Motor Racing : A Cancellation Gives Jeff Ward Supercross Title

Jeff Ward of Mission Viejo has regained the Insport Supercross series championship for stadium motocross from Ricky Johnson of El Cajon with the cancellation of the series’ final event at Sacramento.

Ward, the Kawasaki-riding 1985 champion, held a 41-point advantage over Honda-mounted Johnson after 13 events, with two remaining on the American Motorcyclist Assn.’s stadium series--the 16th annual Superbowl of Motocross Saturday night in the Coliseum and a race at Sacramento Sept. 19.

The maximum number of points available at each motocross is 25 so when promoter Mike Goodwin canceled the Sacramento finale, Ward automatically became the 1987 champion.

This is the fourth national championship for Ward, a former world mini-bike champion, since he turned professional in 1977. He won the 125cc outdoor title in 1984 and both the 250cc and Supercross championships in 1985.

Johnson, the defending Superbowl champion, was injured twice during the season in crashes, but still managed to win six events to five for Ward.

Johnson won the 1987 AMA outdoor national 250cc championship series two weeks ago with a victory at Lakewood, Colo. Ward finished second. In the 500cc season, which opened last week at San Antonio, Johnson and Ward are deadlocked in points, each having won one moto.

After having designed and publicized a new starting position for Saturday night’s moto--beneath the peristyle arches, 30 rows up from the playing field--the AMA ruled it unsafe Wednesday and ordered Goodwin and his course designer, Jim Kitchens, to abandon the idea or lose their sanction.

So now, instead of starting downhill, the riders will take off from the football field level at the east end of the Coliseum, the same as last year.

The famous peristyle jump will still be part of each lap, however. Riders will race up over the spectator seats, disappear through one Coliseum arch and emerge from another for a 150-foot jump back toward the playing field.

Nearly every top rider in the country is entered in either the 250cc main event or the 125cc support race. Factory-supported riders include Team Honda’s Johnson and Micky Dymond, the national 125cc champion; Team Kawasaki’s Ward and Ron Lechien; Team Suzuki’s George Holland and Erik Kehoe, and Team Yamaha’s Keith Bowen and Jeff Leisk.

Supercross leaders are: Ward 260 points, Johnson 221, Lechien 209, Holland 199, Leisk 159.

A crowd of more than 60,000 is expected. The Supercross record is 74,085 at the Coliseum in 1979 when Mark Barnett was the winner on a Suzuki.

SPRINT CARS--Defending California Racing Assn. champion Brad Noffsinger has been the fastest qualifier at Ascot in all 10 races he has entered, but he has had trouble winning. Last week, however, the Huntington Beach driver served notice to standings-leader Mike Sweeney that he’s ready to challenge for the championship when he won his first main event since April. Sweeney leads, 1,814 to 1,750, with former champion Bubby Jones at 1,618 going into Saturday night’s main event at Ascot. . . . John Andretti, nephew of Mario, has entered the July 3 Firecracker 50 at Ascot Park. . . . The memorial dinner for the late Roger Newell to raise funds for his widow, Lisa, has been changed to July 16 at the Long Beach Airport Marriott.

STOCK CARS--Sportsman driver Bob Oliver and street stocker John Cran will be looking for their third straight wins Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. . . . Main events in pro stock, Figure 8, oval bombers, hobby full-bodied and mini-stocks will fill Sunday night’s program at Ascot Park.

MOTORCYCLES--Inland Speedway in San Bernardino will hold its annual Firecracker Derby, with an all-scratch racing program, next Wednesday night. . . . Bobby Schwartz has won 9 of 11 main events at Ascot’s South Bay Stadium and will be going for No. 10 tonight. . . . CMC motocrossers will race Friday night at Ascot Park.

SUPER MODIFIEDS--Billy Vukovich III, runaway leader of the United States Auto Club series, will try for his fifth win in a row and his ninth win in 12 races Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

MIDGETS--The USAC Jolly Rancher three-quarter midget series will continue Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

SPORTS CARS--The Fourth of July weekend will allow California Sports Car Club drivers to compete three days at Riverside International Raceway in championship road races.

RALLY--Finnish teammates Juha Kankkunen and Markku Alen, both driving Lancias, will be favored when the Toyota Olympus Rally begins today in Washington. Only four points separate them going into the seventh event of the world championship series. Kankkunen has not won this year but consistently high finishes have enabled him to stay ahead of Alen, who won both the Portugal and Acropolis events. The 1,000-mile rally, which runs through the streets and outlying roads of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, will end Monday.