Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Mike LaRocco (10) rode two hardfough t motos in the 250cc National to claim second behind Jeff Stanton. Just as in the first moto La Rocco agai n found h im self on the grou nd and out of the top 20 as a result of a firs ttum incident. T he battle for th e lead soo n turned into a three-rider affair. Both Jeff Ward and Bradshaw gave Stanton fits with Bradshaw gaining the lead. Once into the point position Bradshaw pulled out a small cushion. "I got a good start, " Stanton said , '.'b ut Bradshaw passed fairly soon. I wasn 't goi ng to p lay his little game. When we try to pass each o ther back and forth we do n' t extend our lead and the rest of the pack generally catches up. Instead 1 let Dam on (Bradshaw) get a small lead so he wou ld keep a good pace and I wouldn't get roosted. " But even th ough that was'Stanton's th eory, th e two riders traded th e number on e position severa l tim es with Stanton generally taking control. Meanwhile Jeff Ward was a dis tant third as Fisher, O 'Mara, Johnson and LaRocco tra iled in that order. Once aga in LaRocco picked up his pace and began to eat away at the positions that separated him from the leaders. LaRocco's cha rge was aided by a crash tha t nearly pu t Bradshaw ou t of the action. "Things were going grea t," Bradsha w said. " After Stanton passed me the last time I wanted to stay there (in second). Then 1 went down and gOI the wind knocked out of me. It sucked because 1 was riding good." Bradshaw's misfortune all but guara nteed Stanton the win. Bradshaw was nearl y a lap do wn and never got back to his race pace and even tua lly finis hed 12th behind Dubach. O'Mara and La Rocco also benefitted from Bradsh aw 's soil sam ple. The two riders shoved J eff Ward to fou rt h before greeting the checkered flag . Fisher was fifth in front of Larry War d, Somma, Johnson, Dowd and Randy McCan n. " It feels good to win ," sai d Stanton, who scored his first National overall win. " Now 1 have th e po ints lead and all 1 have to do is hold it for one more round." 125cc National Cooper showed tha t he was deter mined to decrease Bayle's points lead in the l25cc class as he got the holeshot in the first mota ahead of privateer Carlo Coen, Suzuki teammate Buddy Antunez and privateer Billy Whitley. Both Honda tea m mates Bayle and Kiedrowski suffered poor starts and were left at the mercy of slower traffi c. Cooper quickly stretched out a comfortable lead as Coen was left to fend off Antunez. For nearly a dozen Jeff Ward (3), seen here passing Jerry Seip (343), lost his 250cc points lead and now trails Jeff Stanton by nine points. laps Coen held back Antunez, as Bayle plucked his way through th e field " I go t a good start and was trying to pace myself," Coen said. "I wanted to see if I could stay with Cooper, but he p ulled away and I knew it would be better to stay relaxed. Antunez was behind me for a while bu t he faded . T he first time I go t pr essure from anyone else was from Bayle. He wor ked me for two laps before he took second." From th ere Coen lost two more posi tions, on e to Kiedrowski and one to Matiasevich. Both rid ers had to fight it out with Antunez before reaching Coen, but both did and won. "Things weren 't going my way," An tu nez said. " I started bl owin g through berms and started screwing up really bad It wasn ' t a smooth race for Damon Bradshaw (8) led the second 250cc mota until a crash dropped him to 12th. Rick Johnson (13) made his first National appearance since April. me." Rounding ou t the top lOat th e fin ish were Todd Dehoop, T all on Vohland, Je ff Em ig and T ony La Russo. Cooper, An tu nez, Rodney Smith, Matiasavich and DG Y's Steve Lamson were th e top five at the start of the second moto. Bayle was left on the ground with his hopes of an overall for the day all but destroyed Matiasevich soon cha nged the order of the top three as he worked around the th ree riders and took the lead. On ce at the helm Matiasevich p ut a two seco n d cus hion' between him a nd Coo per. Kiedrowski, who gated mu ch better in th e second mota , was sixth and quickl y di splaced Antunez, Smith and Lamson to take third " Ron Wood, my mechanic, chan ged jetting in between motos and th e bike screamed:' Kiedrowski said " I had a tough time in the first moto bu t th e second mota my bike worked mu ch better." The top three positions stayed the sam e for more than half the race. Most of the action was back in the pack as DeHoop worked his way into fourth ahead of th e fifth-p lace ba ttle between Lamson and Dou g Henry . Seventh was Smith who was ha vin g to contend with a hard-charging Vohland. After crashing at the start Bayle again found himself on the gro und and way out of con tention. "I forgo t to shift down, " Bayle said, "and 1 was in th e wrong gear when 1 landed off a jump. I lost power and crashed." As the race bega n to wi nd down , so did Matiasevich's lead. Cooper picked up th e pa ce and soon shot arou nd the Kawasaki rider as did Kiedrowski a few laps la ter. "I was ha ving prob lems with my back," Matiasevich said. "The sand tracks always do th at to rid ers becau se you hang off the back end of th e bike so much. " Coo per went on to take the win u n ch allenged with the top three remaining the sam e. DeH oop ended up fourth ahead of La mson, Vohland and Bayle. "It feels great to win both motos," Cooper said. "The only other time that 1 did that was in 1987 at Troy, (Ohio ). I got good starts today whic h helped out a lot because following in the sand is tough - my starts were a definite advantage. When I was behi nd Matiasevich in the second mota 1 actually th ink it wor ked ou t in my favor. 1knew he wou ld be able to keep a fast pace . but I also figu red that I woul d be able m to pass h im later in the moto." Resu lts ~ QUAUFlElt I: I. Ran dy McCann (Kaw); 2. T im Lemire (Kaw); 3. Gene Naumec (Kaw); 4. Kun McMill en (H a n); 5. Ra y Somma (5m); 6. David Fantini (5m ); 7. Ja mes Boschen (Kaw); 8. Lee Helliwdl (Kaw); 9, J am es Kapitan (5m); 11. Keith Bowen (5m); 12. Brian McElroy (5m); 15. Jerry Seip , Jr. (5w); 14. Brian Yean (Ha n ); 15. Keith Mann (Yam ); 16. Richa rd Crooker, J r. (KTM); 17. David O uim ette (5ur) ; 18. Angelo Santaniello (Yam); 19. J eff Ferreira (H a n ); 20. T ed Howell (Han); 21. Mall Dardorfl (Kaw); 22. Phillip Desousa (Han); 23. David Pecor (Kaw]: 24. Cooimo Napolitano (Ha n); 26Brian Battagfia (Ya m); 27. Paul Blackman (KTM); 28. David Ant onucci (Hon). ~ QUAUflElt 2: I. J oh n Dowd (Kaw); 2. Rich T aylor (5m); 3. Keith JohnJOll (KTM); 4. Mickey Kessler (Ya m): 5. Daniel Jannette. Jr . (Suz); 6. Pat Murphy (Kaw); 7. Earl May (Ya ml; 8. Don Grahn (5m); 9. Michad T read well (Kaw); I. Dag Boyeseen (Kaw); 12. JO>

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