Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Jeff Stanton (7) went 5-2 for the weekend and leads the series by 33 points. Shaun Kalos (24) was fourth Saturday, his best finish yet. start of the 20-lap main event with Matiasevich, Jeff Ward, Andrews and Fisher close behind. Stanton rounded the first comer last. "I got knocked into the hay bales," said Stanton. "It was a tight first tum and everybody was aggressive." Matiasevich took over the lead on the first lap, and after considerable shuffling he led Cooper, Kalos, Jeff Ward, Lechien and Dubach. Both Kalos and Lechien stuffed by Cooper on the second lap, and Lechien stuffed Kalos to take over second. A lap later and Lechien was in the lead as Matiasevich began a slide back to 13th at the finish. "My arms pumped up and I just tried to hang on," Matiasevich said. Cooper worked back up to second by lap five, but a lap later Jeff Ward stuffed him back a position. Cooper stuck with him though and repassed, only to have Jeff Ward sneak by again. While all this was going on Lechien fell in the tunnel. "There was a rut and the front end just went," said Lechien. "I was panicking." There was no need for Lechien to worry, though, since he was more than five seconds ahead and remounted still holding a decent lead. Cooper was stuck to Jeff Ward's rear fender while Matiasevich held fourth and was about to be passed by Dymond and Kalos. At the qalfway point Lechien had a four-second lead on teammate Ward. Cooper had dropped back slightly in third and Dymond was slowly reeling him in as he was pressured from behind by Kalos. Matiasevich held sixth over LaRocco, Tichenor, Dubach and Stanton had moved up to complete the top 10. By this time the top of the order had settled in with the exception of Kalos, who moved by Dymond as he began to fade. "It's difficult to jump back in after being out for a while, and I had done a lot of laps prior to the main," said Dymond, who was riding only his second race following a period in which he was sidelined due to a broken hand suffered in the fourth round of the series. "I did a few laps perfectly like I used to." For the next five laps things remained calm up front. Then on lap 15 as LaRocco was stalking Dymond from sixth he caught his foot under his bike and stalled. Stanton nearly rammed him but got by. Jeff Ward began slowing and Cooper moved in with Kalos on his tail, but it would take Cooper three laps to pull up and pass Ward. Once into second Cooper was nearly 10 seconds behind, and would get no closer on the remaining two laps. Ward held onto third over Kalos, while Stanton passed Dymond on lap 19 to complete the top five. "I wasn't looking too good earlier," Lechien said referring to his performance in his heat race. "But the semi did some good since I learned some new lines." "I started landing hard, not riding smooth," said Ward of his late-race fade. "I stressed my wrists and hung on too hard. I just blew it." 125 Main Bradshaw grabbed the holeshot at the start as Kiedrowski moved into third behind Brian McGary on the fir t lap. Kiedrowski spent another lap working around McGary, and when he moved into second Brad- . shaw was already four seconds ahead. Bradshaw stretched that lead another second by the halfway point of the l5-lap race, but Kiedrowski charged and got to within a few bike lengths later in the moto. "I got a good start and rode my own race instead of a goon's race," said Bradshaw. "I've been making too many mistakes (in other J;lces), so I concentrated more on this race than I have before.!' Kenny Kizzar had been charging throughout ihe race and took third on the ninth lap, but Kiedrowski and Bradshaw were nearly a half-lap ahead at the finish. Denny Stephenson had also charged up through the pack to claim fourth followed by Jason Langford. Guy Cooper (10) and Honda teammate George Holland (3) had a close heat-race battle on Sunday and finished 4-5 in the main. Jeff Matiasevich (26) held early leads in both 250cc main events, but an early-season shoulder injury caused him to drop back in each race. Sunday Heats Jeff Frisl holeshot the first heat but fell on the first lap, handing the lead to O'Mara, who had just passed Matiasevich and Jeff Ward. Ward stuck to O'Mara's rear fender while Lechien joined the fray on lap three. Lechien first got Ward, then stuffed O'Mara. There was one scary moment when both Lechien and 13

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