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/127261
After 13 of 18 ro unds o f the Ca mel Supercross series, Matiasevich leads Sta nton in th e poi nt sta ndings , 238 to 230. Larry Ward is third with 215points. Bradsh aw ea rn ed 5,000 from th e $35,000 purse for hi s fourth supercross win o f th e year, plus a nothe r $1,000 for bein g voted th e winner of th e Coors Extra Effort Award for hi s heat race pe rformance. Suzuki 's Denny Step he nson earn ed $ 1,000, hi s reward for taking his sixth 125cc Eastern Reg ion al win. After gell ing sq ueezed at th e sta rt a nd fini shing th e first lap in sevent h, Step he nso n quickl y jnoved th rou gh th e field to tak e over th e lead o n th e sixth of 15 laps and ride unch allenged to the flag. Doug H enry made his firstever Camel Supercross Seri es podium appearance with a second -p lace fini sh and Mik e J ones was third. With two rounds rem aining in th e l l-race series, Stephenson holds a 173 to 141 125cc Eastern Regi o nal poin t lead o ver Jones. J ero m y Buehl, 10th tonight, is third with 130 points. The SuperSports-promoted event was th e first supercross ever held in Nor th Carolina and it was well received. T he stadi um, on th e camp us o f Central P iedmont Community Coll ege just on th e outskirts of Ch arl ott e, was threequarters full on a warm and still night. Officials said the race would return next year, probably in April. Damon Bradshaw kept his hometown fans on their feet with a thrilling win, then saluted them with a slow victory lap. Bradshaw homecoming hero in Charlotte By Henny Ray Abrams CHARLOTIE, NC, MAY 1 2 oa ring to th e screa ms of 22,700 highly partisan fans, Yamaha 's Damon Bradshaw won th e inaugural Coors Extra Go ld Superchallenge in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, after a nearly race- S 10 lo ng, fierce baule with H onda 's reigning Camel Supercross Champion J eff Stanton. For th e 17-year-old Bradsh aw it was a fantasy ending to a storybook ta le a nd he wanted it to last forever as he took a victory lap without hi s helmet a nd stopped a t o ne point atop a jump to sa lu te hi s fa ns. " This one here in front o f my home cro wd is my best win yet," Bradshaw sai d from th e winner 's circle o f Char101le Memorial Stadium. Brad sh aw has won th ree other rounds of th e seri es. " I had to work hard. Me a nd J eff had so me contact o ut th ere, but it was real good racing." V nofficiall y, Brad sh aw a nd Sta nton swa p ped th e lead 12 tim es wi th Brad shaw ta kin g over for good on th e 18th o f the 20-la p main even t. Stanton made a mis take o ne la p later, handin g seco nd to Suzuki's Mik e La Rocco befor e recovering to finish th ird. Kawasaki's J eff Ma tiasevich mai ntained his championship poi nts lead with a fourth place finish a nd Suzuki's Larry Ward a nd Ronn ie Tiche nor were fifth and sixth, respectively : 250 H eats The fans didn 't have to wait lon g to see Bradshaw in actio n sin ce he was in th e fir st o f three eigh t-la p hea ts in which th e top five finish ers transferred directl y to th e m ain. But th e sho w he initiall y gav e th em wasn 't wh at th ey wanted to see. Ch arging up th e sta rt straight in the middle of th e V-shaped track a nd in to the ri ght-hand hairpin turn o ne, Bradsh aw cra shed. He rem ounted last and would have to work his way up to fifth for a direct transfer to th e main. While Bradshaw wa s CUll i ng through the pack, Suzuki's Larry Ward was lead ing it. The .20-year-old took over the lead from Honda 's J eanMichel Bayle, winner of th e last two even ts, over a pl at eau jump. Ward was ab le to leap th e three-part hill while Bayle chose to tra ck over it. It ga ve Ward a better drive onto the hard left leading to the fini sh line a nd he used it to pull a way to th e victory/Bayle ended th e race in seco nd with Suzuki's Guy Cooper third, just three lengths in front of th e cha rg ing Bradshaw . Fred Andrews got th e last transfer. " If it wasn 't for th e people I co uldn' t have gotten as far as I did," Bradshaw sa id. " J ea n-Michel Bayle is th e man to beat," Ward said. " He's won th ree of the last four ra ces." Ward 's heat-winning tim e o f 5 minutes, 36.86 seco nds would stand up as th e fastest of th e night by nea rly 10 seco nds, g iving Ward th e first p ick o n th e starting ga te for th e main event. The second heat sta rted for Sta n ton th e sa me wa y it had for Brad sh aw with a crash in turn on e. But his recovery was mu ch faster and by th e third lap he was cha sing La Rocco at a distance. La Ro cco , who'd gotten a great sta rt, held a n l l -seco nd lead a t th e halfw ay point in th e eight-lap race a nd Stanton co uld do little to close it. T he order a t th e end o f th e race was LaRocco , Stanton, Gen e Naumec, Ray Sommo a nd Keith Bo wen , th e fin al trio havin g set th eir po siti ons o n th e fifth lap. " It's my first holeshot of th e year a nd o ne o f th e on ly o nes I've go lien in my ca reer," the 19-year-old La Rocco sai d. " I'd like to go o ut a nd ride a good race a nd wi n it in th e main. I've come