Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jean-Michel Bayle wrapped up the 250cc NationaltitIe with 4-2 mota finishes. By the sixth lap the top two were joined by local favorite Do ug Hen ry of Fa irfield, Connecticut; on the DG Y Racing Yam ah a , with a trio of Suzukis in the form of Buddy Antunez, Gaddis and Glastonbury Cycle's Scott H enry about 10 seconds back. Just behind came Suzuki's Denny Stephenso n a nd G uy Cooper, a nd Brian Swink. Henry cra shed spectacu lar ly coming down the long straightaway heading towards the woods, his rear wh eel kicking up o n a whoop ca using th e front to turn and pitch h im over the top. He go t up and started going, but ' lost touch wi th the leaders. Kiedrowski emerged in the lead coming out of the woods on the 10th lap after Emig had fall en. "I hi t h im , actually," Kiedro wski said. " We were racing real close and came around a sweep ing berm, about second gear. He washed o u t and went over the berm. I fell in slow motion. But I got started first." Emig got back up, bu t rode slow ly 10 finish 18th. Kied ro wski's lead was a bo u t 17 seco nds a t thi s point, as Antunez was now up to second, Swink into th ird with Cooper fighting hi s way to fourth. Coo per took over second o n the 13th lap when Swink went wid e 10 avoid a fallen rider in a tight left turn around a tree, a nd the order rem ained the sa me to the en d . Kiedrowski claimed the win foll ow ed by Cooper " and Swink, with Lamson tak in g over fourth on th e lfith lap and J eremy McGrath taking six th. " " I didn 't get a real good start ," Sw ink began, " I was away a bo u t 15th . I rode hard and worked my wa y up. It's hard 10 pass. There a re a co u p le of good passing spot s." Lamson th ough t he, too, started a bo ut 15th a nd also said .it was ha rd to pa ss. The second moto began with Cooper in front foll ow ed by Swink, Kiedrowski and Lamson with Swink crash ing as the second lap started, leaving Kiedrowski alone to run do wn Cooper , whi ch he did on the third lap. From there on it was clear sailing for Kiedrowski, a nd though he wasn't abl e to pu ll away from Lamson , neither was he th rea tened. The same could not be said for Cooper. On the fourth la p Lamson was past . Coo per a nd o n the seven th Antunez was by. Two laps later Cooper was back to sixth behind McGra th a nd H enry, and just in front of Emig. From the n inth lap to the end th e o rder d idn 't cha nge for th e top seven, th ough Cooper and Emig d id swa p pl aces back and forth a few laps la ter and McGrath pressed An tunez for th ird. The overall went to Kiedrowski , Lamson second ' a nd Cooper third, earning more points than the team thought possible. " He was under a lo t of pain," his mechanic Marshall Plum b said. "He rode better than an ticipated a nd salvaged a lo t of points, more than if he ha dn 't ridden." P lu mb said he expected Cooper to be 100% by next week . Lamson said he felt like he rode better in the second rnoto, especially at the sta rt. " I just kind of pa ced myself. I pushed hard 10 catch him (Kied rowski )," he said. " He got ou t th ere a bi t and it stayed pretty much the same." Antunez also said he "rode a little bit harder" in th e second moto. "M y lines changed a lot. In th e .first one . they weren 't as good." After H enry and Sco tt Carte r cras hed in the whoops on th e long straigh t into the woods, it was graded level for the second ' m or o , but , accord i ng to An tun ez, it didn 't change mu ch. " T hey graded it, bu t it o n ly takes part of a mota to get it back (to being rough )." 250cc N a tional J eff Ward got the jump o n the field start the first moto with Brad sh aw and Stanton trai l in g him into th e woods. Bayl e was a way abou t 10th a nd Mike LaRocco away last after crash ing in the firs t turn. Bradshaw took th e lead in th e wood s foll ow ed by Ward , but Stanton took over second 10 start the second la p . Ward was th ird a head of Yamaha's . Doug Dubach, O 'Nea llAr ai l Sco ttl Fa ctory Connection-back ed Kurt McMillen, and J eff Matiasevich . At the end of lap two Matasi evich was up to fifth a nd ch asing Dubach, the pair fall ing back a little from the lead trio. Matiasevich fell a lap la ter , 10 Until he fell, Jeff Emig (18) led Mik e Kiedrowski for more than half of the first I25cc mota. Kiedrowski won both mot os while Emig p osted 18-7 mota finishes . Guy Cooper (I ) rode to third overall in the I25cc class with a broken rib and buttock inj ur ies suffered in a p ractice crash two days before the National. losin g th ree spots as th e leaders pulled" away . Stanton too k over th e lead after pa ssing Bradshaw in a downhill left turn 10 start the fifth lap, the two now abo ut five seconds in front of Ward, ' who was abou t 20 seconds in fro nt of Mc Mi lle n . Then ca me Ba yl e a n d Dubach. The or der o n the si xt h lap was Stanton over Bradshaw a nd Ward, and tha t's the way the y'd finish. Bayle mo ved up past McM ill en to fini sh fou rt h , with Dub ach a nd Mat iasevich working th eir way past the New Yorker as well. T he exciteme n t in th e first m oto came from wa tching LaRocco cha rge throug h th e pack. U p 10 seventh on th e fifth lap, he was up to six th o n the eig hth , a nd fifth on the 11th. But as he moved on Bayle his Suzuki began I to sound sick and he was for ced 10 pull " off the tra ck. " O ne of the flywheel weig hts broke and shattered everything," La Rocco said. What mad e his ride ex pecially impressive was his resil ience. " I fell in th e first turn a nd fell three other tim es." " I was riding my own race," Stanton said wh en ask ed if was aware of Bayle' s position during th e race. " It really didn't matter. H e wa sn't go ing 10 fall down or do a n yth ing stu pi d. "The lapped rid ers seemed to be bad. Every corner they were always there," he contin ued. "It's pretty much cine line." " I tri ed 10 ge t a good start and I didn 't want 10 make a mistake, so I took it easy," Ba yle said relax ing in the back of h is box van after the first mot o. He said he was relieved 10 win , 19

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