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
f:3 B ' ~ . Fred Andrews (17): Johnny O'Mara (20) '- Ronnie Tichenor (11) and Doug Dubach (16) charge Int o the first tu~n at the start of Saturday's main . Jeff Ward (5 ) was still bothered by the foot he inju re d at the Anaheim Supercross, He called it a weekend after the first heat race on Saturday. Wash ington's l.!trry Ward was the crowd favorite in t he 125cc class. He was headed to a sure w in on Sunday before crashing. 8 But Ward quickly made up for lost time over th e triples a nd again reeled in Matiasevich. But time ran out and as Ward , had to be content with second. "I've had the £Iu since Friday morning and it was really taking a effect on me at th e end, " said Matiasevich. " I started riding sloppy and Larry started ca tching me ." "He rode a smart race, " said Ward: "I was catching him over the triples, but on th e last lap 1 couldn 't make the jump because the approach to the jump was getting really bumpy. At least th ere's always tomorrow. " < Finishing third ' wa s Yam aha's Mike LaRocco, despite gettin g 0(( th e start ing line in th e ba ck o f th e pac k . L aR o cco c ha rged h a rd throughou t th e race , passin g teamma te Mich ael Craig late in the race for th ird . ' Like LaRocco , Craig h ad a so-so sta rt but pr essed forward to finish fourth with Gadd is takin g fifth. Rounding o u t th e top 10 were Tallon Vohland, Lance Sm ail , McGrath, Ton y G raves and Vin ce Warren . Sunday • Heats Japanese rider Shigeki H anada . grabbed the holeshot at th e start of the first heat race but was quickly displaced by Fis her, Lechien, Cooper and Dymond. Fisher held the lead for a lap before Lechien shot by with Cooper pressing hard in third. Two la ps la ter Cooper shot past Fisher then set his sights on Lechien. Cooper was on th e gas and quickly reeled in Le chien, For three la ps, Cooper dogged the Kawasaki rider, then Cooper flew past Lechien over a section of jumps and that was it. From th en on, Co oper domina ted th e moto with Lechien sett lin g into second. Third went to Fish er with Dym ond fini shing a close fourth. ' Fifth wenttri Dubach . T he seco nd heat race saw Mat son stea l th e hol eshot a hea d of Bayle, Dyck , Keh oe a n d Sta nto n . After m an y lead cha nges d uri ng th e first lap, Bayle eme rged o u t in front a head of Stanton, Ma tson and Dyck . Bayle maintained the lead Ior two laps before Sta nton m otored to th e outside of Bayle and took th e lead. Stan ton set th e p ace for the rest o f th e race with Bayle trailing. Matson h ad clear sailing in third, while Brian Manley and Kehoe diced for fourth. Manley had the strength o ve r th e ill-feelin g Kehoe a n d .dro p ped the Suzuki rider to fifth. The final heat ra ce was dominated b y Saturday nigh t's main event winner Johnson. Johnson jammed into th e early lead and never looked ' ba ck, despite some ch a llen ges by O 'Mara. However, O'Mara bailed over a section of jumps while riding all alone. "I just went into th e whoops too hot, and the next thing 1 knew 1 was on th e ground," said O'Mara. At th e same time Kalos, who was running fourth , crashed sending him to th e semis along with O'Mara. Todd DeH oop found himself in second with Mike Pascarella hot on his tail. Tichenor was running th ird before he , too, crashed into the ha ybales af ter getting forced 0(( the track by Pascarella. With two laps to go , P as carella out-jumped DeHoop over a tabletop jump and cli pped Del-loop's front wheel in the pro cess. P as ca rella too k seco n d followed by Del-l oop, J ason U psh aw a nd T iche nor. Sem is T he fi rst sem i belonged to O 'Mar a. After passi ng Fred Andrews On the first lap , O 'Mara stre tched h is lead to a comforta ble m ar gin a nd bar ely worked u p a 'swea t as he took the win. For co m ing back a nd winning after cras h ing, O'Mara wa s aw arded the Coor Extra Effort Award $1000 check. Andrews and Den ny Stephenson battled for seco nd for th e first few laps until Stephenson sh o t b y Andrews. O 'Mara easily took the win a head of Stephenson and Andrews. Allan Dyck took th e early lead in th e second semi wi th Keith Bowen, Canadian Ross Pederson and Kalos in pursuit. P ed e rso n , fio wever, crashed hard over the triples when Bowen drifted into his path and clipped his front wheel in midair, sending the Canadian into a tailspin. Pederson managed to regroup and finish the race . . Meanwhile, Kalos worked his way into the lead and pulled away for a n easy win over Bowen an d Dyck. Last Chance Qualifier Andrews aced the field in the L CQ . The Honda rider nailed the holeshot while Pederson , Derek Brown and Dyck battled for second. But during th e second lap, Dyck centerpun ched Pederson in a turn, taking Pederson o u t o f th e picture. Andrews easily took th e win , seven seconds a head o f Yamaha-mounted J im H oll ey. M ai n . H ol esh o t a rtist Dubach ' blast ed into th e lead a tthe start of the main , but kn ocking a t h is back door was J ohn son , T iche no r, . ' Co o p er, O 'Mara , Stephen son a nd Bayle. As th e p ack headed .in to lap two, J ohnson powered p ast Dubach and quickly jumped in to a 'safe lead. Cooper and O 'Mara both slip p ed by Tichenor then did the same to Dubach by lap three. So by th e fourth -lap , the top