Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

vic h , and Team Su zuki's R on Tichenor were off the lin e in m idpack w hi le Dymond suffered a poo r start. For th e first five laps Johnson led while Bayl e tried to sneak his 1990 Honda past th e, big number-one CR250 of Johnson. On several occa sions, Bayle got his front whee l ahead 'o f J ohnson by going inside on a banked co rne r, but th e 19-year-old , Frenchman always .found the door slammed shut. O n lap six , Bayle finally got by, sett in g up Johnson with th e aforementioned inside line and then outaccelerating RJ over th e following . triple jump. By that time, Bradshaw was up to fourth behind Stanton, though a short tim e la ter he would inherit third when Stanton's orangetinted Honda suffered an en g ine seizure after losing a radiator hose . Ward was in fourth but moved past Bra d s h a w for third around th e halfway point. Le is k rode fifth on the fo urth factory Hon da in th e field wi th compatriot Bell following. However, o n the approach to a rutted dou ble ju m p, a la p p ed rider sta lled in Le isk 's lin e a nd threw th e Australian awkwardly across the track. Bell took th e airborne outside route over Leisk and ca p t u re d th e numb er-five position. Bayl e had ga th ered a five-second lead o n J ohnson by th e midway mark but just one la p after Leisk's miscue th e leader rear-ended a nothe r slow rider in th e exact sa me ru t a nd tumbled o n top of th e jump. Hekep t th e' machine a live with hi s clutch hand a n d was ab le to rem ount before Johnson co u ld garner th e advantage. Ward wa s a full 10 seco n ds back by th at time a n d was n ot a threat to . eithe r of the front-runn ers. For th e whol e next lap, J ohnson cha rged Bayle in every co rn er looking for a way to recover th e lead . Before J ohnson co u ld make a pass stic k, Bayle pulled to th e side of th e co urse a nd roll ed a set o f triples, one jump at a tim e, handing th e lead to Johnson in th e process. The noise from th e cro wd was by that point rocking th e stadium as they urged th e extremely popu lar Jo h nson towards what would have been ' h is first major supercross win since the , in fa mous broken wrist he suffered early in th e '89 season. Bayle's plan ca lled for a di fferent fin ish. After giv i ng up th e lea d h e rejoi ned the fight on J o h ns o n 's fender and the h unted became the hunter. For three laps, Bayle sized ' up J o h nso n 's lines whi le searching for a nother opening around th e leader. Finally, on lap 15, Bayle bore down through a set of whoops and outgunned Johnson across the start area stra ig ht. Johnson gave chase but seemed content from that point on to take a well-earned second rather than risk a late fall. Bayle crossed the finish line and tossed a one-handed sa lu te to the crowd. Johnson ca me across five seconds la ter and sto p ped on th e tableto p ' for a polite bow to th e stadium fans wh o had urged him on. Ward came across severa l seconds la ter with Bradshaw well off th e pace in fourth. Bell bettered Leisk for fifth, w hi le Tichenor directed Matiasevi ch, D ym o n d and Ya maha mou nted Mi ke La Rocco. T he top J a panese ride r in the mai n event was T. Yasu i on a Mu gen H onda , who fi nis hed 12th behind S u zu kim ounted Ame rica n Erik Keh oe. For h is efforts Bayle was p resented , with a check for 1.5 m ill ion yen (approximately $11,000) as well as th e Tokyo Supercross Cup and some cha mpagne; h e . a lso ea rned the d ist inction of becom in g the third major rno tocrosser to p ost his first o Jeff Matiasevich (26) loo ks back and sees Tokyo Supercross w inner Jean-M iche l Bayle (2) on the attack. Bayle's w in at the Tokyo Supercross w asthe Frenchman 's f irst-ever major supercross victory. Rick Johnson (sec o nd from right) took second. Bayle stars at Tokyo Supercross By Davey Coombs TOKYO, JAPAN, NOV. 19 Fren chman Jean-Michel Bayle , the reign in g 250cc MX World Champion, captured the first major supercross win s of h is career ,wh en he beat some of America 's (a n d J apan 's) best su percross riders at the 1989 Tokyo Supercross . ' . . . . in Tokyo Stadi um, Finishing second to the HRC/ Mo tu llJ T 8 Raci ng-backed rider in Tokyo was a rejuvenated Rick Jo h nso n , who put in his best performance since winning th e 250cc U .S .G P at Un adi lla , New York, in J ul y. J ohnson led Bayle twi ce during th e m ai n but surrendered th e lead for good with five laps left when the eve nt u a l wi~ n er outgunn ed the former. two-tim e U.S. Super cross Champion through a set o f whoops. Third overa ll was 1988 Tokyo Supercross win ner, Kaw asaki's J eff Ward, who overcame a poor start to ' earn th e fina l position on the victory rostrum. T eam Yam aha's Damon Brad sh aw , o vera ll winner of th e Osaka Supercross seven day s ea rlier, pl aced fourth ahead of Au stralian Nationa l Champion Gl enn Bell. The stadium event took place in fro nt o f ap p ro xi ma tely 40,000 J apanese race fan s, m an y o f whom ' bro ug ht bann e rs a nd pl a card s mentioni ng th eir favorite Am eri can stars. T hree q ual ifers were run th at sen t five rid ers eac h to th e main a nd th en a pair of sem i fina ls with two rid ers transferri ng from each. A La st Chance Qualifier sent two more riders to rou nd o ut th e 21-rider, 20-la p main event field. T he first qual ifier featured a ba ttl e betwee n J ohnson a nd form er twoti m e U.S. I 25cc Nati onal Cha m p ion Mic ky Dym ond, wh o .was p iloting a Yamaha bu t n ot as a n o fficia l member of th e factory Yamaha squad , on hand. Dymond went by Johnson earl y and h eld on for a close win. Th e second h eat was high lighted by a two-man duel in volving Team Kawasaki's J eff Matias evi ch and Bayl e. Matiasevic h proved to be th e fastest in th at rac e and brough t th e sold-ou t cro wd to its feet with severa l thrilling cross-ups over th e finish line tabl etop-jump. Heat three was yet another barnburner with '89 U.S. 500cc outdoor MX cham p Jeff Ward taking on cu rre nt 250cc outdoor and Supercross Champion Jeff Stanton. Ward, lik e hi s Kawasaki teammate Matiasevich , was able to get the better of h is H onda nem esis. Th e, se m i final s were rather uneventful, with th e exce p tio n of Bradshaw's group-one presen ce. The l7 -year-old , YZ250cc rider had cra shed hard in practice wh en a J apanese rid er landed o n him off of on e of th e triples. H e recovered in time for th e second h eat race, but cra shed out on a set of whoops wh en hi s Yamaha spit him over the handl ebar s and into a set of banners. In the semi, Bradshaw took no chances and simply left th e predominantly Japanese field from the wo rd "go". When the ga te dropped for th e even in g' s fina le it was Johnson grabb ing an uncharacteristic holeshot from the far o utside a nd sweep ing around th e right- hand first turn into th e lea d. Bayle was seco nd fro m the inside wi th Stanton, Aus tra lian 500cc Grand P rix contender Jeff Leisk, H o nda-m ou nted Bayle, a nd Bra dsh aw filling in . Ward, Matiase-

• Cover