~
REVIEW 1990 AMA
~
between the two riders that lasted all
season. Bayle's last-place fin ish mopped
hi m to fourth in the standings an d
effectively ended his chance at the title.
Although Bayle won the next two
rounds a nd got to wi thin 10 po in ts of
Ma tiasevich as the series wo und down ,
nei th er ri der had a chance si nce
Sta nton carne alive a t the end.
"T his gi ves me the momentum for
the last two rounds," said Sta nton aft er
he won in Oklahoma.
Stanton show ed hi s strength in the
blazing heat and humidity of Oklahoma as Bayle , not accus tomed to such
co nditio ns, co u ld n' t hold him off.
Neither co u ld Mat ia sev ich , a n d
a no ther win by Stanton the follo wi ng
week in San Jose gav e him a relati vely
comfor ta ble margin for the last ro und
in Los Angeles.
Sta nton cruised to the titl e at the Los
Angeles Coliseum, finishing six th.
" If it had to go to th e wire, 1
would've rod e over my head and did
what it took (to win )," said Stanton.
" I j us t played it safe and most im portantly won the championship."
Bayle and Bradshaw were anythin g
but safe as th ey fought a wild battle
to decide who would be th e winningest
rider of the series . Bradshaw stuffed
Bayle on the last lap and crossed the '
finish line halfway out of control for
the race victory to end th e series tied
with Bayle at five wins apiece.
Bayle, upset by Bradshaw 's tactics ,
unsuccessfully protested th e Yamaha
rider . It wasn' t the first time there had
been co ntact in the series; in one
na tionally-televised in stance Matiasevich stop ped o n the tra ck to block
Larry Ward. The AMA even tually had
to warn th e rid ers.
"He carne ba ck very hard a nd pushed
me," said Bayle. " He made a lot of
block passes."
"That's wha t 1 had to do to wi n,
rofessional MX season
that's what it takes," Bradshaw
. responded.
It was a nother season 29-year-old
J eff Ward, a two-time Supercross
champ, would just as soon forge I.
Ward , who missed the first six rounds
in '89 due to a foot injury, was plagued
by horrible sta rts at the beginning of
the seaso n a nd also crashed several
times . He won just two races and ended
(Right) Stanton (I) shares a laugh with
Rick j ohnso n, He didn 't have much to
smile about early in the Camel Supercross Series, but was smiling in the end
when he clinched his second straight
title.
