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/127385
eSUPERCROSS e A ACamel Supercross Series: Round 16 M Main event winner J eff Ward (left) congratulates runner-up J ean- Michel Bayle for clinching the Camel Supercross Champio nship. Win to Ward, title to Bayle at Oklahoma City By Nate Rauba Pho tos by David G oodspeed an d R au ba OKLAHOMA CITY, OK,JUNE8 ean-Michel Bayle considers himself a free man after wrap p ing up th e Cam el Supercr oss Seri es Ch am pionsh ip with a second-p lace finish behind J eff War d in the 20-lap Coor s Li ght Chall enge at th e Oklah oma State Fair Speedway. " I feel free," said the 22-year-old nat ive of Fran ce. " I' m very happy, I can't say mor e - I do n' t kn ow eno ug h En gl ish to tell you how happy I am !" The runner-u p fin ish in front of a capaci ty cro wd of 21,474 was mor e tha n eno ug h to give Bayle the title as J he has an insurmo unta ble lead of 75 points o ver Dam on Bradsha w with two ro unds remaining in the series. Bayle became the first for eign er to win an AMA MX Championship since Dutchman Pierre Karsmakers won the first 250cc Supercross titl e in 1974. (In that same year, American Gary Semi cs wo n the 500cc Supercross title, a class tha t was dropped after the 1975 season.) Bayle, who o nly had 10 finish 18th 10 wrap up th e titl e, received $100,000 in poin t fu nd money fro m Ca mel, a bo nus from American Honda that will reportedl y at least match tha t amount, plus a lar ge bonus from clothing sponsor JT . " The number o ne pl ate is more importa nt than th e check," said Bayle. who said he has dreamed of winning the Supercross titl e since he was a chi ld. After winning the 125 and 250cc World Ch ampionships and finishing second in the Camel Supercross Series last year , Bayle reached hi s goal. " Wha t I had to do wh en I came here to America ha s happened," Bayle said. " I can ride a lot faster now ." Bayle credited Ward with being the fastest o n th e long course built on and .in side the half-mile State Fair Speedway half-mil e oval. After taking th e lead from Kawasaki teammate Jeff Mati asevich on lap four, 29-year-old Ward ran away to a five-second win and never saw the wild action behind him. Ward, wh o won the first Oklahom a City supercross two years ago . also had plenty to be happy abo ut. The win , his 20th career supercross victory. was his and Kawasaki 's first of the seaso n . It a lso lengthen ed Ward's streak of winnin g a t least one su percross race a year to eig h t consecu tive yea rs, and th e win moved him one step up the all-ti me su percross win list. Ri ck J ohnson 's 28 career wins heads Bob Hannah by o ne win on that list. " It feels good," said Ward, who pocketed $5000 of the $30.000 250cc purse. " I didn't even really think about the streak ending . I just felt strong all da y. " Bayle knew War d was fast since he spent the entire race chasing him. What he didn 't kn o w was that perhaps th e faste st rider o n the track was Yamaha 's Bradshaw. After a fall o n the first lap, Bradshaw charged through the field to fini sh th ird, and he was still cha rgi ng wh en time ran out as the checkered n ag fell. Bradshaw is locked into a figh t fo r second in the points standings, which pays a $30,000 bonus, where h e lead s defendi ng Ca mel Su percross C ham pion Jeff Sta nton by six po in IS. Bradsh aw had a littl e bit of help alo ng the way as several riders inside the top five went down in front of him . Stanton, last year's Oklahoma Supercross winner , fell wh il e runnin g second, th en local favorite Guy Cooper and J eff Mat iasevich both went dow n as th ey battled for the runner-up position. Stanton remounted to finish fourth, wh ile Cooper comp leted the top five. Th e l25cc Eastern /Western Regi onal main event provided an exciting warmup to th e 250cc thriller. After what he described as th e best race of his life, Yama ha 's Jeff Emi g outdueled 125cc Eastern Regional Cham pion Brian Swink to earn his second win of th e seaso n. The two riders banged bars for much of the IS-lap race, and af ter severa l lead changes Emig moved out front for good on the l l th lap to record his second straight win in Oklahom a. Swink fin ished two seconds behi nd Em ig while Jimmy Button com p leted th e top three. The even t was the final round of the Eastern Regional Series , and Swink had th e titl e wrapped up before com ing to Oklahoma. His Peak Antifreeze/Pro Circuit Honda teammate J ero my Buehl finished th e series in second and DGY 's Doug Henry was third. Stanton shook off the effects of a hard practice crash that left him with a headache and he grabbed the holesho t at the start of the first eight-lap 250cc heat race. Bradshaw quickly passed Mike Jones and Matiasevich on the first lap to set up a battle for the lead which lasted for the first half of the race. Bradshaw took command on lap three and a lap later broke away from Stanton to score the win. Stanton maintained second to the finis h as Cooper. who had worked his way past Matiasevich on the seventh lap, charged to a close th ird. Matiasevich finished fourth and was the last rider to qualify for the main from the heal. Bayle wasn 't about to tak e any chances of not being one of the top four finishers to make it to the main from the second heat. After passing Mike Kiedrowski for the lead on the first lap, Bayle steadily pulled away and won by five seconds. After an early fight for seco nd between Kiedrowski. Ward, Mi ke La Rocco, Todd Del-loop, Denny Stephenson and Doug Du bach, Ward fought his way to the runner-u p position and finished there with a small cushion over Kied ro wsk i . La Rocco fell and Stephenson assumed the fourth and final heat race transfer position to the main. Ron Tichenor. Larry Ward and Keith Johnson contested the lead earl) in the first of two six-lap semis. which would eac h advance the top Iive finishers to the main. Tichenor and Ward even tua ll y broke away from