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/127183
broken wrist sustained a t th e G ain esville Na tio n al MX, March 5. Sitting in third with 127 points is T ea m Honda's G uy Cooper, while O'Mara is fourth with Ill. For winning the 250cc cl ass, Michigan 's Stanton pocketed $5000 in gold coins from a total $27,000 purse. O'Mara collected $3000 and Ward $1850. LaRocco took home $1000, from a $5000 total purse for the 125cc class win, while Kiedrowski picked up $400 and Matiasevich $280. Heats Dennis Hawthorne (35) grabbed the holeshot in the ma in but was passed by Ron Lechien (4) shortly after. For the first 10 laps, Jeff Stanton (7 ), Lech ien (4) and Johnny O'Mara (20) were this close. It later turned into a Stanton/O'Mara .duel . AMA Camel Supercross Series: Round 8 Stanton edges O'Mara in Houston nail-biter By Kit Palmer Photos by Karel Kramer HOUSTON, TX, MAR. 18 Team Honda's Jeff Stanton claimed 'h is third Coors Extra Gold Super Challenge win in a row after a knockdown, race-long battle with Team Suzuki's Johnny O 'Mara and Team. Ka wasaki 's Ron L ech ien In the H o u so n Astrodome. On wha t many of the riders described as th e toughest track yet in the series, and on a warm and muggy even in g, Stanton, O'Mara a nd Lechien kept many of the 38,573 spectators - the seco n d largest crowd of the series - on its feet as they diced for th e lead from the drop . of the gate to th e waving of the ch eckered flag. Lechien was the early leader, but, on lap six, Stanton bull ied his way into the top spot where he would stay for the rest of the mo to, but not without 'se r io u s challenges b y Lechien and O'Mara. O ' Mara took over second shortly after Stanton passed ' Lechien and chased the factory Honda pilot the entire race. Lechien stayed close in third for most of the mai n b ut eventually, in Lechieri's words, " poo ped ou t" and handed teammate Jeff Ward third. Stanton flew across the finish lin e only a few bike lengths ahead of O 'Mara, while Ward finished a few seconds back in third. Lechien finished fourth, comfortably ahead of Team Suzuki's Ron n ie Tichenor. The 125cc main event was just as exc itin g as the 250cc main, and combined both 125cc Eastern 'an d . Western Regi ona l riders together in one main event, scored separately for series points. It was the first time this yea r that top Western Regio na l rider J eff Matiasevich went h eads up against the top East Coast rider, Yamaha 's latest hotshoe, Damon Bradshaw. But when the checkered flag flew neither of them were leading. Instead it was Yamaha 's West Coast rider Mike La Rocco taking the- surprise victory. A very close second went to Honda's Mike Kiedrowski (East Coast), while Matiasevich took third. Race favorite Bradshaw was involved in a firs t turn pileup whi ch forced the North Carolinian to co me from behind and salvage fourth. Stanton 's win in the 250cc class extends his series points lead over injured defending Supercross Champion Rick Johnson, who did not compete in Houston. Stanton now has a 175 point total; J oh nso n 147. However, J o hnson is not expected to compete in the next few Camel Supercross roun ds because of a The sta rt of the first eigh t-lap heat race, with th e top five riders transfering directly to the main event, saw Team Yamaha 's Doug Dubach blast into the lead ahead of loca l rider De n n is Hawthorne, Lechien, Cooper and Suzuki's Erik Kehoe. Lechien quickly moved into second and set his sigh ts on leader Dubach. Halfway in to th e second la p , Dubach washed out over a double j u m p and cr a sh ed wit h Lechien running into him. Lechien kep t his Kawasaki u p right and took th e lead with Dubach remounti ng a lmost a lap down. From that point on, Lechie n motored ahead and took the win u nc ha llenged. Cooper followed in a distant second with Hawthorne third and Kehoe fourth. Fifth place went to Canadian Suzuki rider R o ss Peder so n. The second heat race featured a Shau n Kalas and Ward dogfight. Kalos jumped into the early lead with Ward, George H oll an d, O 'Mara and Da n n y Storbeck in pursuit. But all eyes were focused on Kalos and Ward, and a s it turned out, Kalos held his ground and defended h is lead down to the checkered flag. Ward had to settle for second, whi le O 'Mara closed in and finished third. Fourth went to Holland while Storbeck took fifth. By finishing sixth in what turned out to be the fastest hea t race of the n ig h t, S uzu k imounted Ray Sommo earned a tri p to the main . Also, for beating Ward, Kalos was voted by the press as the Coors Extra Effort Awa rd winner. He picked up, fr~m Coors, $ 1000 worth of gol d coms, Stanton worked hard for h is win in the th ird hea t race. Tichenor an d Fra n ce's I 25cc MX World Champion J ea n -Mich el Bayle - in h is las t U.S. appearance before heading back to Europe - pressed Stanton from th e drop of the gate to th e las t lap. On the final lap, Tichenor got ta ngled up in the hay bales and dropped to fifth, giving Bayle second and Fred Andrews third. Suzuki-mounted Mike Pascarella finished fourth. Semis Honda-mounted Larry Brooks led from start to finish in the first eightlap semi, earning a spot in the main, as did second p lace finisher Honda rider Jeff Hicks. The remai ning riders went to the Last Chance Qualifier. Semi two saw Dubach easily take the win, leadin g from beginning to end, while a ba ttle raged for second. Bu t when it was a ll over, T u f R a ci n g 's Suzuki-mounted Keith Bowen earned the transfer spot. Last Chance Qualifier Suzuki-mounted Todd DeHoop, who su ffered a hard get-off during p ractice, and Kawasaki rider Keith J ohnson stole the show in th e LCQ. w here only the wi nner wo u ld transfer into the main. Jo hnson eventually p a ssed DeHoop in the m oto -Iong duel a nd finished a wheel length ahead of him. J ohnson also earned $350 for wi nning th e L CQ.