Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

it to th e flag. It was th e Fren chman's first su pe rcross win a t Sea tt le, hi s second o f th e year a nd th e seven th o f his career. " I di dn't wa nt to use up all my ene rgy a t first a nd I did n' t want to try a nd ta ke risks a nd crash," Bayle said. " I also checked to see wh o was behi nd me, a nd I d id n' t see J eff Sta nton or jeff Ma tiasevich, so I let Ward and Cooper go a t it. T he n I dec ided to work o n th e leaders a nd I started to go fast. Once I was in the lead I had a lot of ene rgy and I co u ld rid e fast. My goa l is to make it to th e podium every tim e." Wh ile Bayle cruised unch all en ged up front, a spectacular race-lo ng battle broke o ut for seco nd p lace bet ween Larry Wa rd , Co o pe r , Bradsh a w , KTM' s Mike F isher , Stanton a n d Kaw asaki 's Mik e Kiedrowski. T he hardest chargers o f th e six turned o ut to be Brad shaw a nd Stanton , wh o fought th eir wa y into second and third po sitions, respectivel y, by th e end o f the race aft er midpack starts. "I got off to a bad start a nd I tried real hard at fir st a nd mad e some good passes," said Bradshaw , who had ea r lier won th e first 250cc hea t race over Yamaha 's Doug Dubach , Larry Ward and Ronnie Tich enor. "It wa s a real intense race - th ere was a lo t o f passin g going o n. But I'm not sa tisfied with second. I rode hard a nd stro ng tonight a nd th at 's what reall y co u nts ; I rode better tonight than in th e last th ree races . I hadn ' t been home in five weeks, bu t last week (after the An aheim Supercross ) I finally got to go home a nd do my o wn th ing in stead o f wha t everybody else wa nted me to do - tha t was the d ifference tonight." Sta nton took over th ird afte r making a dra ma tic, cro wd -silencing, last -turn pass o n La rry Ward. "I just took th e ou tside line faster th an he (Wa rd) took th e inside line it was as simple as tha t," said Stanton. " I bumped into Bradsha w's rear tire go ing over th e tabl etop j um p just before the tu rn ," sai d Wa rd. "It stalled me a nd Sta nton went a round me. I ' could've ra m med him, bu t I di d n ' t want to do th a t." Stanton,' wh o was seeki ng hi s first win a t th e Kin gdorn e. seeme d content with hi s th ird -pl ace finish. ~ ' I just never qui t," Stanton said. " You ca n 't get points by qu itt in g, th ird is bett er than fou rth as far as poi nts go, so I just kept tha t in my head." Despite ge tt ing aced o ff th e ros tru m by Stanton , Larry Ward was pleased with his fourth pl ace perfo rma nce. " I got a grea t sta rt a nd I felt p retty com for table,' Ward sai d. " I go t a little nervous being o u t in front a nd I slowed a little bit , but I sta rted riding bett er at the end. " It (getti ng passed by Stanton ) wa s a little bit of a letd own but, shoot, it 's better th an I did last weekend, and as long as I keep improving I'll be up there for th e cha m p io nsh ip ," Ward said while sign ing autographs from his box van in the pits. " I ca n' t compla in , though. Look at thi s (gesturing o u t to the cro wd ). Even th ough I didn 't win, I still feel th e best I ca n feel anytime I co me here." Rounding o u t th e top five after completing wh at he said was the best ride o f hi s life was factory KTM rid er Fish er , who qualified for the main event by finish ing runner -u p to Ba yle in a semi. "I'm so stoked," said Fish er. "It was a great race. We were all go ing for it and I was up th ere with those guys - it was grea t. I'm not really accustom ed to going th at fast, but I'm getting bett er. This is m y best ever finish in supercross." . After leading for a number of laps an exhausted Co oper ended up sixth. Defending champ Jeff Stanton (I) squeaked by Larry Ward (10) in the very last tum of the 250cc main to take third place. For the second week in a row, Team Peak's jeremy McGrath won the 125cc Western Regional Supereross main event. " T h is was only my' third race back since I broke my hand," said Cooper. " I feel lik e I have th e speed to run with th em (leaders) but I don't hav e th e cond itio ning. I couldn't train and it sho ws. I favor m y right hand, th e one I broke, and th at just ends up wearing ou t my legs a nd upper bod y - o vera ll I ge t fatigued. " After having to rid e th e La st Ch ance Qual ifier , which he won, a nd dealing with a bad sta rt in th e feature, Kaw asa ki's Mik e Kie drows ki fin ish ed seventh. " I got my usual bad sta rt a nd tri ed to work my way up," said Kiedrowski . " I ca ug h t up to Cooper, but I co u ld n't get by him," Finishing a few second s behind Kiedrowski was Yamaha rid er Doug Dubach , wh o succes sfu lly managed to keep Kaw asaki's Jeff Ward at b ay. Dubach also rode well in his heat , , fin ishing seco nd to Brad shaw, but h is claim to fam e was bea tin g Larry War d , Tich en or, Bayle a nd Fish er in th e process. jeff Ward wasn 't pl eased with hi s performance in the feature. " I got a lousy sta rt and I just didn 't mov e, man!" Ward sa id. " T he track was so hard to pas s on. I just got stuc k in a g roo ve a n d I wasn 't goin g a ny whe re." Rounding o ut th e top 10 was twotime Su pereross Cham pion Rick J ohnso n, "k jumped th e ga te and got stu ck in it and was dead last go ing into the firs t turn. I worked up from last to 10th - tieing m y best finish this season wh ich is bett er th an go ing from third to last. I'm not happy, but a t least I . p ut in a good ride." T uf Racin g's Ronnie T iche nor, wh o finished ninth last week a t Anaheim, ended up l l th , just a head o f Kaw asaki 's J eff Ma tiasevich. . " My (sta rt ing) ga te fell slo w," said Mar ia sevich , wh o was th e fast est qualifier o f th e two heat ra ces. " T he o the r ones dro pped, but mine m essed up. I went, sto pped a nd went again but I still hit it. The first cou p le of laps was chaos, then I erashed in th e whoops on the third lap. From th ere I was just having a lot of problems." Suzuki rider Mik e J on es finished 13th ahead of 1990 East ern Regional 125cc Supereross Champion Denny Stephenson a nd KTM 's Keith Johnso n, wh o won h is sem i after an in tense dogfight with Rick J ohnson. Suzukimounted Rick Ryan, who m ade th e main in th e last qualifing po sition in th e LCQ, fin ish ed 16th . Canadian All an Dyck, T u f Racin g ' s Keith Bow en , T od d DeH oop a nd Ty Davis rounded ou t the fini shers. 125 Main For th e seco nd week in a ro w, T eam P eak/ Sp Ii tfire/ Pro -Ci rcu i t- b ack ed r id ers J er em y McGrath a n d St eve Lamson fin ished first a nd second in th e Western Regi onal1 25cc Supercro ss main event, but unlike last week 's 12 fini sh at Ana he im, both McGrath and Lamson had to work th eir wa y up th rough the field after ' mediocre starts. Yamaha's Jeff Em ig , . w i nne~ of the 7

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