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/127247
Michael Cra ig. who recently recovered f rom a broken neck. broke out of an early battle in the 125cc class and ran away w ith the w in. Bayle (left) and Matiasevich (center) watch Bradshaw hoist what could " have been theirs. They still have 17 chances to win a supercross. Suzuki teammates Jimmy Gaddis (31) and Buddy Antunez fought for second in the 125cc class until they tangled and Gaddis crashed. 10 J oh nso n lost the front end in a tum and fell back a couple of positions. Matiasevich moved in on Bradshaw on lap six, followed him closely for a lap, then stuffed the Yamaha pi lot in a turn. Bradshaw wouldn't let Mat iasevich go without a fight and stayed on his rear fender, whi le Bayle hung- back and waited for them" to tangle. The tangling was happening behind the French man , though, as Ward moved in and passed Du- bac h. Dubach fought back and the two mad e con tact in the first turn, but Ward was able to stay up and forged ahead. At the halfway point Br~dshaw began challen-ging Matiasevich for the lead , while Bayle still kept tou ch but seemed content to Jet th e two riders fight it out. Ward had control o f fourth o ver Dubach , Fisher, J ohn son , O 'Mara , Stanton and Keh oe. For the next severa l laps Bradshaw was prodding Matiasevich, pulling alongside th e Kawa saki pilot on severa l occasions but never abl e to ge t ahead. But on th e 14th Jap Brad shaw found th e open ing he'd been looking for at th e end of a whoop sectio n. " I was kind of sett ing h im up th ere, but I didn't kn ow if that's wh ere I'd mak e th e p ass, " said Bradshaw. " I just wanted to be there in case he made a mistake. " Ma tiasevich was going a little different there so I just charged a li-ttle harder and got by . on the inside." It wasn't just a mistake that cost Matiasevich the lead and ultimately the race. " I was feeling good for about four laps after I passed Bradshaw," said Matiasevich. "Then I got th e major arm pump. I wasn't tired, my arms just pumped up. I started making a lo t of mistakes. " Bayle played his waiting game for another two laps as he counted on Ma tiasevich fighting back. Bayl e ', stayed right on Matiasevich's rear fender for th ose two laps before taking second away on lap 16. But by then, barring a mistake by Bradshaw, the race was decided . Brad shaw didn 't falter and crossed the line aboard his Mike Chavez-tuned YZ250 with five seconds to spare, " giving Yamaha its first Ameri can su percross victo ry " since Broc Glover' won th e Los Angeles Supercross in 1988. "I waited for a mistake by Bradsh a w and Matiasevich, I n ever attacked," Bayle said. " I went very easy; 1 didn 't want to crash with them. In th e qualifier Bradshaw rod e very hard and I thought maybe he'd cras h agai n. H e rod e very hard but didn 't crash." Although Matiasevich faded into Ward's sights he was abl e to hang on to third. ' " I looked back and saw where "Wardy was and just tried to finish third," said Matiasevich. "It was real hard to hang on. " ," "I wish I cou ld 've been up there from the start, I thi nk I would 've wa n ," said Ward. " Bu t it's a long year and I feel strong." After his tumble, Johnson eventually passed Fisher"and closed in on Dubach . Throughout the seco nd half of the race Johnson tried to get by, but Dubach held him off in a battle to the finish. " I sensed he was back there and just tried to get around the track well," said Du bach.