Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Johnson (1) jumped to a fourth-place start in the main . He was flanked by 125cc World Champion Jean-Michel Bayle (1 1 1) and Ray Sommo (27). foll owin g ju mp. As Dymo nd p ut so me dista nce o n the pack Ra y Som mo moved up to seco nd, and on la p two Manley went do wn in a whoop section. 'Ya maha 's Shaun Kalos and Kehoe wen t down too, whi le J ohnso n got hung up briefly but ma naged to sneak th rough wit ho ut falling. In a couple of la ps Johnson had fought his way past Sommo, but Dymond was 10 seconds ahead and uncatchab le. Sommo co nt inued to slid e back and came u nder fire from a ten se duel between Kal os and Man ley, 'with Kalos th e only one to get by before th e finish. Dymo nd took ' th e ea sy win followed b y J oh n son , Kal o s, Sommo and Ma nley. Semis The first sem i was an all-Suzuki affair as teammates Ro n Tiche nor and Kehoe displaced early lead er Dyck and bat tled alone out front. Tichenor bri efly !lot away, but Kehoe reeled him in during the closin g laps and was righ t on Tiche no r 's rear fend er at the fin ish . Both Suzu ki rid ers were in th e main wh ile th e rest of th e pack went to th e Las t Chance Qualifier. Semi two featured a close battl e between Andrews, Jason U psha w and Stephen son. And rews led off the start, but Upsha w passed him o n lap two a nd Stephenson snuck by also. Stephenson too k first a lap lat er wh ile Andrews moved to secon d and took the lead on th e sixth lap. With ' just over o ne lap rem aining Stephenson cras hed back to fifth . giving Upshaw the final tra ns fer position behind Andrews. Last Chance Qualifier Danny Stor beck charged into the lead of the LC Q with Step henson rig ht on his tail, a nd the two were left alone to battle when a massive pi leup occurred just behind them on the first la p . Storbeck contin ua lly held a slight edge on Stephenson by doi ng th e triples, but Step henso n a lways see med to make u p the distan ce somewhere else o n th e track. On the final la p Step henson went insi de before the trip les and stole Storbeck's line to ga in first, then a straig ht later Storbeck cras hed and Stephenson had a free ride to th e rnam. 250cc Main Cooper grabbed the hol eshot at th e start o f th e m ain wi th O 'M ara, Kehoe, J ohnso n , Sta n ton, Lech ien a n d Ba yle fo ll o w i n g . J o h n so n quickly passed Keh oe. while Bayle tried to make up positions o n th e in side of the second straight a nd jumped and landed on a hay ba le. The resulti ng cras h p ut him o ut for the night. Dymond's good ni ght also came to an end when he fell o n the firs t la p. . " I screwed up a co uple of tim es a nd put myself on th e gro und," . Dym ond said. O 'Mara got by Cooper o n la p two and q u ickly put a small distance o n him. leaving Cooper to fend off J ohnson, Kehoe and Stanton as all riders were in close formation. A coup le of laps later J ohnson was in second. but three seconds behind the fleeting O 'Mara. " I didn ' put up mu ch of a fight wh en j ohnson was behind me, but I got tougher as more rid ers started ho undin g me," said Cooper. O'Mara was showi ng th e form that ea rn ed him th e 1984 Supercross Ch am p io nsh ip as he continued to pull away from J ohnson by up to a second per lap. Cooper was indeed getting tou gh er as Stanton moved in but found no openi ng. Kehoe got o ut of sha pe in some wh oops, allo wi ng Lech ien to close in and pass. J ohnson contin ued to lose ground to O 'Mara, and lat er expla ined . " I was ridin g reall y tight wh en I go t into second." . . O 'Mara was slowed on lap nine when a lapped rid er forced him into the ha y bales and th e Su zuki pi lot's lead dwindled to two seconds. Two la p s la ter O 'M ara 's d ream rid e turned into a nightmare when he landed from a jump and was fo rced to sto p wit h a broken frame. "T he steering stem brok e in two." sai d a n o bv io us ly di sappo inted O 'M ara . " It was going p ictureperfect , just as I' d p ictured in a dr eam. I was putting time on John so n a nd had half the race to go, and I usually get stronger at the end. 1 knew I had it my pocket." J oh ns o n sudde n ly h ad a fivesecond lead over the raging battl e between Coo per and Stanton. Kehoe held fourth since Lechien fell and drop ped ba ck beh in d Manley. Bowen held seven th just in fro nt of Larry Broo ks. and Dymond broug h t h im self back into a ba ttl e with S tep he n son , Som mo, Kal os a nd Fisher before go ing down agai n. " I was trying to salvage som e points," said Dym ond, " bu t mad e ano ther m istak e. Ton ig h t wasn 't a tota l disaster, but it's as close as I co uld've come to a total di saster. " Fo r th e rest of th e race J oh nso n was abl e to stay about five seconds ahead of hi s Honda teammates, a nd on th e 15th lap Stanton made sure he would ge t second wh en he passed Cooper in th e ai r and pulled away. Kehoe main tained a lonely fourth all the way to the finish , while Lechien fended off repeated attacks by Manley Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich sailed to victory in the 125cc main event. It was the first round of the Western Regional 125cc Supercross Series. for fifth. Manley finis hed sixt h and was the last rider no t to be lapped by J ohnso n. " It's been a tough begining to th e seaso n with my kn ee injury and learning to ride with a brace," said Johnson. " I was a little nervous about ge tting hurt since the number o ne pla te has been tab oo fo r everybody. I wo u ld've been ha ppy with a top th ree finish ; O'Mar a, Sta nton a nd Lech ien were riding th e best. " " I was beh ind Cooper too long, he held me up for a t least 10 laps," sai d Stanton. " Bu t J ohnny (O' Mara ) shou ld' ve won, you can 't take anyth in g away from him." . ''I'm disappointed because I had energy after th e race, so I co uld 've cha rged after Sta nton," said Cooper. " I've had a lot of time off. so I was happy with a consistent ride," Kehoe said. 125cc Two hea ts determined th e field for th e l25cc main , a nd in the first reign in g Western Regional Champion J eff Ma tiasevich went down o n th e first lap, was clipped in the arm and cruised th e rest of the race to just finish . J eff Emi g took th e lead ear ly in th e race and left everyo ne beh ind for an easy win: In th e second heat Yamah a's Mike La Rocco took the lead o n th e first la p and easi ly beat Je remy McGrath to th e fin ish . _. Emig go t the holeshot at the start of th e mai n with Gaddis, Mat iasevich (who made th e main by winning th e LCQ) and LaRocco follow in /? Matiasevich quickly got by Gaddis and was on Emi g by la p two. th en too k th e lead a nd im mediately pu t a few seconds o n th e pack. La Rocco went down o n lap three of th e IS-lap race. then Emig crashed two laps la ter. Gaddis main tained seco nd a good di stance beh ind the leader, while Michael Cra ig held third over T allon Voh land and a chargi ng Larry Ward. After hi s poor start Ward passed Vohland on th e ninth lap, moved up o n Craig and dogged him for a co up le of ' laps before moving by. With tim e ru nning o u t and Mar iasevich safely out front, Ward made a final drive whi ch saw h im pass Gaddis a half-la p before th e fin ish to grab th e runner-u p hon ors. Gad dis was th ird, Craig maintain ed fourth o ver Vo h la nd a nd C h r is Young, while LaRocco charged back to fin ish seventh. " I was mad about falli ng in the heat, " sa id Matiasevich. " I landed o n a hay ba le on th e first lap of the main a nd thought I wa s goi ng down agai n. I took my tim e, had good rh ythm th rough th e whoops and started passin g people." • Results 25Occ: 1. Rick Jo hnson (Hon); 2. Jeff Stanto n (Hon); 3. Guy Cooper (Hon); 4 . Erik Kehoe (SU2); 5 . Ron Lechien (Kaw); 6 . Brian Ma nley (Kaw ); 7 . Keith Bowen (SUl); 8. M ike Fisher (Kaw ); 9 . Denny Stephe nson (Kaw); 10 . Shaun Kalos (Yam); 11. Ray Somm o (SU2); 12. Fred Andr ews (Hon); 13. M icky Dymond (Yam); 14 . Todd DeHoop (Suz); 15. M ike Pascarella (Suz); 16. Jason Upshaw (Hon); 17: Doug Dubach (yam); 18. Larry Brooks (Hon); 19. J ohnny O'Mara (Suz); 20. Ron Tiche nor (Suz); 21. Jean · M ichel Bayle (Honl . 125cc; 1. J eff Matiasevich (Kaw); 2. Larry Ward (Hon); 3. Jimmy Gaddis (Suz); 4. M icha el Craig (Yam); 5. Tall on Vohland (Kaw); 6. Chris Young (Suz); 7. Mik e laRocco (Yam); B. Lance Smail (Suz); 9. Brian Pryor (Kaw ); 10. J eff Emig (Kaw ); 11. Kerry M ulligan (Suz); 12. Jere my McGrath (Hon); 13. Kyle Lew is (Yam); 14 . Scon St eff y (Suz): 15. Paul Vlach (Han); 16. Shaw n Wynne (Suz); 17. J ason Frenene (Yam); 18. Rick Simmet (Hon); 19. Brent W ineland (Han); 20. Heath Kirkland (Hon). POINT STANDINGS 25Occ; 1. Johnson (25); 2. Stan to n (22); 3. Cooper (20); 4. Kehoe (18); 5. Lechi en (16t 6. Manley (15); 7. Bow en (14); B. Fisher (13t 9 . Stephenso n (12); 10 . Kalos (11). • 12Scc Western Region: 1. Mal iasevtch (25); 2. Ward (22); 3. Gaddis (20); 4 . Cra ig (18 ); S. Vohland (16): 6. Young (151 7. laRocco (14 ); 8. Smail (13); ; 9. Pryor (12); 10 . Emig (11); 7

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