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/127262
Jean-Michel Bayle (cent er), Jeff Ward (ri gh t) and Damon, Bradshaw let th e champagne fly in the winner's circle. Bayle bounces back at the Meadowlands By Nate R au ba Photos by Jim Simpson and Rauba 6 EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ, M 19 AY fter a last-pl ace finish due to a fall in last week's Charlotte Supercro ss, 250cc World Champ io n J ean-Michel Bayle bounced back to A win ni ng form wi th a victor y in the 20lap Coors Ext ra Gold Superchall eng e befor e 36,884 fans in Giants Stadiu m at the Meado wlands Sports Complex. The win was Bayle's fourth in the Camel Supercross Series an d p uts him even wit h Yama ha's Dam on Brad shaw as the win ningest rider o n the circ u it. Bot h riders no w have fo ur victo ries in the 18-race series. Bayle's victo ry came at the hands of Bradshaw as the Frenchman pa ssed Brads haw for the lead near the halfway point and cru ised his Cliff Wh itetuned factory Honda to the fini sh. Bradshaw slip pe d back whil e J eff Ward, who had hu rt both ankles and suffered a mecha nical DNF in the three pr evious races in Gi ants Stad iu m, charged up and ni pped him at the finis h line for secon d. Although both Bayle and Brad shaw are the win n ing est riders thus far in the Ca mel Supercross Series, neith er rider is in posi tio n to mount a seriou s cha lle nge for the ti tle with four ro unds remaining. Series points leader J eff Mar iasevich lost ano the r precious po int to defendin g Camel Supercross cham p J eff Sta nton wh en he gave up his fo urth- place positio n late in the race to Suzuki's Mike La Rocco. J eff Stanton, 'the winn er here last year, passed !\Iatiasevich a lap later to finish fifth . Mati asevich now leads Stanton in th e standings 253-246. Desp ite h is shrin king points lead , Matiasevich says tha t the on ly pr essure he feels comes from himself. "There's four races left, and I'm going to think of it as a four-race series , like we're starting over at Anaheim," sai d Matiasevich , "All I have to do is beat him," said Stan ton of his cha nces of overtaking Matiasevich in the last fou r rounds. " But I have to beat him by bigger mar gins." Wi th hi s win Bayle moved back into third in the standings with 231 points, but after missin g two rounds earlier in th e season with an elbow injury and th en scor ing only a single point for 20th in Charlotte, Bayle needs some major mistakes from both cham pionship lead ers to have a shot at the title. " R ig h t now th e cham pio nship will be very hard (to attai n) because last week I lost so me points," said Bayle. " But I'll try to win race after race. I want to be th e o ne to win the most races this year." Bradshaw al so mi ssed several rounds with a foot inj ury and lies eighth in the sta ndings. Bayle' s win did mak e him $5000 richer, hi s share of the $32,500 250cc purse. He ' also took home another 1000 for being elected by th e media as th e Coors Extra Eff ort Award winner for hi s winning heat race performan ce. Race co-an no u nce r Larry Maiers said it best when he co ngratulated l25cc East ern Regional main event winner Denn y St ephen son o n the pod ium: " I hate it when he gets the holeshot," Maiers said to th e crowd. " He runs away and hides." That's exac tly what Stephen son did wh en he put his Don Stephensonprep ared Suzuki RM 125 int o the lead at th e start an d was never cha llenged th rough out th e 15-lap main. "T hey pay good to win, and that's wha t I want to do," said Stephenson, who earned $2000 of the $7500 125cc purse. Mike Jo nes, J ero my Buehl , T allon Vohl and and Billy Whitley kept the race interesting tho ugh as they fought for second. Jones gave it up on lap 12 when he went off the track, and Buehl sto le the ru nner-up po sition fro m Voh land o n the fina l lap. Heavy rai n earlier in the week left the Stadium Dirt Designs co urse soft and rutted in man y spots, but track crews packed the ruts during breaks in the act io n to make a trac k that pro vided compe titive action. 250 Heats " Bradsh aw gra bbed the holeshot in the first of three eight-lap heats with Guy Cooper jamming behind on hi s tail. Cooper crashed on the first lap, whil e Bayle moved around Dean Matson , Fred Andrews and La rry Ward to begin lap two o n Bradshaw 's rear fender. Bradshaw and Bayle battled for the next two lap s in what wou ld 'be a preview of the main before Bayle forced his way into the lead as they went underneath the fin ish line tunnel. Bayle then sped on to the win and recorded the fastest heat race tim e in the process. Larry Ward had moved u p to third an d had Andrews, Ma tson and J ohn Do wd close behi nd unt il he left the ba ttle behi nd and closed in o n Bradshaw. Ward go t close to th e Yamaha p ilo t near the end, but cou ld n 't pass.