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/127213
Winner Jeff Wa rd (5) leads the start of the first 500cc moto ahead of 250cc World Champion Jean -Michel Bayle (111); Ward topped both motos. AMA National Championship 125/500cc MX Series: Rounds 12/5 Ward, Kiedrowski score Budds Creek National wins By Kit Palmer Photos by Henry Muller and Palmer BUDDS CREEK, MD, OCT. S "It was a lot harder than It looked," said three-time National MX Champion Jeff Ward after acing both 500cc National motos at the scenic Budds Creek Motocross Park. "This is a tough track and you can't slack off for a second. If d h k will . you o, t e tr~c WI Jump up and bite you. 4 Ward, who's bidding for his first 500c National Championship MX tit le which wou ld make him th e only rider to win titles in all four National MX categories, including Supercross, dominated both motos. With th e two moto wins, the factory Kawasaki pilot extended his series point lead to 24 over Team Honda's jeff - Stanton, who took second at Budds Creek, with just one round left in the series. ' 'I' m rea lly excited about the chance of becoming the first rider to win all four. championships, but I ยท try not to thmk about It too . much, because you know that anything can happen, and it usually does ," said Ward. The battle for the 125cc titl e ch ase tightened up when Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, who had a 19point lead going into th e Budds Creek National , cr ashed out of contention in the first moto and finished third in the second round. Bradshaw fell back to third place in the points behind Honda's Mike Kiedrowski and Guy Cooper. Kiedrowski won two hard-fought dogfights over teammate Cooper to take over the point lead with one round left in the series. Kiedrowski leads Cooper by six points and Bradshaw by I I. Both Ward and Kiedrowski took home the lion's share of the $25,000 purse by winning both of their motos. Ward pocketed a total of $2000, while Kiedrowski claimed $1200. This was the . first time that a National MX was held at Budds Creek Motocross Park, and most of the riders praised the long, hilly and extremely wide and almost dust-free track. An estimated 10,000 spectators lined the well-prepped track on a coo l and cloudy day . 500cc A battered and bruised Rick J ohn son was among the 40 riders sitting on the starting li ne waiting for the gate to drop for the start of the first 500cc National moto. The defending 500cc Na tional Champion crashed hard during practice whi le attemping a rather long, fast, uphill double jump. Johnson said he landed a littl e short, which pitched him over the handlebars. The factory Honda rider emerged from the fall with a black eye, a sore arm and a headache. Missing from the 500cc lineup was Kawasaki 's Ron Lechien, who broke his leg last week at the Steel City National. He is expected to be o ut of ac tion for a year. When the gate finally dropped, the pa ck charged up the steep, u p hill starting ch ute and into a tight, nea rl y ISO-degree first turn with Ward leading the way. Hard on his heals was 250cc MX Wor ld Champion, Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle, on a Honda. At th e end of the first la p, with the riders settling into positions, Ward and Bayle had already pulled away from the pack and set the pace. Stanton was running th ird ahead of privateer Honda support ri der Fred Andrews, Johnson, and Yamaha privateer rider Steve Lamson, from Po llock Pines, California. Ro und ing out the top 10 was former two-time 125cc National Champion, Yamaha's Micky Dymond, Kawasaki sup: port rider Mike Fisher, factory Yamaha pilot Doug Dubach and privateer Honda rider Ray Som mo. For the next two laps, Bayle challenged Ward for the lead, but the Frenchman just couldn't quite . match Ward's blistering pace. Bayle slowly lost ground to the Kawasaki pi lot with each la p , but was ready to pounce if Ward made a mistake. Meanwhile, Stanton still he ld control of third, while Johnson and Lamson moved into fourth and fifth after passing Andrews. By the halfway point of the 30minu te-plus-two-lap moto, the top four riders - Ward, Bayle, Stanton and Johnson - were well spread out, but the battle from fifth to ninth was intense. Dubach was the rider on the move as he climbed from ninth to six th, and then challenged Lamson for . three lap s before passing him for fifth . Dymo nd, on the other hand, was slowly drop p ing back wi th a badly slipping clutch. As the moto drew to a close, the top- 10 riders were extremely strung out, setting the stage for an uneventfu l finish. Ward raced across the finish line with a commanding lead over Bayle, while Stanton finis hed a lonely th ird. About 10 seconds behind followed Johnson, who hel d a comfortable advantage. over Dubach, Lamson, Fisher, Yamaha's Shaun Kalos, Dymond and Andrews. Bayle and Ward shot into the first two pos itions at the start of the second moto to signal a dramatic first lap. Ward wanted to pass Bayle