Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

form idabl e tas k in making the tra ck rid eabl e. An extra 3000 cubic yards of dr y, red Georgia clay were added to th e 6000 a lready in pl ace lat e in th e week to sa lvage th e circuit. But despite co ns ta nt groo mi ng through out th e night, th e riders found th e tra ck th e most difficult th ey'd faced this year. Ruts were a foot deep in pl aces and, if yo u wer en't in th e lead, yo u were covered in mud by th e end of the first lap. " I t was th e muddiest one yet," fourth place fin isher Mike Kiedrowski o f Team Kawasaki said. Bayle agreed: "T he track was very hard to pass on. My goggl es were all full of mud. " Even so, Bayl e, wh o decisively beat Kiedrowski in the seco nd heat, was able to press Bradsh aw for the second half of th e race, after he'd go tten by his Honda teammate. Brad shaw, who 'd finished second to Stanton in th e first o f two heats with a last-lap pass of Kawa saki' s Jeff Ward, was out front from th e dr op of th e gate with th e H onda teamsters in pursuit j us t ahead o f Kaw asak i's Wa rd, Yarn aha 's J eff Em ig, a nd th e Kaw asakis o f J eff Mat iasevich a nd Kiedr ow ski . The track was qu ickl y ru tting up a nd Sta nton not ed that "everybody was go ing th rough th e sa me Iines a nd ruts." J eff Ward lost touch with th e leaders o n th e eigh th lap wh en he nearly crashed o n a set o f dou ble jumps in wh at would be th e sta d iu m's left field. " ( have two bad wrists and it 's real hard work jus t to hang on," Ward said . " ( j us t go t stuck in a rut a nd did a big endo. ( needed to stop a nd rest, bu t cou ld n't. It ta kes about five la ps to get going aga in." War d 's tea mmate Kiedro wski sped past his teammat e for fou rt h and, with th e l eader s in th e dis ta nce, ro d e co nse rva tively to th e fin ish. " ( was in fou rt h a ll by myse lf," said Kiedrowsk i. " I co u ldn' t see th e top three guys . I j us t paced myse lf." Kiedrowsk i had finishe d j us t beh ind Bayle in th e seco nd heat. Meanwhile, th e top three riders were only separat ed by a bo u t 20 yards with Bradshaw leading Stanton a nd Bayle for th e fir st nine laps. Bayle mad e hi s move o n th e in sid e o f th e fin al turn of th e 10th lap, a hairpin left runnin g up to th e tabletop finish-line jum p. Stanton kn ew th a t Ba yle was pressin g him th er e and adm i tted it was a mistake to lea ve th e open ing: " ( just was n' t thinking," the 22-yea ro ld Mi chigan resident sai d. " He passed m e on th e in sid e lin e a nd ( shou ldn ' t have let him." Still, Sta nton was happy to finish third. " My goal is to be o n th e victory sta nd every race," he sai d After passing Stanton , Bayle set o u t after Bradshaw, bu t it wo u ld n 't be easy. " Every time I closed o n him I got mud on my goggles," sa id Ba yle. " It was difficult to see a nd towa rd the end ( lo st a little bi t of co nce ntration." Like Stanton , Ba yle was no t to tall y unhappy. " Every time ( want to be o n th e podium , but ( prefer to wi n ," said the Frenchman wh ose o n ly finish other than first o r seco nd was a fifth a t rou nd three in Anaheim. The number o ne honor wo uld go to Bradshaw. Never placing a wh eel wrong, th e Yam aha rider wi ths tood th e constant pursu it o f Bayle to score hi s sixth career supercross win. " ( was feeling th e pressure fro m him th e wh ol e ra ce," Bradsha w said , adding that th e partisan crowd played a large part in his succes s. "The re a re a lot of people here from my hometown Bayle (left) passed Stanton to finish second and move nine points ahead of the defending cha mp in the standings. Doug Henry led 10 laps of the 125cc main before dropping back to third. Brian Swink charged' up (rom an eighth-place sta rt in the 125cc main and passed leader T allon Vohland two laps (rom the end to win. o f Ch arlotte a nd I wanted to W ill it for them." Despite hi s injured wr ists, J eff War d held on for fifth with KTM 's Mike Fisher, who wo rked up from a d ism al start, sixth ahead of Suzuki's Guy Cooper. " I was just la te o n th e gate a nd o nce I got out fro nt ( was mudded out," Fis he r said. " ( had eight tear-offs, I used .thern a ll, b ut I was ted the last o ne. As soon as I got by Cooper (o n lap II ) there was nobody rea ll y ahead of me. " Cooper, who m issed thefirst ro u nd o f the series wh ile recoveri ng fro m a hand injury , moved from 12th to ninth in the sta ndings as two of h is nearest opponents m issed th e even t. Yam a ha 's Doug Dub ach sa t o u t the race du e to a knee injury su ffered at the p revio us rou nd in Sa n Diego, wh ile two- ti me Supercross cha m p Ri ck J ohnson was absent due to a problem with th e wrist he injured two yea rs ago. At press time, J ohnson had left town to have th e wrist exa mi ned a nd was un availabl e for co mment. H owever, hi s pe rso na l ma nager, Dave Steven son , sai d th at J ohnso n had crashed twi ce while practicin g, a p paren tly beca use he was unable to close th e th rottle because o f hi s wris t lock in g. Ka wasaki ' s J eff Mat iasevich was eig hth a head o f Su zu ki's Denny Stephenson wi th Keith Bowen ro u nd ing out th etop 10. Suzuki 's Larry Ward d ropped into a tie fo r sixth in the sta ndi ngs wi th J eff Ward when he crashed in his hea t a nd fail ed to qual ify for the main event. Larry Wa rd was ta ken to th e h o sp it al w h ere docto rs diagnosed strained ligamen ts in his left a nk le which wi ll keep him o u t of actio n fo r approxi mately four weeks. For th e third race in a row no o ne co ll ect ed th e Coors Silver Bu ll e t Showdown mon ey wh en Bayle, who se seco nd heat wi n was the fastest , failed to wi n th e main . T he bonus increases to $4000 for the March 16 T empe, Arizona, rou nd. 125 Main The 125cc Eastern Regi onal ma in event was a battle o f a ttrit io n with the first two lead ers droppin g back a nd Brian Swi n k ta king over wi th just two laps to go in th e IS-la p event to score his seco nd win of th e series. The Michigan rider proved th at passi ng was po ssib le after he got a way eig h th a nd used traffic to work his way to th e front. H e was fifth o n th e fifth - lap, up to th ird o n the eighth, a nd sh rewd ly used a back ma rker to pass Voh la nd (or the lead, Vohland had o nly held the lead for two laps. Dou g Henry, a DG Y Yamaha rid er from Ansonia. Connecti cuu, led from the sta rt , bu t a bobble on th e o utside o f a double jump o n the 10th lap a llowed Vohland a nd Swink to move to th e fron t. " I tri ed to hang o n as long as I co u ld ," a fa tigued Henry sa id after the race. " I' ve got to ge l a littl e stro nger. " " T he first time ( go t in th e lead was a big mi stake," sai d Vohland. " I ran ou t o f m y last tear- off wh en I go t by him a nd then it was prett y mu ch ov er. " Swi nk said when he moved to th e o u tside o f a double-jump wi th a kick o n it he was ab le to gai n spee d a nd ma ke a run OIl the fro nt a board his Pea k/Pro Circuit-backed Honda. " I d idn 't know he (H en ry) was th ere, then I saw him nearly nip o ver th e bars," said Swink. Bu tch Smi th was a d ista nt fifth ahead of Kenny Kiuar. 0'1 5

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