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/127177
Forty-five 250cc riders were on the weekend's en try list, with an additional 39 riders ente red in th e 125cc class. Saturday Heats Johnny O'Mara (20) leads Rick Johnson (1) . O'Mara led most of Saturday's main and took second on Sunday. Jeff Matiasevich (left). Jeremy McGrath (m iddle) and Lance Smail finished 1 -2 -3 in Sunday's 125cc main. Matiasevich won both nights. AMA Camel Supercross Series: Rounds 2-3 Johns.on cleans up in Seattle doubleheader By Kit Palmer . Photos by Brian Barnes . SEATrLE, WA, FEB. 4-5 Team Honda 's R ick J ohnson came to Washington and spent the weekend cleaning h ouse at th e Seattle Kin gdome. Johnson, fresh off his win a t the Anaheim, California, Ca me l Supercross Seri es ope ne r th e week before swep t b h d f e E ' G ld o t ays 0 oors . xt~a 0 Superchallenge racing In Seat- 6 tle, exte nding his series points lead to 21 over hi s nearest com petitor, teamm ate J eff Stanton , 75-54. Saturday ni ght 's win was th e hardest-earned of th e two for J ohnson, who made up for a 12th pl ace start in th e main to reel in and pa ss race-leader J ohnny O 'Mara six laps from the finish . Once into th e lead , J ohnson pulled away and took the win unchall enged. O 'Mara, on th e ot her hand , crashed a few laps later on the demand in g J ohn Savitskidesign ed track. and salvaged sixth. New on th e rostrum was Suzuki's Ronnie Tichenor, wh o ga ve Suzuki its .best fini sh in years by pl acin g second on Saturday. Third wen t to Ka wa saki ' s Ron Lech ien , w hi le Stanton and I25cc MX Worl d Cha mpion , Fr en chman Jea n- Mic he l Bayle, took fourt h and fifth . In Sunday's ra ce, J o hnson led from start to finish - untouched. Johnson powered his Brian Lunnisstuned CR250 into th e lead and never looked back ; while O 'Mara moved into seco nd by mote's end. It was O 'M ara ' s best su p erc ross fini sh since, in O'Mara 's words, " T he H onda days." Third went to Hon da's Guy Cooper foll owed by Stanton and T ichenor. Team Kawasaki's Jeff Ward, who injured hi s foot during practice at the Anahei m Supercross, tried riding the Seattle doublehead er bu t called it qui ts after the fir st heat race Saturday night. Ward was in too much pai n to continue a nd he headed back ho me on Sunday wi th still no supercross poi n ts to h is name. Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw came to Seattle bu t ha d no inte ntions of racing. Bradshaw suffered a back inj ury at the Anaheim Supercross and came to th e Kin gdome strictly as a spec ta tor. T he new Yamah a hotshoe is hoping to ride the next round at the San Diego, Ca liforn ia, Supercross the next week. Also m issing was T eam H onda 's Geor ge H oll and, wh o is still o n th e mend after a sho ulder injury. In the I25cc class, Kawasaki 's J eff Ma ti a sevi ch topped both even ts despite su ffering from th e flu and serio us challenges by. local favorite, H onda's Larry Ward. Ward took second Saturday night but crashed whi le leading Sunday's race. Honda rider J erem y McG rath fini sh second on Sunday. Freezin g cold tem peratures and icy roads o utsi de th e Kingdom e made for lower-than -n ormal crowds at th e SRO/ Pace- promo ted Seatt le Supercross . Onl y 22,316 fan s ventured o u t into the cold Saturday night, wh ile j ust over 16,000 a ttended Sunday afternoon's race. By wi n ning both Coors Extra Gold Superchalle nge main events, Johnson collec ted two pil es of gold, eq ua lling $6000 ($3000 each night). Second p lace was worth $1850 in cash and third $1200. The total 250cc class purse each night was $25,000. Mat iasevich, wh o wo n both 125cc events, pocketed $1000 each night ou t of a to tal $5000 purse (each night). Second -place fin ishers Ward and McG rath collec ted $400 each . Both Satur day a nd Sunda y's events used the same co urse TUn in th e same directio n . There were three heat races with the top five rid ers qualifying directly to the main wi th the rest goi ng to th e two semis, where the to p two fin ishers in each race transIered to the main . After th e sem is came the Last Ch an ce Quali fier with o nly the winner going to the 20-lap mai n. The first 250cc heat of th e weekend turned into a Cooper/Shaun Kalos dogfight with H onda-mounted Jason Upshaw and Suzuki rider Mik e Pascarella wat ching from third and fourth. Both Cooper and Kalos shot into th e first turn side-by-side, but it was KaJos edging ahead. A few turns later, though, Cooper took over the lead wh en Kalos landed on a ha y bal e over a jump. But the Yamaha piloted retaliated and had th e lead back by the end of th e first lap, with Upshaw and Kawasaki rid er Denny Stephenson settling into fourth and fifth. Ward was running fifth in . the early stages of th e race, but just couldn't match the pace of the leaders with his sore foot . The factory Kawasaki rider eventually dropped back to : seventh at the finish , then withdrew from both nights. Meanwhile, Kalos and Cooper continued to lead the wa y. With one lap to go, Cooper made his moveand powered by Kalos in a sectio n of whoops taking over the lead and win. Upshaw fini shed third with Pascarella moving up to fourth ahead of . St ephenson and Suzuki's Erik Kehoe. Kehoe was also battling the flu and he too would call it quits after the heat races. H onda-mounted Danny Storbeck took th e early lead in th e second heat race, but brea thing heavily down hi s back were Stanton, Tichenor and Yam aha rider Scott T yler. Near th e back of th e pack was Lech ien , but he exploded into fourth by the end of the first lap . During the second lap both Stan ton and Tichen or slip ped by Storbeck , wh il e Lechien studied the situa tion in fourth. Two laps lat er, Lechien turned o n the afterburne rs a nd set h is sig h ts o n Storbeck . Storbeck held hi s gro und stalled hi s Honda in a turn. Lechi en went wide ' and roosted into third. Lechien th en cha r ge d after Tichenor and was ga in ing on the Suzuki rider, but tim e ran o u t as Stanton took the win safely ahead of T ichenor, Lechien and Storbeck. Finishing fifth was factory Yamaha rider Doug Dubach . For co m in g from behind and winning th e ra ce, Lechien was voted by th e pr ess as th e Coors Extra Effort Award winner, and took home a check wo rth $ 1000, co u rtesy of Coors. H eat three featured O 'M ara, defending Sllpercross champ J ohnson, Dymond and French man JeanMichel Bayle. O 'Mara powered hi s Jim Felt- tuned Suzuki into th e early lead with H onda rider Fred Andrews, Johnson , Bayle and Dymond in pursuit. During th e first lap, the top riders were shuffling for positions. Heading into lap two, O 'Mara still held th e lead, but Johnson was close in second followed by Dymond and ' Bayle. By lap three, O'Mara and Johnson had o pened a large gap bet ween th e Dymond a nd Bayle battle. O'Mara set the pace for th e next four la p s until J ohnson sta rt ed pr essuring. Johnson set O'Mara up in a tu rn," dove to the inside and pushed O 'Mara o utside for th e lead. At th e fin ish , it was J ohnson finishing inches ' ahea d of O 'Mara, wh o was cl osel y followed b y Dymond. Fin ishing fourth was Bayl e, with Tuf Ra cing's Keith Bowen taki ng fifth .