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/127383
and was uninjured, but his ha ndlebars were badly bent and the bro ken clutch lever was, dangling by the cable . H e contin ued on to fin ish 14th . With Cooper gone, Swink wa s able to cruise to the moto victory. McGrath had worked his way to th ird near the halfway point and inherited second when Cooper crashed, and then he held off a late-race charge by T ich enor to finish second, abou t fo ur seconds behind his teammate Swink. Tich enor finished a short distance behind in third as Kehoe backed off the pa ce slightly and held on to fourth . "It was hard because I hav en 't been 10 many races this year ," said Kehoe, a former Team Suzuki factory rider. "They sprinted out" there and beat me at the beginning." Emig eventually got by Vohland and shook him off to finish fifth, while Kiedrowski methodicall y mo ved up to finish sixth. Vohland, who said the shoul der he dislocated las t week gave him a bit of a problem, hung on to fini sh seventh at the finish, ahead of Bu eh l, DGY's Jimmy Bu tton and Suzu ki's Denny Stephenson. Swink pulled the holeshot at the start of m o to two and immediately pulled away fro m Emig, Barry Carsten, Voh land and Kehoe. Swink quickly gained an advantage by bei ng the o nly rider to clea r a set of three uphill jum p s. After a few la ndings on the third o ne, he wisely backed off and doubled the first two befor e tak ing the last jump. . By lap three, Kehoe had moved up to third beh ind Em ig, while Buehl moved into a battle for fourth betw een Carsten, Kiedrowski, Voh land a nd T ichenor. At the three uphill jum ps, Vohland clipped Cars ten in the a ir over the last jump and fell in Tichen -' or's path, kn ocking both riders back. That mov ed a battlin g Budd y Antunez and Cooper up to sixth and seventh . Cooper couldn ' t p a ss hi s Suzuki teammate and ended up cras hi ng again when his front end caugh t a ru t o n the face of a jump . The ma n on the move was Kiedrowski. He slowly reeled Kehoe in, and the two pushed closer to Emig. Kehoe q uickl y pas sed Emig, while Kiedrowski spe nt an extra lap behi nd th e Yamaha rider before he too k third. Kiedrowski then closed in and passed Kehoe for second, bu t he was about five seco nds behind Swink with only a few laps remaining. Kiedrowski kept pushing in the late stages of the race while Swink was fig h ting fatig ue. Swink , ho wever, had enough energy to cross the finish line a few bike lengths ahead of Kiedrowski to claim the win. '", "I felt tired befor e th e start of the rnoto , so I wanted to ride hard at the beginning to get a good lead," said Swink. "I just tried to keep a decent distance on Kiedrowski, and after I saw the two-la p board I gave it all I had. " " I charged .and caught him, but he pulled away: ' sai d Kiedrow ski. " I didn't have en ough to get arou nd ยท h irn. " Kehoe hung on to fin ish a distant third as Em ig faded to a lonely fourth over Buehl. Cooper was able to clai m six th after Antun ez retired with mechanical trouble late in the race. Tyson Vohland put on a charge that carried h im pa st severa l riders late in the race , and he was given seventh when McGrath crashed hard in the closing laps. McGrat h was knocked unco nscious for a few minu tes and took a trip to the hosp ital for observation where it was determined he had . broken the fibula, th e smaller of two bones, in his lo wer ri gh t leg and bruised hi s sh oulder. The inj ury could Bria n Swink (42) battled with Ron Tichenor (12) and Guy Cooper (I) o n his way to winning the first 125cc moto. jeo pa rdize McG rath 's chances of winn in g the 125cc Western Regiona l Su pe rcross Series, wh ere he leads Lamson by 56 po ints with th ree rounds remaining . Bu tto n finished eighth as he fought off Steve Lamson, H enry and T allon Vohland, who all finished behind Phoenix , Arizona's Button in the same order, in the closi ng la ps. 250 National Local rider Mike J o nes separated a fast -starting Bradshaw from Stanton and Bayle at the beginning of the first 250cc moto, But Stanton and Bayle were on Bradshaw's tai l before the first lap was over, while Jeff Ward also passed Jones. Bra dsh a w, Stanton and Ba yle quickly left Ward far behind as they battled for the lead. Stanton waited several laps before challenging Bradsha w and finally ,too k th e point posi tio n a t the begi nn ing of th e sevent h lap of what would turn out 10 be a l 7-la p moto. . "He wan ted to let me by and cruised to the outside: ' said Stant on. " I wanted 10 just ri de an d see wha t happened in the race," said Bradshaw of his usual tactic of moving over in order to follow his opponents. " I did n' t want to lead , but I didn't want to let him by. It 's easier to be behind because I Can judge my speed and the guy can' t see my lin es." Bradshaw briefly moved to the fro nt again, but on ce again let Sta nton take the point. Bayle watc hed from a few bike len gt hs behind. " I preferred to ride a bi t slower:' said Bayle. ." 1 was just waiting for a crash. T hey were riding hard and could easily have made a mi sta ke." Bradshaw dropped back a bit, but soon upped his pace and was back on Stanton. He retoo k the lead just past the halfway point, and Stanton dogged him to the closing stages of the race. After a fa iled attempt 10 dislodge the leader, Stanton decided 10 bac k off and finish a safe second about three seconds Damo n Bradshaw (II) battled with Stanton in both 250cc motos, Bradshaw beat Stanton in the first mo to but couldn't hold the defend ing champ off in mo to two. beh ind Bradshaw. Bayle crossed the line th ird nearly three secon ds later. Ward never had much of a chance to see Bayle as he struggled wi th arm . p ump and finished nearly half a lap down in fourth . At the same time he was never threatened by J eff Ma tiase. vich , who fin ishe d a distant fifth after shaking a la te charge by Larry Ward. Do u g Dubach fini shed seventh, La Rocco wo rked up 10 eig hth af ter an early crash, wh ile Larry Brooks faded back fro m a strong start to ninth. KTM's Mike Fish er comp leted the top 10 while J ones faded back to l l th a t the fini sh. Stanton shot into the lead at the start of moto two wi th Bradshaw on his fender from the second turn . Bayle went down in a turn -two pileup that also held up Jeff Ward. Stanton and Brads haw q uickly set . a blistering pace and left Broo ks, L a Rocco, J o n es and Matia sevich behind. The only question was how long the two cou ld ma intain their pace in the high heat and humidity. They kept it up 10 th e halfway point when Bradshaw upped his pace, passed Stanton and left him a co u p le of seconds behind. " He pulled away, so I figured I'd click it up a co up le of notches and put the heat on," said Stanton. But enteri ng th e 12th of 18 laps, Bradshaw burned o ut and Stanton scooted by on the ins ide. Think ing Bradshaw was st ilI close behind, Stanton maintained h is relentless pace to th e finish . H e didn 't know Bradshaw ha d backed off to fin ish a safe second , 10 seconds behind Stanton. 9