Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GSUPERCROSS AMA Camel Supercross Series: Round 16 ; .. ~ ~ -;. ~ tI ! ..... -. . w: _•• ... • • Last year Jeff Stanton (I) clinched the Supercross title in Oklahoma City; this year he took over the series points lead, Stanton ta es o Oklahoma k verin By Kit Palmer Photos by Tim Simpson and Palmer OKLAHOMA CITY, OK., JUNE 10 n a heated, three-way dogfight for most of the 20-lap Coors Extra Gold Super Challenge main event, defending Supercross Champion Jeff Stanton survived the bistering Oklahoma sun and the relentless attacks by teammate J ean -Michel Bayle and homestate favorite Guy Cooper to win his third Camel Supercross Series race of th e year. Not only did Stanton win the gruelling race but, more importantly to him , the factory Honda pilot moved past Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich, who fini shed fourth, and into the series points lead with just two rounds remaining. " Any win ' feels good," said Stanton, " bu t this gives me the momentum for the.Iinal two rounds. " But Stanton isn 't overly optimistic now that he's out in front. " Poin ts don't mean anything until the last race ," said Stanton. "It's good to have . the points lead, but it doesn't really mean anything right now. It's going to come down to the last race , that's all there is to it." A crowd numbering 20,816 watched Stanton, Bayle and Cooper swap the lead back and forth throughout most I of the race, despite energy -sap pi ng 90degree-plus temperatures and h igh humidity. When the dust had settled Stanton crossed th e fini sh lin e a short distance ahead of Bayle, wh ile 125cc National MX Ch ampion Mike Kiedrowski took third, making it a Honda 1-2-3 sweep. Cooper cras hed five laps from the checkered flag and ended up seventh. Finishing fourth in wh at he sai d was th e toughest race of h is life wa s Mat iasevich, who had a o ne- po int series lead going into the event. A midpack start and th e co mbinatio n of dust, heat, humidity and traffic hampered Matiasevich's hopes of retaining the series points lead. "I got into fourth with four laps to go, " said Matiasevich. "Those last four laps were the longest ever." Rounding out the top five was Suzuki's Mike LaRocco, who slipped . by Kawasaki 's Johnny O 'Mara late in the race. For the first time this year, Stanton is leading the Camel Supercross Series . The defending champ enjoys a modest six-point lead over Matiasevich, 289283, while Bayle is hanging in there with 278 points and is third in the standings . In th e comb in ed 125cc Eastern/ Western Regi onal Supercross main event, which was also the final round of the East Coast Series, Kawasaki 's Jeff Em ig emerged victo rious after leading from start to fin ish. Suzuki's Denn y Ste p he nson, wh o wrapped up th e Eastern Region al Champion ship last week a t Foxboro, Ma ssa chusetts, crashed on the first lap whil e trying to pass Em ig and didn 't comp lete the race. Emig 's teammate J eremy McGrath finished second , while Suzuki's Buddy Antuez filled out the rostrum. Most racers agreed that th e Oklah oma State Fairgrounds Stadium tra ck; built by Stadium Dirt Design 's J ohn Savitski, was by far the mo st demanding of th e series so far, whi ch only compounded the extreme heat and humidity for the riders. For winning the 250cc main event, Stanton earned $5000 of the $28,850 purse, while Emig walked away with $2000 from the $7500 125cc class purse. . HealS The standard race format was used in Oklah oma; three six-la p heat s with the top five tran sferring to the 20-lap main, two six-la p semis where the top two tran sfered, and o ne six-lap Last Ch an ce Qualifier with o n ly th e winner qualifyin g for the main. In the first heat Bayle was un stoppabl e, although Cooper ga ve it his best shot to slow him down. Bayle blasted int o the lead with Cooper hot o n h is tail. The two diced for th e fir st few laps until Cooper backed off, deciding to save hi s energy for the main event. Whil e Bayle and Cooper diced out in front , Suzuki's Larry Ward was enjoying an un contested third. A short distance back in fourth place, Larry Ward 's teammat e Ronnie Tichenor was successfu lly holding back Suzukimounted Fred Andrews and Tuf Racing's Keith Bowen. Little passing was made during the race, as Bayle took the win over Cooper, Larry Ward, Tichenor and Andrews. For giving Bayle a " n early in the ru race, Cooper was voted by the working press as the Coors Extra Effort Award winner in the three 250cc heat races and he took home a check from Coors worth $1000. Heat two saw last year 's Oklahoma Supercross winner Jeff Ward power into the lead ahead of Stanton, Yamaha 's Damon Bradshaw, former 250cc MX GP contender Rodney Smith, Suzuki rider Dean Matson and Kawasaki 's Mik e Fisher. J eff Ward and hi s factory Kawasaki set the pa ce for the rest of the race, wh ile Sta nton hung back and watched Ward's lin es. T owards th e end of the race , though , Sta nton made a couple of a ttem p ts to pass Ward but failed. Ward held on for a narrow win , whi le Bradshaw cruised in th ird . Fisher was a di stant' fo urth , and Suzuki-mounted Ray Sommo fifth . The third and fin al heat saw ano ther sta rt -to -finis h ro m p, but this time LaRocco head ed th e freight train: Kawasaki 's Johnny O 'Mara, Matiasevich, Kiedrow ski and Yamaha's Doug Dubach pursued, but LaRocco wanted no part of them and pulled away. d Behind leader LaRocco, Kiedrowski passed Matiasevich and began working on O'Mara and eventually pa ssed the form er Supercross Champion at the halfway point. At th e finish it was LaRocco way out in front followed by Kiedrowski, O'Mara, Matiasevich and Kawasaki rider Gen e Naumec, who passed Dubach wh en the factory Yam aha pilot crashed late in the race. Semis Suzuki-mounted Chris Young joined the wire-to-wire club with a start-to-finish win in the first semi. Young pow ered into the early lead , but . Bowen and Rodney Smith were read y to pounce. By the end of the race, Bowen had pulled clear of Smith and wa s doggin g th e leader, Young: Young, however, never backed off and held on for a close win over Bowen and Smith. The Oklah oma fan s witnessed yet another start-to-finish win in semi two , thi s tim e performed by Duba ch: The Yamaha pilot motored into th e lead on th e first lap when Honda rider Erik Kehoe crashed. From then on, th e race was all Dubach's as he took the win over Matson, who edged oui Kawasaki rid er Dennis Hawthorne. co Last Chance Qualifier The spotlight was on Kehoe in the LCQ. The former factory Suzuki racer slipped by Hawthorne on the first hip' and quickly established a comfortable lead . Kehoe stretched out his advantage with each lap and took an easy win, as well as the last qualifying position

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