Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Ron Lechien (6) swapped event wins with fellow American Mike Kiedrowski (2) during the two-day event, A fourth in Sunday's race gave Lechien the overall. All 28 of the American riders were provided with new bikes. A dozen Hondas, shown here, were lined up inside the indoor pits waiting for distribution. The riders and mechanics spent their stay in Spain in several five-star hotels and were shuttled around in busses. Checking in and out was time consuming. Larry Brooks (left) helps track builder Jerry Stansburry (center) go over the track design -before making changes. Looking on is 250cc GP contender Rooney Smith. Once into the lead Lechien opened up a five second cushion as the battle for second heated up. Tragter and l25cc GP contender Bob Moore battled side-by-side for the remainder of the 20-Iap final with Tragter coming out on top. "The race went surprisingly well ," Moore said. "The first tum was really tight and everyone piled up on the in side. I went to the outside and must've gained four or five positions. Then I worked my way into third, but the track was tough to pass on and Tragter was riding good. " . Matson continued on in fourth, but never became a serious contender, the same for' fifth-place Kiedrowski and sixth-place Rick johnson, both of whom gated poorly. " I got pinched going into the first tum, literally," johnson said, pointing to his swollen finger. " It 's really hard to work your way up here. You have to watch your lines so no one Tbones ~ou, and when you're doing that you can't concentrate on passing the guy ahead of you. " SUNDAY A first-turn crash involving John- . son , Moore. Tragter and Brae Glover allowed Team Suzuki's Budd y Antunez and privateer Matson a comfortable lead at the start of the final. The two riders battled for several laps, as Lechien moved in for the kill. . The action started to heat up when Antunez threw it away on an offcamber jump. taking Matson with him. "There was no where for me to go," Matson said. " I was on Antunez's tail and didn't even have time to brake." " I hung it easy and mellowed out at the start," Lechien said. "I was thinking about the overall. I knew the track was tight and figured that a lot of riders would go down. When I saw Antunez and Matson lying on the track I knew I had it in the bag." . Lechien built a small lead as Kiedrowski and Johnson moved through the field. Near the 15th lap the two riders knocked Lechien to third, but it was still enough for the overall. " I didn't want to take any chances," Lechien said . " I had a lot of bad blisters on my hands and wasn't sure if I could hold on too much longer. " Out front, Kiedrowski had built a slight advantage over johnson, but almost lost it when he fell in a tum. "The front end washed out," Kiedrowski said. " T h a t turn was real slippery and it all just happened so fast." Although Kiedrowski didn't lose the lead , his fall allowed johnson to close in on his rear fender . The two riders brought it down to the wire where Kiedrowski scored his first win aboard his Shane Nalley-tuned KX250. "It feels really good to win during my first weekend of racing aboard the Kawasaki," said Kiedrowski. " Switching over to another brand always takes a while to get used to and I haven't had that much time aboard my new bikes." " I thought I rode ' a: clean race," johnson said . "I didn 't use any force to get past anyone." While johnson and Kiedrowski battled, Matson reeled in Lechien. Matson was riding the race of his career and wasn't going to let anything stop him from making the rostrum. A few laps from the finish Matson dove underneath Lechien and dropped him to fourth , claiming third for himself. " I think I could've won if Antunez wouldn't have taken me out," Matson said. "It's not his fault, but it still sucks." Ryan finished fifth ahead of former 125cc World Champion Dave Strijbos of Holland and Tichenor. After Sunday's final the winners of .the heat races and the top five finishers in the two mains participated in a jump contest with style being the main 15

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