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/127180
Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw (45) and Ty Davis (22) scrambled for the lead at the start of the 125cc main. The two riders finished 1-2. Ch ampion, Jean -Mic hel Ba yle of France, wa s a close second with Kawasaki-m ounted J eff Frisz third. Dennis H awthrone was a n ea rly fo u rt h, but soon crashe d o u t o f ' contention. Fifth at the end of the first lap was J ason Upshaw wi th H onda's Stanton six th after a poor sta rt. . " It was real s lick," S ta nton expla ine d. " Whe n I came o u t it started spinning." By the seco nd lap Stanton was up to .fourth a nd exi ti ng th e hairpin . coming o nto the straight o n the th ird " lap he passed Fr isz for third. With five of eig ht laps to go the order o f the top th ree - Kalos, Bayle, Stanton - was set. Kalos would win by abo u t three seconds even th ough a fall en rider on the last lap ca used h im to slo w ap p reciably. "T hey were go ing th e sa me speed as I was a ndI was making mi stakes," said Stanton. " I' d ride harder, the n screw up more. I'v e got to get a better start in th e- main. " On t he sev enth lap, U ps haw .moved past Fri sz for fourth with Andy Sta cy a distant sixth. Honda 's Larry Brooks led O 'M ara, Lechien and Johnson to start th e ' third and final "heat with Suzuki's Todd DeHoop fi ft h a n d Fred Andrews sixth. Starting the third lap, O'Mara flew over Brooks on the tabletop finish line jump with LechienandJohnson moving Brooks back two more places. Brooks would fade to finish sixth and head for the semis. Just past the halfway mark, Johnson passed Lechien and moved into " second. A lap later he passed O 'Mara ~ for the lead on the entrance to a righthand jump. The defending supercross champ then picked up the pace and took the checkered flag with ' a three-plus second margin on O'Mara. Lechien was a comfortable third. Yamaha 's Mike LaRocco moved into fourth on the last lap with DeHoop holding onto the final direct transfer into the main. " I was pretty conservative at the start, fourth or fifth," J ohnson said. " T here were g uys sl i d i ng out everyw here. " Alt hough Johnson 's heat win was methodical, he kn ew that the fin al wouldn 't be as easy. " I ca n' t let anybody get away," he - said. "Everybody ' goes fast th e first 12 laps. I want to get o u t front a nd not worry about the o ther ri ders. " Finishing second to Johnson ga ve O 'Mara a new view of the track. " He had one particular rea lly good line in a coup le of spots," O 'Mara sai d: H e explained that J ohnson wa s able 'to pass him when he " just got o ff th e main line and was up in the slippery stuff." . Lechien a g r eed with O 'Mara a bo u t Johnson 's lines. "I know where it is and what he's do in g, but I'm still a littl e cautious because of the trou ble with m y th u m b. I feel a lo t better this week. It 's abo ut 80%. It's just that the jarring is really painful. " Semis Ka wasaki-m ounted Keith J ohnson held the lead for th e first half of the first, eight-lap semi, but on ' the fifth lap Fred Andrews made a push and dropped J ohnson to second ro u nding the right-hand bend leading to the start straight. With only two riders to the main from each of the semis. ijohnson was the man on the bubble and starting the last lap, Suzuki's Ray Sommo burst it, outdriving Johnson on the entrance to the finish jump. Sommo made a run at Andrews , but came up just short and had to settle for second with Johnson third, and Keith Bowen fourth. "The track's ' been changing all night," said Andrews. " Bu t I don 't think there's any advantage to being on it this much." . One rider who disagreed with Andrews was second semi winner Ross Pedersen, the Canadian Supercross Champion. Pedersen was third off the start, second by halfway, and into the lead soon after that when Johnson (1) and J oh nny O' Mara (2 0) battled for second w h ile Stanton led the way. J ohnson got close t o Sta nton bu t crashed late in t he race . leader Larry Brooks crashed over the finish jump. " The more I can get' out on the track, the better I feel," he said. Pedersen's winning mar~n was about 30 yards with Den nis Hawthorne moving into the runner-up ' spot. Brooks remounted to finish third ahead of Tom Carson. Both would " go to th e Last Chance Qualifier. Last Cha nce Qualifier ' Brooks wouldn't last long in th e LCQ. crashing again, this time on the first lap along with Chris Knox and James Kapitan. Tuf Racing's Bowen sped to the front, never to be challenged. He would be the last rider to qualify for the 21-rider main. Second and third went to Kurt McMillan and Mark 'Crozier , a good distance back. M ain The gate dropped just past 10:00 p .m. for the mam event and a few seconds later Tichenor's night was over. The young Suzuki rider got tangled . up with some other riders