Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeremy McGrath chases down Ch ris Nea lon his way to w in ning the 250cc Intermediate class. Nea l f inished second overall. threatened Holland at o ne point. bu t dropped back a nd finished fourth. " He started switch in g some of his lines and I caught up to h im ," Kiedrowski said. " Then he realized he better stick to the ones he had." Davis ' Suzuki locked up on the last lap, giving fif th to Suzuki rider Jimmy Gaddis. "Those guys go fastl " said O 'Mara. "I haven't been in the 125 class for a couple of years now, but Craig, Kiedrowski a nd George (Hoiland) were right back there. I could sneak away a little bi t, but never relax beca use they were right there. I' d like to thank Mi tch Payton because he bu ilt that bike for me from scrap. It's a total Pro Circuit bike and it really ra n well." "At the start O 'Mara p ulled out a lead a nd there was no way I could catch him," said Crai g. " I wou ld have gotten really tired if I had tried to push and ca tch h im." "I kept trying to p ush toward s Craig, but I jus t couldn't do anythi ng today, " H olland said. " It was just a bad day, no excuses. " Johnson and Wh iting got things rollin!? in Sunday's 250cc Expert q ualifiers wi th a close battle in the second division. J oh nson got caught in a pileup on the second lap of th e race, but ca me ch arging back a nd ca ugh t Whiting, who got away with the holeshot, just af ter th e halfway point of th e IO-Iap ra ce. T hey trad ed the lead several times over two laps before Johnson LOok co mma nd for good with two la ps to go, In th e fir st divisio n Ty Dav is passed Craig Davis on the fourth lap and cruised away for the wi n . Vohland moved u p to ta ke seco nd a hea d of Pascarell a a t th e fini sh . Whiting grabbed the holeshot at the start of th e main foll owed by Paul Vlach , T y Da vis, Fred Andrews a nd Sommo. J ohnson was ninth after ' having tro uble off the start. • "A roc k hi t my shifter a nd jammed it," said J o hnson. "I thought someth ing flew apart -in the clutch a nd I was jumping up and down on it coming down the hill. It finally popped out of fourth gear and I just star ted passing people." Johnson moved up quickl y and was in third on lap two, then rapidly clos ed the gap on Davis, who was giving Whiting some pressure. By lap five Johnson got by Davis a nd moved in on Whiting, and th en ' the two repeated the ir heat-race performance. This time J ohnson got by a little q uicker, and Whiting on ly repassed once. . " We're old racing buddies, so it was too much fu n racing with him ' and I didn 't want it to end real q uick," said Johnson. " I had him a cou p le of times, but he was riding rea l smooth, smoothe r than I was, so I fig ured we'd race back and fort h a little bi t. I knew I cou ld trust him so I left th e door open a nd he p assed me bac k. I didn 't have to worry ab out him trying to kill me because we grew u p raci ng 80s togeth er." Wh il e Johnson q ui ckly mo ved away with.the lead Davis moved up and passed Whi ting too , w hile Kiedro wski had moved up and rode alone in fourth. The four riders th en spread o u t 10 th e" fi n ish , wh er e Johnson took the checkers near ly 30 seco nds ahead of Davis, wh o was well ah ead of Whit in g . Ki ed row ski claimed fourth, while Vohland put on a charge near th e end of th e ra ce and passed An drews at the finish line to ta ke fifth . "I hi t a tree and broke m y finge r, so I jus t pa ced myself and made 'a cha rge a t the end," said Vohland. " I was wor kin g Andrews rea l hard, making h im ta ke inside lines. I forced h im inside to hold me off, then went ou tsid e an d sq ua red th e corn er. I go t a better drive and beat h im to th e flag. " . . Johnson also had a clos e encount r with a tree just aft er passi ng Wh iting. " I wen t to lap a gu y a nd had to take a diff erent line," he sai d. "The bike swap ped a nd sh ot me off the Rick Johnson blasts towards the downhill on his way to winning the Open Expert class. Two days later he also won the 250cc Expert class. Michael Craig checks his flat rear tire as he crosses the finish line for second in the 125cc Expert class. George Holland (2) was a close third. tra ck. I've kind of had a phobia abo u t that one p lace every time I've co me. here, and sure enough , if you loo k at something long enough . you 're going to run into it. I went through a bunch of pine needles and broke off a co u p le of branch es, but I didn 't h it th e base of the tree." . " I figured if I gOI. th e start an d gass ed it over half .the race I cou ld get eno ugh of a lead to a t least fini sh where I did , so I'm reall y happy with wha t I did," said Whi ting, who now builds houses and hasn 't raced in more th a n a year. " j oh nso n 's in way better shape th a n I am, a nd he's one of the fastest guys in the world, so I wa s just tryi ng to hang in th ere a nd hav e fun wi th him. I rea lly had a go od time." " I was hoping "I cou ld ho ld Johnson off, but th ere was no wa y!" said Davis. " O nce he passed me I fol lo wed hi s lines, wh ich - gave me a n . advantage over A.]. It was nice being alone in second, there was nob ody pressuring me so I. co uld rela x a nd ride my own race. I kn ew there was no way I could get J ohn son , so I j ust had fu n. " . One of the best amatuer races of th e weekend occured on Sunday in the 25 0cc Intermediate class as J erem y McG rath piloted hi s Sunwest C ycl es/Ceet/P r o Circui t/ C ir cl e I n du st ri es/Ca bl esav er/Whoz ee/ Ma xim a /D eV o l/Sco t t-s p o n so r ed Yama h a LO a cl ea n co me -fr o m behi nd win LO score the o vera ll victory . When th e gate dropped for the start o f the main Scott Ta kacs grabbed the early lead over J a m ie Morabito, G len Comans, P.]. Yacu k an d T od Scia cqua only to fall in the second turn, surrendering the lead to Morabito. McG ra th ga ted poorl y bac k nea r mid-pack. Morabito soon started to expand hi s lead as Co mans fell out of the to p 10, m o vin g Sciacqua to second over K. McRae. Chris Neal, who ga ted sixth, and McGrath were ra pidly picking up positions and with in a few la ps were 19

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