Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

it e from Lewisville, Texas, had assumed fou rth after Suzuki's Guy Cooper crashed on th e third la p . Suzuki's Denny Stephenson fough t hi s way past Hawthorne to finish a distant fourth with Hawthorne, wh o held o ff the a ttacks of Suzuki's Larry Ward, fini shing fifth in Stephen son' s shadow. Cooper rebounded from hi s crash and passed Yamaha's Dou g Dubach, who was ri di n g with lin gering kn ee and neck injuries su ffered a t th e San Diego a nd St. Petersburg Supercrosses, for th e lead halfway th ro ugh th e first six-la p semi. Cooper stayed ahead to cla im th e win as Dubach dropped back to fi nish second. Southern Californ ia n Ch ri s Young held th ird to the fin ish as H awthorne a nd Aloe U p / FMFbacked Ra y Sommo main ta ined th ei r fourth and fifth positions to the end of th e race for th e o the r transfers to the ma in . Tichenor jumped into the lead of semi two and was untouch ed as he rod e to the w in. LaRocco m o ved into second by la p two and stayed there to finish the runner-up to T ich en or. KTM 's Keith Johnson passed Shaun Kalos at the halfway point to fin ish third. Kalos, who has returned to th e U.S. after spending last year contesting the World Championship 250cc MX Seri es, finished fourth, wh ile Fred Andrews su rvived a wild battle wi th Mike Stahlman a nd T odd DeHoop to claim the fifth a nd fin al tr an sfer po sit ion a t th e fin ish . Larry Wa rd easily won th e six-la p La st Chance Qualifier after leading from start to finish. Rich Taylo r rode the entire race in second, fi nis hing several seco nds beh in d Ward to earn th e fin al tra nsfer to the main . As the 20 riders crowded through the first tum a t the start o £ the main, Bradsh aw eme rged at the head of the pack. Matiasevich was close beh in d trailed b y J eff Wa rd, Stanton and Kiedrowski. Stanton passed Ward for third on the firs t lap , wh ile Fisher charged u p to fift h. Bayle was a t the back o f th e pack. " So me body hit me in th e seco nd turn and 1 went down," said Bayle, who got a' poor jump o ff th e ga te. "I fell again a nd th ought 1 had a flat tire. " By lap two Bradshaw, Ma tiasevich and Stanton were running in a tigh t ack a nd had left Ward several 'bike eng th s behind. Bu t halfway through he lap Stanton lo st hi s fro nt en d in turn a nd fel l. H e was q uick ly nd erway in eighth behind Taylor and ixth -p lace T ichenor. Bradshaw sti ll ed with Matiasevich gl ued to his ender, while third-place Ward kept hem in sight with Kiedrowski close ehind a nd Fisher right o n Kied row si's tai l. Just as Mat iasevich began to a ttack radshaw for the lead, he sp u n o u t a nd ell at the end of th e six th la p. Ward, .edrowski and Fisher quickly sho t by s Matiasevich was able to remount in ifth, just ahead o f Ti ch enor and tanton. With Matiasevich gone, Bradshaw joyed a three-second lead on Ward nd over the next several laps the race gan to look like a runaway. Fisher ogged third-place Kiedrowski for a hort ti m e before dropping back lightly to a safe fourth. ," I made a few mistakes," said Fisher. "Once 1 lost Kiedro wski I went reall y slow for a couple of laps. 1 just kept n eye on Matiasevich and Stanton ehind me. 1 knew 1 was pulling abo u t second a lap o n th em , so 1 was omfortable." For several laps just past the halfwa y point Matiasevich a nd Stanton ga ve veryone something to watch. Stanton kept trying to force his wa y past, bu Jeff Ernig (18) led the majority of the I25cc main, but Jeremy McGrath (125) passed him and sped away to claim the win. each time Matiasevich answered hi s challenges with th e two nearly touch ing wheels many times. " L coul d n' t ge t by a nd that slowed me up," said Sta nton. " I wa nted to make a clea n pass, but he was riding dirty." " I wa s j us t tr yin g to keep m y position," Matiasevich retorted. " We were havin g a good race and it got close a lot. 1 th ought it was fu n." Things were getting close u p fro nt as well. Kiedrowsk i had moved in on Ward, which pushed him up to Bradshaw. At the end of the 13th lap Ward flew into the lead as th ey crested th e finish line jump. " He caught me off guard," said Bra dsh aw. "I think he thought 1 was done after that." . But Brad shaw was far fro m done. After drop pi ng back slig htly for what he ca lled " a litt le siesta," Brad shaw ca me back two laps la ter. Ward put up a figh t, but Brad sh a w got him for good o ver th e step -up, a plateau with ' a nother jump on to p o £ it tha t was preceded by a sma ller jum p. Bradshaw was o ne of th e few to leap to th e top j u mp, w hile Ward landed o n th e p la teuau. " I was n't do in g it a nd he was, " sai d Wa rd. " I hadn 't done it in practice a nd he did it in the hea t, so he kne w what to do. There was no reason to try it a nd go down." A sim ilar j u m p had ta ken Ward down while he was battling Bradsh aw for seco nd a t th e seaso n ' opener in Orlando. After the fina l pass, Bradsh aw wicked it up a nd flew to h is th ird victory o f th e season. War d crossed th e ' line second, about three seconds beh ind and wi th Kiedrowski o n hi s tail. " I was trying to ge t to the front," sai d Kiedrowski, " bu t I didn 't want to slide out a nd do so me thing stupid." Fisher finished a distant lourth and for the second tim e this season ca me one position aw ay from making his goal of reaching th e podium. Stanton finall y passed Matiasevich o n lap 17 to finish fifth, wa y beh ind Fisher. Cooper battled hi s way to six th a t th e finish , just ahead o f Bayle who had cautiously p icked his way through th e pack. After bein g passed by Stanton, Ma tiasevich dropped back to fini sh eighth. Tichen or cross ed th e finish lin e n inth and La kocco completed the top 10. 125 Main At th e start of the 125cc ma in , Jeff Matiasevich (7) and Jeff Stanton ( I) both fell in separate incidents early in the main. They bauled over fifth for several laps before Stanton prevailed. Bradshaw back on track a tch o u t Jean -Mich el Bayle a nd ] err Stanton, here co mes Dam on Bradshaw. After getting off to a slow start thi s season, the teenager has turned things around and has now won two of the last three supercross events. His first win came in Atlanta, and he's th e'on ly rider that's broken th e Honda teammates' domination of the Camel Supercross Series. Bradshaw, who tied Bayle for the most supercross wins last season, credits the turnaround to a cha nge in his mental attitude. " I started out this year doing some things other people's ways," said Bradshaw. " Everybody was throwing in a little advice and 1 was trying to take it all in , incorporate a little here and there." The little become too much. "I had to back track. I know what worked for Damon la st year, so 1 went back to working that way ." He'd been away from home for six weeks straight, away from doing other things he enjoys to ease the pressure of racing. He, needed to return home, spend less time practicing and t ake the time to do those other things. "I'd beat myself into the ground riding d uring the week," Bradshaw said. " I'd come to th e races beat." ' Now he's doing th e beating. "Before I felt 1 could win , but 1 didn 't have the drive. I got o ut th ere a nd was in slow motion , I wasn't charging like I normally do. I told th em (Yama ha) we were going in the wrong direction a nd had to do so me thi ng d ifferent. " It 's obviously worked. "I've got th e mental attitude back that 1 can win a ny weekend. It 's just a ma tter of things going my wa y." W 7

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