Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ .. t:- a ~ 00 00 0") ...... ~ 0 ...... ..... rJ':J :s b1J :s , ~ " An estimated 9000 spectators lined most of the supercross-style Kenworthy track. George Holland (3 ) went 2 -1 to claim the 1 2 5 cc class w in. In t he second 500cc mote, Jeff Ward (2) chased leader Jeff Leisk. Leisk f in ished th ird in both motos for second overall behind Lechien. AMA Bel:Ray SOOcc /RK Chain 125cc National Championship MX Series: Rounds 4/ 10 Lechien storms to victory in Ohio By Kit Palmer Photos by Mike Martin and Palmer TROY, OH, JULY 31 Team Kawasaki's Ron Lechien said h e was going to beat his n emesis Ricky J ohnson .at the Kenworthy GP Club MX National in Ohio, and, sure en ou gh, Lechien li ved u p to his words. Not only did he beat Team ' b L' hi Han d a.s J o h.n son , ut zec len a n d hIS MI~e McAndrews- 6 tu ned Kawasaki trounced everyone else in the process to clinch hi s first 500cc Nati on al victo ry of th e 1988 season, doing so with double moto wins. ~econd ov~rall ~ent to T eam Honda s.Jeff Leisk via '! 3-3 tally, wh ile third went to Lechi en 's team mate J eff Ward. Series points leader J ohnson could do no better than fo urth overall with 2-5 mot o fin ishes. Rounding ou t th e top five was Michi gan's J eff Stanton, aboard a Yamaha. " I've been working really hard, and it sur e feels good to win it ," said Lechien after showering hi s fans with cha m pag ne on th e vi ctory podi um following his second moto win. "T h is is my last chance for a cham pio nship title this year and I'm wo rki ng hard for i 1. " J ohnson holds a 15-point series poi nts lead over Lechi en , 181-1 66. In the 125cc National , T eam H on da 's George Holland extended his seemingly un catchabl e Nation al Championsh ip points lead with hi s third overa ll victo ry of th e series, which came at th e expense of teammate and last year's Ohio winner G uy Cooper, wh o man y felt was th e fastes t rider on the track today. Bu t a firs t-lap , second-mote fall in the mud cost Cooper the overall victory. Instead , Cooper had to be co nte nt with second overall wi th a 1-5 score, whil e Suzuki's Donny Schmit claimed yet another third overall this seaso n, his fifth so far. Fourth overall went to Suzuki support rider Tv Da vi s, whil e Indiana's horshoe Derr ick Roe, aboard a Kawasaki, was fifth overa lL Holland's biggest threat in the 125cc points chase, Suzuki's Erik Kehoe, had a dismal day th at saw th e Californian collect just 15 points (co mpared to Holland's 47) as a result of a sixth place finish in the firs t mo to and a run-in with a wooden post in th e second moto. Keh oe's chances of catching Holland in the points race now seem very slim as Holl and has a total of 431 points, whi le Kehoe has 364 with only two rounds left in the seri es. In fact , Kehoe now stands a chance of losing seco nd place in the seri es with the hot Cooper now -just 14 points behind Kehoe in third, 364-350. ' Cooper dropped Schmit back to fourth in the point standings after Ohio. For winning both motos, Lechien took home $1000 out of the $14,000 500cc class purse, while Holland collected $430 out of a $7340 125cc purse. Track conditions at th e Kenworthy facility were less than ideal following an all -night thunderstorm which drenched the track with water. Many sections of the basically flat course were rerouted to avoid axle- deep mudholes and ruts. Because of th e ra in, th e da y's program was delayed, and th e sched u led 1 p .m . sta rt time for th e fir st National (125cc) moto was changed to 2:30 p .rn, 1 25cc National An estimated 9000 specta tors saw Suzuki riders Ronnie T ichenor and Sch mit lead into th e first turn in th e ope ning 125cc National moto, but exiting the turn Honda riders H oIland and Cooper were leadi ng th e way with Schmit and Davis chasing. Behind Davi s were Ka wasakimo unted Roe a nd Su rf Laundry Det ergent-sponsored J err Gl ass, . aboard a H onda. After th e com pletio n of lap one , it was Holland still in th e lead but Cooper was pushing hard. Cooper made his mov e during th e second lap , and charged past Holland and into the lead. From that point on , there was no stopping Cooper, as he and his Malcolm Smith Products/ Arai Helmets /Scott Goggles-sponsored factory Honda pulled away from the pa ck, and went on to win th e rnoto, finishing approximately 10 seconds ahead of Holland. Davis blew his Malcolm Smith! Arai/Bel -Ra y-backed Suzuki past Schmit for third and stayed there the entire race, relatively un challenged, Schmit dropped back to sixth, while Coe and Kehoe battled for fourth and fifth. However, Kehoe bailed over som e whoops during the sixth lap, 'Ietting Schmit mov e into fifth. From that point on, the only real battle left was between Coe and Schmit, and it was Schmit and his Moto-X Fox/ Ara i/Pro-Circuitsponsored Suzuki forging ahead late in the race to secure fourth. Ro unding out the top 10 were Coe, Kehoe, -Pro-Circu ir/ Sco tt/ Sh oei H elmets/ Hallman Racing-spo nsored LaITy Brooks (Kawasaki), Honda ri der J ason Upshaw, Suzuki support rider Tichenor and Kawasaki rider Chris Coleman. " I didn 't get enough practice in, and my arms pumped up real bad, " sa id Holland. ," I h ad problems staying -in my line and Cooper was just pl ain going fast. He was really hanging it out over the jumps, and I really wasn't into it."

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