Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS ' ,.AU Japan MotocroSs,Championship Round 1: T MX P ajimi ark Chicken years as a factory rider in America - he looked as fast as eve r. A healthy crowd of 15,000 spectators showed up to watch the race, but the weather was nice for the first moto only. The sun shined down on the hardpacked course in the opening race, but the skies darkened and rain began to fall in moto two. When the gate dropped for the first JO-minute-plus-two-Iap moto, Matiasevich grabbed the holeshot ahead of Tichenor, and the battle wa s on. Behind the two .Americans, the fastest Japanese battled over third . Team Honda's Tatsuyuki Motoki, Yamaha's Tomoyoshi Masuda, Honda' s Noriyo Tanaka and Yamaha's Tetsumi Mitsuyasu argued over the position. Mitsuyasu's ride was incredible; as he is 37 years old , and has been racing for the Yamaha factory for 20 years. Meanwhile up front, Matiasevich continued to lead and it looked as if the champion would be upset by his fellow countryman. But when the two-laps-togo board came out, Tichenor turned it up and sneaked past Matiasevich and stole the lead . Matiasevich tried to take the position back, but it was in vain. The factory Kawasaki rider dived underneath Tichenor in the last tum with one lap to go, but his front wheel made contact with Tichenor's rear wh eel and he went down. This gave Tichenor time to breathe and cruise to the win . Matiasevich had plenty of time to salvage, while Motoki, Masuda, Tanaka and Mitsuyasu followed, in that order. r By Shintaro Urash ima Photos by Shogo Nakao TAJIMI. JAPAN. APR 2 he much anticipated confrontation between Americans Ron Tichenor and Jeff Matiasevich finally materiali zed at the opening round of the All Japan Motocross Championship Series, arid it was the defending champ, Tichenor, who emerged victorious after two hard-fough t motos . Th e Palm Harbor, Florida, native has spent the past two years in Japan, and has twice walked away with the All Japan Motocross Championship Series. Tichenor's decision to race in Asia came when he decided that his racing career in America was going nowhere. Like Tichenor, Matiasevich had hit a seemingly dead end in America. After losing his factory Suzuki ride at the end of 1993, "Chicken" bought his own Yamahas and turned a lot of heads in '94 with newfound consistency and . speed. The Anaheim, Californ ia, resident was rew ard ed with a Kawasaki Japan factory ride, with his m iss io n being to dethrone Tichenor and pu t a Kawasaki on top of the championship. So far, Matiasevich has failed to do what he was hired for, but in his Japanese National debut, Ch icke n showed a lot of promise. The '95 season should be full of good racing action. Both of the Americans came to Japan two weeks before the season opener in order to get ready for the race and adapt to their new works bikes. The production rule may limit the bikes in America, but full-on works machinery is raced week in and week out in Japan. Mat iasevich will fly back and forth from America to Japa n every time he races, bu t Tichenor plans on staying in Japan for two to three races at a time. ....... Tichenor seemed to be 100% for this I-< year's kick off, unlike the past two years 0- when he was recovering from broken

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