Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

only two rounds left in that series to make it up. Kenny Kizzar rounded out the top three on Saturday and Denny Stephenson took third Sunday. - Both Lechien and Ward earned identical prize money from the $25,000 per-race purse at $4200 apiece; $3000 for first and $1200 for third. Bradshaw earned $2000 for both days from the $5000 per-day 125cc purse. Not only was there a large number of spectators for the event, but a large number of riders turned out as well. There were 76 250cc entries and 68 125cc riders. Saturday Heats Ron lechien (4) won the main event on Saturday and Kawasaki teammate Jeff Ward took Sunday's main. AMA/Camel Supercross Series: Rounds 11/12 Lechien, Ward split Silverdome wins By Nate Rauba Photos by Tom Strattman PONTIAC, MI, APR. 15-16 Kawasaki teammates Ron Lechien and Jeff Ward traded finishing positions over two days of racing with each rider scoring a win at the Coors Extra Gold Superchallenge doubleheader in Pontiac's Silverdome. · k hId I . L ec h.len t?O t e e~ ear Y In the fIrst mght of raCIng then 12 dominated the rest of Saturday's 20lap main event to score his first supercross win this year before a crowd of 44,643. Honda's Guy Cooper made one ofttis famous laterace charges to pass Ward late In the race for second, while Yamaha's Shaun Kalos carded his best-ever supercross finish in fourth. Series points-leader jeff Stanton worked up to fifth after a last-place starL "Yeal I finally won one," said an ecstatic Lechien. Lechien wasn't quite so thrilled with Sunday's final as he had to take a back seat to Ward and Stanton. Ward got a good start and moved to the front on the sixth lap of the main and maintained a steady margin over Stanton. Lechien started poorly and by the time he made it to third, Stanton was out of reach. Cooper battled through to fourth over tearnmate George Holland. A smaller crowd of 24,960 witnessed the action. Stanton's consistency leaves him with a comfortable 33-point lead in the series with only three races remaining. Lechien picked up points on second-place Cooper and is now only eight behind in third. Suzuki's johnny O'Mara dropped back in the points with a pair of sevenths, while injured Supercross champ Rick johnson still remains fifth in the standings. In the l25cc class, Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw had two pictureperfect main events as he led from start to finish each day. Honda's Mike Kiedrowski came into Pontiac with a three-point lead in the l25cc Eastern Regional Supercross standings, but after finishing second behind Bradshaw both times out, he left with a three-point deficit and jeff Ward jammed into the lead of the first of three eight-lap heat races, each of which would advance five riders to the main event with six riders advancing from the fastest heat, as Lechien shot into second ahead of O'Mara, Todd DeHoop and George Holland. O'Mara quickly stuffed Lechien though, and the Kawasaki rider fell over the side of a berm. There was no stopping Ward, however, as he rode away to a 10-second win over the hard· charging o 'Mara. Holland held a steady third throughout the race, while Michael Craig charged up to take fourth over Larry Brooks. jeff Matiasevich took the lead from Doug Dubach early in the second heat and rode unchallenged to the win. Behind him Dubach soon had his hands full with Cooper. After a few laps on Dubach's tail, Cooper bumped his way to second, but it was only for a brief time as Dubach quickly retaliated. Dubach then got away for second in the heat over Cooper, while Danny Storbeck cruised to fourth ahead of Keith Bowen. The final heat featured a start-tofinish win for Ron Tichenor, but it was anything but easy. Stanton worked his way past Mike Fisher, Fred Andrews then Kalos until he was three seconds behind at the halfway point. Stanton quickly made up the distance and tried everything he could over the last two laps to get by. Tichenor kept him behind though, and for the narrow win was selected by the media as the Coors Extra Effort Award winner, good for $1000. Kalos was a distant third while Mike LaRocco worked his way into fourth. Fisher held on for fifth, and Fred Andrews got a trip to the main for being sixth in the fastest heat. Semis After charging back from a poor start to sixth in the second heat, Micky Dymond led the first of two six-lap semi-final races, which would advance the top two finishers to the final, from start to finish. Larry Ward moved into second on the first lap and was never more than a bike length behind throughout the race, but despite his advances Dymond held him off. The second semi was no contest for Lechien as he grabbed the holeshot and easily pulled away from DeHoop, keeping the crowd entertained with stylish flights over the jumps. Last Chance Qualifier jeff Frisz led the start of the sixlap LCQ but Mike Pascarella passed him on the third lap. Ray Sommo went by also and pulled up on the leader, but Pascarella held Sommo off for a narrow win and it was Pascarella with the last starting spot in the final. Main Cooper blasted into the lead at the

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