MOTOR RACING : Bikers in Rose Bowl After Five-Year Lapse

Motocross will return to the Rose Bowl Saturday night for the first time in five years for Round 8 of the American Motorcyclist Assn.’s 18-race Camel Supercross series.

Jeff Matiasevich, 20, a rookie in the 250cc class in stadium racing, holds a tenuous lead in the most competitive Supercross series since promoter Mike Goodwin introduced the sport in 1972.

Matiasevich, a Kawasaki team rider from La Habra Heights, won in Las Vegas last Saturday night, extending his lead to 14 points over defending champion Jeff Stanton of Sherwood, Mich., who rides a Honda.

There have been five winners in seven races, and not since 1985--the last year the race was held in the Rose Bowl--have there been that many winners in an entire season.

Damon Bradshaw, a Charlotte, N.C., teen-ager who won the first two races this season at Anaheim and Houston, is not expected to ride Saturday night because of an ankle injury he suffered in San Diego and aggravated two weeks ago in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Rick Johnson, another rider injured at Daytona, also will miss the Rose Bowl event. Johnson, a two-time Supercross champion from El Cajon, broke a finger on his throttle hand when he crashed while attempting to pass longtime rival Jeff Ward of Mission Viejo. Johnson is expected to return to racing for the next 250cc national event on April 1 at Hangtown, near Sacramento.

Johnson leads the national 250cc standings after winning the opening race at Gainesville, Fla., where he fell last year and injured his wrist so severely that he missed the rest of the season.

Others who will challenge Matiasevich include Stanton, who won in San Diego and Daytona; Larry Ward, a Suzuki rider from Society Hill, S.C., who scored his first Supercross victory in Seattle, and Jeff Ward, the Atlanta winner and no relation to Larry.

Still looking for his first victory this season is spectacular French rider Jean-Michel Bayle, who won the world 250cc championship last year and was second in the last two Supercross events.

Matiasevich, although a rookie in Supercross 250cc racing, has twice won the 125cc western Supercross championship, and also won the Mickey Thompson Gran Prix ultracross championship in stadiums in 1987.

Even before winning almost wire-to-wire last week in Las Vegas, Matiasevich was the points leader because of a series of consistently high finishes. He was second in San Diego and Seattle and third in Anaheim and has not finished out of the top 10.

“I felt I had to win one to prove that I belong on top,” Matiasevich said. “I knew people were saying that since I hadn’t won a race, I wasn’t the true leader. But now I feel I deserve it. Now I’m legitimate.

“The most important thing, is winning the championship.”

Johnny O’Mara of Simi Valley, who won the last Rose Bowl race in a controversial season finale on a Honda, will be back on a Kawasaki.

The first heat of the Coors Extra Gold Challenge for 250cc riders will start at 7 p.m. There will also be support motos for 125cc riders.

The standings: 1. Matiasevich, Kawasaki, 134 points; 2. Stanton, Honda, 120; 3. L. Ward, Suzuki, 119; 4. Mike Kiedrowski, Canyon Country, Honda, 99; 5. Bayle, Honda, 98; 6. Ronald Tichenor, Palm Harbor, Fla., Suzuki, 95; 7. J. Ward, Kawasaki, 94; 8. O’Mara, Kawasaki, 93; 9. Guy Cooper, Stillwater, Okla., Suzuki, 89; 10. Doug Dubach, Costa Mesa, Yamaha, 87.

SPRINT CARS--Bubby Jones, a two-time champion who has been absent from Ascot since July 23, 1988, will return to the California Racing Assn. competition Saturday night at Ascot Park. Jones, the 1983 and 1984 CRA champion and No. 2 all-time CRA race winner with 77 victories, will drive a new Drake chassis when he joins a field seeking to slow point leader John Redican, who has two victories in four starts. The Chatsworth driver, who won the CRA opener at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield, also won the Ascot opener last week.

MOTORCYCLES--Eddie Lawson of Upland, who won his third world road racing championship last year on a Honda, will begin defense of his title Sunday in Japan on a Yamaha. Lawson has joined Kenny Roberts’ Team Yamaha as a teammate of Wayne Rainey of Downey, the runner-up to Lawson in last year’s 16-race series. The U.S. round will be April 8 at Laguna Seca Raceway near Monterey.

INDY CARS--Porsche, which will enter cars for Teo Fabi and John Andretti in all Indy car races this season, is looking for a primary sponsor to replace Moneytron, a Belgian financial management company that withdrew its support last month. Quaker State, which had been the primary sponsor since Porsche launched its Indy car program in 1987, will remain with the team but in a reduced role, according to Ed Triolo, Porsche public relations director.

Porsche placed an ad in Monday’s New York Times. Price of sponsorship is rumored to be more than $1.5 million.

MOTOCROSS--The Continental Motosports Club will play host to a two-day amateur championship Saturday and Sunday at Barona Oaks in Ramona.

DRAGBOATS--The International Hot Boat Assn. will open its 1990 season on Firebird Lake in Chandler, Ariz., with the Winternationals this weekend. Top fuel champion Ron Braaksma will be back to defend his title in the 220-m.p.h. class.

SPORTS CARS--Unlimited cars of the Toyota Super Production series will race Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Sharing the course will be a California Sports Car Club regional championship.