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/127289
~ SUPERCROSS Masters of Motocross Series: Round 4 e A capacity crow d of 38,000 jammed Tokyo's j inghu Stadium to see many of th e world's top motocross stars com pe te in the Tokyo Supercross. R ick johnson is very popular with the japanese, and after the race he threw all of hi s riding gear to awaiting fans. Matiasevich tames Tokyo Supercross By Alex H odgkinson TOKYO, JAPAN, NOV. 1 8 6 is Kaw a saki hastil y repaired after a maj or crash during the parade la p , jeff Matiasevich shrugged off discomfort from bruising H hi s foot and finger to top j eff Stanton in front of a capacity crowd of 38,000 at Tokyo's jinghu Stadium. But Camel Supercross and 250cc Na tio na l Champion Stanton a lso had ca use for celebra tio n as hi s third ru nner-up fin ish of the Masters o f Motocross Series left the Mich igan rider just o ne point s hy of becoming the first " Master of Motocross," whi ch carries with it a $20,000 prize. Stanton now has 51 points, and there are 20 points avai lable for the winner of th e fina l round of th e series in H oll and. Alessand ro Puzar, wh o had to hav e 15 stitches in his left elbow aft er a spectacu lar crash on the first la p , lies second in th e standings with 33 po ints, but th e 250cc Wor ld cha mp will no t compete in the fina l round du e to testing commitment s with Su zuki. J ean-Michel Bayle hoi sted himsel£ to third in th e standings with six poi nts from a crash-induced 10th place finis h. The Frenchman can only tak e the Masters titl e if he wins in Holland and Stanton fails to finish in the top 15. Damo n Brads haw , winner of the Osa ka Supercross on e week earl ier, and J eff Ward lost potentia l top-three fini shes through off-track excursions when racing in the top six earl y in the 20-lap main event . Guy Cooper came th rough to sna tch the final place on th e ros tru m from early leader Doug Dubach , whil e 17-year-old Stefan Everts was the top European at fifth place after he passed Mik e Kiedrowski on the final lap. All of th e riders were disappointed wi th the narrowness, lack of dirt and difficult obstacles on th e Tokyo track. The large number of off-track excursions underlined th is. . A U.S.-style race format determi ned the 21-rider ma in event . T hree heat races tra nsferred th e top five finishers direct ly to the ma in , with the remainder of the field going to one of two semis. Two riders transferred from each of the semis, while o nly the winner of the Last Chance Qualifier . made it to the main . J eff Ward was the clear winner of heat one, as Bayle came through the pack to catch, but not pa ss, runnerup Cooper. Everts finished fourth ahead of Pekka Vehkonen, who had to fig ht hard to remain ahead of Takayuki Mi ya u ch i for the final transfer po sition. Two of th e Masters stars would have to go to the semi fina ls aft er hea t two, in which five Americans lined up with World Champions Eric Geboers and Pu zar. The fate of Larry Ward and Geboers seemed to be decided in the fir st turn, as the Ameri can wa s rammed and fell , while Geboers was forced off th e track in the melee. Both restarted a t the back of the pack. Mat iasevich had immediately ridden .: clear, as j ohnny O 'Mara, Rick john' so n and Dubach bit at the heels of Puzar. The Italian eventually fell in the whoops and bad ly hindered johnson. O'Mara go t through to finish seco nd behind Matiasevich , while Dubach held off Johnson 's late charge to finish third. Geboers and Larry Ward had charged thro ugh the pack and, in a photo finish, Geboers too k the last transfer pos ition . H eat three was a Bradshaw runaway