Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

;...; v ...0 o ..... u o Jeff Matiasevich. w ho has won many 125cc superc ross races. sco red his first 125cc National overall w in w ith 4 -2 f inishes. AMA National Championship 12S/S00cc MX Series: Rounds 11/4 lYIatiasevich, Ward paint Steel City green By Nate Rauba Photos by Davey Coombs and Rauba DELMO NT , PA , O CT. I T eam Kawasaki 's J eff Ma tiasevich scored his first-ever 125cc National overall win at Steel City USA while teammate Jeff Ward swept the 500cc class to complete the green swee p a t the end of a cloudy, sometimes dri zzly da y. Bu t no! al! was well in the Ka wasa ki pits, h owever, as 6 their victories were clouded by the loss o f R on Lec h ien for the remainder of the seaso n due to serious leg inj uries sus tai ned in the first of two 500cc mo tos. Lechien was n't the o n ly fa cto ry s tar to succum b to injury. After a mi nor p il eu p o n the openi ng lap, Lechien was in the process of moving u p through th e pack when he crashed ha rd on lap Pa ramed ics attended to the falle n four of the 30-m inute p lus two -lap Le~~'en for th e remainder of th e moto before he was airl ifted to a n earby hospita l in P i tt sbu rg . Lech ien immediately u n d erwen t surgery for a fra ctured rig ht femur, and he was expe rie nci ng blood clot prob lems in the leg. Matiasevich has steadi ly improved h is resu lts since a one- month brea k in th e 125ccseries, and a fterfi nishing second overall in Bingha m to n, New York , th e previous week, he finally reached the top today at Steel Cit y. Alth ou gh Ma ti a sevich wou ld've preferred to wi n a t least one of the 30-m in u te plus two -lap rnot os, h e had to settle fo r a 4-2 sco re to bea t Honda's G uy Cooper, w ho pos ted a 1-6 score. Matiasevich received $840 of the $10,000 I25cc purse. In consistent finishes by th e top , two title co ntende rs, Yama h a's Damon Bradsha w an d H onda 's Mi ke Kiedrowski , tighten ed the ra ce for the champio nsh ip with two ro u n ds remaining. Bradsh aw was hi t in the knee by a roc k and DN F th e firs t moto , b u t Kied rowski coul dn' t capita lize on Bradsh aw's loss of po ints. Alt hough the H onda r id er was seco nd in th e m oto , h e had a bad ou ting in mo to two whi le Bradsh aw recovered to finish fourth. T hus, Bradsh aw's points lead was cu t from 27 to 19 points, 406-387. a t the end o f th e da y, an d Kied rowski's poor seco nd m ot a fin ish a llowed teamma te Cooper to m ove into a tie for seco nd. Fo llowin g a poor perfor mance th e previous week , Ward bounced back to sweep th e 500cc class, earn ing $2000 of th e $ 15,000 250cc purse a nd ga ini ng an advantage to wards taking th e titl e. If Ward ca n hold on to win th e 500cc titl e it would m ak e h im the o n ly ride r to win cha m p ions hips in a ll th ree di splacement classes as well as th e Supercross Championship. . Team H o nda 's J eff Sta nton lost 10 poi nts in the cha mpions hi p battle as he struggled to a 4-2 score to fin ish th ird beh in d 250cc World Cha mp io n J ean- Mich el Ba yl e. Ba yle battled with Wa rd in both m ot os before su rre nde ring th e lead , an d in m oto two lost seco nd to Stanton wh en hi s H onda stalle d. 125cc Matiasevich began th e first mo to third beh ind Cooper and current 125cc Na tio na l champ George H oIland . Bradshaw sta rte d nearly last after he went down in a first-tu rn p i le u p th at a lso incl u ded Erik Keh oe; Kiedrowski was m idpack. "Some body bumped m e from beh ind," said Bradsh a w. " (Ro n ) Tiche nor wa s going down, I h it him a nd fel l. " H olland immedi ately set a fast p ace, o ne that Cooper said helped him as he tried to stay within a few secon ds of th e leader. T he p a ce ca rried th em awa y fro m Matiasevich, who h ad go tte n away from a battle for fourth between Johnny O 'Ma ra , Mike La Rooco a nd Keith Bowen. H olland 's stro ng showing came to a n end wh en he crashed hard landing fro m a ju mp on lap four. " It was a hi gh-spe ed jump with a slippery approach," said H olland. " I sp u n side ways on ta keo ff and h ighsid ed." H olland reti red as he o nce aga in hurt h is shou lder th at has given h im p roblem s th roughout the season. At abou t th e same time O 'M ara a lso wen t d own , inju r ing his shou lde r a nd dropping ou t for th e

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