Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'of th e day . Smi th passed Ha wthorne late in the race to fin ish seco nd. Main Although it was lat e in the afternoon with the su n just beginni ng to set wh en the starting ga te dropped for th e 20la p ma in event, the wea ther was still extremely ho t a nd humid. The combi nation wo u ld p lay a maj o r factor 'in the outcome of th e race. As th e 20-r ide r field funn el ed through the first turn, it was Sta nton eme rg ing ou t in fro rit foll owed by Cooper, Ba yle, La rry Wa rd , O 'M ara, Bradsha w, Kiedro wski and J eff Ward. Run ning a bo ut 12th was Matiasevich . " I ac tually go t off to a good jump, bu t the fro nt end came up o n me down the sta rt str aigh t a nd I had to let off." c Up front th e stage was setting for a heat ed three-way dogfigh t tha t would ca p ture the cro wd 's a ttention for the nex t 15 laps. By the end of the seco nd la p , Stanton, Cooper a nd Bay le had alread y started p ulli ng a way fro m the rest of the pack. Short ly thereafter, Bayle p ulled a lo ngs ide of Cooper a nd passed the cro wd favori te for second. T hen Bayle's mom entum carried the two -ti me MX World Champion right beh ind Stanton, and when the defending Supercross cha mp landed a litt le sho rt over a tr ipl e jump, Bayle was th ere to take over the lead. La p af ter lap Bayle, Stanton and Coo pe r grad ua lly ga ined more di stance o n the next g ro u p of racers co ns isting of Larry Ward, O 'Mara , Bradsh aw, Kiedro wski a nd J eff War d. Ma tiasevi ch had sett led into 10th after passing Dubach . On the eig h th la p , the batt le for the lead rea ll y began hea tin g u p whe n Sta nton dove to the insi de of Bayle in a turn a nd o ut -powered th e Frenchman down the next straight a nd retook the lead. A turn lat er , Coo per a lso passed ' wha t look ed to be a fad ing Bayle. - Ba yle, how ever, managed to keep h is co m posure a nd remai ned g lue d to Coo per's rear fender as th e Suzu ki pilot bega n dogging Stanton. Two laps later the cro wd rose to its feet in delig h t as Coo p er sh o t into th e lead wh en Sta nton went too wide in a sweep ing left turn a nd lost tracti on in th e loos e, dry dirt. " " Whe n I go t into the lead, I th ought, . 'Ma n , th ere's a bo u t half the race left =- don' t go too berzerk , just hang in there,' " sa id Coo per . . Wi th Bayle breathing do wn Sta nton's neck, the defending cham p set after Coo per. On the 13th la p , Coo per and Sta nt on traded the lead four tim es befo re th e H on da pilot regain ed first fo r good. As soo n as Sta nton took ove r, Bayle sl ipped by th e Suzuk i ride r a nd r'eJega ted Cooper to third, as well as sile nci ng the cro wd. bIT" l overj umped about th ree j umps in a row and th at 's all it took for those gtys to get right up o n me," said Coope r.· • With the cro wd cheering h im o n, again Cooper tried turning u p the boost one last time, but he cras hed in sectio n of whoops. , " I was tryin g to g~t back in the hunt of th ings ," said Coo per. " I knew we were all getting tired and I was hopin g to ha ng in there to th e fin ish . It was just o ne of those things where I jus t could n 't han g on. " Alt ho u g h Coo per regro uped q uickly a nd held on to the number three posit io n , th e fa ll had bad ly smashed his exha ust p ip e, ca us ing hi s Suzuki to lose power. Cooper eventually dropped to seventh , wh ile Stanton estab lished a' com for table lead over Bayle, wh o was no lon ger pressuring his teammate, o While Stanton, Bayle and Cooper a were di cing up fro nt , Kiedro wski was pi cking off rid ers as he worked up to fourth, then took over th ird when Coo per fel l. Also on the move was Mat iasevich , who, wi th a litt le hel p fro m hi s Ka wasaki team mat es J eff Ward a nd O 'M ara , sipped into fourth. La Rocco kept the press ure on Ma tiasev ich in the la te stages of the race , whi le O 'M ara kep t a close eye on La Rocco. Wh en the checkered £l ag finall y ca me o ut for Stan ton , th e fac tory Hon da pilo t was too worn out fro m the g ruelli ng track, the a ll-out dicin g a nd the blisteri ng heat to per form the trad iti on al win ning aero ba tics over the fin ish li ne jump. ' Instead, Stanton slowly ro lled o ver th e doubles one at a tim e. A few seconds la ter, Ba yle coas ted over the finis h lin e, whi le a lon g way ba ck Kiedrow ski fin ished in third. Fo urth wen t to an exha usted Mat iasevich, while La Rocco edged a head of O' Mar a, Coo per, J eff War d, Ticheno r and Bradshaw . " Whe n Ba yle passed me for th e lead ," sai d Stan ton , " I knew if I wo u ld keep the heat o n him he (Bayle) would tire. He d id a little bi t but not much. H e hung in th ere a nd mad e it a dogfi g ht. The heat was a defin ite factor tod ay. A lo t of g uys got tired and slowed dow n. " Rega rd ing Cooper 's cha rge, Sta n to n sa id , " He didn 't sur prise me a t a ll. I knew he wanted to win in from of hi s home cro wd, but I thoug ht he would ei ther tire or cras h, wh ich he did. I ha ve to co ngra tu la te him for a grea t ri de, he did a su per job." Cooper sa id, " I kn ew the heat would be a factor , so I kept trying to keep th e pressure on them. As long as I kept the pressure o n, they wou ld mak e mistakes." " It was very ho t a nd I'm not reall y used to th is kind of heat," said Bayle. " I made some mi stakes bu t I'm really ha p py to fin ish seco nd . It 's go ing .t o be a close fin ish - down to the last race. Those races wi ll be a t nigh t a rid that will be very good for me." " After m y bad start it was really d usty a nd there were only so many good lin es o u t th ere a nd I just kept trying a nd gi ving i t 100 percent," said Ma tiasevich . " It was the hardest race of my life. It was tough." Altho ug h he lost the points lead , Mariasevich isn 't too concerned abo ut it: " No w Sta nto n ha s to worry abo ut losing the poi nts lead - I' ve been worr yin g a bo ut it the whole yea r," said Mat iasevich. " I th in k I'm back a nd rid ing as well as I di d a t the beginning of th e yea r. I'm no t go ing to worry abo ut it - there're still two races left a nd I' m just going to have to go ou t there a nd win thos e two. I' ve go t no thi ng to lose an ymore - Stanton does. I' ve go t everyth ing to gai n." 125 Main When th e ga te dropped for th e start for the l25cc main event, it was Em ig stea ling th e ho leshot over Suzu ki's Stephen so n a nd An tunez, Ka wasa kimounted T allon Vohland , H o nda rid er J im m y Bu tton, Suzuk i pil ot Steve La mso n and West Coast Seri es po ints leader T y Davis. Head in g into the second lap, Stephen so n tri ed passi ng Emig o ver a dou ble j um p but ended u p tangl ing wit h Em ig a nd cra shi ng ha rd. Stephenson was slo w in getti ng to his feet, but h is on ly inj ury was a sore wri st. However, Stephenso n called it day. Meanwh ile Emi g found hi mself out in from and all alo ne. Voh land, wh o had just passed Antunez, had tak en over seco nd wh en Step he nso n fell , whil e An tunez held o n to third. On the move, how ever , was McGrath. - - -- - - Continued on page 39 Kawasaki's Jeff Emig led from start to finish in the combined 125cc Eastern/ Western Regional Supercross main event. It was his second win of the year, Stanton (leading) , Guy Cooper (4) and Jean-Michel Bayle (22) provided most of the entertainment during their three-way dogfight for the lead in the 250cc featu re.

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