Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Suzuki's Ron Tichenor (6) and Honda's Jeff Stanton (I ) engaged in a tough battle throughout the 250cc main. Stanton passed Tichenor two laps from the end. the 250cc class, with J eff Ward pock eti ng the biggest ch un k at 5000. In the 125cc class, a 7500 p urse was offered with wi nner Antunez taking ho me $2000. Mor e than 30,800 fans attended the Mic key T ho mpson Enterta inment Group- p rod uced even t a t the Rose Bowl , the first su percross held there since Augu st 1985, an event Johnny O'Mara won o n a factor y H onda. 250cc Heats In th e first of th ree eigh t-la p 250cc heat races, Larry Ward shot into th e ea rly lead with Kiedr owski, Yam aha 's Dou g Dub ach a nd Suzu ki's Gu y Cooper hot o n hi s rear fender. The top five riders would tra nsfer directly to th e main. By the second lap, it was apparent that i t was goi ng to be a Ward/ Kied ro wski dogfigh t do wn to th e fini sh , as the two riders p ut distan ce o n the rest of th e pa ck. Ward set th e fast pace, but Kied ro wski was always w it h i n a roos t-le ngt h behind th e Suzuk i rider. . Two laps from the finish , though , Kiedro wski saw his cha nce and made - a mov e. He dove to the inside and pass ed Ward in a turn. But Ward co unte r-attacked by slamming o n the brakes, sq uarin g off th e turn , diving ba ck und ern eath Kiedrowski and recapturing the lead . With the checkered £lag in sight, it was a drag race down the whoops and across the fi n ish lin e, with Ward mainta inin g a few inches o n Kiedro wski for the na rrow win, and a $1000 check from Coors [or bei ng voted by the working press as the Coors Extra Effort Award wi nn er. Finishi ng abou t five seconds beh ind Kiedro wski, in th ird, was Dubach , who success fu lly defended hi s position throug ho ut th e race agai nst Cooper. Honda priva teer rider Eri k Keh oe rounded o u t th e top five. The second heat race was won by the defend i ng Camel Su p ercro ss Cha m p io n Stanton. Sta nton sto le the holesh ot ahea d of Honda rider Go rdo n Ward, teammate Bayle and Kawasa ki's Mi ke Fish er. By the end of the second lap , Go rdon Ward ha d d ropped back a few posi tio ns, while Sta nton and Bayle played cat and mouse for the lead . O 'Mara settled into a co mfortable but di stant th ird. . On the last lap , 250cc MX World Champion Bayle was within stri king dista nce of Sta nton, bu t tim e ran o ut for th e Frenchman as the checkered £lag waved. Stanton took the narrow win over Bayle, who was foll owed by O 'Mara, Suzuk i's Denny Stephe nson, Fisher and Hon da rider La rry Brooks. T he last heat race featured Kawasak i teammates J eff War d and Maitasevich dici ng side-by-side for the entire race. At the start, Mat iasevich roosted into the lead in ches ahea d of Ward and Suzuki 's Ronnie T iche no r, wi th Suzuki 's Mike La Rocco running fourth , and Suzuki pri vateer rider Dean Ma tson cruising in fifth . A few laps into the race , Ward was obviously tryi ng to pass Matiasevich in eve ry corner, bu t Ma tia sevich wou ldn't bu dge. At one point, Ward motored around Matiasevich in a turn but was passed back a few feet lat er. Ward redu ced th e pressu re for a cou p le of laps but then turned it back up for the last two laps. Ward almost pa ssed Ma tiasevich , again, as the two Kawasaki ri ders ' nego tia ted lapped tra ffic. But Mat iasevich held Ward at bay as th ey flew over the fin ish line j ump together wit h the nod going to Matiasevich. Whi le Mat iasev ic h a nd Wa rd . dueled, Tichenor soloed in third, an d La Rocco and Matson rou nded out the top five. 250cc Semis Gordo n Ward blasted in to th e lead at the start of th e first of two sem is - where the top two riders would qual ify for the feature - while Broo ks and Tuf Racing's Keith Bowen settled into second and th ird , respectively. What Ward didn 't kn o w was that bo th Broo ks and Bowen where in voved in a heated contes t and were closing in o n him. During the fourth lap, th e Brooks/Bow en dogfi ght ca rried . them up to Ward 's rear fender and th e mom entum of their duel carr ied them past Ward o ver a double j u m p. Bowen edge d ahea d of Brooks, and Bowen suddenly fou nd himself in the lead . Bo wen held o n for th e win with Broo ks tak ing second and Ward third. Suzuki ride r Fred Andrews squeezed out Suzu ki- mo u nte d Chris Young fo r the lead a t the sta rt of the second semi. The two riders d u ked it out for the first half of the race until Andrews began slig ht ly pull in g away from Yo ung. And rews' sma ll lead over Young was just eno ugh for him to tak e the win . Finishing third was another Suzuki rider, Cliff Palmer. 250cc Last Chance Qualifier The LCQ turned into a three-way brawl between Gordo n Ward, Honda rider J a son Upshaw and Suzukimount ed Ra y Somma, Onl y the winner would transfer to the main. Ward led for mo st of the race , just a few feet ahead o f Upshaw and Somma. Somma passed Upshaw but la ter bobbled in the whoops a nd dropped to fourth. But So mma was soo n back o n the gas, in -th ird and again pressuring Ups ha w. With two la ps rema in ing, Ups haw slid o u t, makin g it a last-lap duel betw een War d and Somma. Ward got crossed up in the whoops, a llowing Somma to move alongside him . In the last tum, the two riders colli ded and Ward went down. A few yards later, Somma crossed th e fin ish lin e in first , qualifyin g for th e last positio n in th e main event. 250cc Main When the ga te dropped for the sta rt of th e 20-lap main event, J eff Ward powe re d hi s To m Morgan - tu n ed Kawasaki into the ear ly lead. " I' ve been working really hard o n my starts and I' ve got a new technique that really helps," said Ward. As th e pa ck ro unded th e first tu rn, Suzuki rid ers Cooper and Mat son were left behind wh en th ey were push ed ou t over the hay bal es. Cooper recovered in last p lace and event ually worked u p to 11th, wh ile Ma tson finish ed 15th . Meanwh ile, out i n front, Ward q u ickly put ground bet ween himself and th e second-place rider, T ich enor . In th ird was La rry Ward, followed by Mat iasevich , Stanton , Fisher, Bayle and O 'Mara. Posit ions up fro nt remain ed th e same for six la ps, unti l Larry Ward tr ied to make a pass on T iche no r. " I could see that Wardy was pulling away a little bit , so I wanted to star t making my move on T ichenor," satd Larry Ward. " I just co u ld n' t ge t arou nd h im. Every time I got alongs ide of him, Ro nn ie would sla m the doo r shut on me. Then, I tried to ou t-jump him in the whoops and go t right next to him , bu t he brake-checked me in the next tum and I slid o ut." When Ward went dow n , Mat iasevich , Stanton, Bayle and Kiedro wski all advanced one pos ition. Matiasevich then began ha mmerin g o n Tichenor for second p lace, a nd it too k the Kawasaki pilo t two laps to ge t aro und him. Once into seco nd, Mati asevich stead ily pulled away from T ichenor and the rest of the pack, esta bl ish ing sal e control of th e number two pos itio n. By the halfway point, J eff Ward had set hi s Kawasa ki o n cru ise control, but Mat iasevich was ·slightly gaining on him. " I was feeling really good," said Matiasevich, " I just kept pounding 19

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