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/127194
e e ".1; ;;r O"l 00 O"l ,.......; "' . ~ ,.......; Q.i I:::: ~ ~ Despite threatening weather. 17.849 fans filled the main grandstand and surrounding bleachers to make Oklahoma's first supercross a success. Jeff Stanton had the title and $50.000 Camel bonus on his mind as he rode to fifth in the main. He was happy when the race was over . AMA/Camel Supercross Series: Round 14 Ward wins, Stanton crowned champ in Oklahoma City By Nate Rauba Photos by Kinney Jones OKLAHOMA CITY, OK , J UNE 4 Jeff Ward won the Coors Extra Gold Superchallenge at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds when his Kawasaki teammate Ron Lech ien fell while leading w ith just over two laps remaining in the 20-1ap final. Th bi h d e ig wmner on t ear, however, was T eam H onda s 8 Jeff Stanton, wh o lock ed up th e Camel Su percross Championship after cru ising to fifth place with a slipping clutch. Stanton la ter admitted that his mind wasn't as much on the race as it was on th e $50,000 bonus offered by Camel. After all , he on ly needed to fini sh II th or bett er and th e Camel cash would be hi s. Stanton also earned a n undisclo sed bonus from Honda p lu s o ther contingenci es, along with $1200 of th e $27,050 250cc purse. Ward received $5000, plus cont ingencies, for his win. Two o ther cha mp ions were also cro w ne d a t th e Fa irground s as Damon Bradshaw ga ve Yamaha its first National titl e since 1985 wh en he finished third in th e 125cc main and took the Eastern R eg io n al Supercross Championship, one point a head of main -event winner Mike Kiedrowski. Kawasaki 's Jeff Mati asevich locked up his second consecu tive Western Regional crown with one round to go despite falling and finishing 17th. " I didn 't want to win the cham pionship that way, I would've liked to have wo n," said Stanton. " I'm glad it's over an ~ I'~ th e cha ~pi on , . th o ugh. I was th inking about It (the titl e)the wh ole time andjust choked. I was having problems with my bike a nd didn't want to push it." The 250cc win was Ward's fourth of the 15-race series , but even he adm itted it might not have been po ssible if Lechien hadn 't fallen. "Ron was riding just as fast as I was, we were a perfect match," said Ward, who trailed hi s teammate by just a few seconds throughout the main. An unhappy Lechien still secured second in the main, well ahead of Suzuki's Johnny O 'M ara. Honda's Gu y Cooper, th e hometown favorite, took fourth over Stanton after sp iri ted charge through th e pack followin g a bad start. Ward 's win also boosted him from eighth in th e point sta ndi ngs to fifth, where he is 55 points behind O'Mara; Ward miss ed several ea rl y rou nds du e to a foot inj ury a t the first round of the season. O'Mara held on to fourth in the series, but lost a few points to Lechien and now trails the Kawasaki rid er by eight points. Lechien, meanwhile, was only ab le to pick up a few points on Cooper and will need to gain 14 points in the final round to take th e runner-up position. a