Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127149
M ike laRocco (5 5 9 ) and series runner-up Donny Schmit (1 6 ) prepare to pass Jeff Emig as they all battle for second in the first 125cc m ot o . Johnson (1) passes overall-winner Ward early in the first moto. Johnson won the moto to clinch the 500cc title . a record seventh of his career. and more tired as th e mo to wore o n," said an exhaus ted Emig. " I have the speed, but not the endurance. I reall y wanted to see wh a t I have to do to win, and now I kno w." Ward .was con tent with his fifthp lace' fin ish. " It 's better to get top five in both rno to s ra ther than do rea lly well in o ne and fin ish 100th in th e o ther," he said. H olland had th e gate wired and again got the holesho t at the start of moto two, followed by DeHoop, Schmi t, LaRo cco and Coo per. In th e fourth turn, th e -last in a series of ti gh t switch backs , LaRocco wen t down and Cooper, with nowhere to go, pl owed into h im. " I don' t rea lly kn ow what hap pened , the front end just went out," La Rocco said. Coo per had a be tter view. "He sp un o u t a nd I , was comm itted to my line, I tried to wh eelie over his bike and got h ung up on it. " Cooper cont in ued th e race way back in the pa ck while LaRocco had to stop and have his silencer stra ig h tened and then , never quite getting the problem worked out, event ually pulled out on the second lap . Schmit passed DeHoo p on th e first lap and as he chased H olland he left his teammate to fight with J aso n Upsha w, Tichenor and Ward. H oi land co uldn' t shake Schmit, while Upshaw sli pped back in the pack and Cooper began"charging through it at an incredib le rate. By the fifth la p Coo per had charged up to eighth. At the h alfwa y point H olland bega n to sli p away fro m Schmit, wh o had pl enty of distance on teammat es T ichen or and DeHoop. Ward held fifth ahea d of th e charging Coo per. It didn 't take long for Cooper to close in and pass Ward , then overtake DeHoo p . After another two circuits he moved in on Tichenor, followed him for a lap then took th ird . But by th is time Sch m it was near ly 20 second s ahead and sta ying a steady seven seconds behind Holland, knowing that's all he had to do in order to lock up second in the series. This set the top three. . " I came around on th e first la p and saw how far back Coo per was," said Schmit, " so I figured I'd try to mechanic Cliff White for helping me ou t this seaso n." "I'm happy because I rode 100%," said Coo per afterwards. "T hat's the raci ng breaks, sometimes they're in your favor and sometimes they're not. But I had to give it every thi ng I had, even if it was for second place a nd not the championship. I need to thank my spon so rs Malcolm Smith Raci n g, Honda, Du nl o p , Ara i , .Sco tt, Jimmy Cooper m y mechan ic a nd my wife Jayni. " 500cc Jeff Ward started the first .500cc moto with a holesho t, but he quickly surre ndered his lead to team ma te Lechien and J ohnson on the first lap . Overall w inner George Holland (3 ) grabs the ho leshot in the second 125cc moto as Guy Cooper (5) bala nc es on Ro nn ie Tichenor (2 3) . Cooper w on the first ro und ; then made an incredible charge t o t hird in moto two . hang wi th George. Bu t.I didn 't know if he wo u ld try any team tac tics, so . I hung bac k an d kep t an eye on my p it board." Tichenor finis hed the race fourth and War d took anoth er close fifth over Kiedr owski, while DeH oo p was chased by Davi s to the finish line. " I wanted to break (away) fro m Schmi t a nd get o u t and relax because I haven 't been feeli ng 100%," said Ho lland. "I' m happy because I wasn 't sure if I was going to race this weekend. I'd like to th ank Roger DeCoster and Dave Arnold, H onda, Hondaline, Bevo (Forte) a t Scott Goggles, Randy Hicks a t Bell , Frank Stacy at Dunlop, and of course my Lechien wasted no time and p ut a coup le of seconds on J ohnson, wh ile Ward slipped back and was foll owed by Shaun Kalos, J eff Leisk, Billy Frank, Scott Tyleiand Jeff Stanton. " I was riding tigh t, and once they go t by me I cou ldn 't keep th eir pace, " Ward said. Lechien was clearly in co mma nd for the first part of the race, as every time Johnson advanced Lechien would pick up the pa ce to maintain a few seconds on th e H onda pilo t. Ward dropped way behind in third, but was well ahead of Leisk and Kalos. Stanton was on th e mov e after apoor start and also put Kalos back near the halfway poin t. 7