Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mike LaRocco (19) jumped into the early lead in the 125cc final and . went on to win over Mike Kiedrowski (762) and Jeff Matiasevich. Main Wh en th e gate dropped for the start of th e 20-lap main, 21 riders charged into th e fir st tu rn with Hawthorne emergi ng ou t in fro nt and Stanton and Lechi en tra iling. A few turns later, both Lechien and Stanton blew by Haw th orne with O 'Mara snea king into th ird. Back around n inth was Ward, who' was going for his fift h co nsecu tive wi n a t th e Astrodome, while Fren chman Bayle was bac k in the pack after crashing. Bayle loo ped h is H onda , reentered the race only to have his chain come off, knocking hi m out of the race. By th e second lap , the stage was set for the rest of the race wi th Lechien, Stanton and O 'Mara p ulling away from the field and Ward scoo ti ng i nto fi fth followed b y Br ooks, Kal a s, Tiche nor, H aw th orne, P ed er son , H olland and Cooper. Up front the lead tri o were inches apart, setting a sizzling pace. For the next six laps, Lechien , Stanton and O 'Mara were putting o n a show that had many of th e spectators on their feet. Stanton would div e to the inside of Lechien, who would come back and slam the door shut on Stanton. O 'Mara wa tched th e duel in third, patiently waiting for a mistake by either rider. On lap seven Stanton made his move . " I was just following Lechien's lines and I knew he would get tired," said Stanton. " He usu ally ge ts tired pretty quick, so I just kept putting the pressure on him until he made a few mi stakes." Stanton saw h is ch ance to zap Lechien in a tigh t left-hand tum wh ere he cu t to th e insi de a nd pushed Lechien to the o utside, execu ting a textb ook block pass. " I kn ew I had to pass h im on an inside lin e," said Stanton, "so I did. " But o nce in to the lead, Lechien had ideas o f hi s own and quickly tried to retaliate by using the same block pass technique on Stanton as he had .used on him. The only difference was that it didn 't work. " Lechien always co mes back with a real ag!p:essive move after you pass him," sai d Stanton, " and he did just that in the next corn er. But I was ready for it. " . Stanton su cce ssfu ll y defended Lechien's only real attempt at retaking the lead, as the Honda pilot began slightly pulling away. At the same time, Lechien suddenly found himself, once again, on the defense, as O'Mara began pouririg on the pressure. A lap later, O'Mara saw his chance and cut to the inside and passed Lech ien over a double jump while exi ting a turn. The two riders almost co ll ided as O 'Mara 's Suzuki crossed Lechien 's lin e in midair, inch es a way from the Ka wasak i rider 's fro nt wheel. " He scared me pretty bad right th er e," said L ech ien. " I a l mos t .landed o n the back of him. I look ed Over an d saw his wheel right there. It was close. It wasn' t what yo u wo u ld ca ll a dirty move or anything. Actually, it was a pretty good move. " O nce into second, O 'Mara clos ed th e gap on Stanton and was within striking di sta nce , as Lechien fell off the pace with Ward ga ining. " I was go ing p retty good until abo u t the .10th la p ," said Lechien , "and then I just pooped ou t. The track is reall y dem anding and it 's so hot and h u m id in here." Five laps later , Lech ien 's tea mmate Ward flew by over the tripl es and settled into th ird, but out of reach of Sta nton and O 'Mara. U p front Stanton and O 'M ara remained only a few seconds apart as th ey weaved in a nd ou t of lapped traffi c. O'Mara seemed to run out of stea m late in the mota and was content with second, however, he was still hoping for a mistake by Stanton. But it never came as Stanton flew across th e finish line abo u t three seconds ahead of O 'M ara. A few more seconds back was Ward followed by Le ch ien , T ichenor and Holland. " It reall y feels good winnin g again, " said Stan ton, " but yo u can 't get too high. Once you start getting . up there, it 's too easy to get over con fide nt and cocky, and that ca n knock yo u off your throne. I've just got to ri de every race as smooth a nd as co nsis tent as I can." " In the beginning I caught th ose guys pretty quick, and I thought I wo uld get stronger towards the end," said O 'M ara. " Bu t the tough tra ck just took its toll on me. I basically just got wea k a t the end. J eff (Stanton ) wasn 't really go ing any faster than me, but I jus t started making some mi stak es, so I guess I'm go ing to have to dig a little deeper to win one of these th ings. But I d id my best. " " I just didn 't get th e sta rt I wanted," said Ward. " I had to push too hard a t th e start of the race and the track was real demanding. By the time I got within striking distance, I had to charge that much harder to catch up, but I j ust didn't have it." Tichenor, who finished fifth behind Lechien, started the main in sixth and spent most of the race dicing with Cooper before edging ahead late in the race. After Tichenor (Left to right) Stanton, Jeff Ward and O'Mara let the champagne fly after the 250cc main. It wal! Stanton's third straight supercross win. \ broke free, Cooper a nd H olland began mixing it u p wi th H olla nd slipping by 'Coo per with less tha n th ree la ps to go in th e race. Pederson la nded eigh th just a head of Kal os, wh o was running fift h ea rly in the race before cra sh ing hard over a do uble jump. Ro unding o u t th e ' top 10 was Bowen . 125 Main The 15-l a p 125cc main sa w La Rocco nail th e holeshot just a head of Kiedrowski , Honda rid er Larry Ward and Ma tiasevi ch. As the pack rounded the fir st turn, a n umber of riders were left in th e dust p ickin g up thei r mo unts after a first-turn pileu p. One of those riders was Bradsh aw. H e regrou ped abo u t 15th a nd wo uld eventually put in a co mefro m -beh ind charge th at wo uld earn him fourth overa ll. But up front th e action was ho t, as Kiedrowski and La Rocco passed back and forth until LaRocco settled into th e lead by the second lap. At th is point, th e stage was set with La Rocco leading, closely foll ow ed by Kiedrowski and Matiasevich , who was riding hi s first ra ce since break ing hi s sho u lde r a t th e Miam i, Florida, Supercross , February 18. In a distant fourth followed Yamaha's Michael Craig a fter Ward cras hed out of the p icture. Meanwhile, LaRocco set a fast pace but co uldn 't shake eit her Kiedrowski or Mat iasevich. T he threeway battle lasted th roughout th e ra ce with Kiedrowski making hi s most serious bid for th e lead th ree-q uarters of the way in to the race. At o ne point, Kiedr owski sn uc k a wheel underneath La Rocco in a turn , but tha t was as close as he cou ld ge t. The remai ni ng five la p s saw La Rocco, Kied rowski and Mat iasevich ha vin g to dea l with ex tremely heavy lapped traffi c, but LaRocco dealt with it the best and inc hed away from Kiedrow ski a nd Matiasevich. It was also a t th is point when Kiedrowski 's Honda began bl owing steam o u t of its exhaust pi pe due to a head gas ket which was letting cool ant into the cylinder. As they crossed th e fin ish line, only a bike length sepa ra ted eac h of th e three riders, as LaRocco took hi s firs t win of the year. Kiedrowski and Matiasevich finished second and third with Bradshaw taking a distan t fourth. Rounding ou t th e top five was Craig. " I finally got a good start and I just held my own," said LaRocco. O'Mara (20) chased Stanton, while Lechien (4) dropped back. "T hey (Kiedrowski a nd Matiasevich) were there th e whol e tim e and that •bothered me a little bit but didn 't really affect me. I just tr ied to be as smooth as I cou ld." " T hey were riding rea l good," said Matiasevich, " And they deserv ed what they go t. I wasn' t really I ()()% ou t th ere. Hack in th e lo ng wh oops sectio n, my sho ulder was feeling really weak." • Results 250 MAIN: 1. Jeff Stanton (Han): 2. Johnny O'Mara (Suz): 3. Jeff Ward (Kaw); 4. Ron Lechien (Kaw ); 5. Ron Lechien (Kaw); 6. George Holland (Han); 7. Guy Cooper (Han); 8. Ross Pedersen (Suz): 9. Shaun Kalas (Yam); 10. Keit h Bowen (Suz); 11. Larry 8rooks (Han): 12. Er ik Kehoe (Suz); 13. Fred Andrews (Han); 14 . J eff Hicks (Han); 15 . Doug Dubach (Yam); 16. Ray Som ma (Suz); 17. Keith Johnson (Kaw); 1B. Mike Pascare lla (Suz); 19. Denn is Hawthorne (Kaw); 20 . Danny Storbeck ( H on~ 21. Jean-M iche l Bayle (Han). 250 CAME L SUPERCROSS SERIES POINT STANDINGS: 1. Stanton (175); 2. Rick Johnson (147); 3. Cooper (127): 4 . O'Mara (111); 5. Lechien (110): 6. Tichenor (102); 7. Kalos (B5): 8. 8ayle (79 ~ 9. Dubach (74); 10. Kehoe (70). 125 MAIN: 1. M ike laRocco (Yam); 2. Mike Kiedrowski (Han); 3. Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw); 4. Damon 8radshaw (Yam); 5. M ichael Craig (yam); 6. Tallon Vohland (Kawl ; 7. Larry Ward (Han); B. Denny Stephenson (Kaw); 9 . Derrick Roe (Kaw); 10. Mike Jones (Yam); 11. Chr is Coleman (Kaw); 12. 8illy Whitley (Suz); 13. Barry Carsten (Suz); 14. Ty Davis (Suz); 15. Darr in Hoeft (Suz); 16. Jason Langford (Yam); 17. Vince Warren (Han); 18. earl Vaillancourt (Han); 19. 8rian D. Pryor (Suz): 20. Scon Steffy (Suz); 21 . Kenny Kizzar (Suz); 22 . Kerry Mulligan (Suz). EASTERN REGIONAL 125 POINT STANDINGS : 1. Bradshaw (93); 2. Kiedrowski (80); 3. Stephenson (69); 4. Davis (61); 5. Coleman (46); 6. Steve Childress (43); 7. Mike Jones (42); B. Vaillancourt (41); 9. Carsten (38); 10 . Roe (29). WESTERN REGIONAL 125 POINT STANDINGS : 1. M81iasevich (120); 2. laRocco (97); 3. Tyson Vohland (7B); 4. Creig (76); 5. Lence Smail (65); 6. Larry Ward (6 n 7. Jeremey McGrath (56~ 8. Jimmy Gaddis (5n 9. ChrisYoung(42~ 10. Steffy (31). 7

• Cover