Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

BSUP RCR AMA Camel Supercross Series: Final round E OSS e Winner Jean-Michel Bayle (8) leads Todd DeH oop (32), Mi ke Kiedrowski (4) and Ron nie Tichenor (12) during the first lap of the 250cc feature. Season finale to Bayle at L.A. ,By Ki t Palmer Photos by Ken Faught and Kinney Jones LOS ANGELES, CA,JUNE22 ea n- Mic he l Bayle left no doubt in a nyo ne 's m ind th a t he is th e undisputed King o f Supercro ss as e sho wed th e 37,172 spec ta tors in Los Ang eles Mem oria l Coli seum why he'll be wearing th e gold a nd blu e numbero ne p lat e nex t season. Bayle scored a runawa y win in th e Co ors Li ght Challen ge a t th e fin al event o f th e 18ro u nd 1991 Ca me l Supercros s Seri es. Despite sti ff op position from Kawasaki' s J eff Matiasevich early in the ra ce, th e 22-year -old factory Honda rid er a nd two-tim e MX World Ch ampion even tua lly broke free a nd scored an eig h t-seco nd victory o ver teammat e a nd dep osed Cam el Supercro ss Ch am pion j eff Stanton, whil e Ma tiasevich dropped back LO third a t th e chec kers. It was Bayle's eig h th win o f the season, I 6 ~ he most su percross wi ns ever recorded season. Two-tim e Su pe rcross Champ ion Rick J ohnson , wh o retired ea rl ier thi s year, previously held th e reco rd with seven wins scored both in 1987 a nd in 1988. T o J ohnson 's cred it, th ere were on ly 11 rou nds in '87 a nd 10 in '88. Bayle now has 13-ca reer Su percro ss victori es to his cred it, whi ch pl aces him fifth on th e all -time win list. " I'm real happy," said Bayle, wh o cl in ched th e 1991 Camel Supercoss Series titl e two weeks earlier a t th e Oklah om a Cit y Su percross. "It's grea t LO fini sh th e season and cha mpionship with a good race. I was the best thi s year and I think I proved it ton ight." Even tho ugh the cha m pio ns h ip had already been decid ed, th e dogfight for 111 a seco nd p lace in the sta ndi ngs, wh ich paid $30,000 as co m pa red to $20.000 for th ird fro m th e $200,000 Cam el point fund, was st ill very much in th e air. Yam aha's Dam on Bradshaw hung on LO a n eig h t-poiIII lead over third-place Sta n ton goi ng into th e fin al ro u nd. Desp ite a slo w start, cras hi ng once and fin ishing sixth in th e ma in , Brad shaw emerged o n top, nipping Sta nton for ru n ner- up honors in th e fin al sta ndings by one point. "Alt ho ugh I had a tough ti me tonight, I ca me here a nd did wh at I had to do, so I'm happy ab out th at ," Bradshaw said. , Not only was seco nd p lace in th e fin al point sta nd ings up for gra bs, so was the $25,000 Coors Silver Bull et Showdo wn aw a rd , which would go to th e ride r wh o logg ed th e mo st fast q ua lifier wins throughout the series. Goi ng into th e fin al ro u nd, Brad sha w , hel d th e lead with five fast hea t race wi ns , with Mati asevich and Bayle tied wi th fou r. In th e first of two heat races, Brad sh aw cras hed with Mati asevich tak in g th e victory. In th e seco nd heat race, Bayle scored th e win but hi s tim e was one second slo wer th an Mati asevich's tim e, giving Mat iasevich his fifth fastest qualifier win o f th e series a nd tying him with Brad shaw. However, Mar iasevich was a wa rded th e $25,000 from Coors for having won mor e tot al heat races, regardless of tim es, throug hout the year. Matiasevich scored eig h t heat rac e wins in th e series, Brad shaw six. Finish in g fourth in th e main was 1989 125cc National MX Champion Mik e Kiedrowski wh o for th e seco nd yea,r in a row ended up fourth in th e senes. " At least I'm co ns isten t," said the factor y Kaw asaki rid er. Rounding out the LOp five was the previ ou s round' s winn er, Dou g Dubach. There was p lenty o f acti on in th e 125cc class. as Yam a ha's J eff Emig scored th e win in th e Western Regional I25cc feature, as well as th e East Coast vs. West Coast Shootout, which paid 10,000 to the win ne r. Neith er o f Em ig' s win s came easily, though , as h e h ad to p a ss T eam Peak /ProCircuit/ Honda rider Steve Lam son o n the last la p 10 sco re th e featu re wi n, an d th en had to fend o ff a hardcha rgi ng Brian Swin k, th e Eastern Regi on al I25cc Supercro ss Champion, 10 win th e East /West Shootou t whi ch pi tted the top 10 ride rs in th e fin a l poi n t sta ndi n gs in both Reg ion al series against each other in a l fi -Iap race. " It 's been an up-and-down year for me, but the last co up le o f races I've do ne rea lly well, so I'm rea lly happy abou t that," said Em ig , wh ose Western Regi on al main even t win was hi s third in a row a nd fou rth 125cc feature win this seaso n. T he course featured a unique, twolan e section tha t ran up th e stands 10 th e Co liseu m's Peri style. A rider had th e op tio n of taking o ne o f two sepa rat e lin es, whi ch , through out th e nig ht, proved to be fairly equa l in th e time required to negotiat e th em . 250 Qualifiers The first 250cc heat race saw Brad shaw's hopes o f winning th e $25,000 Coors Li g h t Silver Bullet Showdown jackpot go up in smo ke not more than 10 yards into the race. "I go t p in ched off and had nowhere to go whe n som eon e ca me on th e o uts ide o f me and took my Iront wh eel o ut," said Bradshaw , wh o picked up his bike and returned to th e race in las t place. " I tried LO ca tch back up but th ere just wasn't enough laps." Brad shaw worked hi s way up to m idpack, bu t pull ed off 10 th e side o f th e track wh en hi s chain ca me off, . endi ng hi s race. Mati asevich wound up sco ring the win, leading fro m start LO fini sh in the eigh t-la p race, whi le Stanton settl ed for second a few seconds back. Suzuki's Guy Cooper edged out Kawasaki T eam Gre en 's Larry Brooks for third. Finishing one spot o u t of th e transfer positions was Tuf Racing 's Ronn ie Tich enor in fifth . Kied row sk i gra bbed th e ea rl y lead in th e seco nd heat race with teammate J eff Ward , wh o was celebra ting hi s 30th birt hday, hot o n hi s rearTender. How ever, Bayle quickl y moved in o n th e actio n by overta king Ward and reel in g in Kiedrowski. Th e two rid ers . th en engaged in a n in tense ba ule for , two laps u n til Bayle ca rne out of the two-line secti on o f th e track a head of Kied row ski . Fr om th en o n Ba yle co nce n tra ted on selling th e fast est hea t race tim e but ca rne up on e second short o f his goal. Ward. th e o ldest racer o n th e tr a ck, ca rne ba ck a n d pa ssed Kiedrowski o ver th e fin ish line jump at the halfway point and held on for second . Kiedrowski finish ed third , with Su zuki 's Mik e La kocco fourth. Dubach finished fifth, headed for a sem i. In the first of two, six-l ap semis, whi ch tranferred th e LOp five finis hers LO th e main, Brad shaw surprised no on e by shooting into th e lead. But two laps la ter, h is cha in ca rne off again, putting him o u t of th e race o nce more. " We had no idea wh y th e cha in ca rne off in the first hea t race. iso we decid ed LO change th e swinga rm, hoping that was the prob lem ," said Bradsh aw . " Bu t whe n I landed off the triples (in th e sem i) it carn e off ag ain . We just don 't know wh y, we haven't had a cha in com e off all season." Tich enor inherited the lead and had no problem s holding o n for the win over privateer Chris Young, teammate Keith Bowen , and privateers Mike Ch amberlain a nd Cliff Palmer. T odd Del-loop a nd Denn y Stephen so n battled back and fort h for th e lead in th e second sem i, wi th Steph enson beating DeH oop at th e fini sh . KT M's Mike Fisher fin is hed third, j ust a head o f LaRocco , whi le T eam Green 's Sha u n Kal os ni pped p rivat eer Brian Manl ey over th e finish lin e jump for th e last transfer posi tion . Bradshaw was pushed wid e at th e start of th e Last Ch a nce Qualifier and go t a way tow ards th e rear of the pack. While privat eer Ra y Sommo led th e way, Brad shaw played ca tch up, After a co up le o f la ps, Brads haw had moved into thi rd a nd was pressuring Suzuki's La rry Wa rd for second. Both Ward a nd Bradsh aw ba tt led a ro u nd Sornrn o , th en Bradshaw passed Ward on th e last lap , scori ng th e win over Ward . So m mo finished third. 250cc Main Mati a sevi ch h ad t h e qu ick est reflexes a t th e sta rt of th e main even t as he pulled th e ho leshot and quickly mot ored out to a two-second lead . After a lot o f sh u ffling for pos iti ons du ring th e first la p , Stanton sett led in to second ah ead of Bayle, Kiedrowski, DeH oop , Step henson , Du ba c h , LaRocco a nd Cooper . j eff Ward was running near 10th after the first lap b ut was involved in a t h ree- r id e r crash, whi ch also incl uded Young and Tichenor, in a whoop secti on . Ward regrouped near th e back o f th e pa ck but would never be a factor. The two-time Supercross Champion even tua lly finis hed eig h th. Meanwhile, up front , Bayle had ov ertaken teammate Stanto n a n d began picking aw ay at Matiasevich's dwindling lead . By th e fifth lap , Bay le

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