Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ Q.) ..0. 8 Q.) u. Q.) o (Above) Rick Johnson soared to victory and received a genuine four-stroke plaque for his efforts. (Below) Jimmy Ellis went 2-2 for second overell. Pete Whitney and Duane McDowell launch their sidehack off the first jump. CMC/PJI/Pro-Tec Four-Stroke National Championship Johnson "Too Hip" to the hard way at Carlsbad By Jim Bowman CARLSBAD, CA, DEC. 5 Rick "Too Hip" Johnson won the Contin~ ental Motosports Club Four-Stroke National Championship at Carlsbad Raceway, after almost being lapped during the first moto. Warren Reid and Jimmy Ellis had much easier shots at the title than· Johnson, but both made mistakes in the second 10 moto that made Johnson's second moto as easy as his first was hard. Spectators at today's event watched an eight-rider field of factory support and factory works riders compete for the $1,000 purse offered by PJl Oil and Pro-Tee. 'Pro-Tec provided factory Yamaha pilots Johnson and Ron Lechien with bikes while Yamaha support rider Eric McKenna brought a BP Racing Yamaha down from northern California. White Bros. supplied factory Suzuki pilot Reid with a trick Can-Am four-stroke and Team Honda's Jimmy Ellis·rode a White Bros. Honda. Two more Team Honda entries were Phil Larson and Johnny O'Mara, aboard the same stock Hondas that AI Baker and Jack Johnson used to win the Baja 1000. Team Husky's Bill Grossi completed the field with still another BP Yamaha. Sportsman With a $1,000 Pro purse and cash contingencies for Pros offered by IRC . tires, the focus of attention was on the Pros, but the sportsman were not left out. About $2,500 worth of sportsman awards were donated by O'Neal, Petty Products, 100% Manufacturing, Dirt Rider Magazine, Mugen USA, MXLgoggles, Hallman, White Bros., PJI and Pro-Tee. Winning sportsman were seen walking away from the awards presentation smiling from ear to ear and loaded with prizes that may have had a total retail value of as much as $50-$75. Add to the list of prizes the custom plaque trophies with valves mounted on the face and there was real incentive for son Ie serious competition. Some of the most notable sportsman in attendance today included: Old Timer Master winner Chuck "Feets" Minert, who was riding what the announcer said was the same BSA Minert's ridden for the last 10 years; Mini Expert winner and MX Pro Todd Peterson; runner-up Mini Expert and Speedway Pro Shawn McConnell; and the 500cc Intermediate winner, Rick Atkins. Next to the Sidecars, Atkins provided probably the best sportsman action of the day during his first moto dice with Pete Eunice and Vernon Gabbert. Atkins came back to run away with the second moto while providing a stylish show of jumping the famous Carlsbad ledge. Open Pro Larson holeshot the first Open Pro moto with Johnson in close tow. Larson would tell us later that the suspension faded quickly on his bike and that was giving him trouble, but Johnson was the first to find this out. "He came in and slid out a little and his backend kicked back, and it made me high-side," said Johnson of Larson, "So it took me a while to get it started, so I was almost a lap down." Lechien took over the runner-up spot next, but got sandwiched over the ledge between Larson and Reid and killed his motor too. Like Johnson, Lechien had a hard time starting the big four-stroke and lost a lot of time. Reid took over the runner-up spot next with Ellis right behind and, when Larson's shock faded ·on the fourth lap, both White Bros. pilots moved past. Larson continued to fade and was passed by Grossi two laps later. Larson eventually came back to pass Grossi and finish fourth. The big news now, though, was Johnson. While Reid and Ellis were running away with the lead, Johnny 0' had dropped out and Johnson was ahead of Lechien and turning lap times almost five seconds faster than the leaders! Johnson, who had been almost a lap down, caught and passed both Grossi and McKenna on lap 13, and pa~sed Larson on the 14th and final lap to finish third. The crowd went wild. They had all but forgotten about Johnson and then in the last two laps he went from sixth to third! Reid took the win ahead of Ellis, Johnson, Larson, McKenna, Grossi and't.echien. . The second mota was a not-sofunny comedy of errors affairs for the White Bros. team's first moto winners. O'Mara holeshot, but couldn't hold it and Reid was soon in the lead. Johnson took over the lead on the next lap and Ellis moved past Lechien for third. If the order had rarnained the same, Reid would have won theDverall with Johnson second and Ellis third. Reid was pumped and began ttying too hard to pass Johnson. On the fourth lap, he slid out and had the same trouble Johnson had had on the first lap while starting his bike. Reid's mistake put him back in sixth place and, unfortunately, he couldn't make up the time as Johnson had done. Ellis' mistake cost the White Bros. . team their last chance for an overall victory. Ellis was now in second and had to pass Johnson for the victory. Unfortunately for Ellis, he thought the motos would be scored the same as all the AMA Nationals he;d ridden earlier this year. "I just let him go," said Ellis. "I didn't think I'd have to beat him. If it was AMA scoring, I wouldn't have had to beat him. I would have won it pverall." As J ohnson had moved up so fast during the first moto, Ellis couldn't be sure he could have passed Johnson, but it

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