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/127178
O'l 00 O'l ...... Jean-Michel Ba y le had to wait for Keith Bowen (21) to be freed from his bike after a first-turn p ileup, then charged back for ninth in the main. b u t Fisher passed h im after the first turn . Jeff Hicks, Ray Somrno, Kei th Bowen and Jason Upshaw followed, wh ile Dym ond was le ft in a first- turn pileup. Joh nson dogged Fis her for the first h alf of th e race before h Iou nd .a way by, while So mmo moved up to third with U psha w a n d Bowen in his tra cks. Bow en charged u p to third and m ot ored away fro m U ps haw, and Terry Fowler a lso m oved p ast Sommo. ' . That wa s all the passing th ere would be a nd Johnson took th e win a few secon ds ahead of Fi sh er. Bow en claimed third ove r Uph aw a n d Fowler , a nd si nce six th pl ace also transfers in the fastest heat Sommo lucked out and got a ticket to th e main. Semis Kalos and Brooks battled for th e lead on th e first lap of semi one before Kalos took control. Scott Brown passed Brooks on the first lap and moved in o n Kalos ,but crashed on the second go-around. Brooks moved back in to second and was there to stay as Ka los sty led ou t front and took the wi n by a few seco nds. T he second se mi b el on ged to Keh oe after h e go t the hol esh ot a nd led from start to fin ish. Hicks trai led th e ent ire race a few seco n ds back a nd held o ff th e late-race charges of J apan 's T omoyuki Naganum a. Last Cha nce Qualifier Brown passed Jon Ortner on th e first lap but crash ed over a double on th e second lap and was n early run over. J apan's Atsush i Okab e took th e lead in th e shuffle that follow ed as Gordon Ward moved into secon d a head of Naganuma. Ward dogged Okabe until he went down too, giving Naganuma second. The two Ron Lechien (4) a n d Guy Co o per battle in th eir heat. In the main Lech ien was involve d in a p ile u p while Coo pe r charg e d from b e h in d to take fourth. J a p anese riders stayed close, b ut O kab e was able to hold o n for th e win , M ain Fi sher barely made th e sta rt o f th e main when h e had to wa it for a ra dia tor cap to rep lace th e o ne that ยท came off during the p arade la p, but th e added anxiety worked to h is ad vantage when he scooted off wi th th e hol eshot. Stanton brought up seco nd followed by Upsh aw, Bradshaw, Tich en or a nd J ohnson. Ba yle, Lechien, Sornrno and Bowen all went down in a heap just after the first turn and on ly Bayle was ab le to recover a nd fin ish th e race. Bradshaw m oved to th ird on the first lap as U ps ha w began to sl ide back. T iche no r a nd J o h nson got by a lso, an d o n th e th ird lap T iche n or fell. Johnson quickly m oved in on Bradshaw, and with S tanton o n Fisher's rear fender th ere was a fourwa y battle for th e lead. Nobody co u ld do any thin g for a few laps and the four rode in tight formation. . " I knew Fisher was kind of riding over his head," said Stanton, "he was 7