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/127382
nabbed th e last tran sfer posi tron . sen di ng Bayle to a sem i. Stephenson end ed u p six th a nd Du ba ch wa s seventh. . KTM 's Mark Mu sselman a nd New Yorker Carlo Coen were the early lead ers in th e firs t of two six-lap sem is, wh ere th e top five riders tra nsfer to th e main. During th e first lap, Mu sselman a nd Coe n co lli ded , ta kin g eac h ot her out. Suzuki 's Larry War d th en in herited th e lead whi ch he held th roughout th e race. After cras hi ng o n th e first la p wh en he ran in to Mu ssel man 's do wne d KTM , Cooper kep t th e crowd enterta ined by passin g riders in spectacu lar fash ion over th e do u ble a nd tri pl e jumps. H e eve ntually settl ed into second behind Ward afte r passing Mik e J on es, w ho fi nis hed thi rd . Fourth went to T uf Racing 's Keith Bowen , whil e fi ft h we nt to G en e Naumec. Yamaha 's Jeff Emig stol e th e hol esh ot in th e seco nd semi bu t cou ldn 't make it last as Ba yle q uickly stu ffed . th e' Yamaha rid er o n the insi de of a turn and took con tro l. Bayle went o n to score an eas y win a head o f Emig, Stephenson, KTM 's Keith J ohnson and Dubach . Coen and Muss elman were back a t it again in the La st Chance Qualifier. The two riders were 1-2 at the start, bu t both were passed by eventual LCQ winner Fred Andrews. While Andrews cru ised o u t in front, Coen and Mu sselman di ced for th e last transfer posit ion o f th e ni ght. At th e halfwa y po int, th o ugh, Kurt McMillen got in o n th e action a nd p assed Musselman, th en he sta rt ed dogging Coen. The Coen/McMillen dogfigh t lasted until th e last lap, wh en , fou r turns from th e fini sh , McMillen tri ed stuffing Coen in a turn. McMillen ended up ramming Goen from the inside and th e two rid ers went down in a heap. Coen 's leg got caugh t in McM ill en 's rea r whee l a nd by the time h e was freed , th e race was ov er. Andrews scored th e wi n, whi le Gl aston bury Cycle Center-sponsored Mike Treadwell, a Suzu ki rider from Ma ryland, was th e lucky ben eficiary of th e Coen /McMillen cras h, snaggi ng th e last transfer posi tion o f th e ni ght. When th e gate dropped for the 20la p main event, it was Je ff Wa rd roosting into th e earl y lead ahead o f Stanton and T ich en or. Bu t Sta nton qu ickl y sho t by War d and Bradsha w go t b y Tichenor. Bradsha w and Wa rd traded p laces a couple of times d uri ng the second la p, but Brad sha w passed th e former Supercross cha mp for good before the lap was over. Once into seco nd, Bra dsha w closed in on Stanton and the two riders immediat ely began pulling away from the pack , setti ng th e stage for the rest o f the race. War d , mea n wh ile, began droppin g bac k with back brake problem s. By th e end o f th e seco nd lap , Tich en or had shot past Ward, as did Stephens on. H o wever, Stephenson 's night came to a p remature end when Ward landed on top of him off a j u m p. The in cid ent kn ocked Stephe nson over hi s handlebar s, but Ward was able to con tin ue. " I had just passed Wardy (and) th en we came to a ju mp just before the tunnel ," sai d Step henson. " He j u m ped a little farther th an I did a nd he landed on th e side o f me and I shot o ff the track. That was it for my ni ght. " " O n th e second la p a pi ece of p las tic go t in my rea r bra ke and g lazed the disc - '1 had no brake," said Ward. " I ac tua lly for got I didn't ha ve brakes wh en I went o ff th e jump and la nded on him. I almost brok e his ar m." W ithout rear brak e, Ward dropped off the pace a nd finished 12th. Ward, a The ga te drops for the stan of the 250cc main as 36,438 spectators look on . Jeff Ward (3) nailed the holeshot. 29, is still seeking hi s fir st Su per cross wi n of th e sea so n. The two-tim e Supercro ss cha m p hasn 't won a Supercross since March 24, 1990, wh en he won th e Pasaden a Supercro ss a t th e Rose Bowl. Mea nw hi le, u p front, Sta nton and Bra dsh a w were engaged in a th rill in g d ice for the lead that had th e cro wd o n th ei r feet. ett li ng into a lon ely third was La Rocco, who was follow ed b y T ich enor, Ma tiasevich , Ba yl e, Cooper, Kiedrowski and Fish er. Fo r th e nex t four laps, Brad shaw a ttac ked Sta n to n relentlessly, showing th e lead er hi s front wh eel in a lmost every turn. On th e six th lap, Stanton and Brad sh aw traded positio ns three ti m es, wit h Br adsha w eve n t ua lly getting th e u p per han d a nd sett ling into th e lead. For th e next 10 laps, th e two were never separa ted by mo re th an a few ยท bike len gths as th ey continued to p u t di stance o n LaRocco a nd the rest of the pack. . It wasn 't until th e 16th lap that Stanton deci ded to ma ke his mo ve for th e lead o nce again. Sta nton set up Brad sh aw in a tigh t left-ha nd turn a nd pe rfo rmed a tex tbook inside pass. The def ending champ dov e u nderneath Bradshaw a nd blocked hi s line co ming o u t o f the turn , making a clean pa ss. Thi s time, however, the lead was Stanton's for good. Bradshaw tr ied to ret alia te but Stan ton was just too strong and he sailed across th e finish line two seco nds ahead of Bradshaw, scoring hi s fourt h win o f th e seaso n. Immed iat ely after taki ng the che ckered nag, bo th riders paused o n the top o f a tab letop jump, side- by-side , a nd ra ised their clenched hands in a salute to the crowd. "The race went p retty smooth ly," said Sta nton. " I go t in front right a way , passed Wa'rdy (Jeff Ward), but Dam on was- ru nn ing a little bit faster th a n I was a t fir st. H e ca me o ut of the ga te a littl e bit stronger a nd he passed me." " I went by J eff (Sta nton) a littl e too soon, " said Bradsha w of his stra tegy. " I didn't really wa nt to pass hi m , because I kn ew whe n I did, he was going to watch my lin es." " I thought, 'Well , I'll stay as close as I ca n a nd p ush him: " Sta n to n said. " We passed eac h o ther a couple of times th at o ne lap, but I didn' t really want to do a lot of that passin g ga me , Team Peak 's Brian SWink (42) scored an easy win in the 125ccmain event and clinched the Eastern Regional 125ccSuperaoss Series Championship title as well. 7