eREVIEW
1990 AM! p_rof_ess_ioD_al_M_X_seas_o_D
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New blood, old champs
By Nate Rauba
Photos by Ken Faught, Kit Palmer, Tom Strattman and Rauba
any people thought that 1990
was to be the year of the "c ha nging of th e gua rd" in AMA
professiona l motocross, bu t the established veterans beat off the you ngs ters'
attacks to claim all four of the major
championships a t the end of the year.
At the beginning of the season th e
common predictio n was that the new
generation of riders , such as Damon
Bra dsh a w, . Mi ke Kied ro wski, J eff
Matiase vich and Larry Ward, would
steal th e th under from vetera ns like
multi-tim e National Champions Rick
Johnson , J eff Stanton and Jeff Ward .
But after 31 Nati on al Championship
events, the vets were the ones holding
the number one p lates.
When the season ended at Unadilla
in mid October, only on e titl e had
cha nged h an ds': 28- year-old Gu y
Cooper narrowl y edged out defending
cha m p Kiedrowsk i for th e 125cc
National cro wn. J eff Suntan retained
his nu mber one plates in the Camel
Supe rcross and 250cc. National MX
Series, while Jeff Ward successfull y
defended h is 500cc Nation al crown.
M
6
Camel Supercross Series
When the season started at the end
of Ja n uary, the youngsters blazed to
the front of th e pack and dominated
the first four su percross races. Yamaha's Dam on Bradshaw, the 1989 125cc
Eastern Region al Su percross cham p,
won his first American supercro ss at
the opening round in Anaheim and
the 17-year-old youngs ter looked like
he'd be u nstoppable when he also
dom inated the next round in Hou ston .
But then th e hi ghly-touted rider
from No rth Caro lina cras hed whil e
leadi ng the th ird ro und at San Diego
and inj ured h is foot. It was the first
crack in the " new guard's" adva nce as
defending Cam el Supercross cha mp
Suntan capi talized on the mistak e and
won his first race of the season. T he
win gave Suntan a brief lead in the
po int standings, whil e Bradshaw was
ham pered by the inj ury and was then
forced to sit out two roundsso that
it could hea l. When he carne back he
won three more rou nds.
At 21 years of age at th e beginning
of th e season, Honda's Suntan was
still one of the younger riders on the
circu it, yet he had com peted with the
older superstars for severa l years. The
Jeff SUnton (I ) and Jeff Ward (3) battled for the 250 and 500cc National Championships where each rider earned a title.
