Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M OTOCROSS AMA 125/25Occ National Cham~ionship MX Series: Round 4/4 e Rodney Sm ith (135) grabbed the holesh ot in bo th 125cc National motos. Smi th fell in mota one the n got a flat ti re while running away early in the seco nd mota. Bayle, Bradshaw best in High Point slop By Nate R auba Mr. MORRIS, PA MAY 27 . a maha 's Damon Brad sh a w settled a little score with Kawasaki 's J eff Ward wh en he won th e seco nd moto 10 claim the 250cc National victory before an estima ted cro wd of 12,500 at High Point Raceway. "Ward beat me by a couple of inches last week at th e Meadowlands Super: cross," sa id Bradshaw, referring to Ward's last-minute mov e 10 snatch second place from Bradshaw a t th e finish lin e in Giants Stadium. "That gave me extra motivation to beat him toda y." A slop py track from a rainstorm also gave him extra incentive. The drying ground formed a narrow racing line, and just off that line the mud remained deep and slippery. That made passing difficult a nd a good start important in order to keep clean goggles in a shower of mud amid the pack. Before th e r ace Bradshaw told Yamaha teammate Doug Dubach , ''I'm going to be way out front or wa y behind (to avoid the rnud. )" Brad shaw had to wait until th e second moto to get his reven ge on Ward as th e 17-year-old spent mu ch o f the first moto trying 10 get close enough to th e Kawasaki facto ry rider ' to mount a ' challenge, Ward took the lead o n the third lap of the 30-min u te-plus-two-lap rnoto and held off a late-race charge by Bradshaw and collected $1000 of the $15,000 250cc purse, wh ich is paid per moto fini sh. Bradshaw was second a nd took home $600, while defending 250cc National Champion Jeff Stanton finished a distant third wh en he got by Suzuki's Mike LaRocco lat e in the race. Bradshaw was brilliant in moto two as he led from start 10 finish. As Bradshaw pulled away , . Ward moved Y 10 into second a nd slowl y cu t into Bradshaw's lead . But after not icing th e closin g Ward, Bradshaw pi cked up his pace and cruised his Mike Chavez-tuned YZ250 10 the moto win , giving h im h is first 250cc Nationa l overa ll victory and Yamaha's first win in the 250cc cla ss sin ce Rick Johnson won two Nationals in 1985. Ward had to settle for second while Stanton once again co llected third. Stanton surrendered 10 points to Ward, but still leads the cham pionship by 11 points, 170-159. LaRocco is third with 141 po ints, and Bradshaw fourth a t 135. Fren chman Jean-Michel Bayle won his second 125cc National in a row after he came from behind in both motos to collect $1200 for hi s pai r of firsts. Although many would think the former Wor ld Champion would be right a t home in th e slop py conditions since many G Ps are held in the mud, Bayle found winning in th e mud in America 10 be different from a muddy Euro pea n G P. " In Europe they n ever have o ne line," said Bayle, referring to th e one main line that formed around m uch of the co urse. "The Americans stay in one lin e, but in Europe we try man y lines so th e track dri es ou t better, It was hard to rid e." Bayle had to com e from behind in bo th rnotos as he suffered a poor start in the first moto before cra shing on the first lap of the second. A pair o f you ng Kawasaki riders were Bayle's victims in each rnot o, as Kawasaki 's J eff Em ig fell to the Frenchman's charge in the first outing. In the second rnot o, Bayle powered his Cliff White-tuned Honda CRl25 by Kawasaki T eam Green 's Tallon Voh land to collect the sweep . Vohlan d fini shed third in the first moto to claim second overall, wh ile Emig wrapped up third overa ll with an eigh th place finis h in moto two after a fall and off-track excu rsion kn ocked him back. Bayle pulled away from Suzuki's Guy Cooper, fourth overall after 7-3 finishes, in th e points standings and leads 191164. Defending 125cc Nati ona l champ Mike Kiedrowski, who finished fifth overall with a 4-5 score, trails in third with 141 points. Despite th e previous da y's rainstorm which left th e Holbert Farm High Point facility a muddy mess, the estima ted 12,500 diehard fans braved threatening weather and many stood in the mud to watch th e 14th annual Racer Production s-promoted event, 125cc N atio na l Wh en the first 125cc moto got underway after a two-hour dela y, form er GP ride r Ro d ney Smith snatched th e holeshot and quickl y opened a small advan tage over Emig, Suzuki's Denny Stephenson , Co oper a nd Vohland. Cooper went down on the first lap while Bayle moved up to fifth after his poor start. " I go t criss-crossed in som e ru ts as I was trying not to jump in behind everyo ne," said Cooper, who dropped back to 11th. . Sm ith led until lap thr ee wh en he fell a nd dropped back to fourth. Emig inherit ed th e lead while Bayle had char ged up to second a nd was five seconds behind the new leader. Vohland wasn 't too far behind Bayle while Kiedrowski moved in behind Smith. Camel Supercross Series po ints leader J eff Matiasevich held a distant sixth over the fading Stephenson, and not far behind Kawasak i T eam Green rider Ryan Hughes held off Cooper. " I fell on a terra ced hill and tweaked my kn ee," said Stephens on. "I couldn't get back on pace and just rode my own race by mysel f. " Up front Bayle spent a cou ple of laps reeling in Emi g before he took the lead on the fifth of what would be a l3-lap moto. Once out front, Bayle quickly pulled aw ay. "When 1 was o u t front by myself I felt smooth, but Bayle was riding well," said Emig. "Tha t was th e first good start I've gotten thi s year so I just wanted to stay relaxed and wasn't worried about . riding with him." The battle for third tightened up as . Vohland, Smith and Kiedrowski rode nose to ta il, wh ile further back Cooper spe nt th e first half o f th e rnoto just getting around Hughes. When Cooper finally passed Hugh es he had a brief battle WiUI Stephen son before moving in on Matiasevich. The battle for third still raged , but Sm ith fell again and dropped back beh ind Kiedrowski. . "The front wh eel washed ou t when 1 was trying to get arou nd a lapped rid er," said Dublin Kawasaki-Suzuki/ FMF/Race T ech -supported Smith , Kiedrowski pressu red Vohland, and the y both moved in on Emi g wh en he made a mi stake. ,~ " I had a decent ga p then screwed up the double jump and lost about (!);e seconds," said Ernig, r Although Vohland go t close, .he co uldn't ca pi ta lize on th e mi stake. as Em ig stayed a cou ple of seco nds ahead, The chase, however, a llo wed Vohland 10 pull awa y from Kiedrowski a nd move to within a few bik e leng th s of Emig at th e fini sh. . fJ "I was feeli ng the pressure £ron.!.

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