Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Five seconds later, Ward crossed th e finish lin e, followed by Lechien in fifth. " T he nex t finisher , T uf Racing's Keith Bow en , too k the ch eckered flag n early a m inute behi nd L echien . Glued to his rear fender was Team Green's Gen e Na u rnec, Rad &: Bad 's Fred Andrews, a nd privateers Lance Smail fro m Wash ing ton a n d Kip Sandell of Co lorado, who finished in tha t order. Bradshaw was ted little time jum ping to th e front of the pack in th e second mo ta , takin g th e lead o n th e first lap, follow ed by Sta nton, Bayle, Ward and Lech ien. H ow ever , Bradsh aw 's lea d wa s sh ort-lived as Stanton roos ted by th e Yam aha pi lo t o n th e fourth lap and began to ope n up a slig h t lead. Fro m that point on, Bradshaw began slippin g further a nd further back ur:ttil he was runnin g a di stant fou rth behind Stanton , Bayle and Ward. " Once Sta n to n passed me, 1 went into a turn a nd sp u n arou nd a nd twisted my kn ee," said Bradsha w. " I twisted it ea rl ier in th e week wh ile practicing. a nd it really hurt like a bitch wh en 1 twisted it again. 1 tr ied to ca tch back u p , but then 1 twi sted m y an klel 1 was just a basket case. " Ward moved into second when Bayle stall ed h is bike in a turn, making the top order read Stanton. Ward, Bayle, Bradsh aw a nd Lec hien. Once into second , Ward found a four-second ga p separa tin g h im from the leader, b ut only millimeters seperating him fro m a challenging Bayle. A few laps la ter, Bayle found da ylight, passed War d, and th en set o u t after Stanton. It wasn 't until th e last few laps that Ba yle was able to reall y close in o n Stanton, while behind him, both Ward and Lechien had fad ed back. With th e white flag wavin g, th e two factory Honda riders were nose-to- tail , setting the stage for a last-lap duel to the checkers. With th e overall win o n th e line, Bayle wa ited until th e last half of th e final lap to mak e h is move. With o n ly two turns to go , Bayle dove undern eath Sta nton, stealing th e lead and win . "He (Sta n to n) was very fast in th e sa nd sectio ns of the track ~ the fir st half - wh il e 1 was faster in the back section , wh ere it was harder-packed and tighter ... .Bayle said. " I wan ted to wait until th e end o f the la p so he co uldn' t pass me back in the sa ndy whoops. 1 j us t mad e my move a nd it worked." " It just wasn 't my da y," Stanton said. Ward crossed the fin ish line a distant third , and Bradsh aw a distant fourth. " O nce 1 d ro p ped back, 1 j ust tried to stay th ere a nd r ide smooth ly," Brad shaw sai d. "That was all 1 cou ld do." Lechi en , once again , finis hed fifth , but th is time, o nly about 10 seconds a head o f Na u mec, who was closely pursued by Sh aun Kalas, Andrews , Sm ail a nd Sandell. 125cc National Do wners G ro ve Ya maha' s Doug H enry was the ear ly lead er in the firs t 125cc mot a , lead in g the way for the first two laps until LaRocco stormed by. But a lap la ter, La Rocco dropped to th ird, handing the lead back to H en ry and seco nd pl ace to Team Peak l P ro -C ir cu i t/ H onda -b ac ked Br ian Swink. Hen ry held the point for one mo re la p before Swink charged by. Shortly thereaf ter. La Rocco dropped bac k even farther whe n he dropped his Suzuki in a tu rn. "So mebody in front of me tore up a rock and my fro nt wheel hit it and 0"> 0"> Damon Bradshaw (II ) leads Jeff Stanton (2) and winner Jean-Michel Bayle (8) at the start of the second 500cc moto. Mike LaRocco (6) chased 125cc series points leader Mike Kiedrowski in the first moto, LaRocco went 2-1 for the overall win. 1 rolled u p o u t o f th e rut," sa id LaRocco. LaRocco recove red in sixth. m ak ing the top order Swink: Hen ry, Yamaha's J eff Emig, Kiedrowski , T ea m Pea kl P ro -Circu it/Honda rider Steve Lamson, La kocco, and Cooper, who was a few seco nds behind th e fro nt running pack. " I was in a lot of pain ," sai d Cooper. " T he o nly way 1 cou ld ride was to sta nd up all the tim e, bu tthatj us t wore me o ut on th is track." Kied ro wski was q uickl y mo ving up through the pack a nd he soo n had control of seco nd. but wit h no intentio ns of stop p ing there. The 1989 125cc Na tio na l Ch ampion reeled in Swink a nd two la ps lat er had the lead. Once ou t in front, Kiedrow ski began p ulli ng away, th at is u ntil La Rocco moved in to second after passing Sw i nk . Th e S uzu ki p i lot ca ught Kiedrow ski's scent and tracked him down. For th e remaining six laps, La Rocco kept Kiedrowski honest but could never q uite get a wheel by him , as Kiedr owski hung on to take the win over La Rocco. " I got a bad sta rt, but 1 j us t paced myse lf and picked them off," said Kiedrowski. " I mad e u p m ost o f my ith ou t a doubt, "the most unique race bikes at Spring Creek were the ones ridden by Team Yamaha's Damon Bradsh aw and Doug Dubach. Even though Yamaha doesn 't produce a n Open class motocrosser , it didn't p revent the team froin competing. Instead, Bradshaw and Dubach rode air-cooled Yamaha WR500s. The WR500 debuted in 1991 as a " closed co ur se" o ff-ro ad model , but si nce th e bik e is based o n last year's YZ490, Yam aha feels th e WR s are competitive en ou.gh to ra ce m ot ocro ss.. " After th e 250cc Nationals, we spent a lot of tim e testing th e WR and getting it race ready," said mech anic Bob Oliver. " It has the stoc k fra me, but we are . . . , using works sus pension co mpone nts, shoc~s and fork s. "Uhe motor was wo rked o n - p ipe. cyh nder, head - to give It, In Bradshaw s case. a harder hit, yet a tractable powerband. The exha us t pi pe is made by Pro Ci rcui t." Accor di ng to O liver. the WRs weigh ed in for th e National a t 225.5 pou nds. . "It really works good," said Bradshaw . " I thin k it hand les bett er than a ny thing else o ut th ere. T he suspens io n is great, " Motor-wise, we made it hit harder, but something 1 co ul d ride for 45 m inutes. . It 's definitely co m petitive." Brads haw finished th ird overall; Dubach crashed In both motos. W i 7

• Cover