Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

After winning the first 125cc mota, Bayle (22) passed defending champ Mike Kiedrowski (1) in mota two then moved in and challenged Cooper for the lead. Jeff Stanton (I) held the lead for much of the first 250cc mota, but Jeff Ward charged thro ug h th e pack and passed him with two laps remaining. Doug Du bach (7) and Mik e LaRocco (10) battl ed fo r third in the first 250cc mo ta .until LaRocco got by lat e in the race. Dubach finishe d thi rd in mota two. Kehoe's crash sett led th e battle for fourth, but there was still plenty of ac tion beh in d th em. R ya n Hughes a nd J Suzuk i's Denn y Step henso n were locked in a ferocious battle over fifth , whi le Ant unez, Ka wasaki 's J eff Emig a nd Kyle Lew is d isp ut ed seve nt h. Hugh es never coul d shake Stephenson, but th e Ka wasa ki Team Green/ JTbacked rid er finis hed fift h by inc hes. Em ig managed to get An tunez a nd closed in on Step henson lat e in the _race, whi le Lewis dropped o ff the pace and too k ni n th a hea d of Gaddis . Cooper bagged th e hol esh o tat the start of moto two wi th Rick R yan , Kied row ski , Hughes, r Vo h la nd a nd Gad dis fanning o u t behind. Ba yle was l l th behi nd An tu nez, Chad Pederson , Mati asevich a nd Brian Ro th . By lap tw o Bayle was u p to fift h beh ind a Vohland/Kiedro wski dogfigh t. All three riders soo n dro p ped Ryan back. Bayle first engaged teammat e Kiedrowski before mo ving by, then after closi ng th e gap he followed Vohland for a lap before taking over second. . Lam son was a no ther r ider on the . mo ve, as he fou g ht hi s wa y p ast Antunez then reeled in and passed Ryan. T ha t was as far as he would go , though, since th e top fo ur were way ou t o f reac h. . " Everyone was ou t th ere so I just rod e a smooth pace for fifth, " sa id Lam son . Matiasevich crashe d aga in whe n he ran into Gaddis while tryin g to pass and could only work up to seven th at . th e finish. "The track was so fast it was difficult to co me from behind ," sa id Matiasevich. Gaddis a lso cra shed hard a nd ended u p finish ing 30th in th e mot o, Up front, Cooper had a t one po int stretched hi s lead to five seconds. But when Bayle rea ched second, that gap began to dw indle and soon Bayl e was on th e leader 's rear fend er. Over th e next three laps the two riders had a fierce battle. At one point Cooper gav e Ba yle the inside on an uphill sweeper, but Bayle only led for part of the corner since Cooper ha d sq ua red of f the corner and squeezed him off a t the exit of th e tu rn . " I went 10 th e outside whe re the tractio n was a nd ca me back u nder him ,"s a id Cooper. "T hen it was a drag race to w her e the track fun neled dow n. " Bayle stayed close for a nother la p, but Cooper go t away when Ba yle landed off a jump oUI o f shape. "He said he was tryin g to pass Cooper, la nded in some so ft sa nd a nd caught h is foo t," said Bayle's mech anic Cliff White. " The toes ca ugh t a nd tw isted it. " T hat gave Cooper clear sai li ng to the checkered flag. " I th ought he would've passed me as ha rd as he was co m i ng," said Cooper. " It was dusty, so whe n he ca ugh t me I d idn 't open a ny door s. If he gai ned o n m e in a section on o ne lap, I'd look for hi s li nes th e next. I was n ' t going to give u p th e lead. " After severa l laps of chas ing Vohland, Kiedrowski made a pass stick lat e in the race to claim third at th e finish . " In the firs t m oto I lifted my front end high enough over a wat er hol e a nd went over . the ba rs," said a battered Kiedrow ski. " I don 't thi nk I co ul d 've caugh t Ba yle or Coope r today, th ey were going rea lly fast." " I was a little bit drain ed," 'said Vohland. " I tried to keep th e leader 's pace, but I kn ew I had third overall so I didn 't p us h." 250cc National ' P rivat eer Su zuki r ider Dean Mat son grabbed th e hol eshot in the first rnoto, a nd as th e pack ent ered th e firs t tu rn Yamaha's Dam on Bradsh aw slid into J eff Ward and the two riders went down. "Bradshaw do esn 't kn ow how to use hi s brakes I" said Ward. "He tried too hard." "When I shifted 'my weight to th e back of th e sea t, Ward got a wheel in front ," said Bradshaw. " T h en he slowed down really quick. I locked up both br ak es in a two-wheel slide there was nothing I could do. I practi cally laid it down trying not to hit him, but wh en I stra ig he ned up th a t' s whe n we hit. " Dou g Dubach a nd Suzu ki's Larry Ward bot h go t by Ma tson on th e first la p , and by la p two Su zuk i 's Ron T iche nor a nd Sta nt o n moved in , too . Mike Fishe r held sixth a hea d o f Mik e La Rocco, a n d Kawa saki' s J ohnn y O' Ma ra, w hi le Jeff Wa rd was a lready u p to n inth. Larry Wa rd passed Dubach at th e end of th e seco nd lap as Matson began sl id ing back 10 hi s eventua l 10th-pl ace fin is h. T iche no r a nd Sta n to n go t Dubach a lap lat er , th en J eff Ward pounced as well. . " I was having a hard time," said Dubach . " My arms pumped up." Sta nton hounded Tich en or for a la p befo re taking seco nd o n th e fifth circuit. J eff Ward was close behind and moved by as well. A cou ple of laps la ter both Sta nton a nd Jeff Ward reeled in and passed Larry Ward. " I wasn ' t rid ing well ," sa id Larry Ward. " I did every th ing I co uld to ge t in front. I've go t so me things 10 work on." J eff Ward and Stanton quickly left Larry Ward beh ind, the n Jeff Wa rd settled in behind Stanton a t m id-mo ta . . As the race beganro wear down, J eff Ward pi cked up th e pace and relentlessly hounded Stanton and at the 30m inute mark Ward wrestled the lead away from Stanton and gat away when Stanton gat caught behind lapped riders. " I kn ew I had to move u p q uickly after fall in g," said Wa rd . " I got up to Stan ton a nd rested. I di dn' t want 10 pass too ea rly a nd have him learn my lin es. After th e pass he co uldn' t jump a wa ter hol e because of lappers a nd th at ga ve m e room." "Ward was ridi ng reall y well ," said Sta nton. " H e sa t back a nd wat ch ed a ll m y lines and mad e hi s move. Wh en we go t to th e next co rner he got th rough th e lappers, th en o ne o f th em crossed lin es with m e. It 's going to be a dogfight in the second mot a. " Larr y Wa rd co n tin ued to slow as the race wo re o n a nd slid back to ninth a t the fin ish . La Rocco di sl odged Dubach for th ird lat e in th e race, while O 'M ar a mad e a charge to fifth in the seco nd half. During the charge O 'M a ra ca ugh t his foot o n the grou nd and the im pact spli t his big toe ope n a nd he wasn 't able to start mota two. T ichenor ended up sixth o ver Fisher a nd Bradshaw was a di stant eig h th . Stanton 's p red ictio n o f a dogfigh t in mota two never mat erial ized as Ward , grabbed the holesh ot a nd was gone. Sta n to n 's do gfight was with th e riders who go t a way a head of him. "I tri ed start ing o n top of th e rut (d ug behind th e s ta rt i ng gate by sp inning wh eels) but spun down into into it and went side ways," sa id Sta nton. "Wardy hol eshot a nd pulled a wa y while I struggled from behind." Mat son, northern. Californian Jim Clay, Dubach, Larry Ward, Bradshaw, 13

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