Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Brooks and Kalos relegated him to third. Shortly thereafter, though, Kalos washed out, giving second place to Suzuki's Larry Ward, wh o had just passed Stahlman. Stahlman would drop back another position to Cooper, making the final finishing order Brooks, Larry Ward, Cooper, Stahlman and Dubach. Ty Davis and his 'O n The Linebacked Honda jammed into th e lead at the start of the second semi, but it was only a matter o f tim e before ru nner-up Bayle would make his move . It was o n the third lap when Bayle dove to the inside of Davis and gra bbed the lead. From then on it was all Bayle , as he took the win approximately five seconds ahead of Davi s, who edged out Young to fin ish second. A few bik e lengths behind Young was Suz uki 's Denny Stephenson. O n th e last la p , however, the final tra ns fer posi tio n was sti ll u p in the air as Tuf Racing tea m mates Todd DeHoop and Keith Bo wen diced. T he dogfight came to an end wh en th e two riders collided and kn ocked eac h o ther to th e ground. Dennis Hawthorne was the lucky beneficia ry, as he motored by the downed teammates and qualified for the main. After getting off to a third p lace sta rt, Jimmy G addis quickl y moved into the lead and scored the Last Chance Qual ifier win. DGY /Smith Goggles' Rich Taylor passed Suzuki ri der Cl iff Palmer m idw ay through the six- la p race and held o n for seco nd, which was the last tra ns fer spot of th e ni ght. When th e gate dr opped for th e start o f the 20-rider, 20-lap main event, it was LaRocco and his Suzuki, wh ich is tuned by his fa ther, mo toring into the lead. But in close co mpa ny were J eff Ward, Stanton, T y Da vis a nd Matiasevich , with Bayle and Bradsha w trailing. " I always start with my ri ght foot on th e ground," sai d Ba yle. " I was waiting, wai ting a nd waiting for the gat e to come down, then I started to lose m y balance and sta rted leaning to the left; I just go t all messed u p wh en the gate fin ally dropped." " Ri gh t off the gate, Stanton came La Rocco (6) pulled one of his rare holeshots in the 250cc feature and was rewarded with the Las Vegas Silver Bowl victory. o ver and we bumped toge ther a little bit and it j us t ki nd of screw ed me up," said Bradshaw . "Then I tried to get to the insi de in th e firs t turn , but Ba yle was running u p on my leg, so I had to ad j ust fro m that." By the third lap, LaRocco was still leading but Stanton had passed Ward, a nd Ma tiasevich had slipped by Davis, making the top order LaRocco , Sta nto n, Ward and Matiasevich. Th is pretty m uch set the stage for th e rest o f th e race, as th e top fo ur detat ch ed th em selves from th e rest of th e pack. After Sta nton passed Ward, many were pred icti n g th at the reigni ng cha mp would ree l in La Rocco, but La Rocco ha d different ideas. In stead, the Team Suzuki rider actually bega n pu lling away fro m th e Ho nda rider, but by only a few bike len gths. O n the six t h la p, Matia se vi c h dec ided he had had enough of eati ng Ward 's roost and passed his teamma te Jeremy McGrath posted his fifth victory of the 125cc Western Reg ional SX Series. Bay-Ie to ~ursue road lacing career s the 1991 Camel Supereross Series winds down, Frenchman Jean-Michel Bayle has al1 but clinched the series title with four rounds remaining. Enjoying a 77-point lead, the two-time MX World Champion can clinch the championship at the next round in New Jersey, May 18. If Bayle, a factory Honda rider, dees win the championship, he says he will be back next year to defend his crown, but the year after that, he says he's going to hang up his motocross boots to pursue a career in GP road racing. "I want to ride the World Champion Road Racing circuit in the 256cc class," said Bayle, shortly after finishing third at th e Las Vegas Supercross. "I've been practicing road racing as much as 1 can; 1 rode last winter in JaPan and in France," said Bayle. "I also ride here (U.S.) whenever I have the time on my CBR600 Honda. I hope to do som e racing wh en I go to the Tokyo Supercross later this year ." So how does Honda feel about all this? "They (Honda) have been very supportive, and I hope to ride an HRC (Ho nda Racing Corporation) Honda when I start (road) racing, a nd I hope they'll sup por t m e. That would be my first choice," said Bayle. "If not, then I will make m y own team in France with somebody or an organization and hopefully ride an H RC bike." Bayle's decision to.start road racing is mare of a career move than anything. " Road racing is not like motocross," said Bayle. "In motocross, you can only race (or so many yean and be competitiye, because it's so difficuIL Ten years ago you couId race IIlO;tOcrO:S$ and be en the to (or a long time, but now there y good, . . g up, it's . . e stay th for a . me. A . .. for t h ir d . Bu t Ma tiasvi ch wasn 't content there, either, as he began dogging Stanton for second. For the next couple of laps , Matiasevich showed the champ his front wheel in almost every turn then decided to make his move. ' In a series of whoops which led into a tight right-hand tum, Matiasevich tried to outbrake Stanton on the inside and force Stanton wide. Instead, Matiasevich went into the turn far too hot and tagged the inside of Stanton's rear wheel, highsiding Matiasevich over Stanton's H onda. Matiasevich went £lying into the hay ba les and landed on the back side of the berm. Unhurt, Matiasevich remoun ted his Ka wasaki and eventually finis hed 10th. " I just trie d to get on the inside of Stanton," sa id Ma riasev ich, " H e moved over and I co uld n 't slo w down a nd I hi ghsided over h im. It wasn't a bad cra sh b ut it was a di sappointing one. It seems like th e who le series I've had the speed, bu t I haven 't had the luck thrown my way." With Matiasevich out of lead contention , th e ba ttle for th e to p position was reduced to just three rid ers La Rocco, Stanton a nd Jeff Ward. By the halfway point, LaRocco enjoyed about a three-second lead on Stanton, as the lead p a ck began encountering lapped traffi c. It seemed that no matter how hard Stanton tried to reel in La Rocco, the leader would counterattack by p icking up his pace, maintaining the sa me three-second lead. . " Whenever the y put th e pr essure on I just picked it up," said LaRocco. "But I wasn't going to rid e that wa y th e whole tim e. I just had to do what I had to do." Then Stanton, who rarely cras hes, sudden ly lost control of his Honda in a left-ba nder and bit the d irt. By the time he picked up his bike a nd reentered the race, he was back in fif th a nd out of the h unt. " I was just ri ding comfortably in second; overj u mped the triple and just rode righ t up the berm a nd hig hsided,' said Stanton. "It was just my mista ke. I don 't kn o w what the hell I' m doing (wrong), I'm j ust go ing to ha ve to regroup and figu re ou t what 's go ing on." 7 .

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