Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ M OTO~R0SS AMA NationalChampionship 1251250(( M XSeries: Round 5/5 I Damon Bradshaw (center) and Jeff Ward (left) pass earl y race leader Ron Tichenor in the first 250cc moto. An es"tima ted 12,500 fans filled the Red Bud Track 'N' Trail facility. Ward, Cooper beat the heat at Red Bud By Kit Palmer BUCHANAN, MI, JULY 8 t was a survival-of-the-fittest ba ttle in bot h the 125 a nd 250cc classes a t the Gear Racewear-sponsored Red Bud Track ' N' T ra il Nat ional , as Kawasaki's Jeff Ward and Suzuki's Guy Cooper em erged victorious in the ir respect ive class es in front o f an estimated 12,500 spe ctators. A hot and humid day in southwestern Mich iga n too k its toll on many rider s, bu t neither the energy-robb ing weather nor the competit ion co u ld faze Cooper or Ward. Fo rm er tw o-tim e 250cc National Cham p ion Ward used a solid I-I p erf o rm ance to to p Yamah a 's Dam on Bradsha w (2-5) a nd Honda 's J eff Stanton (7-2) in the 250cc clas s, wh ile Cooper co m bined a 2-1 tall y to beat series poi nts lead er J ean-Michel Ba yl e ( 1-4) a nd d ef en d in g 125cc Na tio nal MX Cha m p ion Mike Kiedro wski (5-2) in the I25cc division. No t o n ly d id Wa rd clea rly beat Brad shaw, tant on a nd th e rest o f the 250cc field a t Red Bud , but the 29-yearold Ca liforn ia n moved into the 250cc clas s series po ints lead by three poi nts over th e former ser ies lead er, Stanton , 209-206 . S itti n g in th ird p la ce is Bradsh aw wi th 173 points. Cooper, on the ot her hand, was n' t as lu cky as Ward. The factor y Su zuki pil ot co uld o nly gai n four hard -earned points o n Honda 's Bayle, wh ich barely p ut a dent into Bayle's now slightly small er, but still co m fo rta b le 23-point adva n tage. On a da y tha t saw two fact ory racers - Ka wasa ki's J eff Mariasevirh a nd Suzuki 's Mike La Rocco - su ffer heat prostrati on after the first ro und of 30m in ut e-plus-two-lap mot os, War d a nd I 6 Cooper were pretty mu ch unstoppable. Ward came from behind to win both mot os, but it was the second mot a wh ere Ward reall y showed hi s strength . After the first lap, Stanton and Ward were dici ng for the lead in a one-on -one dog figh t. By th e ha lfwa y point, Wa rd edged o u t in front and sim p ly roos ted a wa y from Stanton to the chec kered flag. " Wa rd j ust ou trod e me," said Sta nton. "Tha t's a ll th ere is to say." " I fel t stro ng," said Ward . " I knew people were go ing to get tired, so I j us t rod e smoot h ly and didn 't push it." In one o f hi s best perfor mances o f th e yea r, Kawasaki 's J ohnny O 'Mara locked up fourth via a 6-3 tally. " I' ve been feeling better and bett er the last month ," said o 'Mara , like J eff War d, 29 years of age. "I've been tryin g rea llv hard." Ro und in g o u t th e rop fi ve wa s Suzuki 's Larry Ward wh o went 5-4. In the I25cc class , Cooper ma de up for a midpack start to finish second . whi le he led from start-to-fin ish in the seco nd moto. For wi nn ing the 250cc class. Ward too k ho me $2000 ( 1000 each moto) ou t of the total $25,000 p urse . pl us con tractua l bon uses from Kawasa ki, wh ile Cooper p oc keted $1000 ($600 for a moto wi n ; $400 for seco nd ) from th e 10,000 125cc class purse. One-hundred and six riders turned out for th e Red Bud Nati on al, a nd that turnou t called for two q ual ifiers a nd o ne co nsola tio n moto in eac h cla ss. A max imu m of 40 riders were a llo wed in the two -mo te ma in events in each class . R iders 111 the to p lOin the point, standings weren 't req uired to rid e the qualifi ers. 250cc J amm in g into the lead at the start o f th e first 250cc moto was Suzu ki's Ronn ie Tichenor. " I was fourt h goi ng int o the first tu rn ," sa id T ic he nor. " Bu t Do u g Dubach a nd Damon (Bradsha w) went a little wid e, whi le I hung to the ins ide a nd pa ssed them both righ t th ere: Then abo u t a quarter o f th e way arou nd the first la p. Stant o n went down a nd I had the lead. " "T hey had just wa tered the track a nd I just slid ou t on the water, " said Stan to n. " I was picking up m y bik e a nd ju st kep t getting hit from beh ind, aga in a nd again . I m ust've fall en four tim es in that one cr ash, By the tim e I got go ing everybody was gone." By th e end o f the first lap the recentl y cro wned Ca mel Supe rcro ss Cham p ion was ru nni ng abo ut 15th . Head ing int o the second la p with positions finall y becomi ng more sen led in, Tiche nor was still the pace setter, and he was being pursued by Bradsh aw, J eff Wa rd, Larry Ward, Su zuki's Mike La Rocco, Yama ha' s Do ug Dubach , Kawasaki's Mike Fisher, Tuf Racing 's Keith Bowen , O 'Mara a nd Stan Io n. Ti che nor held o n to hi s lead for a not her lap before gelling passed by Bradshaw . " Wardy (Jeff ) a nd Damon were going really fast," sai d Tiche no r. "T hey had good lin es; a co uple of mine weren 't the best a nd I was goi ng through so me rough stuff, gelling a lilli e tired. " " It took me a lill ie while to ge t around Ro n n ie, but I fina lly got him," said Bradsha w. Ward foll ow ed su it a rou nd Tichen or a nd the two front-runners - Brad shaw and Ward - set a blistering pa ce, Brad sh aw led clean ly for a lap, th en Ward made a pass o n a downhill. o n ly to be s h o ved b a ck to sec o n d b y Bradshaw . " I passed him (Bradshaw) o n the downhill th en he ra m med me back at the bottom a nd broke m y cl utch lever," said Ward. " Luckily 1 ha d hal f of the lever left and co u ld still use it, bu t it was kind o f a pa in to use." " I was go ing on the. inside and he (Wa rd) was on the brak es looking o ver at me, tryin g to run into me. So I just na iled th e bra kes and passed him back," said Brad sha w. After bumping handleba rs. Wa rd backed o ff the pressur e, as Brad sha w soo n developed a sma ll cus h ion over Ward. Ho wever. by the m idwa y point , Wa rd clo sed in and began dogg ing the lead er once mo re. Then , over a sectio n of two seis o f double jump s, Ward flew by Bradsh a w, who singled a ll the jumps. " I th ink he (Bradsha w) go t a li ttle tired ," sa id Ward . " He hit some bumps before the jumps and had to ba ck off the gas a nd co u ldn' t doub le the jumps." " I guess I was ju st ou t in fro nt too lon g ," said Bradshaw. " I wasn't rid ing hard a nd wasn 't even pushing. I fell off the pa ce a little bit. H e (Wa rd) rod e a real good race." Wh en Ward got by Bradshaw, th race for the lead was effectively over as the Kawasak i pilot graduall y pu ll a"-dy fro m Brad shaw . By the t'nd o f th

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