Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

johnson as they fought for first, wit h Ward passing T ichenor for the lead two laps from the end an d stayi ng ahead to score the win. Ti chenor fin ish ed secon d, well ah ead of j ohnson, whi le jones survived a race-long battle with Keith Bowen and Gene Naumec to finish fourt h . Naumec stu££ed Bowen in the final tum and both riders went of f the trac k, but Naumec re-entered ahead of Bow en to fin ish fifth. Dubach , DeHoop and Mike Fisher were the front-ru n ners at the start of the second sem i. As Fisher dr op ped back sl ightly, Dub a ch chec ked DeHoop's advances to record the win over DeH oop, Fisher, LaRocco and Shau n Kal os. Dennis Haw thorne too k the lead on la p o ne of th e six -lap Last Chance Q ua lifier and stayed out front for the wi n . Bowen rapidl y worked h is way to second by lap two and followed a short distance beh ind H awth orn e at the finish to gra b the o nly other ticket to th e main event. Wh en the main event roared o££ the line just ,after darkness ha d set in , Matiasevich grabbed the holesh ot wit h Cooper, je££ Ward, Bayle and Stanton closely following. Bradshaw was left at th e back of the pack after he slid down in one of the Ll-tu rns. Cooper wa s anxious to lead in front of the home crowd and he tr ied' to pass Matiasevich early on the o pening lap, only to shoot o££ th e track near the end of a high-speed straight. " I wanted to get inside of him ," said Cooper. "I clipped a hay bale and went all the way sideways." , "Did you see Cooper?" Kiedrowski would later ask teammate j e££ Ward. " H e was all over th e place." Ward saw Cooper all right, but not for long as he went into second o n Cooper's mistake. For the next severa l laps, Ward followed teammate Ma tiasev ich, while just behind th e pair Bayle and Stanton put Cooper ba ck to fifth . Ward waited until the fourth lap to make his move to the front. " I didn't want to dice with Mat iasevich because that would've slowed us down and we were pulling awa y," sai d Ward. " I just stayed behind and waited for a mistake. " Much to everyone's surprise, Bayle was still attacking th ird -pl ace Stanton .as Cooper charged up from beh ind. Bayle was hesitant to charge b y, however, and Cooper pas sed h im for fo ur th on lap five. After th a t the Frenchman backed down sligh tly. " I d idn't want to p ass Sta nton because I didn't want to take poin ts from h im since he's raci ng for second in th e champ io ns hip," said Bayle. After Cooper passed Bayle, he went after Stanton for th ird, an d toge ther they closed in o n Ma tiasevich , who no w trailed leader Ward by several seconds as the race neared the ha lfway point. Bayle wasn 't far behind in fifth , with Kiedrowski some di stance behind in sixth, followed by Fisher and a charging Bradshaw. With the fleeting Ward pulling away, Stanton finally passed Ma tiasevich to take over second, only to fall in a tum a -Iap later and drop back to fifth . Bradshaw, who had passed Fisher and then Keidrowski in quick succession, wasn 't far behind Stanton. Cooper had Bayle on his tail and stuffed under Matiasevich in a tigh t tum to take over second. But Matiasevich came back down the next long straight, and side-by-side they approached a small jump that followed a sweeping tum. Nei ther rider yielded, they clipped and Cooper went down before the jump, wh ile Matiasevich made it over the mound before falling. Damon Bradshaw (ll) and jeff Stanton battled in the first heat and in the main. Bradshaw beat Stanton to finish third. Jeff Matiasevich (7) heads for the first tum at the start of the main ahead of Ward (3 ), Bayle (8 ) and the rest of the pack. " I kn ew when I stuffed him he'd be mad," said Cooper. "I sh ould 've paused just a bit, but he got next to me and we both ga ssed i t." " I didn 't want to tak e him down ," said Matiasevich, "I was just return, ing the favor a nd h is front brake lever hooked me and we went down." With Cooper and Matiasevich going down, Bayle was su ddenly in second with five laps to go , but he was also nearly five seconds behind Ward. But Bayl e was content to hold his position and didn't try to close th e gap. "The last few la p s I was very happy," sa id Bayle. " I kn ew I would win (the title). They were th e best laps of my life." With Ward sailing home the uncontested winner o n his T o m Morgantumid Kawasaki ah ead of Bayle, Brad shaw kept th e last few laps exciting as he moved in on Stanton, passed h im o n ly to be quickly repassed. After another brief exchange of third, Bradsh aw fin all y to ok over the sho w pos it ion for good o n lap 18. Bu t he had no chance ,of catch ing Bayle. • " I wish the main wo u ld 've been 25 lap s," sa id Bradsh aw. " I rode hard th e wh ole race and still felt good at th e finish. " Cooper tri ed to pass Stanton lat e in the race, but Sta nton held him o££ to fin ish fourth a short distance ahead of the Ok laho ma n. Kiedrowski finished a distant six.th, well ahead of Fisher and La Ro cco. Matiasevich salvaged nin th ahead of Kalos. 125cc Main j e££ Ernig, who finishe d seco n d behind Steve Lamson in the first 125cc heat race, grabbed the hol eshot at the sta rt of the I25cc main and stayed th ere for the first half of the I5-lap race. He foug ht 0 [£ a challenge fro m La mson, who then dropped 0[£ the pace wh en he came up short on a dou ble jump o n th e sixth lap and bega n to slide back to fourth. Suzu ki's Buddy Ant unez was right th ere to tak e up the chase, but he nearl y spun o ut exi ting a turn a lap later and then dropped back to fifth on the same lap . That p ut Brian Swink, winner of . 7

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