Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Johnny O'Mara angrily walks off the track after his bike broke while leading the main event. Nearly 70,000 spectators filled Anaheim Stadium for the opening round of the 1989 Camel Supercross Series. Teammates Jeff Stanton (left) and w inner Rick Johnson celebrate their 1-2 finishes. Guy Cooper (not shown) made it a Honda 1-2-3 sweep. AMA/Camel Supercross Series: Round 1 Johnson in the right place at Ana"heim By Nate Rauba Photos by Kit Palmer and Ken Faught ANAH EIM, CA, JAN. 28 T eam Honda's Rick Johnson said h e wasn' t the best rider in the Coors Extra Gold Superchallenge a t Anaheim Stadium, bu t tha t h e just happened to be in the right place at the right time which enabled 6 him to take the lead just past I the halfway point and go on to win the opening round of th e Camel Supercro ss Series. J ohnson put himself in the right pl ace with a fourth -pl ace start , and af ter working past Suzuki's Erik Kehoe and Honda teammates Jeff Sta nton and Guy Cooper by the fourt h lap of th e 20-lap main Johnson was in second and just a few seco n ds behind th e rac e leader , Suzu ki's J ohnny O 'Mara. But on lap I I O 'Ma ra sudde nly stop ped wh en , according to Suzuki team manager Pat Alexander , a wor ks part in hi s Su zuk i's steering stem brok e upon landin g from a j u mp. That put O 'Mara ou t of th e race a nd J ohnson into the lead for good. J ohnson stayed severa l seconds o u t front, leaving little for th e 68,742 spectators to cheer abo ut. " My bik e won it, I didn 't," said J ohnson. " The Suzuki broke and my H onda kept running. I gi ve thi s race to God and H onda because I wasn't here 100%." There was still a good battle for second though , as Cooper repeatedly fought off th e pa ss attempts o f Stan to n until Stanton sn uck by o n the 15th lap. Stanton cla imed second a few seconds ahea d of Cooper to com plete th e H onda sweep of th e to p th ree positions. Keh oe fini shed a di stant fourth, we ll a hea d o f fifth -pla ce Ron Lech ien . Several of th e top factory riders were absent from th e main. Johnson's main rival last year, Kawasaki 's J eff Ward, in jured hi s foot upon landin g from the triples in practice. " I th ink th e foot peg h it th e gro und a nd I flexed th e arch of my foot over it," said Ward. " I th ink it j ust tore a ll t~,e ligaments in th e top of my foot. Ward started his qualifying heat, but was unable to fin ish . Yamaha 's bright yo u n g star Damon Bradshaw, one of the few rid ers to beat Johnson last year when he won a supereross race in Japan, cras hed over th e triples in his heat and, despite fini shing the race, was taken to the hospital for exam ination where he was trea ted and released for back muscle inj uries. Honda's George Holland was also a no-show wit h shoulder problems . In th e 125cc main even t Kawasa-: ki 's J eff Matiasevich showed the form which earne d him th e 125cc Western Regional Supe.cross Championship last year by taking the lead from Jeff Ernig on the second lap then cru ising to the win 13 la ps la ter. Honda's Larry Ward charged from the back of the pack and passed Suzuki's Jimmy Gaddis on the last lap for runner-up honors. Johnson topped th e pay list for the night, earn ing $8000 of the $53,000 purse, plus o ne pound of gold from Coors and co n tingencies. Stanton earned $4000 for second and Cooper pocketed $2500 for third, while I25cc winner Matiasevich took home $1500 of th e $8000 I25cc class purse. Heats The standa rd three, eigh t-la p heats were run with th e top five transferring directl y to th e main. Hond a su p p o rt rid er Fred Andrews led the pa ck to the first tum in heat one but was quickly passed by Suzuki 's Todd DeHoop. DeHoop stayed in th e lead for a lap before . Stanton motored by and pulled away. Ward started th e race and slowIy circled th e track befor e pullin g off on lap three. As Stanton pulled away a tight battle ensued between DeH oop, Tuf Racing's Keith Bowen, Andrews and Yamaha' s Doug Dubach and Bradshaw, who was charging up from a bad start. Brads haw's charge ended over th e triples on th e fifth lap when he pushed hi s bik e away in midair in order to avoid landing on the fall en Andrews. Bradshaw landed on th e third jump minus his Yamaha, but was able to get up and finish th e ra ce before going to th e hospital. Members of the media also voted Bradshaw th e Coors Extra Effort Award, which gives $1000 to the rider who the media vo tes as giving the best effort in a heat. Up front Stanton pulled away for an easy win wh ile DeHoop and Bowen swa pped second severa l times before DeHoop took control on the fin al lap. Dubach scored fouth while Mike Pa scarella mo ved up to tak e the fin al transfer position. Fr enchman Jean-Michel Bayle hol eshot the second heat followed by Kawasaki's Lechien and O 'Mara. Lechien took the lead on lap two, but Bayle didn't let him get away. O 'Mara dogged Bayle from third and finally got by on the sixth lap when Bayle fell in a tight turn. Further back in fourth Larry Broo ks led a tight battle con sisting of Cooper, Mike Fisher and Denny Stephenso n. At the end it was Lechien with the win a few seconds ahead of O'Mara. Bayle was third and Cooper and Fisher moved by Brooks to take the final transfers to the main. Brian Manley was first to to turn one in heat three, but Yamaha's Mickey Dymond passed him over the

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