Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ / MOTOCROSS .AMA 125/250(( National Championship~·M_X_S_en_·es_: R_o_un_d_s1_1 .~ _ Johnson, Kiedrowski hang. tough in Gatorback opener By Ken Faught GAINESVILLE, FL, MAR. 4 ulti-time National and Supercross Champion Rick Johnson joined teammat e Mike Kied - . rowski in making the Gatorback National a memorable experience for the seco nd consecu tive year. Last year, Ga torback put J ohnson ou t of racing act ion for several months wh en he severely inj ured hi s right wrist in practice after tangling with Danny Sto rbeck. Sunday, however; one da y shy of a year a fter hi s nea r career-e n ding injury, Johnson reversed his fortu nes by tu rn in g in a pai r of perfect rides in th e 250cc class to edge o ut defen din g 250cc National Cha mpion and teammate Je ff Stanton. The two H onda riders, p lus Yama ha 's Damon Bradshaw and Doug Dubach , and Suzuki's Ro nni e T ichenor swapped the lead back and ' forth in some heated actio n . T ichenor eventually cam e ou t third overall with 4-3 finishes. " It ha sn 't hit me yet," Johnson said , ' '' I probably won 't feel it until I call home and tell them 1 won . Lately, I've felt bad ' telling them I got sixth or eigh th. Part of winning is sharing it with your friends, and that's when you really feel it." Kiedrowski' s experience was one of . repeated joy as he sh ared the limelig ht with J ohnson following his second stra ig ht win in the Gatorback 125cc Nation al. Kiedrow ski's 1989 victory was th e defending 125cc National champ's first-ever Natio na l win , th is year's his fourth. But it didn't come easy as he had to conte nd wit h last year's Ga torback 250cc Nat ional winner an d 250cc World Champion Je an -Michel Bayle. The two Honda teammates trad ed moto wins wit h Kiedroski topping the moto that counted, the second one. After swapping moto finishes both riders are tied in th e cham p io nship po int sta ndi ngs, ahead of Team Kawasak i's J eff Matias evich who finished th ird in both motos. An estimated 8800 spectators, a Ga torback recor d, were o n hand for the Wor ldSports event that dr ew 98 l25cc and 79 250cc ri ders. J ohnson's share of the $25,000 overall purse was $2000, with Kiedrowski taking home $1000 for hi s efforts. M . Defending 125cc National Champion Mike Kiedr owski (I) logged a 2-1 score to to p J ean -Michel Bayle in the 125cc class. Bayle wen t 1-2 for second overall. Rick Johnson (13) battled with defen din g series champ Jeff Stanton (I) in both 250cc mo tos. J ohns on won both motos to score his first Na tion al win in a year. Doug Dubach (7), Roland Diepold (890), Carl Vaill anco urt (85), Mike Fisher (23) and Brian McElroy (71) lead the charge in the secon d mo to of the 250cc class. 6 125cc N atio n al After three he at races an d three co nsolation races, the first 40-rider, 30minute plus two-lap moto got under way with Kiedrowski jumping out with the early advantage. Bayle was hot on hi s tail , followed by Matiasevi ch , Cooper and Jeff Emig. Cooper, however, didn 't make it all the way out of th e first turn before he was struck by bad lu ck. " I didn 't know they graded the first turn," Cooper said. "I had quite a bit of speed and the rear wheel just jumped o u t of my line and spun me around backwards. It happened so fast. " While Cooper wa s working hisway up from 37th , Erik Keh oe cu t hi s way through the pack and pulled in behind Matiasevich in fourth. Kyle Lewis, Denny Step henson , Tallon Voh land, Chris Coleman, Ty Davis and J ay Mann held down the top 10 spots. Ten minutes into the race, Bayle turned up the wick and p ressured Kiedrowski and hi s Ron Wood-tuned Honda RC l 25 for the lead . The two riders too k turns lead ing with Bayle eventua lly prevailin g. During th eir battle they managed to put nearl y 10 seco nds o n Mat ias evi ch, who h ad nearly th e sam e advantage over Kehoe. Suzu ki priva teer Steve Lamson mad e his presence kn own near th e halfway point by ·ta king o ver fou rt h with Coleman and Stephe nson br eathing down hi s.neck . But Lam son managed to hold them off. Coo per was also maki ng a charge and was up to eighth a t this time. He had the su pport of most of the fans who foll owed th e charge wi th the aid of race anno u ncer Larry Maiers. As the end of th e race drew n ea r, Cooper tr acked down La mso n and made his move for fo urt h. Cooper set his sigh ts on Matiasevich , but cou ldn 't get anywhere near the cu rrent Camel Supercross Series po ints leade r and had to sett le for the number four slot. Moto two again saw Kiedrowski pull th e ho leshot, but this time Davis was second in front of Matiasevi ch , Cooper, Kehoe and Bayle. Kiedrowski immediately put as much distance as he could between himself and the pa ck, and opened up a th ree-second cus hion by lap three. Copper cont inued where he left off in ro und one. and shot aro und Ma tiasevich and wen t after Kiedrowski . He slowly reeled in the Honda pi lo t and go t wi thin striking di stan ce. T he two then pl ayed a clo se ga me of followth e-leader for three laps unti l Cooper me t wit h near disaster. Wh ile attem p ting a doubl e j um p , he nea rly la nded on a lapped rider and went down hard. "There was this double tha t some of the riders were j umping, " Cooper sai d. " There was a guy ahea d of me who switched lines. I th rew my bike to th e insi de, bu t I still too k him out." Cooper's absence among the top three return ed Kiedrow ski's previously h el d sma ll lead . Bayl e , h o wever , po unded hi s way towards the leader. Bayle's effort didn 't pay off, tho ugh, as Kiedrowski collected the check ered flag ah ead o f Bayl e, who was 20 seconds ah ead of a newly-formed battle between Mat ias ev ich and Cooper. Kehoe was fifth. . " I felt really good," Kiedrowski said. " I have been training rea l hard, and it is paying off. I had some really good sta rts. .. and that helped me quite a bit. 1 just want to win races now. " 250cc National Holeshot artist Doug Dubach started the first moto off in his usual position foll owed by Dennis Haw thorne, T ichenor, J ohnson, Stanton , LaRocco, J eff Ward and Bradshaw. Ti chen or and Johnson qui ckly dropped Hawthorne back two positions. Hawthorne managed to keep pac e with the factory riders for two laps until he cartwheeled his bike down the back side of a jump and took out Ward in the process. " When he went down I was to the outside," 500cc National Champion Ward said. "His bike flipped and his

• Cover