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eM OTOCROSS AM! 125/500 National Cham ionshi MX Series: Rounds 8/1 ~ Suzuki's Guy Cooper flew into command of the National Championship 125cc MX Series points lead with a two-mota sweep at Washougal MX Park. Cooper, Stanton score big at W ug asho al;Bayle injured By Nate Rauba WASHOUGAL, WA. AUG. 1 2 uzuki's Guy Cooper swept both 125cc class motos before an estimated 11,500 sp ectators at Washougal Motocross Park and for the first time in his career finds himself leading the National Championship 125cc MX Series. Cooper took over the points lead wh en Honda 's J eanMichel Bayle, who came to Washougal with a 14-point lead, crashed in the .' first moto and suffered a broken arm. Honda's Jeff Stanton go t off 10 a good start in his bid to win th e 500cc Na tio na l Championship when he beat Kawasaki 's Jeff Ward in th e second moto 10 cap ture the overall win in th e first round of th e big-bore series. With factory Suzuki riders Mike LaRocco and Larry Ward switching to th e 125cc cla ss (Suzuki do esn 't mak e a 500cc machine), Cooper was hoping before th e event th at his teammat es could help him in th e cha m p io nship hun t by taking po ints from Bayle in th e second half of th e series. It turned ou t that regardless o f th e n umber of T eam Suzuki riders in th e class, Cooper would take co mmand, 351-314. BayIe knew he had to beat the Suzuki riders to stay atop the I25cc points race, and th at 's just what he was doing until nearl y halfway through the first 30minute plus two-lap moto, Ent ering a section of eight jumps that the faster rid ers took in combina tions of two and three , Bayle's front wheel fail ed to clear th e third jump and the Frenchman was tossed off hard. He got up, but was unable to cont inue. Cooper had been charging hard after a poor start and reeled in teammates LaRocco and Ward late in the race. LaRocco had problems with his han12 dlebars falling in the clamps, while S Ward eased off his pace and Cooper charged'by on the last lap. Cooper started better in ,moto two, and the only teammate he had to worry abo ut catching was LaRocco since Ward crashed on the first lap. Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich held up Cooper's charge for several lap s, but once into second Cooper reeled his teammate in and passed him on the final lap. Cooper earned $1200 of the $10,000 125cc class purse. Alth ough Suzuki Team Manager Ron Heben denied any team tactics, the riders obviously had the championship in mind. "They're all racing for bonuses if they win ," Heben said. "I just told them no t to take each other ou t. It doesn't mat ter who comes up behind (our riders), they're to race to hold position." " No on e is stop pi ng them from winn ing," said Cooper after war ds. "They'll make me work for the win , but I don 't have to worry abo ut them taking me out. They're more Suzukiminded than self-minded , and l owe a lot to LaR occo and Ward for dropping some pointsoff the Hon da guys." "I want to see Suzu ki win th e championship because they've been the underdog for several years now, " Ward said after the first mota. "I rode hard the whol e moto." Whil e LaRocco was the runner-up with his 3-2 moto fin ishes and Ward completed a Suzuki sweep of the top three with his 2-4 score, Cooper didn't need much help pushing the Honda team back in the points . Not onl y did Bayle crash, but Honda's defending l25cc National champ Mike Kiedrowski had a miserable day and crashed several times himself. Kiedrowski couldn'tcapitalize on his teammate's misfortune and remained third in the point standings, 25 points behind Bayle. Ward commandingly beat Stanton in the first 40-minute plus-two-lap rn oto , but after swapping the lead a few times in mota two Stanton made the decisive pass with about on e-third of the race remaining, then cru ised to the moto win and overall victory. " I wan ted to beat Ward and show him that it's not go ing to be an easy ser ies ," sa id Stanton, who chased defending champ Ward through out last year's 500cc Nati onal Championsh ip MX Series. Both rid ers earn ed $1600 of the $15,000 500cc class purse and are tied for first in the standi ngs with 47 points apiece. Whil e Stanton and Ward both scored first and second place mota fini shes, Kawasaki's Johnny O 'Mara and p rivateer Kawasaki rid er Mik e Fisher both scored third and fourth place fini shes. O 'Mara go t th e fin al spo t on th e rostrum when he was able to start ahead of Fisher in moto two and stay there throughout the mota. Honda 's Rick Johnson completed th e top five overall with a pair of fifth s after battling terrible st arts a n d hand numbness. 125cc National When th e first moto h it the track under hot, sunny skies, Suzuki's Denny Stephenson, who is still recovering from the broken left wrist he suffered at the Oklahoma Supercross, grabbed the holeshot. Bayle was right beh ind with Kawasaki T eam Green rider T allon Vohland, Larry Ward , Kiedrow ski a nd Oregonian J eff Da il y tra iling. Cooper started about mid pa ck and Yamah a's Damon Bradshaw, who is getting tuned up for the Motocross des Nation s by riding the 125c Nationals, was near the back of th pack after he was nearly invo lved i a first-turn incident. " I bogged off the line," said Cooper. Near th e end of the first lap Bayl took over the lead and Ward had mov to third. Ward pressured Stephensor until he got by on the second circuit and a lap later Stephenson had sli back to sixth behind a tight grou consisting of Kiedrowski , Vohland an LaRocco. " I went tight after thr ee laps an faded ," said Stephenson. By lap four Cooper had charged u to ninth ahead of Dail y, who eventu ally faded back to fin ish 32nd. On th same lap Kiedrowski crashed whil pursuing second- place Ward. " I came out of a tum and there wa a jump followi ng it ," said Kiedrow ski. " I stayed sitting down and the bac end kicked off the jump and I wen over th e bar s. I had to untangle m bike from the fence, then it felt lik there was 30 pounds pressing on m chest." That left Ward alone to try to chas down Bayle, but the Frenchman wa five seconds ahead and showed n signs of letting up. LaRocco ha passed Vohland, but the Kawasak rider wouldn 't let him get away easily Matia sevich held fifth while Coop had moved into sixth ahead of team mates Stephenson and Buddy Antunez. Near the end of lap seven Bayle stil held several seconds on Ward , bu nosed into' the third jump of an eigh t jump set and went down hardas h attempted to pass a lapped rider . Bayl watched as Ward and LaRocco n by, then tried to get going again. Whe he real ized he was injured, Bayl