Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Smith rounds up Masters of Motocross win By Alex Hodgkinson MAGGIORA, ITALY, SE PT. 18 Jeff Leisk maintained his lead in the Masters of Motocross after a superb fight back from a first-round co ll ision wi th Micky Dym ond, bu t the honors of the day a t Maggi ora in n ort h ern Ital y went to Rodney Sm ith, the I tal ia nbased Californian, af ter a last-race flat tire en ded Ron Lechien's victory run. Lechien h ad wo n the first two motos. T he Eu ropean challenge, wea kened badly by Na tional ch am pionsh ip committments, never m a teria lized a fter 500cc World Champion Eric Geboers h ad quit a fter leading the opening rac e. Pekka Vehkonen hit th e deck o n th e first lap in every ra ce, a n d the only challe n ge to the U .S. riders came from Australian Jeff Leisk and Canadian champion Ross Pederson. . Vehkonen, the ' m ain hope fo r European su ccess, h ad a di sastrous start' in th e first rnoto as h e was dumped on the ground in th e first comer and his co meback through th e pack was ser io usly hampered by air In the front brake line, which meant pumping it every time it was used. With th e ra ce less than half a lap old, more stars were on th e ground. Micky Dymond went down hard when holding ninth place and amongst those who went with him was Leisk. Re starting dead last, the Australian got to 14th at th e fin ish, right behind Vehkonen . Another who did not get far was Jeff Ward, who picked up a rear flat on the third lap while holding fifth. Early' leader of the moto was Geboers. but, without a ra ce for five weeks and due to have a shoulder operation three days after ' the ra ce, it was only a matter of time before he could hold th e pace n o more and was forced to pull out. Bu t until the n the Belgian showed that h e had the speed to match the Americans who then dominated the proceedings. Johnny O'Mara had surged past Lechien in th e initial sort out, but by th e time G eboers started to drop back Lechien wa s ba ck in front and rode a way. Brock Glov er tried to ca tch O 'Mara, but without suc cess a nd h e had a lo nely third ahead of Mike H eal ey once Smith went down whe n the front wheel wash ed out. Pederson push ed Gl over hard to th e finish ahead of the first real Euro- " pean, Belgium's Peter Dirkx. Mealey di sappeared with a broken swing- arm . With Geboers a non-starter a nd Vehkonen taken down at the back o f the track o n lap o ne, Europe wa s again in trouble in race two. Leisk led fro m Ward, Lech ien, Smith, Dymond, Glover and Pederson with Guiseppe Andreani leading the local effort. Leisk was soon gifted a buffer to th e rest as both Kawasaki riders went down in th e fir st four laps, a disconsolate Ward then going further and further back before he quit for th e day. Lechien was not to be denied how ev er. Remounting fifth , he relentlessly forced his way back to the front, passing Leisk for the win wi th two lap s to ride. Dym o n d held second for more than ha lf the race despite feeling dazed from h is earlier crash, before going down again a nd q u ittin g for the day. The remainder of the leaderboard kept station in the order .Sm i th -G lo ver -P ederso n -An dreani wi th O ' Mara, never really getting going, restricted to seventh ahead of Bader Manneh. That left the overall positions Lechien on a maximum 40 poin ts ahead o f Sm ith and Gl over, tied on 28, O ' Mara 26, Pederson 22 an d Le isk 19. Local ace Giuseppe G asp a rdo ne led th e fi nal moto for a lap before fall ing in the firs t tum, and Manneh took over, chased by Smith with Lech ien and Leisk fighting through th e p ack in ta n dem . Furt her ba ck af ter a n atrocious start was O'Mara, b u t he was let back into th e first three w he n Gl over went do wn in a heap with Rick R yan and Pederso n . At ha lf distance Lechien moved into seco nd, o nly to im m edia tel y sense that the fro n t tire was flat . After los ing p laces for two laps, by which time h e was o u t of the scorers, .Lechien sto pped to change the wh eel but that was o f no help as it dropped h im to 28th . Even a win for Leisk co ul d not li ft h im a head o f Lechien in th e overall colu m n , but Smith was n ow cruising as O 'Mara sought to in crease h is points to sn a tch seco n d. G oing in to th e last la p Lei sk wa s ch a lle n gi n g Manneh for the moto win, with Smith third and O 'Mara fourth. That m eant overall points scores of Smith 43, Lechien 40 a nd O 'Mara 39. By passing Smith, O 'M ara co u ld even have taken th e overall but Smith had 50 yards on h is rival. Up th e first m ain hill Leisk drew alongside Manneh, only to be forced to give way in the tum, but th en with o n ly a third o f a lap to ride, Leisk found h is wa y past. H e had th e insi de for the next tum but Manneh was not giving up and hit his rear wheel. Manneh went down, Leisk wobbled around th e cambered tum and fell , Smith wa s almost taken down too, but escaped to take the win with Le isk qu ickly up again for second an d O 'Mara third to move ahead of Le chien in the overall standings. Results 0 / A : 1. Rodney Smit h, USA (Suz); 2. Johnny O'Mara. USA ( S uz~ 3. Ron Lechlen , USA (Kaw); 4. Jeff leisl<. AUS (Han); 5. Brae Glover, USA (Yam): . 6 . Ross Pederson, CA N (Su z); 7 . Giuseppe Racing Enterprises Presents ··C.olJld\o\ i Oft ~y Tbe Oceall" November 6th, 1988 Motocross Race at Carlsbad Raceway $4,0 00 Pro Purse to t op 1 0 1 Pro Class (all size bikes ) RICK JOHNSON ic o .... u O· SPORTSMAN RACING ALL CLASSES Entry Deadl ine November 5t h Open Practice Saturday, November 5t h For Info CaII RACING ENTERPRISES (619) 484-1441 Looking for a good deal? Read the Cycle News Want Ads. World C"ampions"ip Observed Trials Series: Final round HONDA Michaud regains crown in Poland Come ride with us. '89 eR's ~~ YOUy~~o:A~~A n 125 YOU KNOW WHERE!! 80 MYSLENICE, POLAND, SEPT . II ' 1986 b y winning th e fin al ro u nd of th e '88 series in Poland. The season ended with Michaud o n top o f th e p o int sta n d i n gs o ver d ef endin g Worl d Champion J ordi Tarres oCSpain, 202 to 197. Michaud became th e first rider to regain th e crown . Tarres, who had m ounted a lat e seas on charge th at brought him up 'to a tie in th e point standings with Michaud going into the final round, fini shed third in Poland behind Mi chaud and runner-up Donato Miglio of Italy. Celebrating his 22n d birthday in Poland, Tarres day was dimmed by his failure to retain the crown. Fantic-mounted Michaud 's "points" total was 55, Miglio's 81 and Tarres' 83. Miglio finished the season third in the point standings. Michaud was lo w man on each of th e three laps of the 16-section course, logging an 18 on each of the first two laps and closing o ut with a title-winning 19 on the final la p . Finishing fourth in Pola nd was Bri t Steve Saunders, w hile Italian ..0 p..\SO icAnd Other Top Pros Andreani, ITA (Han); B. Bader Manneh, USA (Suz); 9. Carlo Rinatdi . ITA (Suz); 10. An dria no Ferrar in i. ITA (Kaw); 11. Peter Dirkx. BEL (Han); 12. Trampas Parker . USA (KTM); 13. Billy Ules, USA (Kaw); 14. Ricky Ryan. USA (Han); 15. Claudio De Carli , ITA (Han). Frenchman Thierry Michaud regained the World Champ ionship Observed Trials crown he had worn in 1985 and ..... Q.) TO GET IT THE BEST IS EVEN BETTER Level III CR Support Dealer i::_ ,. ~AL"M A CR Support Technicians UPS Da il y S' 1~ . 1375 lndustrial A~ OTORCYCLE Petaluma . CA 94952 ENTER. INC. (7 07) 763- 1161 ~~. ... ~.S MOTORCYCLE CENTERS Motorcycl , JeIVice . luneups. , cr:euDri s .nd urs« . e c."";.,,, Sn.. c.lifDnli.l.oeMitIM: U .i•• '4258E Impendl Hwy . (21 31946·3459 S." VII'-, 9001 SunlMl(J A,,!, . fBrB} 768·9026 r...-. 2466 W Su'- 8'" . 121 3153/1-11314 A".im 828 W Vtrmont ~ . 1" 4} 114·'049 L.., 110<11 5210 l ong8tdC1181 a . 1 , 2'3/ 423-81178 S..,. GI" 5867 Ftrestont Blvd . (2731 921-6895 _OIl,." 806 E H untmoton DnY!. (81 303-6382 81 Distributors or Deelers Call f or product (213) 946-3581 Perfonnance " WlP build horslPpowlPr you'll hold onto" (714) 944-9595 8806 ArtIIibold A_ RIncho Cucamonga. Co 91130 27

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