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/127259
ASUPERCRass AMAICamel SUJ!ercross Series: Round 12 ~ . J eff Mat iasevich (20) grabbed th e ho leshot at the start of th e main and stayed ou t fron t for half the ra'ce before dropping back to h is second-p lace fin ishing position. Soon after pa ssing Damo n Brad shaw (8) for second, Jean-Michel Bayle (22) took the lead and cruised to his th ird supe rcross win . Bradshaw fell and fini sh ed ninth. Bayle steamrolls Tampa By H enny Ray Abra ms TAMPA. FL. APR. 28 onda 's J ean-Michel Bayle won his th ird supercross main event ou t of the last four ro u nds, this time on a hot and stea my night in T ampa S ta diu m , furt her se rv i ng notice tha t he'd like to add th e Camel Supercross title to the 125 and 250cc Wor ld Cha m pions hips that he's won the past two years. T h e 20-yea r-o ld Fr en chm an go t away seco nd o n th e J erry West designed track, took over th e lead hal fway th rough th e 20-lap Coors Ex tra Gold Super Ch allen ge main event , and was never cha lle nge d for hi s second consecu tive win in the Camel Supercross Series. " I a m hopin g very mu ch for the champ io nship ," Bayle told the cro wd of 39,450 a t the SuperSports-promo ted race, " I had a very good sta rt and waited to see what happened . (Jeff) Mat iasevich and (Da mo n) Bradshaw rode very fast for a few laps before I passed them ." Kawasaki 's Mat iasevich , the curre nt cha mpionsh ip points leader, held on to th at spo t with hi s seco nd p lace finis h with Honda 's J eff Sta nto n, the reign in g Cam el Su percro ss Ch a mp ion , third ahead of teammate Mik e Kiedrowski. Suzuki's Larry Ward was a valiant fifth after having his sight impaired by a heat race crash. Bradshaw , like Bayle the only three- H 6 tim e su percross winn er this year, cras hed while in th ird p lace halfway into the race and fini shed ninth. With six races to go . Mati asevich leads Sta nton in th e standings, 220 to 210, wit h Bayle five poin ts back in third at 205. La rry Ward is fourth with 199 points, 14 better than Kiedro wski. Bayle earned $5000 fro m the 40,000 purse for winni ng the 250cc main with Mati asevi ch pock etin g 3000 a nd Sta nton 2000. Kawasaki Team Green rider Tallo n Voh la n d a lso pocketed $2000, h is bounty for winning his first 125cc Eastern Regional main even t. The Yok o / R a ce Tec h / D u n lo p BieHespo nso red rid er based in Independence, Missouri, took over the lead o n the third of 15 laps and pulled away from Suzuki's j eremy Buehl. Suzu ki's Denny Stephe nso n . win ner of five of th e last six 125cc Eastern Region al even ts, recovered from a first-lap crash with Mike J on es to fin ish third. Step hens on still holds a commanding 148 to 121 points lead o ver J ones with fo ur founds of th e II-race series rema in ing. 250 H ea ts Because of competition from races , in other parts of the East, only 34 riders showed up for the 250cc class, the sma llest field of the year. That mea nt