Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

And then th ere are the graduates of the 125cc class who hav e acc u mulated the necessary points to move . up to th e 250s. Eastern Regional Supercross champ Damon Bradshaw has proven himself on a 250 by winning supercrosses in J a pan and Europe, as well as 'Jogg ing a thirdplace finish at San Diego last year. " Bradshaw's rival and 125cc National champ Mike Kiedrowski will be out to prove he can ride the bigger bikes, and 125cc Western Regional champ jeff Matiasevich showed hi s speed on ' 1250 by leading briefly at Pontiac last year. - Rick Johnson puts it best , though. P" T his is the toughest year we've had, at least in the past six years," e said. " Even if one rider gets hurt, there are still three or four who will be stro ng. " The following is a rundown of the facto ry teams and the riders who will a ke it a tough battle for th e hampionship. earn Honda H onda has become th e team to ea t, as th ey've won th e Su percros s itle six tim es in th e past decade. nce agai n th ey've got so me of the ig gest hotshoes on the tra ck with dending cham p Stanton, two-time upercross Champion J ohnson, 50cc World Champion Bayle a nd 125cc National Champion Ki edI wski, Dave Arnold manages the team , and five-tim e 500cc World hampion Roger DeCoster helps uide the team as a cons u ltant and casional test rider. Although Johnson didn 't win a title due to inj uries last year (the first time he hasn't won one since '85 ), he can still be considered th e top gun t Honda. H e's been with the team . ince 1986 and surpassed Bob Hanah 's su percross win record last year. e would like to equal H annah's three Supercross titl es this year. Although he missed nearl y half the season , Johnson feels th at he 's learned a lo t during his time off, both ab out him self a n d a bo u t hi s cond ition ing. , "Th is yea r I'm g oing to be relax ed ," says Johnson. " Everyo ne else has th e number one pl ates, so there's no pre ssu re. I'm not, look in g at any person to be a threat, I feel everybo dy will be a th rea t." Defending cha m p, teammate and friend Stanton will be one of those threats, a nd no w th at's he's got the ti tle Sta n to n will be to ug her tha n ever. But Sta nton a lso recognizes th at there are ma n y riders who can tak e hi s number one pl ate. "There are seven or eig ht guys wh o can pull o ff a win , but they're going to have to go throug h me first ," says Sta nton. " It's going to be a long season, and I'm going to tak e it slo w a nd easy and everything will fall into place. My goal is to win as many races as I can, a nd do it consistently." Kiedrowski has sho wn his tal ents in th e 125cc class as he ca me very close to winning the 125cc Eas tern Regional Su percross title last year before taking th e 125cc National titl e, but thi s year he'll have to p ro ve himself in th e 250cc class. . ''I'll have to show people th at I can ride a 250 just as well ," Kied row ski says. " T here's a lot o f co mpeti tion, a nd I th ink th e new, you ng riders may su rp rise some o f th e older guys." , . La st year, Bayle wasn 't a n officia l member of th e H onda team , but got plenty of su p por t from H onda in th e eight rounds that he rode befor e going back to France . Bayle was using his time in the U. S. as practi ce for the GPs and to prepare himself for the time wh en he cou ld fulfill his dr eam of racing here full time. Bayle often ran up front, but he also crashed several times. H e's a 'full time member 'of American H onda ' ,th is year, and his name co mes up.on several riders' li st as a potential threat. " I' m going to try to win every race," says Bayle. Du e to budget cu ts, th ere will be " no Honda Pro Support riders in the 125cc class . Team Kawasaki Team manager Roy Turner has a three-rider team attacking the 250cc Class, led by two-time Supercross Champion J eff Ward. Ward could've made things more interesting last year had he not been hun at the first round of the seri es. Wh en he came back , Ward quickl y got ba ck on-track and won four rounds. Later III th e year, Ward rience si nce he rode th e big bikes on th e ea ste rn . Ieg o f the senes. A sho u lder inj u ry in Miami forced h im to mi ss a co u ple of rounds, then hampered hi s performance in his return a t th e Pontiac doubleheader. There, he led both mains before droppin g ba ck. After three years with Suzuki, 1985 Supercross Champion ' Johnny O 'Mara joined th e green team . O'Mara looked like a sure winner a t Anaheim last year until a works part broke III th e stee ri ng stem . And although he got close on a few o cca sro n s durin g th e seaso n , O'Mara couldn't quite pull off a victory. O'Mara and Ward are good friends and often push each other when th ey train and practice. O 'Mara has been cri tica l o f hi s Suzuki machinery, and Chris Coleman and Tallon Vohland will attack the Eastern Regiona l senes. Ron Lechien, runner-up to Stanton in th e 250cc class, could join th e team in the middle of the season if the leg he broke in ' O ctober IS properly healed., Team Suzuki Suzuki has provided team ma nager Pat Alexander with an eightman squad for 1990: four in the 250cc class and four in the I 25cc class. Ron Tichenor is th e only returning Suzuki rider in the 250cc class. Tich enor, wh o won the 125cc Eastern Regional title in 1987, didn 't ' have a spectacular year in 1989, but hi s consistency ea rn ed him sixth in the series. His highest finish last season was a second in Seattle, and he a lso led in Miami before crash ing. Team Yamaha Team manager - Keith 250cc class: Team Suzuki Team manager - Pat Alexander 250cc class: G Cooper • •••••• • ••• • #4 uy Ron Tichenor •• • • • • • •••• #6 Mike LaRocco • • • • • • • • • • #1 0 Larry Ward •••••• ••• • • • #17 125cc class: Western Regional Jimmy Gaddis • • • • • • • • • • #31 Buddy Antunez ••••• • •• • #60 Eastern Regional Denny Stephenson • ••• ••• #27 J~remy Buehl ••• • •• •• • • #58 wrapped up the 500cc National Ch ampionship, becoming th e first rider to win titles in a ll four classes o f AMA racing. Even though a t 28 he's o ne of the o ldes t ride rs on , th e ci rc u it (h is teammate O'Mar a is th e o ldes t by a few months), Ward has no desire to slo w down. He'd lik e to beat J ohnson to tie H annah 's three Su percross crowns a nd a lso wa nts to end H onda 's dominance. Matiasevich has won back-to-b ack 125cc Western Regi onal Supercross titles, and now it 's time for him to move into the 250cc class . Matiasevich already has some 250cc expe- .~rty Doug Dubach •••••• •••• • ••• #7 Damon Bradshaw••••• ••••• •• #8 Team Kawasaki Team manager - Roy Turner ' 250cc class: Jeff Ward • •• • •• • • • • • • • ••• #3 Johnny O'Mara • • • • • • • • • •• • • #9 Jeff Matiasevich •• • • • • • • • • • #20 125cc class: Western Regional: Jeff Emig ••• • • • • • ••• ••••• #36 Eastern Regional: None he 'd like no th ing more th an to back up his sta tements with wins o n a Kawasaki. J eff Emi g grad ua ted fro m the : amateu r ranks a nd earn ed a spot on th e team this year, but you'll on ly see h im in th e 250cc class o n the eas tern leg of th e series since Em ig will co ncen trate o n keeping th e 125cc Western Reg ional ti tle III Kawasaki 's hands. Team Green , Kawa saki's su p por t p ro gram for p ro a nd a ma teu r riders , will a lso have Mike Crai g, Ryan Hughes and Jeremy McGrath sup- ' , porting Em ig in th e 125cc Western 'Regiona l seri es, while Mike Brown, Team KTM Team manager: SelvarajNarayana 250cc class: Keith Johnson •••••• • •• •• • • #42 Team Honda Team manager - Dave Arnold 250cc class: Jeff Stanton ••• • • ••• •• '• • • • • #1 Mike Kiedrowski • • • ••• ••••• #11 R Johnson •••• • • • • • • • • •#14 ick Jean-Michel Bayle • • • ••••• •• #22 J oining T iche nor on th e Suzuki sq ua d will be a nu mb er o f refugees from o the r tea ms. Bayle' s additio n to the Amer ican H onda team didn ' t leave a ny room for G uy Cooper, so he's now joined T ichenor a t Suzuki. When Johnson was elimi na ted last year, Cooper was within reac h of the titl e, and when Stanton ran awa y to th e ti tle, Cooper, a p peared to have a lock o n th e runn er -up h onors. H owever , he suffered a broken collarbone during a press-day practice session crash at th e fina l round in Los Angeles. . Coo per is always a hard-charger, and 'never gives up, no matter how 5

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