Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Damon Bradshaw (Il) led Jeff Stanton (I) for most of the feature, but four laps from the end, Stanton passed Bradshaw and posted his fourth Superaoss win of the year. Stantonoutduels Bradshaw at th eadowlands eM By Ki t P alm er Photos by Mike Snyder and J im Sim p so n "S E. RUTHERFORD, NJ, MAY 1 8 ornetimes it seems lik e I never . get the credit I deserve," said defending Camel Supercross Seri es Ch ampion J eff Stanton, " b u t this time I deserv e th e win." Indeed he did, as th e factory Honda rider emerged victorious in the Coors Light Challenge feature at th e Meadowlands a fter a race-long, all-out d o gf ig h t with Yamaha' s Damon 6 Bra dsa w, " I do n't like to give anybod y credit for a nything," said Bradshaw, "but J eff r~a lly deserves the win tonight. It was a good race." At one point, Stanton a nd Bradshaw traded the lead position three times in a single la p , giving the 36,438 spectators inside Giants Stadium something to cheer about. It wasn't until . the 16th of the 20-lap race that Stanton finally took control and passed Bradsha w for th e last time. From there, the Michigan rider forged on a nd sailed across th e finish line two seco nd s ahead of the Yamaha ri der. Filling th e fin al spot on th e ros trum after posting a dis tant th ird p lace behind Bra dsh a w was Suzuki 's Mik e L aRo cco, who won his firs t-ever Came l Su p er cro ss a t th e previous round in La s Vega s two weeks ago. It was his fourth rostrum finish o f the year . . " I was hopin g for ba ck -to-hack wins, but I'm happ y with third," said La Rocco . Finishing fourth was serie s points leader Jean-Michel Bayl e. The factory Honda rider from France, wh o now resides in Ca lifornia, was hoping to clinch the Camel Supercross Series title at the Meadowlands and all he needed to do that was two more points than Bradsha w. Instead, Bradshaw gained four points on Bayle. " O h well , it 's no big deal. I'm just goi ng to have to wait another two weeks (whe n the seri es resumes in Oklahoma City)," said Bayle. Now all former World Champion Bayl e needs to do to wrap u p his first supercro ss title is to finis h 19th or better in the main event a t Oklahoma City. Bayle currently leads th e series with 329 points a nd Brad sh aw is seco nd with 256, just fou r po ints ahea d of Stanton, wh o is now th ird wit h 252. Kawasaki' s Mik e Kiedrowski , who finished seventh at th e Mead owlands, dropped to fourth in the point standin gs, five poi nts beh in d Sta nton . Rounding out the to p five fin ishers was Suzuki 's Guy Coo per, who came from beh ind after a slow start. In the I25cc main event, Team Peak Antifreeze/Pro-Circuit/Honda rider Brian Swink scor ed an easy victory and in th e process clinch ed th e Eastern Reg ion al Series Championship. After teamm at e a nd clos est rival J eromy Buehl crashed on the first la p while makin g a move for second place, Swin k had clear sailing ahead of him and scored his fifth win of th e yea r un cha llenged. J im's Motorcycle Sal es/ Shoei -backed Mike Bro wn was the runner -up, whi le Do wn er s Grov e Yam aha Raci ng 's Doug H enry was third. For winn ing the 250 cc feature, Stanton received $5000 of th e $30,000 clas s purse, while Swink went home $2000 rich er for winning the 125cc cla ss. There was no win ner o f th e Coors Light Silver Bullet Showdown for winn ing the fastest 250cc heat ra ce and th e main even t. Bradshaw , for th e second round in a row , was th e fastest rider in th e heat races but fai led to win th e main event. The fir st of two eigh t-la p heat ra ces, whi ch transfer th e first four finishers direc tly to th e main event, saw Brad sha w blast into th e early lead a nd run aw ay to a n easy win . H owever, th e battle for th e second through fo urth spots was u p in th e air through ou t th e race. Kiedrowski had co n tro l o f seco nd place for th e first three laps until teammat e J eff Matiasevich relegat ed him to third. A lap later, T uf Racing' s Ronnie Tich enor forced hi s wa y past former 125cc National Champion Kiedrowski, dropping him back to fourth. At the finish it was Bradshaw taking th e win a head o f Matiasevich , Tich enor and Kiedrowski. Finishing o ne spo t o u t of the last transfer position was Cooper, with teammat e Larry Ward right behind him. Stanton led from start to fini sh in th e seco nd heat race to score another easy win , while KT M's Mik e Fisher took the checkers all alone in second. 'Bu t a battle raged for third through fifth a nd it involved Yam a ha 's Doug Dubach, La Rocco and his Suzuki teamma te Den ny Stephe nson , Bayle a nd Jeff Wa rd . Bayle was th e rider to watch as he moved up thro ugh the field, at one time banging wheels with Ward. By the fifth lap, Bayle had labored into fourth and began knocking on LaRocco 's back door. The LaRocco/Bayle duel lasted until the last' lap wh en the two lock ed handlebars exitin g a turn, wit h both ride rs 'go ing do wn. Bayle actua lly picked up hi s motorcycle first but was a little overan xio us with th e th rottle and sp u n out, droppin g his bike again. This gave LaRocco all he needed to hang on to third at th e finish . By th e time Bayle re-entered th e race, Ward had a lre ady slipped by a nd

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