Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

M ike Kiedrowski (1 1) moved in and passed Larry Ward (17) for third lat e in the main. Kiedrowski nearly caught runner-up Matiasevich as wel l. Stanton (1 ) sat back in fourth and waited w h ile Bradshaw and J eff W ard (3 ) crashed, then Stanton pounced on Matiasevich for the lead and w in . .Stanton lat er added, " I go out to race, but I'm going to do n wisely." , The win vaulted Stanton from sixth to first in the point standi n gs for the IS-round Camel Supercross Series. After winning the first two rounds, Damon Bradshaw's 18-point advantage disappeared on lap five of the 20-lap main when he crashed and injured his foot whil e leading th e race. Bradshaw, winner of th e first two rounds of the series, was transported by ambulance from th e tra ck, but X-rays showed no broken bones in the foot. In stead, the foot was badly bruised. The factory Yamaha pi.lot fell t? third in the standings with 52 pomts, three beind Stanton two behind jeff Matiasevich. ' Kawasaki 's Matiasevich , who had been battling closely with Bradshaw inherited the lead when Bradsha"'; fell , with teammate jeff Ward close behind. Two laps later Ward crashed and Stanton moved in on Matiasevich . At the halfway point Stanton planned his move and took the lead, th en steadily rode his Dan Betleytuned factory Honda for the remaining 10 laps to score the win. Stanton received $5000 'of the $28,850 250cc purse, plus contingencies, for his victory . "Everybody crashed out because they 're trying too hard," said Stanton , who had his own trouble with falling in the previous two rounds. " It's the first part of th e year , so I'll sit back and watch guys fall out the first part of th e race and take control in the second part." ' Matiasevich couldn't stay with Stanton and led a very close race for second across the line. Honda's Mike Kiedrowski and Suzuki teammat es Larry Ward and Mike LaRocco took t~e checkered flag tightly bunched nght beh ind Matiasevich. ' " I got bad stomach cra mps," said Matiasevich. "I couldn't breathe; I wanted to pull of£." Larry Ward broke out of a threewa y tie to stand a lone in fourth with 49 points, two points ahead of LaRocco. Kawasaki 's Jo hnny O'Mara, who had a cr ash -filled evening .yet still. m~naged . to salvage Sixth m the mam, IS a pomt behind La Rocco. Ty Davis took command of the l25cc Western-Regional Series with a convi ncing win in the 15-lap main. ~m . every The DG /MS Racing-backed privateer Honda rider led from start to fini sh and. picked up $2000, plus con u ngencies, of the $7500 125cc purse. Kawasaki T eam Green rid er jerem y McGrath finished nearly five seconds behind Davi s aft er break ing away from Downers Grove Suzuki rider Steve Lamson in th e late stages of th e race. With o nly three rou nds of th e 18racesseri es complete, th e injury list con u n ues to grow . Bradshaw's foot leaves h im questionable for th e nex t round ; Yam aha team m ate Doug Dubach reinjured , a lt hou g h not ' serio usly, th e an kle he recently broke in a japanese supercross race; a nd Honda 's j ean-Michel Bayle missed his second consecu tive Camel Su percros s round with a bruised elbow he suffered the previous week in H ouston du rin g p ra cti ce. Can adi a n N ation al ch a m p R o ss P ed erson su ffered more seri ous injuries when he cra shed late in th e ma in . . . Heats AXO/Pro Circuit-supported Er ik Kehoe grabbed th e holeshot a t the start of the first of three eigh t-la p heat races. O 'Mara and Suzuki's Ron Tichenor were close behind a nd swapping second a few times in the openmg laps until O 'Mara crashed after landing after a triple jump. "I was right behind Kehoe and , couldn 't see the face of the jump," said O 'Mara. "I hit it all wrong and kn ew I was going off the track." O 'M ara crashed into a . ha y bale wh ich kept him from going into the stad ium wall. H e remounted but would hav e to return for a semi. With O 'Mara o u t of th e way , Tich en or moved in o n Kehoe a nd passed him at th e halfway point. Kehoe tried to get -his position back over the next lap, th en T ich en or motored a way to the chec kered flag. Mike LaRocco charged from back in the pa ck and settled into th ird near the beg inning of the race, whil e KTM's Kei th johnson, p ri vateer Kerry Mull iga n and Canadian Carl Vaillancourt fought for fourth. Ed elw eiss/Bell-back ed Mulligan, from Las Vegas, Nevada, was th e first to pass johnson, and then Honda Canada / Esso Canada -su pported Vaillancourt a lso passed him la te in the race to get the fifth a nd final tra nsfer position. M ike laRocco (10) charged to fifth at t he f inish while Guy Cooper (4 ) passed Johnson (1 3 ) to claim seventh behind Johnny O'Mara. T he seco nd h eat belon ged to ' Mariasevich , but he had to fight for the win. Larry Ward and j eff Ward mad e it a three-wa y baule for th e fir st half of the heat. Then j eff leapt by Larry a nd moved in on his Kawasaki teammate. For two laps they stayed clo se, th en jeff Ward ba cked off and Mati asevich cruised to th e win. Larry Ward remained in third o ver Honda 's Rick j ohnson a nd Suzuki's Guy Cooper. Yamaha's Doug Dubach go t th e hol esh ot in heat three, but teammate Brad sh aw was o n th e move a nd passed him a t th e end of the fir st la p after displacing Stanton just past th e start. Stanton a lso passed Dubach o n lap two, but Bradsh aw kept a ttac kin g the co urse and esta blished a n ins u rmou n table lead. Bradsh aw was chosen by the medi a as th e $1000 Coors Extra Effort Award winner for h is hard-charging ride. Dubach contin ued to sli de back as firs t Kied row ski and th en Mike Fish er dropped him to fifth a nd set the fini shing order. " I cased a jum p and hurt m y foot ," said Dubach . "It was sore, but I kn ew I was in the main a nd didn 't want to risk further injury." Semis O'Mara cautiously moved from third to fir st in the first of two six- lap semis, eac h of wh ich would p u t th e top two finishers into th e main . H anford Yamaha & Suzu ki/ O' Nea lba cked Dea n Matson pulled th e holeshot and led for a lap before jason Ups ha w got by him. Upshaw led the next lap th en O'Mara pas sed and moved away to win. Upshaw and Matson battled for seco nd througho u t the race , and at th e white flag Matson got by Upsh aw , who bri efly fought back before he went down leavin g Matson ho me free a nd in th~ main. The second sem i saw a tight group of six riders ba ttle fo r th e two transfer positions. Fred Andrews led until m echanical problems en de d h is rei gn on lap four. Aloe U p/ FMFbacked Ra y Sommo ass umed the lead with HT Racing/ MS Racing's Gordon Ward o n hi s tai l. Tuf Ra cin g's Keith Bowen was righ t behind and when Ward stalle d a t the end of lap five took control of second. Bowen co ul dn' t pass Sommo on th e final lap but he stayed just ah ead of John Do wd, .Chris Young and Ross Ped erson to ea rn a trip to the main. Last Chance Qualifier Pederson led from start to finish and earn ed the only transfer spot out of the L CQ. Young and Upshaw hou nded him to the end, but Pederson stayed just ahead of the duo. 7

• Cover