Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ . M R AMA National Championship 125/500(( MX Series: Final rounds oroe OSS e Guy Cooper (4) quickly passed Steve Childress (39) and Jeromy Buehl (58) and ran off to the victory in the first 125« moto, Rick Johnson (13) topped Honda teammate Jeff Stanton (2) in the final moto to earn the 500cc National overall victory. C ooperw sfirst, Ward in seventhtitle at Unad illa By Nate Rauha NEW RERUN, NY, Ocr.14 even was the lucky numbe for ,r Suzuki's Guy Cooper and Kawsasaki's Jeff Ward at the final National MX of the season at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center. . After seven years of campaigning the 125cc Nationals, 28-year-old Cooper earned his first-ever 125cc National Championship by taking the overall win and edging out defending champ Mike Kiedrowski by one point, 518517. Cooper also gave Suzuki its first National title since Mark Barnett won th e 125cc championship in 1982, and he became the oldest rider to win the 125cc title . S 6 Honda's Rick Johnson may have won the battle in the 500cc class with 2-1 moto finishes , but Ward rode conservatively on the muddy, rutted Unadilla course 10 win the war with a pair of third-place finishes that locked up the second consecutive 500cc National title and seven th National Championship of his career. Ward racked up six moto wins and one overall victory in the six-event series. Honda's Jeff Stanton, who won five motos and scored four overall victories in the 500cc series, finished second overall at Unadilla with 1-2 moto scores and ended the season 19 points behind Ward. Both Johnson and Stanton pocketed $1600 of the $15,000 500cc purse, while Ward received $1000 in purse money plus bonuses for winning the championship. Ward's triumph ties the 29-year-old with Johnson for most championships in a career, and he's already looking forward 10 the chance 10 break out of that tie next year. " It's a relief (to win the championship), but it's a nice one since it ties Johnson," said Ward. "Now I have a lot to shoot for next year." And the man he's tied with indicated there's a chance he may not be there 10 put ,up a fight. Before the races began, Johnson, who has struggled to overcome a wrist injury for the past ' year, told the crowd that it might be the last time they see him race in America. " I may go in a different direction, I must decide what's best for Rick Johnson," he said . "If I can 't get the performance I like and Honda likes, I may have to retire ." Winning will make it even harder for him to decide during the off-season, but johnson later added, "1 hate losing too much to go out getting my butt stomped, I'll have to sit down with Honda before I make a final decision." Cooper was ecstatic about winning his first -ever National Championship. "It feels great!" an elated Cooper shouted into Larry Maiers' microphone for the benefit of the estimated 5000 spectators as he pulled off the track at the end of the second 125cc moto, After calming down after the race, Cooper added, " I'm very happy, it relieves a lot of pressure. I've been working all my life for this." By then Cooper was holding th e number on e plate, taken from Kiedrowski 's Honda by Cooper's mechanic, Marshall Plumb. Cooper also took hom e $1000 of the $10,000 l25cc purse, plus a reported $100,000 bonus from Suzuki. But it wasn't easy 10 take Kiedrowski's crown away. 125cc National Cooper was one point behind Kiedrowski as they lined up for the start of the first 30-minute plus two-lap moto, and only Cooper's teammate Mike LaRocco separated the two at the starting gate. After the pack cleared the first few turns, there were many more riders between the two contenders. Cooper got away behind Steve Childress and teammate Jeromy Buehl, while Kiedrowski started down near 15th. "LaRocco kind of came over on me," said Kiedrowski. " I was off-balance in the first turn and everybody was cutting over on me. It was hard to get through. " . Cooper made it to first halfway through the opening lap, then quickly built on his lead. By lap three of what would be a 14-lap moto he was II seconds ahead of Buehl, who was passed by LaRocco a short time later. Childress 'was on his way back to an eighth-place finish, while Kiedrowski had sliced his way to sixth behind a battle between Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich and privateer Doug Henry. Kiedrowski quickly passed Henry, but Matiasevich gave him a fight that lasted until near the halfway point when Matiasevich made a mistake on a staircase-jump uphill. Kiedrowski was still 13 seconds behind Buehl and 32 behind Cooper, but cut the distance Buehl had by 10 seconds in one lap. Just past the halfway point Cooper crashed when his back wheel slid then kicked sideways over a small jump. Cooper was quickly to his feet, and despite falling over again as he got underway he still maintained the lead and had 20 seconds on Kiedrowski, who was still stuck behind Buehl. The Suzuki rider made a valiant effort to hold Kiedrowski at bay until mistakes finally allowed the Honda rider 10 pass. "I knew it was Kiedrowski," said Buehl. " I gave it all I had, did everything I could to stay ahead of him until I bobbled." Kiedrowski quickly pulled away from Buehl, but despite a hard charge 10 the end of the moto, LaRocco was out of reach. LaRocco stayed a few seconds behind Cooper, while Buehl hung on 10 fourth and finished well ahead of Matiasevich. Henry provided some fireworks near the end. when he fought back from a fall to pass Suzuki's Ron Tichenor on the last lap for sixth. "1 had hit a rut, didn 't have my balance and fell," said Henry, a privateer from London, Ohio, who funds his own racing effort and gets some support from Glastonsbury Yamaha. "I just wanted to catch my pace and get back to Ron." There was also a late-race battle between Childress, Suzuki's Denny Stephenson and Kawasaki Team

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