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/127173
n a ~ ~ " 00 ...... Mike Healey (3 8) chased Brian Manley in t he first 500cc Pro m ota. Healey eventually got by Manley and collecte d t he win ahead of Sco tt Brown, Jeff War d (5 5) leads Ro n Lechien (35) and Damon Bradshaw (64) at the start of the second 2 5 0cc Pro mota. Ward took the overall. CMC/Dodg~ Truck Golden State Nationals: Round 1 Ward rules Glen Helen GSN opener By Ken Faught SAN BERNARDINO, CA, JAN. 8 Team Kawasaki's Jeff Ward collected his' second straight win at the Continental Motosport Club Golden State Nationals opening event by topping Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw and Suzuki's J ohnny O 'Mara for th e overa ll victo ry in th e 250cc Pro class at Gl en H elen OHV Park. The Kawa- 6 sa k i / S i n isa l o / A X O /S ho e i / BelRa y/Du nl o p / McP hearso n C hevrel et/Troy Lee-sponsored Ward led nea rly every lap of both mo tos, only allo wi ng Kawasak i teammat e Ron Lechei n and Brad sh aw to lead for a sho rt stint in each o uting. Lec hi en led th e first two laps in mot o one before Ward passed him and opened up a 10-second cushion, while Brad s!Jaw p ulled th e holeshot over Ward III moto two and stayed out front for three laps before Ward mad e his mov e. Lechien crashed during th e ear ly portion of th e race after cli ppi ng Ward's rear wh eel, p utti ng h im o u t of co nten tio n . Brad shaw even tua lly fell off th e pace but was still a ble to hang onto second over O'Mara. Other big winners of th e da y i ncl u ded Suzuki-mounted Willie Surratt and KTM's Mike Heal ey, who won th e. 125 and 500cc. Pro classes, respec tively. Surratt claimed the 125cc victory via a 2-2 tall y after fig h ting orr Kyle Lewi s, Rodney Smi th and Mike Kiedr owski. - Healey's victory was a little sweeter than Su rratt's as he earn ed his class hon ors wit h a 1-2 to ta l. The KTM/ An swer/S il ko le ne / Oa k ley / Ara i/ Pro -Cycle/HT Racin g-backed rider started th e first mot o in th ird , bu t qu ickl y forced his 350cc KT M in to the nu mber one positio n. The final ro und saw Healey again work hi s way up to ward the front oft he pack after a mediocre start only to have Scott Brown knock him back to second before the finish. The cold sou thern Ca liforn ia da y drew more th an 6000 specta tors a nd 200 rid ers. Rain durin g th e p revio us week and a sma ll amount of snow the day before dism issed CMC offi cia ls from the task of wa tering th e track, yet left th e Glen H elen co urse perf ect for spectating. Lechi en and Ward started th e first 250cc Pro class moto off sid e-by-side with Lechien managing to outbrake Ward in the first turn. Steve La mso n was thi rd with Brad sh aw , T err y Fow ler and O 'Mara hot o n his tail. O n th e secon d lap Yam aha 's Mickey Dymond wen t down har d after tryin g to work h is way up fro m a poor start. . " I mis sed a shi ft in one of the turns ," said Dymond. " T he bike h it a deep hol e and I went up over th e top of the handlebar s. 1 don 't kn ow if the bike fli p ped or I just fell over th e front of it. It kind of cocked me up onto my head and into th e dirt. " . Up front a battle raged betw een th e two Kawa saki factory riders. Ward closely followed Lechien (or four laps until Lechien bobbled, allowing Ward to take over th e lead . " I had the sta rt and th en Ronn ie (Lech ien) ju mped real hi gh into th e first corne r and he landed on me," said Ward. " H e came o ut first and I just stuck beh ind him. H e was swap ping pretty bad , so I was just waiting for him to mak e a mistake. H e pulled out a little bit and th en 1 caugh t him. Later he kind of slid out a little bit and then waved me by." As Ward pull ed a way from Lechi en, Rodney Smith and Bradshaw battled for th ird . The mat ch soo n ended wh en Smith dropped hi s Suzu ki in a powder berm, handing th ird to Brad shaw . As Sm ith struggled to get up and underw ay, Shaun Kalos drew near, but was never a serious threat. At th e checkers Ward p icked up the win 10seconds ahea d of Lechien , Bradshaw, Sm ith and Kal os. Round two saw Bradsh aw blast into the first turn followed by Ward, Le chien , O ' Ma r a an d Lam son . Short ly into the first la p Lechien tagged Ward 's rear wheel, sending Lechi en to th e grou nd. As Lechien slo wly go t up near last, Ward shot pas t Bradsh aw a nd assumed h is norm al position o u t fro nt. However, Brad shaw was n 't abo ut to gi ve up th at easy. The Yama ha rider hung wi th Ward for mo st of th e race before event uall y fall in g slightly off the pace. While much of th e attentio n was bein g focused on th e Ward/Bradsha w battl e , O 'M a ra a n d Mike Young swa pped third pl ace severa l tim es before O 'Mara finally gained th e upper h and. Young later dropped to 10th with Paul Jones and Larry Brooks taking over fourth and fifth. The final few laps saw no change am ong the top five as Ward captured th e win ah ead of Bradshaw, O 'Mara, J ones and Brooks. " I kn ew Bradshaw would scra p with me for a while because he ca n hang out.t'said Ward, wh o co mpe ted in a biathalon in Palm Springs, Cal ifornia, th e da y befor e, " I just kept a smooth hard pace and it was too hard for him , and he just backed off. He rod e th e 125cc class and kind of had a little adva n tage because he kn ew th e track. " Ward's perfect I-I score ga ve him the ea sy o vera ll with Bradshaw, O 'Mara, Brooks and Kalos filling in th e top five. Kyle Lewis claimed the first 125cc Pro class rnoto win after gating fifth behind Jimmy Gaddis, Smith, Surratt and J eff Matiasevich. Gaddis led the first two laps before Smith dropped him to second. As Gaddis pursued Smith, Surratt darted to third with Lewis coming up strong in fourth. Matiasevich was fifth with Bradshaw and Tallon Vohland closing in fast. During the first half of the race the top seven riders were never more than five seconds apart. All of that changed as a chain of events started to occur. First Lewis forced his way past Surratt and into second, th en Smith fell back to fourth , handing Lewis the lead. Gaddis was' now third. By this tim e Bradshaw had broken into th e top five after a 17th place start. The young, aggressive rider soo n passed Gaddis and Smith and slowly began reelin g in the leaders. The last lap saw Brad shaw pull with in a few bike lengths of Lewis and Surratt, but he wasn 't able to take a stab at a pass. " I started off 17th, " said Bradshaw , " and wo rked my way up to th e fro nt. If I had a nother la p, I would 've won." Lewis collected th e checkers just a few bike len t;:ths over Surra tt and Bradshaw . Smith settled for fourth with Gaddis dropping to fifth. Round two was very simi lar to the first moto excep t a few of the names changed. Smith stole the holeshot ahead of Surratt, Ty Davis, Ma tia se- vich and Kerry Mulligan and held the lead for th e first four laps. Lewis suffered a poor start and was near midpack as did Kiedrowski, but Kiedrowski 's efforts at moving up were a little more successfu l as the newly acquired Honda rider managed to break into the top three on th e second lap. Kiedrowski , who finished sixth in moto one, now became a major factor