Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

125cc Stanton (7) is currently in second place in the point standings. 22 points beh ind leader Johnson. 147-125. (Left to' right) Stanton. Johnson and O'Mara let the champagne fly in Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium. Nearly 29.000 fans watched -. and cras hed hard halfway up th e start straight; H e lay motionless on th e track for a few minutes as the riders blew by him after the first lap, but was soon on his feet and off the track. Cooper had the holeshot with Stanton second, Dubach third, Ward fourth and Lechien fifth. O 'Mara was just ahead of Johnson in sixth with Kehoe seventh, Hawthorne eighth and Frisz ninth. Dubach quickly faded and by the third lap it was Cooper, Stanton, . Lechien, Johnson , O'Mara and Dubach. He would end up i:lropping to ninth. On the fifth of 20 laps Stanton went by Cooper in the whoops for the .lead, but Cooper got him back a lap later and began pulling away. The order remained the same until the ninth lap when Johnson moved around Stanton in the same hairpin he would later fall in. . At the crossed fla gs the order was Cooper, a fast-clo sing John~on , Stanton, O 'Mara now past Lech ien , with LaRocco sixth. Ba yle was seventh ahead of Dubach, Kalos, and Ward. In the same spot where Johnson passed O'Mara III his heat, he did the same to Cooper on the 11th lap of the main. Cooper hung tough, however, with Stanton making it a close trio of leading Hondas. But on the 14th lap the order changed when Cooper was forced off his normal line over a set of double jumps and crashed. " I' d been doing it as a ' double- double on the inside all night," Cooper said. "Me and Ricky had talked about it before the race. But Stanton pushed me wide in the comer before and I caught my rear wheel on the lip of the second one. It knocked my feet off the pegs and my firs t instinct was to gas it. If I co uld've gotten my feet back on th e pegs I could' ve saved it." Cooper remounted in fifth , but his misfortune moved Stanton into th e lead with Johnson second, O 'Mara third an d .Lechien fourth. After Cooper came LaRocco and Bowen. Stanton and Johnson swapped th e .lead back and forth o n th e 14th lap, but on the 15th go-around J ohnson, wh ile second, bobbled rounding a hairpin, losing h is front wh eel, and, effecti vel y, handing . th e ra ce to Sta nton. " I was right on the spo t wh ere 1 passed h im th ere before," J ohnson began, " but he hi t the brak es and 1 cou ldn 't make the turn. The front wheel washed." "The la ppers played a big, big deal, " he con tinued. "Two laps in a row 1 co uldn 't jump th e tri p le or the double-double. That 's whe n Je ff pas sed me." Stanton saw it this way: "He was tryi ng to pass me back. I slowed dow n for the corne r an d he slowed dow n too much . 1 kn ew he was behind me and catch ing." O 'M ara wa s briefly ' past, bu t Johnson quickl y struck back in pursuit of Stanton. H e would come up abou t a second short at the end. O 'M ara was a solid third with Lechien fourth. ' " It was pretty hectic with all those guys making mistakes, " O'Mara said. " At the end I had to settle for third ra ther than throw it away. I want to get back in there one step at a time. Their pace was too hot at the end." Lechien 's . thoughts were not dissimilar. " I was trying to stay smooth and stay in the top three," he said. ' " I'm happy. I slowly just want to come back a little at a time." Cooper held on for fifth ahead of LaRocco who wasn't sure of his position at the end. "I didn't know where I was at," he said. " The last pit board I had said I was in eighth." Seventh went to Bayle with Kalos eighth, Dubach ninth and Kehoe lOth. Bradshaw was in th e first of the two 125cc heats and.he emphatically put his sta mp on it ear ly on. From th e seco nd th e gate dropped Bradshaw was in the lead and he didn 't slow down un til he go t to the winner's circle. The battle would be for second. Mike Kiedrowski took over the second spot on the fourth lap after passing a few riders and avoiding a few crashes. On the same circuit Chris Coleman moved past Billy Whitley and a lap later was into third. Barry Carsten would also pass Whitley and finish fou rth with Whitley fifth and Carl Vaillancourt sixth. The second heat was dominated in much the same way with Suzuki 's Ty Davis doing the job from the middle of the starting line. Kenny Kizzar was second from th e start and wou ld fin ish the re with Denn y Step henson mov ing int o h is third pl ace fini shi ng spot on the second lap. Larry Dukes moved into fourth on the fourt h of six la ps with Derrick Roe on his heels for fifth . " It takes a lot to get warmed up," Davis noted, " Bu t once you get warmed up it feels pretty good. " J ason Langford won the Last Ch an ce Qual ifier with Stevie Childress th e fin al en try in the 20-rider main. As soon as the gate d ropped Bradshaw jetted into th e lead and o n one was even close to his pace. Davi s tried to keep pace early, but the Yamaha rider steadily pulled away with his only worry being whether his concentration would waver, as it did last week in Miami, and cause a spill. It didn't and he won easily. Davis was in much the same situation. Once he r ealized he couldn't keep up with Bradshaw he settled down , unchallenged from behind. " I tried, but ma ybe too much," Davis said. " He got off to a good sta rt and set a fast pace at the beginning. The pace was too fast and I couldn' t catch him." The battle for third wasn 't as clearcu t. Larry Dukes held it un til the fifth lap wh en he did an endo before the finish j ump. H is night was over. Just avoidi ng th e cras h was Mike Kiedrow ski who, althoug h he would ge t pressure fro m behind, would finis h third. One of th e riders ma king a run at Kiedrowski was Chris Coleman, but he crashed in th e same spot as Dukes handing a distant fourth to Denny Stephenson who would finish th ere, one spot better than Carl Vaillancourt. • Results 250: 1. Jeff Stanton (Honl; 2. RickJohnson (Hon~ 3. Johnny O'Mara (Suz); 4. Ron Lechien (Kaw~ 5. Guy Cooper (Hon); 6. Mike laRocco (Yaml; 1. Jean·Micha' Bayla (Hon); B. Shaun Kalos (Yam~ 9. Doug Dubach (Yaml; 10. Erik Kahoe (Suzl; 11. Larry Ward (Hon); 12. Jason Upshaw (Hon~ 13. Fred Andrews (Hon); 14. Ross Pedersen (Su¢ 15. RaySommo(Suzl; 16. ToddDeHoop(SU¢ 17.Kalth Bowen (Suz); lB. Jeff Frisz (Kawl; 19. Dennis Hawthorne (Kaw); 20. Mike Pascarella (Suz); 21. Ron TIchenor(Suz). 250 POINTS STANDING: 1. Johnson (14n 2. Stanton (125~ 3. Cooper (98); 4. Bayle (79); 5. 18chien (76); 6. O'Mara (75); 7. TIchenor (68~ 8. Kalos (64); 9. Dubach (62); 10. Kehoe (601. 125: 1. Damon Bredshaw (Yam); 2. Ty DavIs (Suzl; 3. Mike Kiedrowski (Hon~ 4. Denny Stephenson (Kaw); 5. Corl Vaillancourt (Han); 6. S _ Childress (Suz/; 7. Derrick Roe (Kaw); B. jolOn Langford (SU¢ 9. Dale Spangler (Suz/; 10. Jim Chester (Suz~ 1.1 . Bill Wallin (Han); 12. Chuck Reed (Kaw~ 13. Billy Whitley (Suz~ 14. Patrick Barton (Hon~ 15. Mike Jones (Yam); 16. JafI Gless (Han); 17. Mike Morris (Suz~ 18. Barry Corllen ISuz); 1t. . Kenny KIZ28rrISuz~ 20. Larry Duk_lHon). . . 125 EASTERN REGiONAl SUPERCROSS POINT STANDINGS: 1. Damon Bradshaw (50); 2.~ (44); 3. (Tie) Denny Stephenson /Mike Ki (36); 5. Steve Childress (29~ 6. Corl Vallencourl , (26~ 7. Bill Wallien (23); B. Chris Coleman (2~ 9. me) Jason Langford/Merk MUlSlernan 119~

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