Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

J ea n-M ichel Bayle concentra tes on picking his next line on the slimy track. Ant unez and Step henson. At one point Ant unez even took the lead, but he fell in the foll o wing corner. All ho pes for the local rider ended whe n Voh land dropped o ut with a suspected broken pis ton on lap nine. That left the way open for H enry, who had Ant unez right on his tail, and the two riders pu lled away from Stephe nson as they ba ttled for first p lace. When Antunez assumed the point on lap I I, Henry stayed rig ht wi th him and p lanned his attack for the last lap. " I tried a new line a cou p le of laps befor e the end and it worked," said H en ry. "I knew if I could sta y close going into the corner I co uld get him coming out. From there I was just tryi ng to sta y up and hold my line." As H enry held Antunez off to the li ne, Stephenson cruised in for third. He was well ahead of Swink, who appeared to be the fastest rider on the course after he charged back from his fall to fini sh fourth. "It took a whi le to work up," said Swin k, who is known as an exceptionally good rider in the mud . " I just kept riding smooth , tryi ng not to ma ke mistakes." Two of th e riders he passed were th e pas t two 125cc Nationa l cha m p s, Kiedro wski and Cooper. Kiedrowski rode a steady rate to fin ish fifth despite two falls , while Cooper had some scary moments. " There were two big water crossings with gu ys telling you where to go ," said Kiedrowski. " I tri ed to go through without suc king water into the bike. The main thing was to try and keep the bike running." Cooper barely did just that. . " I got water in the ignition or th e plug was fouling ," said Cooper. " For more than a lap it was sputtering, and it just about quit. I had to paddle it to keep it going. Then it suddenly clea ned out, and I started slowing down at the water cros sings. It' s the mu ddiest race I've ever ridden and it was a blast." Steve Lamson, who won th e first 125cc qualifier (Jeff Emig won th e o ther) , spent the entire race working up from a fall on the first lap and finish ed beh in d Cooper , whi le Ft. Dod ge, Io wa 's Chad Pederson finished eig ht h . No leen /Fox/PJ IISCOll bac ked Pederso n spent much of the race dicing with AXO / Pro Circuitsupported Eri k Keh oe unt il Kehoe was forced to retire . Ka wa saki P ro Support/Yoko backed Tyson Vohland was another rider who had to com e from behind to fin ish ninth ahead of Peak/Pro Circuit H onda rider Jeremy McGrath. 250cc National J ean-Mich el Bayle passe d Kawasa- Brian ~win k (42) grabbed the 125cc holeshot and led until he fell on lap th ree. Swink charged back to finish fourth. Many riders got stu ck crossing a small river. Two 125s remain stranded as the 250cc riders struggle on the first lap. ki 's Jeff Matiasevich o n the first lap and quickly left the pa ck far behind. Stanton was left in last when he ducked roost exiting the first turn on the ope ning lap, ran off the track and hit a hay bal e and crashed. Stanton began moving through the pack, but hi s Honda quit while he was near 10th p lace. When asked what h appened, a visibly upset Stanton burst out, " I have no thing to say." Although prior to the race Stanton had said he "didn't care" whether the even t was run or canceled, aft er he retired he said; " It was stupid, the whole thing was." Ma t i as ev ic h , J e ff Ward and Damon Bradsh a w also joined Stanto n at the side of the course. Aside from Ma riasev ich, they were never in the hunt. Ward ran as high as six th, while Bradshaw was last spotted in ninth. " I sucked water and seized li ke everybody else did, " said Ward. "It was the sam e place, at 'Niagara Falls' in the back. Water was comi ng across so fast it a lmost took . your wheels out from under you. " While riders were dropping by the wayside, Dowd seemingly had no problems and slowly reeled in Bayle until he was on the Frenchman's rear fender. "When I saw him (Bayle) I got psyched and picked up the pace a little," said Dowd. He go t a li ttle too psyched when he passed Bayle an d fell in the next corner, but a lap later Dowd was back out front for good. ' "I wasn't sure if Bayle knew I was in second," said Dowd. "It seemed like he let me by." When Dowd crossed the finish line three laps later, Henry was there to greet h im . Bayle also gave him a congratulatory wavewhen he cam e by a few seconds later. La Rocco - had assumed third early in th e race and finished nearly half the trac k behind in third. Suzuki -mounted Da n J an nette fo u gh t through to finish fourth , a good distance behind La Rocco. "It was cold and wet, but I felt good," said the 20-year -old J an nette from Rochester, Michigan. "My bike didn 't run very .well, but it kept runn ing and p lugging along. " Two of the r iders Legendary Limited/ Power Mist/ Fibercraft/ P ro Circuit-backed Jannette battled with were self-sponsored Kelly Andris, from nearby Stoc kton, an d southern Ca lifornia n Larry Broo ks, who had won an U l tracross even t the p rev ious evening in Pasadena, California. They were both passed by fifth -place finisher Rodney Smith, who finished third in th e 250cc MX World Championship in 1988. Andris passed Kawasaki Team 7

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