Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Ward (2 ) and Jeff Stanton (8) duelled for the holeshot at the start of the second 500cc moto. ea r ly in the ra ce, letting Ward , tea m ma te J eff Le isk a nd Lechien ge t aw ay. And it cos t him. J ohnson came back to win a na ilbi ting second mota, but his destiny was in the hands of Stanton, wh o let Ward by late in th e second mota, wh ich ena b led Ward to clinc h th e overa ll victory with th ird place in th e m ota. Ward's 1-3 topped Johnson 's 4- 1. Suzuki's Erik Kehoe (9 ) passed Guy Cooper (5) and went on to win the second 1 2 5 cc moto. Kehoe broke a rear wheel in t,he f irst m ot o . AMA Bel-Ray SOO/RK Chain 12Scc National Championship MX Series: Round 1/7 Ward and Cooper score Red Bud wins By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones BUCHANAN , MI, J ULY 3 The opening round of the 500cc National Championship MX Series was a hardfought battle down to the finish with Kawasaki's Jeff Ward emerging victorious, and Honda 's Guy Cooper con . d hi h .h u!1ue. IS nse to t ~ top W I~ hIS thud 125cc National WIn of th e season . 8 " It was no p iece of ca ke today ," sai d Ward af ter fini sh in g third in the second moto, which combi ned with his first m oto win, cli nc hed th e overall victory in the 500cc class. Making lif~dif~i cult for Ward were T eam H onda s RICk J ohnson, Kaw asa ki teammate Ron Lech ien an d Yama ha's J eff Stanton. T he defend ing 500cc Na tional champ, J ohnson, ended up fini shing seco nd overa ll via a 4- 1 tally, while Lech ien took third with a 3-2. J ohnson was never in lead co nte ntion in th e first mota a fter crashi ng . Leisk , who fini shed second in the first mot a , was running stro ng in the seco n d before throwing a chain, ending a possible overall victory, one wee k after win ning the seco nd mota at the 500cc U.S. G P in H ollister , Ca li forn ia. In th e 125cc class, Cooper edged o ut tea mmat e George Holland on the basis o f total points. Cooper 's 13 topped Holland 's 2-2 by o ne point. The overa ll winner is determin ed by the total number o f championship poin ts scored o n the da y. H olland leads th e points chase a fter seven rounds over Suzuki's Erik Keh o e a n d Donny Schmit , a n d Cooper. Keh oe won th e seco n d moto rather easily bu t suffered a broken rear wheel in th e first mot o to drop him back to eighth overa ll. Missing a t the Red Bud Na tio na l was most of Team Yamaha. Supercross and 250cc Nationa l co n tenders Broc Gl over a nd Mick y Dymond were not on ha nd, b u t factory ride r Stanton a nd support riders Doug Dubach and J im . Holley d id co mp ete. Both rid ers came eq u ip pe d with Yamaha box vans an d m ech anics, but without Yamaha's team rnanagers Ken ny Clark a nd Kei th McCarty. "T here a re just too many ra ces on th e (1988 Su percr oss an d National ) schedu le," sai d Clark in a recent p ho ne co n ve rsa tio n reg a rdin g Yamaha 's reason for not ca m paign ing the 50 0cc Natio na l c ircui t. "Stanton ca n attend a ny of the races he wants to ride." The Ma lcolm Smith Pro ductsspo nsored Nat io nal a t Red Bu d Track 'N' Tra il a ttracted 8900 fans , a larger turnout th an wa s on hand for last year's event which ra n in the ra in. This year wa s quite th e op posite with su n ny skies a nd wa rm temperatu res. Du st was a p robl em in so me a reas o f the track. 500cc Forty-one ri ders lin ed th e ga te for the start of the first 500cc National moto o f th e year wi th $500 on the line for a m ot o win. Second p lace wou ld earn $450 and third would net $400. The total 500cc purse wa s $14,660. Lechien got th e jump on the field o n hi s JT Ra cing/Maxima/Scottsponso red Kawasaki, but the Honda team wou ld lat er protest Lechien for jumping th e ga te. " Lec h ien should've been disqualified for jumping th e gate," sa id J oh nson. " I kn ow that before the gate had completely dropped, Ron ni e was already a full bi ke length a head of me . I could see his rear wheel before my front crossed the ga te." The AMA disallowed the protest feeling Lechien had gated clea n ly. 1 Le chien rounded the first turn in th e lead with Ward inches behind in second. In third was Honda 's Leisk follow ed b y O 'Neal /Innovation Sports/Race Tech/Shoei-sponsored Dubach, Edelweiss Kawa saki/ ProCircuit / Ara i/Maxima- sponsored Tomm y Watts , Stanton a nd Johnson. However, aft er two laps in thelead Lechi en slid out and dropped to seventh behind Ward, Lei sk, Dubach , Watts, Johnson a nd Stanton. Johnson quickly moved his Mo toX Fox/Bell H elmets/Oakley/Life's a Beach- sponsored Honda into third, but fou n d abou t 10 bik e lengths separati ng him from Le isk. Lech ien was back on th e move a nd dove underneath Watts for .six th, Shortly after, Lechien found th e hot lin e arou n d both Dubach and Stanton to mo ve into fourth. By th e fourth lap, Ward a nd his Si nisa 10/ AXO /Sh o ei /Oak le ybacked Kaw asaki h ad tak en a ' com m anding lea d ov er Leisk, w hi le J ohnson se tt le d into third with Lechien fourth. Ro u n din g out th e top six was Dubach a nd Stan to n . Then J ohnson went down . " T he fro nt en d started to puslj goi ng th rough a slic k a nd dusty turn a n d I slid o u t," said J ohnson. With J ohns on o n th e g round; . Stanton came arou n d and pl owed into him. " It wa s so dusty I co u ldn' t see a th in g, a nd I ran ri ght into him ," said crowd favorite Stanton. With Sta nton running into J ohn· so n, Dubach pulled away from h ii Yamaha teammate, m aking th e top orde r Ward, Leisk, Lechien , Dubach, J ohnson a n d "Stan ton . J ohnson quickl y repassed . Duoac h, w ho began slowi ng with a disi ntegrating rea r w hee l, th e n Fisher dropped way back whe n his Kawasak i th rew a chain. By th e halfway po int the ra ce be~n to sett le down with Ward enjoying a seven seco nd lead on L ei sk , whil e eve n fu rther ba ck cha rged Lechien. A di stant fourth ' wa s J ohn son , whi le Duba ch ' s crip p led Yamaha wa s trying ta hold ba ck Stanton, but co u ldn ' t. As the race n ear ed th e en d, Leisk and hi s AXO / Bieffe-bac ked Honda began reeling in Ward. T he Au stra lian quickl y pi cked o ff three seco n ds o n Ward. and narrowed th e margin even closer to three seco nds, but th at was as close as Leisk co u ld get. Ward h eld on for th e wi n followed . by Leisk, Lec h ien, J ohnson, Stanton, Ho nda ri der Fred An drews a nd Frank, who pa ssed Dubach o n th e last lap. . Wa rd nabbed th e h ol esh ot a t th e start o f th e seco n d mota with Stanton, J ohns on, H onda rider Tom Ca rso n and Dubach har d on his h eel s. Bu t duri ng the fi r st lap, Stanton surp rise d Ward by sne a ki n g in a nd passing th e Kawasaki rider, m ak ing the top orde r Stanton, Wa rd , L echien , Duba ch , J ohnson , McM i lle n, Yam ah a / Acc u r a te -

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