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/127285
More than 700 entrants attacked Raceway Park's MX track in front of more than 4000 spectators during the two -da y event. Davey Yezek (6) and Shane Lawson (686) lead the 125cc Pro pack through Raceway Park's ISO.degree first turn. . Dowd, Matiasevich, Tichenor gun down Raceway Park By Mike Snyder Photos by Bob Orlowski, Joe Satkowski and Sny der ENGLISHTOWN, NJ, ocr.20-21 ew England's J o hn Dowd narrowly edged factory Suzuki rider Ro n Tichen or o u t of the 250cc Pro class win at th e . 14th Annual Kawasaki Mo tocro ss Race of Champions at Ra cewa y Park. Dowd didn't wi n a moto, but h is 32 race finishes to pped T ichenor 's 2-3 score for the overa ll win. Keith Bowen and former tw o-t im e 125cc MX Nation al champ Mi cky Dym ond gr abbed th e mot o .wins, but Bowen 's seventh in mot o two d ro pped him to 'fifth overall. After a six th- p lace finish in moto o ne, Dymond topped th e second rnoto to grab third overall. Tichenor go t reven ge in the 125cc Pro class wh ere his 1-2 rnoto finishes earned th e victory over Barry Carsten an d Kawasaki's Johnny O 'Mara. N 14 Dowd returned in th e 500cc Pro cla ss wh ere he had anot her battle, this time with Kawa saki' s Jeff Matiasevi ch . Dowd beat him in the first moto, but Mat iasevich turned the tables in race two a nd went ho me the o verall winner. Dowd was the runner-up and Dymond took h om e a no the r third- ov erall finish . More tha n 700 pro and amateur en trams, as well as more than 4000 spec tat ors , enjoye d a weekend of racing at Raceway Park's final e 10 its 15th season 01 mot ocross events . The J ay Irwin /Ken Landerman-promoted, Kawa saki /WHTG Radio/Coors / Boyesen/Scott-sponsored event fea tured two days of racing, with amateurs running two rnotos on Saturday with the top overall finishers advanc- ing to Sunday's final motos. Pro riders com pe ted in two rnotos on Sunday. Man y of the top National privateers were on hand to battle the top loca l rider s and Team Kawasaki riders Mat iasevich and O'Mara as well as Suzuki's Tichenor. Bowen nailed the holeshot at the start of the first 250cc Pro moto but both he and Do ug Henry bobbled a couple of turns later and were promptly passed by Carl Vaillancourt with Tichenor right on his tail. Bowen regrouped and regained the lead with Henry following him back into second. Tichenor soon railed past He nry while Dowd blitzed by Vaillancourt to tak e over fourth, then reeled in and passed Henry to set h is sights on Tichenor. Bowen had pulled out to a comfortable lead while Dowd moved in on Tichenor and the two battled in the clos ing laps of the moto, O n t he next-to -last lap, Do wd fina lly found a way past Tichenor, but no t witho ut a fight. As they landed fro m a tabletop jump nearing th e finish line, the two were wheel to wheel wh en Do wd oversho t the berm in the last corner. Tichenor shot pa st to grab secon d behind Bowen, whi le Henry maintained fourth over Vaillancourt an d Dymond. At the start of the secon d moto Henry took the lead with Dymond, Vaillancourt and Barry Carsten righ t behind. On th e second lap Dymond powered past H enry and quickl y opened some room o u .the rest of th e pa ck. Tichenor had 10 fly through the pack after a bad start a nd cam ped o n Henry's rear fender, wh ile Dowd was making some moves of hi s ow n to catch _up to T ichenor . . Dowd caugh t Ticheno~ and passed him as they blasted up a huge, stairstep jump, then immediately went aft er Henry. A lap later Dowd was in se cond and whitt ling a way at Dymond's lead . Tichenor stayed right on Dowd 's tail for the rest of the race, a nd they had closed to within five seconds of Dymond wh en the checkered flag appeared. H enry hung on to finish fourth. " I enjoyed that dice with Tichenor, it felt good holding him off and almost nailing Dymond at th e end," said Dowd. " If the race was a coup le of extra laps, maybe I could've pulled it off. I go t the overall win anyway, so I'm happy." Dymond said, " I was relaxed at the pace I was running wh en I looked back and saw Dowd . I realized I had better turn up th e throttle or I might lose th e moto. Dowd rod e very well and I'm glad I won at least one moto." "At least I had a good first moto ," said Bowen, who finished seventh. " T his track really brings out th e local talent, so you never know what to expect here. I just got my new bikes and didn 't have much time 10 set them up." The 125cc Pro class had so many entries two qualifying motos were required to thin the field for the fin al , and in the first rnoto Davey Yezek and Kurt McMillen passed Chris Coleman then proceeded to battle for the lead. O 'Mara started poorly, but by the third la p he had fought his way up near the front. Yezek and McMillen [ought [or the lead unti l the last la p when Yezek bobbl ed in a turn and McMill en motored by and away [or the win. Brian Carroll had climbed to second while O 'Mar a rounded out the top three. Tich enor walked away with th e sec o n d ,m o to and finished eig ht seconds ahead of Henry and Carsten. Tichenor was the overall winner and went into the final with the low score. Carsten nailed the ho leshot at the start of the final and worked that into a 10-seco nd advantage by th e time the pack came around for the second lap. Yezek and Joel Dengler were battling for second, while Tichenor crashed and was ninth and another poor start by O'Mara left him seventh. Tichenor and O 'Mara soon charged to the fro nt where they ha d a fierce battle over third. Tichenor was able to wrestle the position away as they bo th shot by Dengler. Carsten maintained a comfortable margin to the fin ish , while Tichenor he ld off O 'Mara for second which gave hi m the overa ll victory. Ca rsten was the runner-up overall and O'Mara rounded out the top three. , "That race was particularly tough because I had to move up through the pa ck after crashi ng," said T ichenor. " I was cruising, waiting for som eone to come up and race with me, " said Carsten. " At the two -lap board I saw Tichenor moving up, so I turned up the wick to stay ahead." "I had a ball in that race with Tichenor, that's what I enjoy," said O'Mara. Matiasevich flew into th e lead at the start of the first 500cc P ro moto, foll owed closely by Dymond, Do wd and Bowen. As Matiasevich pulled away, Dymond, Dowd and Bowen all bunched up in a battl e o ver second,