Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127285
Mich igan rider admi tte d th a t the pressu re of weari ng the number one p late wa s tre me ndo us. H is earlyseason performances showed the strain of th at pressure a nd he only broke into the top five twice in the first five rounds. " I had problems wi th the pr essure of hold in g th e number one plate," Stanton said early in the season. " I' m riding terribl e. tha t's all there is to say," he had also said p rior to his San Diego victo ry. J ust when it ap peared he'd crack after a 16th-place finish at Atlanta, Sta n ton p ulled off his second consecu tive Daytona Supercross win and was back in the hunt. Stanton's title defense stra tegy was to start slowly and concen tra te on posting consistent finishes in the early rounds of th e IS-race series, but that Sea ttle. Bu t 20-year -old Ward bega n having problems in the second half of the season and dropped back to sixth in th e fin al standings. Mat iasevich bega n to feel th e pr essure of bein g on top of the standings as the series wore on, and his results deteriorated. In the second half of the series: Mati asevich was often nea r th e front at the beginning of the mai ns. bu t whenever Stanton got close Matiasevich often ca ved in under the pressure. " I' ve been worrying about losing the poi nt s lead all year, " Mat iasevich wou ld later say. Not only was Stanton closing in, but 21-year-old Jean-Mich el Bayle was rapidl y gaining on the two cont end ers. Frenchman Bayle. the former 125 and 250cc World Champ ion, missed two rou nds early in the season af ter he J eff Matiasevich (20) led inuch of the Camel Supercross Series until Jean.Michel Bayle (22) and Sta nt on (I ) overtook him lat e in the season. left h im third in the sta ndi ngs despite his win at the sixth round a t Daytona. Kawasaki 's two-time 125cc Western Reg ion a l Super cr o ss c ha m p , J eff Matiasevich , was turning in consistently good performan ces and was in the poin ts lead , despite the fact tha t he didn 't win a race until round seven in La s Vegas. At one point Mat iasevich held a 21point lea d as Stanton fought for con tro l of second wi th Suzuk i's Larry Ward , who scored his first American supercross win a t th e fourth round in inju red his elbow during pr actice in Hou ston. When Bayle rejoined the series he was 14th in the standings , but steadi ly cli mbed back in to con tention with co ns iste nt to p- five fin ishes. Then Bayle really went on a ro ll, winning in Dall as and at two of the following thr ee rounds to climb to thi rd in the stan dings. Bayle then hi t trouble in Charlotte when he crashed several times during the mai n, once wit h teammate Kiedrowski wh ich crea ted a bitt er rift 301 294 237 215 196 188 1. Jeff Ward 2. Jeff Stanton 3. Johnny O'Mara 4. Rick Johnson 5. Keith Bowen 6. Gene Naumec 7. Ty Davis 8. Fred Andrews 9. Dean Matson 10. Kurt McMillen 11. Dag Boyesen 12. J ames Kapitan 13. Keit h Jo hnson 14. Andy Stacy 15. Ray Sommo 16. Phil Lawrence 17. J immy Button 18. Jason Buttle 18. Br ian Carro ll 20. J eff Glass Guy Cooper (left) had Bob Hannah (righ t) and the rest of the Suzuki team to sup port him on the way to his first-ever 125cc MX National Championship. 1. J eff Stan to n 2. Jeff Ward 3. M ike LaRocco 4. Damon Bradshaw 5. Jo hn ny O'Ma ra 6. Larry Ward 7. M ike Fisher 8. Doug Dubach 9. Ron Tichenor 10. Rick Johnson 11. Ray Sornrno 12. Brian McElroy 13. John Dowd 14. Keith Bowen 15. Fred Andrews 16. Dean Matson 17. Kurt McM illen 18. Daniel Jannette, Jr. 19. Dag Boyesen 19. Gene Naumec 276 257 223 219 154 141 127 119 111 110 107 63 57 53 50 45 1. Guy Cooper 2. Mike Kiedrowski 3. J eff Matiasev ich 4 . J ean-M ichel Bayle 5. Jeff Emig 6. Tallon Vohland 6. Buddy Antunez 8. M ike LaRocco 9. Je romy Bue hl 10. Denny Step henso n 11. Rodney Smit h 51 8 517 382 315 289 275 275 236 197 195 162 ' 12. Ron Tichenor 13. Larry Ward 14. Steve Lamson 15. Doug Henry 16. Todd DeHoop 17. Barry Carsten 18. Ty Davis 19. Grayson Goodman 20. Ryan Hug hes 149 138 133 131 123 121 101 99 96 1. Jeff Stanton 2. Jean-Michel Bayle 3. Jeff Matiasevich 4. Mike Kiedrowski 5. Jeff Ward 6. Larry Ward 7. M ike LaRocco 8. Damon Bradshaw 9. Ron Tic henor 10. Guy Cooper 11. Johnny O'Mara 12. Mike Fisher 13. Doup Dubach 14. Fred An drews 15. Rick J ohnson 16. Keith Bowen 17. Dean Matson 18. Erik Kehoe 19. Ray Sommo 20. Gene Naumec 329 322 308 285 275 274 252 250 227 213 195 184 163 103 95 76 67 57 36 34 177 160 136 97 95 92 89 88 79 62 44 41 31 31 44 41 41 39 1. Ty Davis 2. J eremy M cGrat h 3. Buddy An t unez 4. Je ff Emig 5. M ichael Craig 6. Steve Lamson 7. J immy Button 8. Phil Lawrence 9. Kyle Lewis 10. Chris Young 1. Den ny Stephenson 2. M ike Jones 3. Jeromy Bueh l 4. Barry Carste n 5. Tallon Vohland 5. Doug Henry 7. Cliff Palmer 8. Billy W hit ley 9. Grayso n Goodman 10. Steve Childress 187 180 176 ,160 145 125 110 108 72 65 223 181 175 138 135 135 11 2 111 101 97 7