Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127181
George Holland (1) gr~bbed t he h~leshot in t he first 125cc moto ahead of Guy Cooper (10) and Damon Bradshaw (45). Holland finished fifth. The 125cc World Champion, Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle captured the overall victory in the 250cc class with a 1-3 tally. Honda's Rick Johnson suffered a wrist inj ury after colliding with Danny Storbeck during practice . Johnson could be out of action for six months. AMA 125j250cc National Championship MX Series: Round 1 Both riders benefited from the absence of the dominant rider of late, Honda's Rick Johnson. The Californian suffered a severely dislocated right wrist in a practice mishap and was forced to miss the National. "It feels good to win in America," Bayle said with the help of Honda team manager Roger DeCoster. " I got tired (in the second moto) and Stanton got tired too. It was very hard." Kawasaki's defending 250cc National Champion Jeff Ward posted a 5-1 for third overall in his first " real" race back since he injured his foot at the opening supercross round in Anaheim Stadium on January 28. Ward said he had bike problems and rode tight in the first moto, slipp ing back to fifth at the finish. Ward charged back in moto two, th ough, taking the lead from Stanton about two - thirds of the way thro ugh the race and pulling away for the Bayle, Kiedrowski get first ·wins at Gatorback By Nate Rauba GAINESVILLE, FL, MAR. 5 It was a day for first-time Na tion al winners at Gatorback .Cycle Park as Fran ce's 125cc World Champion Jean-Michel Bayle and California's Mike Kiedrowskiscored overall wins in the 250 and 125cc . I cI asses, res'p~cuve y. . . Bayle , riding a Pro CIrCUItsponsored Honda with some 6 help from American Honda, broke out of a tie with Honda's Jeff Stanton and earned his first major win in the U.S. with a 1-3 tally at the WorldSports-promoted event. Stan- t?n had posted 2-2 finishes and at first was thought to be the . overall winner _ but during the awards pr esentation the win was given to Bayle, who had scored on e more championship point than Stanton. Bayle's point total for the da y was 45 - 25 for first and 20 for third while Stanton's pair of seconds paid 22 points each. WIn . Suzuki's Johnny O'Mara cou ldn't quite match the top three's speed and had to settl e for fourth overall after 4-5 finishes, while Honda privateer Danny Storbeck took fifth overall. Ironically, it was Storbeck who was involved in the incident that put Johnson out of action. During practice Storbeck apparently landed on J ohnson over a jump, dislocating the multi-time ' National Champ ion's wrist. Johnson returned to the pits with his arm in a splint and in obvious pain. When asked what had happened, Johnson only winced and said, " Ask Stanton, he was behind and saw it all." "They went around a sweeper and Rick jumped straight," Stanton explained. "Storbeck got caught between two ruts and jumped sideways and landed on the side of him. " Storbeck, however, said it was Johnson who was out of shape. " He came off the jump sideways into ' me ," the Texan said. " I was in the air and he turned in on me. I know it 's not my fault, but I couldn 't do an yth ing. I didn't want to land on him because I knew that it co uld take me out too." Johnson quickly left the track with DeCoster, and according to DeCoster was to have undergone surgery to reset the bones in his wrist. In the ,125cc class, Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw dominated the first moto while Honda's Larry Ward