Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Ron Lechien was arguably the fastest rider on the night as he battled from a 13th place start to finish third behind Stanton and Ward . Todd DeHoop (18) and Erik Kehoe (8) battled ferociously in the first heat for second place behind Ron Lechien; DeHoop got the nod. 8 ma n, California, resid ent was fol lowed closely by Stanton, Dubach, JeH Ward, DeHoop, Dymond, Brooks, Fisher, Frisz a n d Ray Sommo. Lechien was mired in ISth place but would move to II th by th e tim e th e pack reached the start / fin ish line jump for the first tim e. Ward was quickl y up to third on th e second go-ar ound behind HoIland and Stanton; Lech ien was up to eig h th a nd chargi ng hard; a nd Kalos was th e first to depart via a cras h, followed sho rtly in the same pattern by Dym ond . T he la tter wo uld remoun t to finis h seven th . Ward starting picking away at Stanton as the two converged on H oll an d. Dubach held fo urth , fol lo wed by DeHoo p, Bro o ks and Lechien. O n the fou rth lap, Lechien moved past DeHoo p and into fifth pl ace. Not content wi th that, he wou ld contin ue to charge, pass ing Dubach and eventua lly nab bing a fadi ng Holland. Fo r the first half of the main, however, Holland was up LO the task of holding off Sta nton and Ward, as he was enjoying his best Supercross effort of th e year after an earl y-season inj ury . On th e sixth lap, Ward moved past Sta nton, albeit briefly, in the peristyle sectio n of the course. Stanton quickly retali ated, how ever, and th at was th e last seri ous th reat from Ward. " He (Stan ton) ro de really well ," Ward said later. " I passed him on ce, but he made a nice move to get me back. It was a good pass." Stanton th en made a mo ve on Holl and in the peristyle section on lap seven, taking a lead he would hold to the finish. Once past, Stanton would pull away, leading by 4.6 seconds at the end of the 10th lap and building on that to the fin ish . " I knew he (H olland) would be tough," Stanton said. " I knew he would be pushing, but I didn't think he would fade as quickly as he did." Ward shot past H olland a lap later as tHe Honda rider started to make mistakes. " For th e first half of th e race I fel t g ood," Holland would say lat er. "T hen I tensed up and started ma king little mistakes. Bu t I felt strong the whole race; I j ust tensed up." Lech ien , m ea n wh ile, was st ill charging and after 10 laps the order read: Sta nton, Ward , H oll and, Dubach, Lechien, Fisher, DeH oop, Vohland, Kehoe, Dymo nd , Bowen and Tichenor. Soo n thereafter, Lechien moved past Duba ch a t the to p of the peristyle and started givi ng chase to Holl and. A lap later a nd that deed was done, as Lechien solidified th e fact that he was the rider to watch. H e would gain considerably on his teammate Ward in the next few lap s, but would tire and sett le for th ird. " I didn't get the start 1 wanted, " he lat er told the Col esium cro wd. " I rode hard , but pooped o ut at the end there... The o nly late race cha nges wo uld be Dym ond's late cha rge to seven th, and DeHoop's drop to 12th after a crash. 125 Main T he fin al 125cc Western Regional main was for th e most part a Matiasevic h benefi t. T he recentl y crowned two-time champ grabbed th e holeshot and never looked back as he coasted to the win, h is sixth of the series. The race ma y have been closer, however, if Larry Ward had go tten a better start. As it was; the H onda rider was mid-pack out of th e first corner and was up to fifth after two lap s. Soo n he was battling Tallo n Vohland and J eff Emig for th ird pl ace as Matiasevich held a slig h t advantage over Jimmy Ga ddis. By the fourth lap Ward was third and chasing Gaddis. Five lap s later he was all over th e Suzuki-mounted Gaddis and looking for a way past. He found it a lap la ter, sneakin g by Gaddis and moving into seco nd pl ace. Although, he would make a determined run at Matiasevich, his effort came up short at the finish. "The whole time I was thinking, 'I can catch him, I can catch him,' " Ward said later. "I tried my hardest, but 1 couldn't get him." Gaddis, meanwhile, held a comfortable third to the finish as battles raged on behind him. LaRocco had pulled cl ear from a g ro u p that in cluded Vohland, Michael Craig and Em ig. Vohland go t the nod a t th e lin e, passing a bobblin g Craig in the final wh oops before th e finis h line. " I'm go nna keep working," Gaddis said. ''I'll ge t 'em." " I just rode tha t race for myself," Mariasevich said. T he 125cc Western Region al Cha mpion wou ld soo n get a cha nce to race wi th the East Champion Dam on Bradshaw in th e hi gh-doll ar shoot-ou t. 125cc Camel Shoot-Out Fifteen laps and $ 10,000 of a $25,000 purse to th e win ner faced the 20 rid ers as th ey sped towards turn o ne. Getting there first was T eam Yam aha 's highly-touted Bradshaw. The Charl o tt e, No rth Ca rolin a , residen t was foll owed in turn o ne by Kiedrowski and LaR occo as th e dash for cash got underway. T he anti cipated Ma tiasevi ch / Bradshaw battled fizzled befor e it ever becam e a reality as Matiasevich cras hed on th e opening lap. H e would rem ount, but would fini sh on ly 14th and' was never a factor in the race. Bradshaw, mean wh ile, seemed to have things under cont ro l. He was lead ing and few expected him to be ca ug h t. Nobody, how ever, told Kied- ro wski and soo n th e H onda rider was reeling him in . By th e fourth lap the order read : Bradshaw, Kiedrowski, La Rocco, Ga ddis, Denny Stephenso n and La rr y Ward. After eigh t lap s, Brad shaw led by just over a second, but a few laps later and Kiedro wski was pr essu rin g. La Rocco also seemed to be o n the mov e, edging to with in striki ng dista nce by th e 10th lap. On th e 12th lap, th e leaders came into traffic and thi ngs were getti ng tight. In wha t was the race of th e night, the two went up th e peristyl e j ump side-byside o n th e lSth lap, and Kiedrowski emerged from behind th e concrete pillons with th e lead. From there it was all Kiedrowski as Bradshaw failed to make th e ex pected retaliation . In th e end the Yamaha rider had his hands full holding off LaRocco at the flag . Gaddis and Larry Ward rounded o ut the top five finishers in th e firstever I25cc Camel Sh oot-Out. " I kn ow wh at he rides like and 1 didn't think he co u ld keep that pace," Kiedro wski said in reference to Brad shaw. ''I'll probabl y put it in the bank. I lost a lot of mon ey on the cha mpionshi p last week. This'll mak e up fo r it a little bit." • .Results 250: 1. J eff Stan ton (Hont 2. Jeff Ward (Kaw); 3. Ron Lochien (Kawt 4. George Holland (Hoo); 5. Doug Dubach (Yam); 6. M ike Fish er (Kawt .7. M icky Dymond (Yam): 8. Tyson Voh land (Kaw t 9. Erik Kehoe (Suz); 10. Ronnie TIch enor (Suz); 11. Keith Bowen (Suz); 12. Todd DeHoop (Suzt 13. Brian Manley (Kawl: 14. Fred Andrews (Hoot 15. Ray Sommo (Suzl; 16. J im Holl ey (Yam); 17. Terry Fowler (Hon); 18 . Jeff Frisz (Kaw l; 19 . Shaun Kalos (Yamt 20 . Larry Brook. (Hon); 21. Mike Pascarella (Suzl. 125: 1. Jeff Ma tiasevich (Kawt 2. Larry Ward (Hon); 3. J immy Gadd is (Suzl; 4. M ika laRocco (Yam); 5. Tallon Voh land (Kaw); 6. M ichael Craig (Yam); 7. Je ff Em ig (Kaw); 8. Je remy McGrath (Kaw ); 9. Brian Pryor (Suzl; 10. Steve Lawson (Yam I; 11. Buddy Antun ez (Suzt 12. Chris Young (Suz); 13. Lance Smail (Suz); 14. S.eveSteffy(Suz); 15. Tony Graves (Suz); 16. Kerry M ulligan (Suz): 17. Bubba Erickson (Cag): 18. Vince Warren (Hon): 19. Craig Canoy (Yaml: 20. Paul Vlach (Hont 125 SHOOT·OUT : 1. M ike Kiedrowski (Hon); 2. Oamon Bradshaw (Yam); 3. Mi ke La~occo (Yam); 4. Jimmy Gaddis (Suz): 5. Larry W ard (Hon): 6. Denny St eph enson (Kaw). 7 . Mi cha el Cra ig (Yam). 8. Jeremy McGrath (Kaw ). 9. Ty Davis (Suz); 10. Dale Spangler (Suz). FINAL 25Dcc POINTSTANDINGS : 1. Jeff Stanton (302); 2. Ron Lechien (245); 3. Guy Cooper (239); 4 . Johnny O'Mara (217); 5. Jeff Ward (184); 6. Ron Tichenor (1671; 7. Doug Dubach (167); 8. Shaun Kalos (151); 9. Rick Johnson (147): 10. Erik Kehoe (129) . FINAL 125cc WESTERN REGIONAL POINT STANDINGS: 1. Jeff Matia..vich (174t 2. Mike laRocco (14 1); 3. Larry Ward (127); 4. Tallon Vohland (122); 5. Michael Craig (106); 6. Jimmy Gaddis (100); 7. Lance Smail (75); 8. Jeremy McGrath (69); 9. Chris Young (52t 10. Brian Pryor (43 ).

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