Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

r ve GSUPERCROSS 1991 Camel Supercross Series p_e_i_w eW By Kit P al m er P hotos b y H enny Ray Ab rams, Kinney Jones and Ken Fa ught hen the starting gate dropped for the o pe ni ng ro u nd of th e 1991 Cam el Su p ercross Seri es in Orlando, Florida, it m ark ed the beginn in g ' of th e 18th season of th e AMA Supercross Seri es. In 1971 when the fir st-ever su percross race was held , at the Los Angeles Mem orial Coliseum, many people were skeptical th at such a thi ng as indoo r motocross wo uld ca tch on, but it di d a nd how l Eighteen years lat er , supercross is stronger th an ever and still growing. Perha p s the bi g gest key to the success o f su percross is that both th e spectators and th e racers si mp ly lik e the a tm osp he re and ben efits of supercross racing. For the fans , watching a supercross is easy and comfortable th ere are -sea ts to sit on wi th clea n bathrooms a nd concessi on ' facilities nearby, th e entire tra ck ca n be seen, T obacco Co.'s Camel brand, will once aga in back the series wi th a $200,000 point fund. First prize for th e champion has been doubled to a $100,000 bo nus. A win in th e 250cc feature will pay at leas t $5000 (p lus, in som e cases; bonuses from the factories, a nd conti ngenci es) wi th a second place fin ish worth a p proxima tely $3500. The least anyone rider wi ll make in th e 20-rider main events is $1000. In addition to the purse, Adolph Coors Brewery Co. will co ntinue its sup port t hro u gh. its Co o rs Li ght brand, which will serve as titl e sponsor of 17 of th e 18 series events, and Coors has esta blished a $42,000 Coors Ligh t Silver Bullet Showdown. At each ra ce p resente d by Coo rs, the re will be a n award of $1000 avai lable to any ri der wh o is ab le to post the ni gh t's fastest heat race time and also win the 25- _ T he raci ng form a t sees so me changes. Instead of three heat races, there will no w be jus t two, transferin g the top-four fin ishers from the 20·rider. fields directly to the 20-lap main event. Two l fi-rider, six-lap semis will each put the first five riders acr oss th e finish line into the ma in , with th e sixth through 16th fin ish ers going to a Last Chance Qualifier. The first two finishers in th e LCQ co m p letes th e 20· rider main even t starting line. from Camel for th e overall series win, and a fter h is victory at Anaheim, those same people were convinced of it, even if it was the fir st rac e of th e year. A week later in H ouston, Bra dsha w ' wo n again , a nd now it looked as though Bra dsha w bel ievers m ight be correct with th eir predictions. Heading into th e third ro u nd of the series a t San Diego Bra dshaw en joyed a rather comfortable 18 point lead in th e series ', bu t disaster stru ck th e factory Yamaha 1991 AMA Camel Supercross Schedule J anuary 12 January 19 January 26 February 2 February 9 February 23 March 9 March 16 April 6 April 13/14 April 20 Apri l 27 May 4 May 18 June 1 June 15 June 22 Orlando. Florida Houston. Texas Anaheim. California Seattle. Washington San Diego. California Atlanta. Georgia Daytona Beach. Florida Phoenix. Arizona St. Petersburg. Florida Pontiac. M ichigan Charlotte. North Carolina Dallas. Texas Las Vegas. Nevada New York Boston. Massachusetts San Jose. California Los Angeles. California With purses and prize mo ney totaling $1.2 million, the 1991 Camel Superooss Series sho uld provide some of the best racing ever. Cirtus Bowl Astrodome Anaheim Stadium Kingdome Jack Murphy Stadium Fulton County Stadium Daytona Int'l Speedway Sun Devil Stadium Suncoast Dome Silverdome Memorial Stadium Texas Stadium Silver Bowl ' Meadowlands Sullivan Stadium Spartan Stadium L.A. Col iseum pilot five laps int o th e ma in even t. Bradshaw cras hed over a jump and injured his foot. Defending Camel Supercross cha m p Jeff Stanton won the event a nd shot into the series points lead over Jeff Matiasevich, 55-54. Bradshaw tried riding th e next event a t Seattle, bu t the pain in his an kle got the best of h im . He ended up sitti ng out the next five rounds, elim ina ting all his chances of nabbing th e number one plate. The Seattle Supercross was, perhaps, the most exci ting of the year. The Kingdome ro ared wi th excitrnent as 37,309 screaming fa ns ch eered on hom esta te favorite Larry Ward, and he reeled in and passed lea der Matiasevich near the end of the 20-lap final to win his first-ever su percross. The win also ga ve Suzuki its fir st supercross go ld in seven years . For Matiasevich , though , his second p lace finish moved him into th e series points lead, sett ing the stage for the rest of th e seri es. The factory Kawasaki rider, Matiasevich, slo wly extended his points lead race after race, until he could brea th e easily by midseason. It was at this point that Matiasevich's The gate drops for the hottest season yet 12 th ere's seldo m a ny dust 'to deal with, the whole fam ily ca n a ttend, th e raci ng is spectacular to wat ch as riders fly through the ni gh t ai r over th e double, triple and tabletop jumps, and th ere's p lenty o f entertain ment on the Held in bet ween races wit h very little down tim e throu ghout the co urse of the ni ght. For the ra cers, su percross means bi g purses, lots of contingency money, big cro wds to perform in front o f, and lot s of exposure to both the media and . po tential sponsors . As far as purse money, su percross means big bu cks to th e racers. Purses a nd a nd priz e money throughout th e Camel SupercrossSeri es adds up to more th an $1.2 million, plus another $2 million in contingencies. The series' major sponsor, R.J. Reynolds lap feature event. U nclaimed Coors Light Silver Bullet Showdown a wards will carry forw ard to the next even t in th e series. At the fina l race of the series, June 22 a t the L A. Coliseum , th at ni ght's award plus a ny rem aining balance wi ll go to the night'S fastest hea t race wi n ner wh o has the best fin ish in th e feature. Addi tionally, a $25,000 bonus from Coors awaits th e rider who in the cou rse of th e season posts the most fast heat race wins. The AMA-sanctioned Camel Supercross Series featu res 18 rounds, the sam e number of events as last year, a t 17 different venues. This year's schedule sees two new supercross locations - the Citrus Bowl in Orlando a nd the Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix. The Oklahoma Ci ty and Pasadena, California, events were dropped from the schedule. T he highly popular 125cc class will be back, featuring two separate series d ivisions - Ea stern and Western Regi onal classes . The 125cc class giv es th e country's hottest up -and-coming supercross racers a cha nce to prepare them selves for th e premier 250cc class. This also gives the you ng ri ders a great opportunity to show off their talents in fro n t o f the factory team managers in hopes of one da y landi ng a big-time factory 'contract, th e ultimat e reward. ' R em em berin g 1990 It wasn't a shock to many people wh en 17-year-old sensation Damo n Bradshaw stole the show at th e openin g round o f the 1990 Cam el Supercross Series at An aheim Stadium. In fact many people predicted that Bradshaw would win the $50,000 check world began crumbl ing down around him. Crashes and fatigue while lead in g mains began costing him dearly, and he saw his points lead slowly dwindle away. Creeping up o n Matiasevich was the sly fox, Mr. Consistency - Jeff Sta nton. The defending champ had a plan at the beginning of the season and it was begi n ning to payoff. He wanted to play it safe, go for the points rather than concentrate so hard on wins a nd with just three rounds remaining in the series, Stanton shot into the series points lead at Oklah om a City, while a tired Matiasevich had a day that he described as the to ughes t race of his " li fe, finishing fourth after ta nglin g wi th lapped traffic and succumbing to the heat and hum id ity of the Midwest. Matiasevich's slide backwards con-

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