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/127264
posi tio n in the main event so the bau le rag ed on . .On th e fourth of six laps, leader ~l c.henor ca r twhee led o ff a jump g rvrng th e lea d , a nd win , to h is tea m mate. T iche nor finished a dista nt seco nd with Canadian Carl Vai llancourt th ird. The s.econd semi was nearly as good as the Iirst a nd o f th e g rea test interes t to the crowd because it Ieat u red John Oowd of Ch icopee, Massachusetts. Oowd a n d Aloe p / F ~ I F ' s Ra y ammo quickl y got a way from th e pa ck ma ki ng it a tw o -rider ra ce. S0 '!1 mo pu lled even o n the second lap , try ing a mov e undern eath befor e the ru n ne l, bUI Do wd shut the door. ' Sommo saved hi s en ergy for a fina l p ush , bUI sp u n co m in g oruo the front straigh taway, tak in g him wide a nd gi ving Do wd a cus hion tha t he pr eserved to the fin ish . Bot h riders were in th e main while C liff Pal mer was a d istan t thi rd a nd o n to the Las t Cha nce Q ua lifi er : 250cc Last Chance Qualifier Th ird a t th e end of th e first lap , Sooner Suz u ki's Pal mer bega n his cha rge. First he pa ssed Vaillancourt, th en set h is sig hts o n race-leader Carlo Coe n. Ou t o f the fin al tu rn a nd down th e fro nt stretch, Palmer won the drag race into turn one, stuffin g' under Coe n for th e lead. On the fo urth of six lap s, Pal m er fou nd him sel f cha llenged by Dea n l\latson . Ma tson ha d gotte n away fou rt h a nd moved his way up u ntil he was ab le to make a move on the leader wi th IwO la ps to go . At first thwarted , Mat son carne back and tr ied to go under Pal mer in the tun nel j ust a few turns befo re th e fin ish. Palmer held hi m o ff to win by a 6ike len gth. T he 350 Mat son wo n for finishi ng seco nd was sma ll conso la tio n. 250cc M a i n T he wea ther had cooled so mew ha t throug h"the n igh t a nd whe n the ga le drop ped for the 20ยท lap ma in event it was hum id , mu g gy a nd in the hi gh 60s. No ne of th is slo wed Bayle. T he 2!iOcc Worl d Champion ju m ped rig h t ou t fro nt a head o f Jeff War d, La Rocco, Sta n to n , T ich eno r, Ma tiasevich a nd Brad sha w. By th e fifth lap Bayle had o pe ne d u p some brea th in g roo m with Ward ga ining even more on la Rocco. Sta nton was now hooked up w ith Bradsh a w, bo th ahead o f Larry Ward, a nd Mike Kied ro wski. Bradsha w was past Stan ton o n the seventh lap, hut it didn 't las t long. Nca r the halfw ay po int he was slowed by a visio n p robl em and he began to fall hack. " After I passed tan ron I caugh t la Rocco a nd my goggles fogged up," Bradshaw sa id. " In practice I was gell ing sa nd in them so we put si licone in th e top. It kept th e air o u t a nd th ey fogged up." Wi th Bradshaw dropping hack th e orde r after 10 la ps was sti ll Bayle, Jeff Ward a nd LaRocco well a hea d o f Sta nton, Larry Ward was holding o ff Kiedrowsk i with Cooper in sevent h , befo re he cra shed o n th e 13th lap and let Matiasevich past. With five laps to go th e order of th e top five changed more wi th Bradshaw dro p p ing farther ha ck to an eighthplace finishing position. "With three laps to gol threw the goggles off," he said. "That's the worst mistake you want to do, but I had no cho ice. I couldn 't see anything. " t Tichenor was th e last rider past Bradshaw and he finish ed seventh just behind the Larry Ward/Kiedrowski battle which went to Ward when Kiedrowski crashed with two laps to ~o. J eff Matiasevich's (20) points lead dwindled to one after he fini shed ninth in the main. Ron Tichenor (6) prepares to pass. Mik e LaRocco (10) held off J eff Stanton (I) for a third-place finish. Sta nt o n gained valuable points on l\Iatiasevich. " I fell going on the outsid e o f th e p lateau jump," Kiedrowski said. " I jumped short and endoed into the turn." Up to that point he was happy with th e way he rode and found himself u sing different lin es th an Ward. " I tried not to follow him. That wa y if he made a mi stake I co u ld ge t around him ," " I' ve got a big bad frog her e," Larry Ward said showing his forearm , "and a pretty sore collarbone." After his dice with Bradshaw ended past th e halfway point, Stanton held a strong fourth , never able to gain on la Rocco, but never threatened. He clos ed th e gap on series leader Matiasevich from seven points to one with three races io go and he knows what he has to do. " I have to get it together and beat Bayle," Stanton said. "He keeps coming on strong and 1 have to beat him." laRocco said he was "hanging in there, but 1 just co uldn't catch him ," he said of second-place Jeff Ward. "I'd 13