Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eSUPERCROSS e AMA Camel Supercross Series: Round 14 always real good. After you win the first one it's like somethi ng ch an ges in your mind, you just wa nt to do it again. If you do it once you know you can do it again. So now it's go ing to be even harder to bea t him nex t time. H e is a nice guy a nd I'm very happy for him." Bradsha w , Sta nton, Kiedro wski , Fisher and Tichenor ro unded ou t the to p eig h t a nd were weIl spread out. Cooper fin ish ed ninth; Matiase vich lOth. " 1 was pretty far back off th e start and I had a little trouble gelling around Larry Ward," said Bradshaw. " After that I ca me out halfway decent. I didn't feel real good physically. I've been sick all week and then coming her e I felt really bad." 125 Main Jeff Matiasevich (7) attempted to pass Jeff Stanton ( I) for second place, instead , he tagged Stanton's rear wheel and crashed. Jeff Ward (3) chased teammate Matiasevich in front of the 16,577 spectators. (Le ft to right) Jean-Michel Bayle, LaRocco and Ward celebrate on the rostrum. GilME:'(. SUPERCROSS 8 eceu UGHT. CBAllfNGf " 1 rea llv didn't know that Stanton had crashed," said La Rocco. " 1 didn 't see his fender anywhere and I was taught never to look back. But I di d hear the announcer say that War dy (Jeff Ward) was ru n ning second, so I figured something was goi ng on." Stanton's fall ga ve La Rocco a lead of about five seconds on Ward, who moved into second, while Bayle had worked into thi rd, but was o ut o f reac h of Ward. Ru n ning all alone in a distant : fourth was Brads haw, while Sta nton, too, was all by himself in fifth . About th ree seconds behind Stanton followed Kiedrow ski in sixth. At this po int, LaRocco 's fate was in his own hands, it was just a matter of not ma ki ng a mi stake and sta ying upright and the win would be hi s. Well aware La Rocco was heading for his first-career Camel Su percross victory , . the crowd was on its feet chee ring him on. Ridin g as stro ng o n the last la p as he did on th e first, La Rocco crossed the finish lin e j um p with his fist in the air. It was Suzuki's first su percross win since La rry Ward won th e Sea ttl e Supercross in February, 1990. "Whe n I go t o u t in front I wasn' t going to try a nd o utru n the m (Stanton and Ward), I was goi ng see how fast I needed to go and no t ride o ver m y head," said La Rocco. " 1 rode sm ooth; I thi nk they mad e more mistakes th an I did a nd I just h u ng o n for th e win. I used m y head and had it under control th e wh ol e wa y." J eff Wa rd took th e chec kers a p proximately five secon ds behind La Rocco, while Bayle finished almost twi ce as far behi nd Ward in third. " 1 was rid in g th e same pace (as La Rocco and Sta nton)," said Ward, "but there was no way to make up time on th is trac k. T he trac k was tight and there just wasn't a ny place to pass. I had to p lay it kind of conservative, b u t La Rocco rode a good race. He got th e ho leshot a nd that's what it too k." " 1 am very happy to do as well' as I did," said Bayle. "The trac k was very hard to pass on and very easy to crash. " It is good seeing Mike (LaRocco) win," added Bayle. "The firs t o ne is Suzuki's Buddy Antunez blew into the early lead in the 12-lap 125cc feature, but hot on his tracks was first heat race winner McGrath, Button, Yamaha's J eff Em ig, Voh land and Lamson. Antunez held on to the front position for a lap and a half, th en McGrath sho t by th e Su zuki ri der over the fini sh line jump. From that point on the race was all McGrath 's as he quickl y esta blished a bo u t a th ree-second lead and ma in tain ed th at advantage for the duration o f th e race. While McGrath and hi s Skippy Norfork-tuned Honda set th e pace, Antu nez, Bu tton, Voh land and second hea t ra ce winner Mich ael Cra ig mixed it up for second through six th . Emig slid ou t on the second lap and dropped back to midpack. Button soo n took over second p lace aft er passing Antunez and sta yed there for th e rest of th e ra ce. As the race progressed, Lamson, riding with a sore ankle which he injured during th e press da y held a few da ys before th e p revious week 's DaIlas Supercross, moved up to fourth but dropped back a nd even tually finished fifth. By th e midway point, Cra ig was th e rider to watch, as he worked his way up through the pack, moving into fourth and began pressuring Antunez for third. The two riders diced for four laps until Craig dove to the inside of Antunez in a left-hand turn and pushed Antunez up the berm, causing him to cra sh. Craig took over third with three laps remaining, while Antunez recovered in 15th. The front positions remained the same fo r th e res t o f the race, as McG rath easily sailed to victory over a spread out Button, Craig and Vohland. "1 feel pretty good," said McGrath. " 1 pulled a lillie bit of a lead there a nd th ings just went weIl. For once I didn 't have to come from behind to w in. I didn 't have any problems gelling around lappers and that made a big differen ce. J immy (Bu tton) was on m y backsid e th ere for a little while, and then I just got some distance on him. J immy rod e really weIl, so did Craig." or Results t25 HEAT I: L j erem y McG rath (Hon); 2. jimmy Gaddi. (SUl); $. Kyle Lewis (Yam); 4. j imm y Buncn (Yam ); S. Budd y Ant un ez (SUl); 6. Lan ce Smail (Sw); 7. Trevor Meagh er (SUl); 8. David Castillo (Sw); 9. jeff Emig (Yam); 10. jason Frenette (Ho n); I L jeremy Middau gh (Kaw); 12. Scou McElroy (Sw ): 1$. King Richard Saxto n (Sw); 14. Larry j ackson (SUl ) IS. j oel Albrech t (Yam); 16. Da nin H oelt (Sw ); 17. Sha un Secrest (Kaw); 18. Duane Benner (Yam); 19. Mich ael Harri s (Kaw): 20. Phil La wrence (Kaw). Time: 5 mi n utes, 5.58 seconds 125 HEAT 2: L Micha el Cra ig (Kaw); 2. Mike Young (Suz); 5. Steve Lamson (Hon); 04. Chad Pederson (Yam ); S. Tyson Vohland (Kaw); 6. Chris Young (SUl); 7. Dana Wiggin. (Yam); 8. Ra y Crumb (Kaw); 9. Travis Hodges (Hon); 10. Craig Can oy (Hon); II. Tony Graves (Honj: 12. Jason Kremp in (Hon) ; U . Bryan Emig (Yam); 14. Rubba Erickson (Sw); IS. Tommy Cowers ( Kawl; 16. Pete Murr.l Y (Sw ); 17. Dennis Par ker (SUl); 18. Greg T izhei mez

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