Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

J eff S tanton (7) didn 't feel he was properly prepared and took third in the 500cc class. Here he passes Doug Dubach (16) in the first moto. Bradshaw o pened up a small lead during the early stages of th e moto while Ward, Matiasevich and Gaddis slipped back due to arm pump. Kiedrowski battled with Schmit over second and they both began to catch the leader, while LaRocco took over fourth and Cooper advanced to fifth. On lap five, Bradshaw stalled his Yamaha befor e a tight turn and Kiedrowski quickly got by. Schmit got close too. and passed th e Yamaha rider a lap later. " I was glad I stalled," Bradshaw would lat er say. "I wanted to be behind Kiedrowski since I kn ew he'd be back th ere on my tir e th e whole tim e. I wanted to pu t the pressure on h im. And o nce Donny got by I followed hi m a nd found better lin es." Sch mit moved to Kiedrowski's rear fender but cras hed on lap eigh t. " I hit a bump wro ng and it spi t me off," said Schmi t. " My bar s were bent a nd it took a while to ge t used to that. " Despite arm pum p from the tweaked bar s, Schmit didn 't give up and fini shed ninth. Out front. Kiedrowski soon ran into troubles of hi s own with a flat rear tire. " I tried to keep th e pace and go as fast as I cou ld," said Kiedrow ski. "I went wid e in a turn and Damon . got by; he was riding hard. " Bradshaw rod e hard to th e win, finishing a comfortable distance ahead of Kiedrowski. Cooper held off LaRocco' s persi st ent ch a rges throughout th e race for third. wh ile O 'Mara had come up from a bad start to fin ish a di stan t fifth ov er Tichenor, Holland a nd Matiasevich . " I got a bad jump off th e start," said Cooper. " It took a long tim e to move up. I'm happy with th ird after the medi ocre start, though. " Bradsh aw to o k the lead from Tichenor early on lap one to sta rt th e seco n d moto w ith O 'Mara , Schmit, J eff Emig, T od d DeHoop, Cooper, Ward and T y Davis beh ind. Bradshaw qu ickl y mo ved away on th e first lap as Tichenor. O 'Mara and Schmit were in tight order battling for second. A short di stance behind Emig, Del-loop, Cooper a nd Ward dispu ted fifth , wi th DeHoop the first to drop back. , Up front , Bradshaw had pulled five seconds on Tichenor. who was being closel y watched by O'Mara and th e two got away from Schmit. Cooper ~ot by Emig on the sixth lap, while Kiedrowski had worked up to sevent h behind Ward. A lap later th e red flag appeared, and the crossed flags signalling the halfway point. and the race was over. Defending 500cc champ Rick Johnson led the first moto until he crashed and finished fifth. He was still dizzy during moto two and took fourth . Jeff Emig (747) got the ho leshot in the second 125cc moto but was soon passed by Bradshaw (4 5 ). Ron Tichenor (1 1) and Joh nny O'Mara (2 0 ) battled in both motos and finished 2 -3 overall, respectively. " Ther e was a serious medical problem," said referee Ron Denny. "The medi cs could n 't do th eir job with the race going o n. I had to co nsider rider safety." Denny added that there was no provision in the AMA rul e book for a restart, so the race stood. Although h e was moving up, Cooper agreed with stopp ing th e race. " I saw the guy do wn, a nd he was in a dangerous spot; it was a good call," he said. T he rider down was Lee Erickson, and he was carried from the trac k a nd transported to the loca l hosp ital wi th a leg injury. Kiedrowski didn 't like it, th ou gh. " It sucks!" he said. " I wanted to keep racing. I need tha t half-hour mot o. Damon gets good starts and I don 't , I need the time to move up. They cou ld' ve slowed us down ." " The fir st tim e I get a bad start a ll year and they ca ll it ," sa id Holland. "My shoulder was sore and the track rough ; I co uldn' t have moved up anyway." 500cc Wh en the first 500cc moto roared off the line, Jeff Ward grabbed th e holeshot while Johnson got squeezed outside and had to follow Tyson Vohland for the first lap. Fr ed Andrews held fourth over Doug Dubach, aboard a 360 cc-kitted YZ250, and Jeff Stanton. Lechien started the moto last. " I didn't kn ow i t (the first turn ) was that muddy," said Lechien . "I was scared laying th ere." Lechien wasn 't hit and after he rem ounted h e began picking o ff r ider s i n bunches. Wh en J ohnson got to second on lap two , Ward was a lrea dy moving away and had a four-second lead by the th ird lap. J ohnson would cut th a t ga p o nly sligh tly o n the next circ ui t, wh ile Vohla nd was passed by bot h Stanton and Dubach. Lech ien was up to seventh behind Brian Manley. Ward 's lead co ntin ued to dw indl e over the next few laps, and on the eighth circui t he lost th e lead. " I go t a little tight and started swa ppi ng," said Ward. " O nce he ca ugh t me we came u p o n two lappers, I went ou tside and go t forced o u t." Lechien was up to third, ahead of Stanton and Dubach . Ward kep t sight of Johnson, who enjoyed th e lead for four laps befor e crash ing. " I came int o a wh oop section, swa pped sideways and high-sided," exp lained johnson. " I hit my head and hurt my ribs." Ward was alone for th e last three laps and won easily. Lechien was second and Stanton third after taking a couple of soil samples, whil e Dubach easily passed th e shaken johnson near th e end. " I was ch arging up and fell, " said Stanton. "I.got going and stalled in the same corner , then I coll ided with a lapper in th e ru ts. I rod e like a geek." Ward was in front at th e start of moto two , but Lech ien qui ckl y p assed him. j ohnson was third foll ow ed by Manley, Voh land, Dubach and Andrews. Sta nton was back in 10th. Lechi en was on the gas and had a two -second advan tage by the end of lap two , wh ile Ward had pulled three seco nds clear o f j ohnso n . Manley clung to fourth, and Stan ton was o n th e move and pulled up behind Dubach , passed him , th en go t Voh la nd. A cou p le of laps lat er and Sta n ton was in fourth, Sh aun Kalos had cha rged up to fifth , and Dubach had drop ped back. " I was trying to pass Vohla nd," said Dubach. " H e stalled, I clipped hi s ha ndleba rs and crashed." Out front Lechien built up hi s lead to about five seconds, but wh en the halfway flags were sho wn Ward began reeling him in. A cou ple of laps later th ey enco u nte red heavy traffi c which allowed Ward to get on Lechien's rear fender, then Ward (Con tinued to page 55)

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