Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GSUPERCROSS Paris Su ercross e ....... O"l O"l ....... Sellou t crowds jammed the Palais Omnisports for four nights of racing at the Paris Supe rcross. Frenchman jean.Michel Bayle had never been able to win h is home supercross until he dominated this year by win ni ng thre e of the four main even ts. I Bayle dominates in Paris By Alex H od gkinson PARIS, FRANCE, NOV. 28-29 & DEC. 1·2 or years j ean-Michel Bayle has watched Americans dom in ate the Paris Supercross in his own back yard. But th is year the Frenchman turned the tabl es on his American foes F and cap tured the King of Bercy crown in devastating fashi on , winni ng three of the four 250cc main even ts in the Pala is Omnisports. Only American Camel Supercross Cha m pion j eff Stanton prevent ed a comp lete sweep by Bayle when he won the fina l ni ght o f com petitio n. Stanton 's third-place finishes in the pr eviou s ma ins were good for second overa ll. The Pari s Supercross has become a fo ur -da y ext ravaga nza a nd a tt racts nearl y all of the American stars as well as man y of th e top Europeans. The riders race two nights in a row with a o ne- day break before th e eve n t concl udes on the weekend.. Elaborate openi ng ceremonies introduce the stars to the sello u t crowds, who are ·then treated to a night of supercross raci ng in the tigh t confines of an arena. For th e first time 125cc raci ng was added to the program, and Belgian Stefan Everts captured the first Prin ce of Bercy crown over man y of the top Amer ican 125cc Region al Supercross Series regul ars. Another new twist to th e sho w was that the track left the mai n arena via a straightaway in the service tunnel. A ha irpin turn led the riders onto an other straight to bri ng the riders back into view. pectators were able to watc h the actio n there on hu ge video screens. In the mai n are na, obstacles were being hit at mu ch hi gh er speeds than ever before. Wednesday The top five finis hers in each of two heats transferred directly to the final , and the first 250cc heat was a walk over for Guy Cooper. Dou g Dub ach demoted Yves Demaria for second o n the fina l lap. Bayle made short work of J ohn Van den Berk and Stanton to win the other hea t. J eff Ward advanced from a lastplace start to pu t pressure on Stanton in the final laps, and when Stanton made a mistake over the difficult tripl e j ump he surrendered second witho ut a figh t. Donny Schmi t, racin g for the first time since havi ng a knee operation, passed Van den Berk on the fina l lap to clai m fourth. German Bernd Eckenbach was desperate to be one of the top two riders who would tra nsfer to the final from the Last Cha nce Qual ifier, and his a ttacks on the big jumps kept taking him ahead of a more cautious Mike Kiedro wski, who had crashed in turn o ne of the first heat. Eckenbach tired near the end and a poor run through th e whoops allowed Pedro T ragter t ~ take the runner-up spo t. A relatively poor start for Bayle saved th e 250cc final from being a borin affair. Ward. Van den Berk and Stan ton got the best starts and were able to establish a cush ion wh ile Bayle lo ok ed for a wa y a ro u n d Pekka Vehkonen. He soo n found it and followed Stanton aro und Van den Berk. Ward was already the ent ire length of the stadium ah ead before a despera te Bayle flew by Stanton over the triples. Bayle, vehemently enco uraged b the cro wd, could only pull in a few feet on Ward on some laps . But, with three quart ers of th e race run , Ward suddenly began to make mistakes and Bayle clo sed relentlessly. Two laps fro m the end Ward cou ldn't prevent him fro m taking th e lead and the rest of the race was a forma lity. Stanton did no thing more than he needed to keep Dub ach at arm's length , whil e Coo pe r, Kiedrowski and Tragter were sim ilarly sprea d out from tlie J earl y stages. Van den Berk quit after six laps an a said, " I landed badl y twice on the sa me lap and wrench ed my right wrist." Schmit had fall en in the first tum and spent the entire race p layi ng catchup. H e event ua lly fini shed eig ht h. Denn y Stephenson ran away with the first I25cc heat , while Dean Matson passed J eff Em ig to win heat two. Brian Swink got the ho leshot in the LCQ and survived a crash two lap s from the end when he landed on a hay bale and was actually th ro wn back on the bik e for the win. j erome Belval, Emig, Matson and Swink were a t the front of the pack a t th e start of the final , but by the en(l of lap two Rob Herring had left Bob Moore well behi nd and passed all four front-ru nn ers. After fivelaps Herri ng had a seemingly irisurmountable lead whe n Matson crashed out. Everts and Stephenson had crashed together exiting the first corner ana were still at th e back of the pack, wh ile Greg Albert yn had passed Em ig to talte second . T he order stayed the same un til af ter half distan ce when H err in g su ddenly stopped attacki ng the track I du e to arm pump. Two laps from th e end Albertyn po unced on Herr ing, wh ile Everts had reall y been moving and j umped past Emig for th ird. T he front two were too far ahead, an d Albertyn cru ised to the win. But Herring, stru gg ling to hold on, slacked off too mu ch and fell to Everts with less than half a lap to go. Emig just held off Michael -Craig for fourth, while Stephenson mad e a late pass on Moo re to cla im sixth. Thursday Everyon e was back for day two with the excep tio n of 500cc Worl d Champ ion Eric Geboers, who crashed in the previou s n ight 's main and brok e his colla rbone, and J eff Matiasevich , who pulled out du e to a previou s injury. The heats emp ha sized th at passing would be very difficu lt until the track go t roug h. In the most exciting 250cc class heat , Dubach nudged Bayle in the fi rst turn to move alo ngside the Frenc h ma n, but he had the ou tside line in the foll owing corn er and Bayle pu t Dubach on the ground. Although Bayle a lso went down, he recovered with impecca ble speed over all of the obstacles on any lin es to finish a remarkabl e second behind Stanton . Du bach ca ug ht fifth-place Vehk on en in the fin al com er, but his attempt to push h is way into the final transfer posit ion was unsu ccessful. Dub ach came back to control the LCQ from sta rt to fin ish .

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