Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127376
Jean-Michel Bayle moved into a commanding lead in the Camel Supercross point standings after 1-2 finishes and rival J eff Stanton was elimated with an injury. Damon Bradshaw romped to victory in Sunday's main event after a simple fall left him with a seventh-place finish on the opening night. Bayle breaks away in Pontiac Silverdome By Nate Rauba PONTIAC,MI, APR. 13-14 he year of the Frenchman has arrived . Jean-Michel Bayle now appears to have clear sailing to the Camel Su percross Championship as his chief rival for the crown, Honda teammate and defending cha m p J eff Stanton, crashed and separated his shoulder in the first night of racing at the Coors Light Challenge doubleheader in the Pontiac Silverdom e. Stanton 's mishap cam e at the start of the first heat and that knocked the hom estate rider out of compe tition for the weekend. Stanton was just one of a number of riders plagued with injuries thr oughout the weekend. Bayle, who led by 10 poi nts comi ng into the Silverdom e, easily won Saturday night's 20lap ma in event , then wisely foll owed Yam aha's Dam on Bradsha w across the finish lin e on Sunday afternoon to take a comma nd ing 57-po int lead in the series. Stanton remains in second with 195 points, six poi nts ahead of Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski, who ended the weekend with 3-4 finishes. With seven rounds remaining in the Camel Supercross Series, the onl y th ing that appears to stand in Bayle's way of the title would be an injury, a nd Bayle's riding has been nearly flawl ess. Besides, without a close pursuer in the points, he won't have to take any chances. ''I'll just try to win when I can, " said 22-year-old Bayle of his strategy. " When 1 can't win I'll try to finish on the podium." Which is exactly what he did in Sunday's race. That's been Bayle's strategy from the begin ning of the season, and it's eamed him a trip to the podium in all but the Anah eim Supercross where he fini shed fifth. He's won six times. finished second three times and third on ce. Bayle earn ed his sixth win of the season and $3000 of the $70,000 purse before 43,714 o n Saturday when he took control after Kawasaki 's Jeff Matiasevich Crashed and bruised his heel. Suzuki's Mike LaRocco parlayed an unusually good start into a second-place finish over Kiedrowski. Bradshaw had led early in the race, but a simple fallon lap two in the tum T 6 where the course runs off the stadi um floor and into the grandstands, dropped him back in the pack and he finished seven th. The 18-year-old charger from Mooresville, North Carolina, made up for the mistake on Sunday as he led Bayle from start to fin ish in a less-thanthrilling race for the 29,450 spectators. It was onl y the second tim e this season - that an yon e other than Bayle or Stanton has won a su pe rcross, a nd it was Bradshaw who also defeated the Honda duo in Atlanta. " He (Bayle) is human and can be beat," said Bradshaw, who also eamed $3000 from the purse for his win plus a no ther $2000 in th e Coo rs Li ght Show down for winni ng the fastest hea t a nd the mai n. Bayle missed picking up the $ 1000 prize on Saturday when he foll owed Matiasevich to the fin ish in the first heat, so the mon ey rolled over into Sunday 's event Bayle cru ised a safe distance beh ind Bradshaw on Sunday to wrap u p second way ahead of LaRocco, who had charged to third after being held up on the first lap when Kiedrowsk i fell. Whil e Stanto n lost any cha nce to become the first Michigan resident to win a Pontiac main event, Peak Antifreeze/Pro Circuit Honda rider Brian __ Swink upheld the hon or when he won Satur day's l25cc Eastern Regional main event. Swink, from nearby Fenton, cru ised to the win over DGY Yam aha rider Doug Henry and Suzuki's Tallo n Vohl and. Swink wasn 't as lucky on Sunday as . he crashed in the first tum. But teammate J eromy Buehl conti n ued the team 's domination of the l25cc class with a win in a wild race in wh ich Vohland fin ished second and T enn essee's Mike Brown, who led much of the 15-lap race, third. Both Swink and Buehl earn ed $2000 in purse money and continue to occupy the top two spo ts in the l25cc Eastern , Regional Supercross Series po int stand: ings. Swink leads Buehl 152-132, whil e Vohland lies third with 123 points. Saturda y Peak Antifreeze/Pro Circuit Honda rider Steve Lamson, who currently is second in the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Series point standings, had to qualify via one of three 250cc • qualifiers held earlier in the day for riders outside the top 20 in the point standings. He go t awa y first in the first of two eight-lap heat races in which the first of the night's injuries occurred when Stanton crashed exiting the first comer and separated his shoulder. Lamson led for two laps before being overhauled by Kiedrowski, who then ran away to the win. Lamson battled with Jeff Ward until Ward crashed spectacularly at the finish line jump. "The last whoop bucked me off the pegs and I fell off the back of the bike ," said Ward, who has two wins in Pontiac. "I did a nice face plant on the face of the jump while my bike went over the top." Lamson was then slowed when he got Cham~ Stanton sidelined with injul!_ J eff Stanton 's chances of matching Bob Han-, nah 's three-straight Supercross Championships were all but blown out the Pontiac Silverdome's doors when he crashed and separated his left shoulder at the start of Saturday night's first heat race and sat out the rest of the weekend's doubleheader event. Stanton immediately phoned his personal trainer Jeff Spencer, then proceeded to a nearby hospital for x-rays. The two-time Camel Supercross Champion returned to the stadium about an hour later to tell his . home crowd that he 'd suffered a second-degree separation of the shoulder and would fly to California the following morning I..f to begin treatment ,. Stanton optimistically told the crowd that he felt he still had a chance to win the championship, but tempered that statement by adding, " I've got lots of years left in me to win championships." Despite scoring no points at Pontiac, Stanton was able to hold on to second in the point standings. When asked when he thought he might return, Stanton quickly replied, "I'll be back next week." But according to Spencer, it's too early to tell when Stanton will return. " It will take two or three days to determine how fast the healing process will take place," said Spencer on Monday, April 15. "We've already made some reasonable progress and will know more on Wednesday. There's no doubt he will make a full recovery with no limitations to the shoulder." To speed that recovery, Stanton will likely spend the entire week undergoing therapy in Spencer's southern California office. Stanton's crash occurred exiting the first comer, where he was near the front of the pack. After being hit from behind in the comer, where he was near the front the drive needed to clear a small double jump and was pitched over the handlebars, landing on his shoulder and left side. He wasn't wearing shoulder pads or a chest protector. " I got tangled before the jump, ther was ramming allover the place," he said. Stanton got up, but fell' over in the t turn when his arm gave out. He tried to continue for another lap before wisely pulling out -------_....