Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW e lean.Micheillayle ro unds of th e Camel Supercross Series in pr eparation for his assa u lt on the 250cc Worl d Cha m pionsh ip. Bu t the French MX federatio n did n 't want to release Bayle to compete in the U.S., so he had to pay a $ 10,000 fine to termina te his Fren ch MX lice nse. H on da Fran ce wo uld n' t sup p ly him wi th a bike for U.S. com pe titio n eit her, and despite his position , DeCoster cou ldn 't get him any support from American Ho nd a. So Bayle bought a CR250 from a sou the rn Ca li fornia deal er, borrowed a van from DeCoster, obta ined an AMA lice nse and raced seven ro unds of the Ca mel Supercross Series using his own mo ney . H is best finish was secon d behind h is hero , Rick j ohnson , at the Miam i Su percross. Iron ically, j ohnso n was one of the reasons .Bayle wanted to compete in America. " When I decided to come to the U.S. he was the best rider," says 'Bayle. " My goal was to beat him." Un fort un ate ly, Bayle wou ld never get ano ther chance at beating j o hnson w h ile the Ame r ican wa s on " to p . j ohnson 's career was essentially cut sho rt a few weeks after the Miami Su percross when ano ther rider landed OJ} him du ring practice at a Nati onal arid broke h is wri st. A year later, jus t wh en it loo ked like johnson wa s rega ining his former speed, he broke hi s hand and was never the same as he struggled to overco me com p lications with heal in g. " It was a little bit strange," says Bayle, regarding the fact that he didn't get to go up aga ins t a healthy j ohnson for a full season. " I almost came only for him, to beat the best U.S. rider . H e crashed, so I had to change my goal. " Ironically, Bayle won the 250cc class at the National where johnson was injured. just over a week ' later he returned to France, where he broke his arm while practicing and was forced to miss the first 250cc GP. Despite missing that first round, he went on (Below) jean-Michel Bayle celebrated his title with girlfriend Edwige Malysza. This Frenchman is nojoke By Nate Rauba Photos by Kinney Jones, David Goodspeed and Ken Faught ne must be careful when joking around wi th Came l Supe rcro ss Cha mpion jean -Michel Bayle. You never' kn ow when he'll take you seriously. just ask th e legendary five-tim e 500cc World Champion Roger DeCoster. Severa l years ago, wh ile jo king aro und with the Fren chman , DeCoster su gges ted he co me to Ameri ca to co m pe te. Ba yle turned that lighthearted comment into a goal. Man y of the Ameri cans that Bayle beat in th e just-concluded Camel Supercross' Series are prob ably wish in g that Bayle would've just laughed. " Fo r five years m y dream was to ri de in th e V.S . and try to win some races an d the Camel Supercross Cha mp ion shi p, " said Bayle. "Th is was a big dream and now it has happened. My goal was t o wi n th is championshi p. Now I am the cha mpion and it' s the best thi ng tha t's ever happened to me." O 18 " In Eu rope, I joked tha t he sho u ld come and rid e races in the V .5. ," sa id DeCoster. " It just sno wba lled from there." Bayle, a nat ive of Man osque, Fran ce, first arri ved in America at the beginning of 1989. He was 19, spoke very 'little English, and had just won the 125cc World Champion ship. His fluid riding style, reminiscent of DeCoster David Bail ey and Ron Lech ien , had fir st grabbed th e a tte ntio n of th e former a .few years earlier. Five-time World Champion DeCoster, who now earns his living as a cons ultant at American Honda an d wh ose advice is hi ghly regarded in mot ocross racing , circles, recom mended Bayle to Honda France after seeing him compete in a race in Fra nce> " He ,stuc k out, he was taking different lin es," said DeCoster. " I could see he had the speed in some areas." Indeed he did. Bayle fin ished th ird in the 125cc World Championship in hi s first year with Honda France, 1987, and got full backing from Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) the follow in g year. Bayle reward ed th em with the World Championship titl e. Havi ng p roven himself in th e 125cc class, Bayle was read y for the more cha lle ngi ng Wo rld Champio nship 250cc Series. But he already had hi s sights set o n Amer ica , and getting here proved to be difficult. Bayle's pl an for the '89 seaso n was to come to America and race th e early to easily win the 250cc World Championship, but Bayl e didn't feel like a true World Champion. "In or der to be a tru e World Champion, you hav e to beat the Amer icans," , he would say. Bayle kn ew this from experi en ce. Although he was one of the best riders in Europe, the American s would still cross the pond a nd dominate th e Motocr oss des Nations and post-season European even ts. . But wh en Bayl e got the chance to rid e a full season in America last year ,

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