Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127275
Larry Ward (17) stole the lead from Donny Schmit in the second 125cc moto, but was later passed by teammate Mike LaRocco on the last lap . Ward finished fourth o~erall. "I j ust wanted to put the heat on Ward y and hoped he 'd make a mistake, which he did," said Stanton between motes. " The track's getting prett y tom u p : it's gelling rough a n d deep gr oo ved in some of th e turns. I' m used to the mud, but it' s still tough o u t th ere." Stant o n jammed out in fro nt at the start of the second moto ahea d of Ward, J ohn son and Honda privateer riders Dean Matson, Jimmy Button an d "J aso Buule. Three riders went down n in the first turn, on e of whom was -Davis, who would later retire with a broken front brake lever suffered in the pi leup. By th e second lap, both Stanton and rWard pulled away from Johnson and Button, who ha d moved into fourth after d isp laci n g Matso n to fifth. O'Mara was , running sixt h an d charging. Sho rtly thereafter Stanton started inching away from Ward, tum after tum, while O 'Mara worked his way into fourth and Bowen fifth. Button had -d ro p ped ba ck to sixth, with Matson now running seventh without a rear brake. " I bent the rear brake pedal and was trying to kick it stra igh t again," said Matson. " But before I could bend it straight again, I went through a turn and broke it comp letely off the bike. " - Despite the Toss , Matson managed to keep pace with the front-runners for the rest of th e race. By the halfway point, Stanton looked to be headed for his second win of the day, until he came around the front straight in second place, a good 10 seconds behind the new leader, Ward. ." 1stalled the engine ," said a dejected Stanton. " I just stalled it in a deepgrooved, tight turn and I cou ld n 't get .it started right away ." "He was kicking his bike li ke crazy tryin g to get it started," said Ward. " I just rode right by him. " . Ward found himself enjoying a 23second lead over Stanton, while Johnson was running an uncontested third. About 15 seconds behind Johnson was O 'Mara, who was now dealing with it fiat rear tire . Behind O 'Mara, Bowen and Button fought back and fonh for fifth. Matson hung on to seventh. Ward crossed the finish line way out in front of Stanton, who was foll owed at a safe distance by Johnson and O 'Mara . Bowen nipped Bu tton for fifth and Mats on hung o n for sevent h over Texan Dennis Hawthorn e. " \ lu cked o u t," said Ward. " H e (Stan ton) was pulling on me a little and then we were runnin g abo ut even wh en he stalled it," said Ward. " \ reall y wish I go t second in th e first rnoto, then we would stili be tied for points." After nipping Button for fifth in the rnoto and fourth overall, Tuf Racing's Bowen said, ' 'I' m rea lly happy. This is my best finish in about three years, th ings finally went well. I just kept p lugging away. Butto n and I pass ed each other five or six times out there." "We had a gr eat bailie," said Button. " We traded back and forth a number of times, then my suspension heated up late in the race and I wasn 't ab le to go through the whoops as fast as I could've. It's only my second ride on a 500 and I'm feeling pretty good." 125cc N atio n al As the rain kept falling, so did the starting gate for the first l 25cc moto. Suzuki's Buddy Antunez grabbed th e holeshot followed by Schmit, Matiasevich and Kiedro wski. Run ning eigh th was Cooper. . Antunez 's lead lasted until th e seco nd lap wh en Schm it blew by and took cont ro l. T here was no stopping the new 125cc World Champion, who was p iloting a production Suzuki RM \ 25 eq u ipped wi th a few pa rts he brought over from Europe that came off hi s World Championship-winning Bicffe-backed Suzuki. Schmit stretched out his lead with every lap and had no problems holding it to th e chec kered £lag. Most of the racing action took place behi nd Schmit Matiasevich eventua lly settled into second but had Kiedrowski breathing down his neck thro ughout the rnoto, Kawasaki-mounted T allon Vohland, who started the moto in fifth, settled into fourth with Larry Ward , LaRocco and Antunezd ose behind him. Suzuki's Ronnie T ich enor cras hed early in the race and pulled off into th e mech anic's area to replace a broken clutch lever, losing valuable time in th e process. Also getting off to a poor By passing Larry Ward on the las t lap for the second 125cc moto win, Mike LaRocco scored his first -ever Na tiona\ MX o vera ll victory via a 4-1 tally. start was Yam ah a's Damon Bradshaw, wh o crashed early 'o n and ended up fin ishi ng a lap down of th e leade rs. Desp ite pressure from Kiedrowski, Matiasevich held o n to second as they crossed the finish line. Abou t 10 seconds behind Kiedro wski was Ward, wit h La Rocco glued to hi s rear fen der. Voh land finis hed sixth and Antunez seventh . Finish in g eigh th in o nly hi s secon d N ati onal was Californ ian R yan H ughes. , " I got do ne with th e Amateur stu ff last week at Ponca City and now I have to ru n with the big boys," said Hughes between mOlOS. "I feel th at they have mor e experie nce th an me and th at I'v e got a lot to learn. Basica lly I don 't want to get intimidated by them - they're jus t other g uys." Ka wa sak i 's J eff Em ig fi nis hed n inth, while Coo per ro unded ou t the top 10. " I fell o n the second la p an d jus t got roosted o n," said Cooper. " I wasn' t going very 'fast, it just was n 't a good moto." The second rno to saw Ward take the initial lead . " I got the hol eshot but went too wide in th e first tu m , got bogged dow n in 11