Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ I M OTOCROSS GFI California Winter Series South: Round I ~--=-----> Ri ck Johnson (ri gh t) tries to get his hands on the $5000 Jeff Ward received [or winning the 250cc Invitational Supercross. Ward-waltzes.away with win at Perris Raceway By Nate Rauba and Tony Aless i Photos by Ken Faug ht an d Alessi PERRIS, CA, DEG. 29-30 t's no t often that professional ri ders get pai d to practice, bu t that's wh at happened to Kawasak i's J eff Ward when he earned $5000 [o r winning the G FI 250cc Pro $10,000 In vi tational Supercross at Perr is Raceway. I 10 " It was lik e practici ng, " said Ward after the event , wh ich was part of the opening ro und of the G FI Ca lifornia Wi nt er Series No rth-Sou th Showdow n. "I was going to go riding today anyway." Rick johnson , who fin ished th ird in the 13-rider field, saw it anot her way. "Any ti me you pu t five grand in front of Ward , he'll do anything to get it," said j ohnson. While Ward wa lked away wi th the race, held o n Perri s Raceway's supercross practice track, Suzu ki's T all on Voh land had a toug her tim e winn ing the l25cc $5000 In vi tati onal Su percross the following day. Vohland f ell in the first turn bu t recovered and charged through the l2-rider pa ck to take the lead abo u t th ree-quarters of the way th rough the 12-lap race. The two day event dr ew over 700 co mpe titors to the southern Ca liforn ia track. GFI Racing founder Goat Breker built the supercross course to rent to th e fa cto ry teams for testing an d practice , a nd he decid ed to in vite several of the top supercross and local Pro cla ss riders to compe te in a special exh ibi tio n race for th e fans . All racing was stopped so that GFI Winter Series com pet itors could also witness the action. After Sa tur day's supercross wa s com p lete, th e facto ry stars helped run the Pee Wee program o n a special track for the sma ll bikes. Ward grabbed the lead at the start of Sa turday's 250cc supercross race and maintained a comforta ble cu shion to the finish. One thi ng tha t helped him get away was a fierce battle for second which lasied for most of the race. j ohnny O 'Mara headed the battle early with H onda's j erem y McGrath on his tail. La rry Brooks soon joined them as did Honda 's Rick j ohnson. Broo ks passe d McGra th th en took over second when O 'Mara bobbled near th e halfw ay point . McGrath and j ohnson also soo n push ed past O 'Mara. Brooks nearly cras hed in some braking bumps whi ch let j ohnson and McGrath by. Two laps later Brooks and O'Mara went out wh en they cras hed together. j ohnson had pass ed McGrath, bu t McGrath stayed with the former Supercross cha mp and passed him on the last lap to claim second j ust in front of j ohnson. Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski broke out of a battle with tea mma te j eff Mat iasevich late in the race to clai m fourth , whi le Steve La mso n reco vered from an early fall in the wh oops to fin ish sixth behind Matiasevich. . Wh en th e l25cc In vitational Supercross left the line on Sunday, T yson Voh land grabbed the holeshot bu t fell in the second tum . While Tyson 'was pi cki ng himself up , hi s bro ther Tallon was also restarting after a first-turn mis hap and together they pursued th e pac k. At the fro nt of that pack Dana Wiggin s had displ aced bo th Craig Ca no y and early-race . lead er T ony Amaradio. Wiggins quickl y pulled ou t ' a seven -second lead wh ile Tallo n ha d charged to thi rd by the fou rth lap. T allo n jumped in side Canoy at the halfwa y poi nt a nd went off after Wiggi n s. Although Voh land chipped away at Wiggins ' lead he could only close sligh tly. But on lap eight of the 12; la p race, Wigg ins apparently lost concentration wh en he spun a circle -o n the face of a technical tab letop j um p. Wiggins quickly reentered the race as he watched T all onlunge into th e lead . Wiggins couldn't make up the lost time and T allon went under the checkered flag unchallenged for the win . Tyso n co mp leted h is charge th rough the pack by sneaking by Ca noy o n the last lap to finish th ird. " I' m happy to have finished, I feel like I have foo d poisoning," sa id T all on. Back on the ma in Perris Raceway MX track, Sean Pagel grabbed the holesh ot in the firs t l25cc Intermediate Division II moto whi le Mark Easley a nd Dan Ulven ba ttled for the runnerup spot duri ng the early laps. Easl ey event ua lly pushed past Ulven, but Pagel was long go ne and Easley had to sett le for second. Pagel , Dennis Dahlin a nd Easley qu ickl y set the pa ce a t th e start of moto tw o. On the fir st lap Dahlin mad e a pass o n Pagel that almost sent both rider s to the gro u n d. Pagel wi sel y ba c ked o ff and followed Dah lin 's lin es whi le Easley hovered in th ir d. Pagel rep assed Dahlin at the halfway po int and promptl y pulled away. Two la p s from th e finish' Easley sq uirted by Dahlin , but his charge to wards Pagel was cut sho rt by th e chec kere d flag. . " Pagel' s riding well today and his bikes are real fast," said Easley. " I got held up in both rnotos, Pagel took

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