e .to ride today. " O 'Mara had trouble with a bent front brak e disc in his . l25cc Expert qualifier and finished fourth. Paul Winn took th e win as Mike Kied . row ski a nd Davis, ab oard a bik e with a prototype '89 Suzuki RMI25 fram e and hi s '88 race engine, battled for th e ru nner-u p pos itio n . In th e second divi sion H olland chased Craig for IO laps a nd ca me close a t th e finis h, but cou ldn' t fin d a way to ge t by. At th e start of the main Cagivamou nted Bad er Mann eh charged into t he lead, but O 'Mara moved u p from th ird to tak e over on the fir st lap. Manneh . oo n fell to Crai g, th en slip ped fu rt he r back as Holl and , Kiedrowski a nd Davi s moved into th e top five. O 'Mara slowly buill his lead as Craig motored a ro und in second a sa fe distance a hea d of H olland. Kiedrowski and Davis battled over fourth for th e first half of th e race until Davis had 10 let him go . . " Abo ut halfway through it just started slowing down, I cou ldn 't get it 10 go, " said Davis. " I tried mi lking it through, but I co uld n't catch those guys beca use they were pullin g me . I thoull"ht it was goi ng to seize so I too k It easy." Davis had bu ilt up a huge margin on Manneh a nd was n' t in any da nger of losing hi s posi tio n. For the last half of th e race O 'M ara rode smooth ly a nd consis ten tly a nd stretc hed o ut a 12-second ma rgi n a t the fin ish. Craig got a flat near th e end a nd H olland, who had been charginl? la te in the race. nearl y go t him. Kied rowski mo ved up a n d

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