Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• Suzuki's Mike LaRocco grabbed a rare holeshot and led his heat race from start to finish, then battled his ~ay to second after a poor start in the main event. up short before and hopefull y I wo n't tonight." T he e nti re Kawasaki team was drawn in th e third heat a nd th ey would dominate it. J ohnny O 'M ara got th e j ump but was soo n passed by teammates Jeff Ward a n d Mari asevich. Ward a nd Mati asevich quick ly pulled away and were never tested. ' O 'M ara was passed by Su zu ki's Ronnie Tich enor o n th e third lap, but two laps lat er Tich en or cras he d o ut o f the top 10. O'Mar a th en had to deal wit h Kawasaki R&D rider Mi ke Fish er, wh o passed him to tak e third. O 'M ar a held o nto fourth with Rodney Sm ith fifth o n a Suzu ki. 250 Semis H onda's Mike Kiedrow ski , wh o j ust missed o u t o n tra nsferrin g from the seco nd heat by fini sh in g sixth, led th e first semi fro m th e d ro p of th e ga te to the chec kered £lag. T u rning laps in th e 44-seco nd ra nge, Kiedro wski drew away to fini sh close to five seco nds in front of Kurt McMillen . Both were into the ma in. Ph il La wrence finished third and would go o nto th e ' La st Ch ance Q ualifier a lo ng w ith th e fo unh through 13th pl ace fini sh ers. Su zu ki's Tiche nor go t th e ju m p o n th e seco nd sem i from the inside pole and jetted to th e lead on ly to cras h agai n, thi s time 'o n th e downs ide of a pla tea u j u m p . H e go t going in last place. Ou t fro nt Jason Ups haw was leading Chris Knox and no o ne co uld make a n impression on their positions. T hey were into th e mai n. Tiche nor's charge took him up to fourth , before he sta lled again a nd that's wh ere he wo u ld finish, beh in d Dag Bo yesen . Last Chance Qualifier Tiche nor kn ew his last ticket into the mai n was fro m th e LCQ a tid he a lso kn ew th a t when it ended he would have ridden 12 more la ps th an th e riders who transferred directly fro m th eir heat s. His plan was to ge t ou t fro nt a nd co nserve ene rgy . For th e firs t time o n th e n ight, it worked. With th e cro wd on hi s side, T ich enor chased Phil Lawren ce for half the race before pass ing hi m o n the inside of a left-hand corne r. Lawren ce hung tou gh , bu t Tich en o r gained a li ttl e mo re grou nd whe n he brak e-checked him on the wh ite £lag lap. " In th e sem i somebody landed o n my back in th e first turn. I kne w I had [ 0 ride th e 20-lap ma in so I di dn't want [ 0 spe nd all o f m y ene rgy, " T iche nor said, 250 Main T he orig ina l 43-thr~e rider field had been whittled down to th e top 20 a nd there were p len ty of predictions for th e ma in. " It 's a fast trac k a nd the obstacles a ren't tha t d iffi cult with everyo ne go ing th e same speed," J eff Ward said. "There wi ll be a lo t of block- passin g." Ward's teamma te Matiasevich pu t it less deli cat ely. " A lot o f turns are opened u p . There wi ll be lots of slam mi ng. It will be a rea l physica l race for 20 la ps. I'm not going to be ca utious. I' m go ing to race every race li ke I'm las t in points," th e cu rrent points leader said. Bradshaw go t the last word in. " Here in my hometowna lot of people respect me fo r what I' ve done," h e said, " Wherever I get o ff the line I'm goi ng to do whatever I have to to win. " T he gate dropped just past 10:00 p.m. with Bradsh a w lead ing Sta nton, Matiasevich, Jeff Ward, O 'Mara a nd La rry Wa rd. La kocco was away sixth ahead o f Tiche nor, Kied row sk i and Bayle. Stanton led th e sta rt of the seco nd la p with Bradsha w seco nd a nd j eff Ward th ird a nd the th ree of th em waged a th ree-way ba ttl e for th e first eig h t laps as Sta nton a nd Bradsh aw swapped the lead while Ward wa ited for a n opoening. Bradsha w was back in front to start the 10th lap with Sta nton o n hi s rea r fender a n d a litt le g ap to Ward . Jeff Stanton (I), Bradshaw (8) and Jeff Ward fought for first early in the main until Ward crashed. Bradshaw and Stanton continued battling until the 18th lap. La Rocco had quietly moved th ro ugh lap ped tra ffic into fou rt h wit h Matiasevich fifth a head o f Larry Ward. Tiche nor was stayi ng on two wh eels and was seventh ahead o f Kied ro wski a nd O 'Ma ra. T he track was becoming deeply ru tted as th e ni ght wo re o n, making passin g mo re o f a p roblem a nd little was don e in th e seco nd h alf o f th e race . Ba yle cras he d three times during th e first half o f th e race and pull ed o ut wi th a n in jured hand a t the halfway po int. Mistak es would be cos tly as bo th J eff Ward a nd Stanton found out. Chasing th e lead ers o n the seventh la p , Jeff War d mi sjudged a jump a nd cras he d bac k to seventh p lace whe re he wou ld fini sh . " Those two guys were lock in g ba rs a nd I was lookin g at them, " said Wa rd . " I hesi tated a pproachi ng a j ump , went 'in a ru t entirely wrong a nd nosedi ved , "There were a lo t of mistakes going on . I made a bi g one." Bradshaw took th e lead bac k o n the 18th la p a n d Stanton bob bl ed in p ur suit , hand ing seco nd to La Rocco. " I ma de a m istak e in th e co rner a nd d idn 't ma ke th e step-u p a nd he passed me ," Stanton said. " O ne little m istak e and it cost me. I knew he was th ere. I was taking my frustraions ou t o n the track." " I started th in king victory the last three or four la ps," Brad sh a w said a fter h is victory lap. " I felt better riding as 'fast as I was. I went slower a t th e end and started making m ista kes." " Bradshaw was pumped u p to be in his ho meto wn ," La Rocco allowed. "I got a bad j ump off th e li ne, abo u t 13th, so it tu rned ou t okay," Ma tasievich , wh o finish ed fourth sai d, " I go t off to a slo w start and th e guys in front were going fas t for the firs t co uple o f laps. I got back up with th em th en made a co uple o f simp le m istak es a nd let th ose three ge t a way . I sti ll have an eigh t. point lead a nd there's a lways next wee k." Ma tasievich had been p ressured by Larry Ward who said he " was righ t o n hi s b utt a nd passed him four times, but he passed me back. Wh en I go t up to fourth 1 th ought for su re I could wi n it. As long as I'm in th e top five I'm happy." After racin g in every event T ich en or admi tted th at he was tired. " My back 's p re tty so re, it 's scra ped up a n d bruised ," he said . ' 'I'd close up and th en mak e a m istake a nd th ey'd pull a way ., There was no rh ythm 1 co uld find o n th is track. " Wh en th e cheering di ed down Bradshaw let th e cro wd kn ow th at th e night wasn' t over. "Don't a ny body lea ve yet," he tol d th e cro wd. "There's a party o n Freedom Drive a t Beauregard 's a nd Yamaha 's payin g for it." 125 Main Denny Step he nson had wo n th e fir st six -la p hea t with a time o ver .eigh t seco nds faster th an Mik e J on es had wo n th e seco nd heat. They lined up near each o the r in th e ma in with J on es ge tti ng the better sta rt whi le Stephenso n was a way seventh. " O n , th e li ne Mike a nd I banged ba rs," Step he nson wo uld lat er say. " I th ought it was bett er to ge t o u t m idpack than last. " On th e seco nd lap Stephe nson was . fifth a nd leapt into seco nd be h ind Jones o n the fourth lap , pass ing J eromy Bueh l, Doug H en ry a nd Bill y Wh itley. Stephenson the n cut into Jones' lead , which a t o ne po int was half a stra ightaway, a nd rode under neath h im in a left turn. From th ere it was cl ea r sai li ng a nd -a greater mar gin in hi s quest for th e title. " Yo u n ev er have it w rapped, " Stephe nson said. "I have to be charging every week and stay consistent." With six laps to go J on es relinqu ished seco nd to H enry after a nea i'cras h. " I didn 't ri de the race 1sho uld have," J on es, wh o 's sponsored by BT Racing, Ara i, Spectre and Sm ith Goggl es, said. " I wasn 't o ne with th e bike tonight. I hit o ne wh oo p and go t a bar in my 11

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