Johnson Wins Coliseum Motocross : Defending Superbowl Champion Overcomes Bad Start

When 21 motorcycle riders race for an opening large enough for about three of them, strange things can happen.

That’s what occurred at the start of the 16th annual Superbowl of Motocross at the Coliseum Saturday night, and the ensuing mixup led to one of the most exciting races in series history.

Rick Johnson, the defending Superbowl champion from El Cajon, got caught in the tight quarters and fell back to 18th. Jeff Ward, the newly crowned Supercross champion from Mission Viejo, was 13th.

Guy Cooper, a privateer from Stillwater, Okla., riding his own Honda, got a holeshot out of the starting gate and sped away from the pack.

Relentlessly, Johnson moved up through the field, finally running down Ward. When he passed the new champion, he was still fifth, and Cooper was nearly 200 yards ahead.

Once Johnson got past Fred Andrews, who had been running second, he set out after Cooper. Two laps from the end of the 20-lap race, the crowd of 45,074 screamed its approval as the popular Johnson bounced his factory-supported Honda past the Honda of Cooper.

Cooper held on to finish second, and Ward was third.

Ron Lechien upset Ward and Johnson in their qualifying heat to win the Coors Cup and a $4,000 prize as the fastest qualifier in the 14-event Supercross series.

This gave Lechien 27 points in the season-long competition to 20 for Ward and 19 for Johnson.

All three of the leading riders were in the eight-lap fourth qualifying heat. Lechien grabbed the lead out of the starting gate and, despite pressure from Ward and Johnson, never gave up the front position.

Johnson, who started from the right side of the starting gate, appeared to be pinched off by Lechien as the 12 riders raced toward the first turn--a hairpin. The two riders collided briefly, but Lechien, who had started from the left side, appeared to have a better line into the turn.

“All those guys on the starting line have about 125 feet to fit into a turn the size of a phone booth,” said Kenny Clark, the Yamaha team manager.

The problem was created when the American Motorcyclist Assn. refused to grant a sanction for promoter Mike Goodwin’s proposed downhill start. This would have given the riders another 150 feet to sort themselves out before arriving at the first turn.

Johnson was caught in tight quarters and was fifth coming out of the turn, but he quickly moved into third position.

From then on, there were no changes among the top three riders, although on several occasions Johnson closed up on the rear of Ward’s bike, only to have Ward turn up the throttle a notch and deny Johnson second place.

Lechien was much the fastest of the four heat winners over the bump-and-jump circuit that wound around the outside of the football field before climbing 30 rows of seats to disappear through the peristyle arches and reappear for a 150-foot jump back to the playing field. His time was 8 minutes 25.81 seconds.

The other heat winners were Micky Dymond, Johnson’s Honda teammate, in 8:48.67; Eddie Warren, on a Kawasaki, in 8:40.18, and George Holland, on a Suzuki, in 8:50.12.

One of the evenings’s most spectacular passes was made by Dymond, last year’s national 125cc champion from Yorba Linda. Doug Dubach, on a Yamaha, got the jump out of the gate and led for two laps before Dymond passed him in midair coming out of the peristyle arch.

Cooper, who finished third in the heat won by Warren, was the highest non-factory rider in the Coors Cup competition and received $2,000.

Jeff Matisevick, a Kawasaki rider from La Habra, won the 125cc support race after passing early leader Robert Naughton of Phoenix on the third lap of the 10-lap semi-main. Willie Surratt of Lancaster also passed Naughton to finish third.

Matiasevich and another Kawasaki rider, Bader Manneh of Santee, won the 125cc heats.

Two riders were injured during afternoon practice. Gary Griswold of Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to Orthopedic Hospital with a possible concussion, and Craig Canoy of Capistrano Beach, a 125cc rider, broke his wrist in a spill.