Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ MOTOCROSS 125/500(( MX Series: Rounds 8/1 ~ Approximately 10,000 spectators converged on Spring Creek MX Park for the opening round of the 500cc National MX Series and round eight of the 125cc series. Bayle perfect at Spring Creek By Kit Palmer MILLVILLE, MN, AUG. 11 n his quest to become. the first motocrosser ever to win three AMA Nati onal- Championship titles in one year , Team Honda 's J ean-Michel Bayle, th e recently cro wned Ca mel Supercross and 250cc MX atio nal Champio n , scored the overall win in dramatic fash io n at the 500cc Nation al Champio nship Series opener at Sp ri ng Creek MX Park. With just two turns rema ini ng in the second rnoto, Bayle do ve to the ins ide of teammat e and race leader Jeff Stanton , pa ssed h im , and sewed up the overall win via I-I moto scores. " I had nothin g to lose," said Bayle of the pass . " I didn't care if I cras hed, I jus t wanted to pa ss h im an d take th e overall." It was Bayle's second career win in th e 500cc cla ss. Stanton , who wa s rel egated to second overall after gelling nipped by Bayle, was less than thrilled abo u t having a sure win snatched ou t of his hands. " I just got beat!" sai d Sta nton afterwards. " H e had a beuer li ne than me, tha t's all there was to it." By win ning both 30-mi nute plus two-lap rnotos, Bayle jumps o ut to an eigh t-po int lead over Sta nton in the I 6 six-ro und series, 50-42, wh ile thi rd in IXli nt s wit 'to is Yamaha 's Dam n Bradsha w, who was third overall wi th a 2-4 mo to ta lly. Defendin g 500cc Nationa l.. Champio n Jeff Ward o f Team Kawasaki is fourth with 38 afte r tu rning in a 4-4 performance. Rounding o ut the to p five overall was Tuf Racing-backed Ron Lechien. Lech ien, who no tched a pair of fifthp lace fin ishes, was making his first Na tio nal appearance since break ing hi s leg in 1989 at the Mt. Morri s, Pennsylvania, National (see sidebar). In th e 125cc cla ss, Su zuk i's Mik e LaRocco sco red h is seco nd -ca ree r National overall wi n - h is first coming at Spring Creek last year with a 2-1 tally. It was La Rocco 's first ride of th e year.in the l 25cc class after finishing fifth overall in the Nat ional Championship 250cc MX Se ri es, whi ch concluded . in Massachusetts a week before th e Sp ri ng Cr eek National. LaRocco was beaten to the fin ish line in the first moto by series points leader Mik e Kie d ro wski o f T eam Kawasak i, who came from beh ind to sna g the win. In the second rno to, however, Kiedrowski cou ldn't quite repeat his first -mote performance, and had to seule for second. Despite losing the overall win to LaRocco, Kiedrowski was all smiles a fte r wa rds , knowing that h e h ad ga ined 20 valuable points on series riva l Guy Cooper, who finished a lo wly eig h th overall. Kiedrow ski now leads Team Suzuki's Cooper 325-279. Defendin g 125cc National Champion Cooper was ridi ng with a very'so(e and bruised lowe r back tha t he inj u'ieCl two days before the Massach lisettS race and just cou ldn 't perform up to hi s usual standards. Team Pea k/Pro-Ci rcu it /H onda 's Steve Lamson, Yamaha 's Jeff Em ig and Lamson's teammate Brian Swi nk rounded out th e top five o vera ll , fini shi ng th ird, fo u rth a nd fifth , respectively. An estima ted 9-10,000 specta tors lin ed the scen ic J ohnny Martin-owned Spring Creek MX Park in southeas t Minnesota. The course was described by many ri ders as the toughest track they've ridden all year. A lon g section of sandy whoops and a number of u p h ills , downh ill s and o ff-ca m ber turns ga ve the 127 rid ers who tackled the track a good workout. A victim of the demanding track was Kawasaki 's J eff Mati asevich, wh o cras hed while leading a qualifier and broke hi s leg (see sidebar). 500cc National Bayle surprised no one wh en he roo sted int o the lead at the start of the first 500cc Nati onal rno to, bu t he had close compa ny as the pack completed the first lap. Hot on h is tail were WR500-mounted Bradshaw, Stanton, defending cha m p Ward and Lechien, riding a Kawasak i. These five riders qu ickl y pulled away from the rest of th e field , as Bayle set a bl istering pa ce. But matching Bayle's pace tum for turn was Brad sha w, who soo n started challenging for the lead. During the fifth lap, Bradshaw put the move o n Bayle, jammed to the outsi de of a downhill section and motor ed into the lead. " Bradshaw was pressuring me, so I wa nted to see how fast he was go ing and I let h im by," said Bayle. " I want ed to kno w ho w fast I needed to go." After stu dying Bradsha w's lines .for a lap, Bayle motored back by the Yam ah a pilot and regai ned the fro nt posit ion . Fro m th en o n , Ba yl e stretched h is lead by a few seconds over Bradshaw wit h each lap. While Bayle cru ised o ut in fro nt , Bradsh aw began to fed the heat of Stanton, who was closel y foll owed by Ward and Lechien. Stanton hammered o n Bradshaw for a number of laps before the Yamaha pilot gave in and Stanton slipped by. But Brad shaw stayed close to Stanton and hounded him lap after lap. Bradsh a w's p er si st ence paid off when Stanton stalled hi s Honda in a turn, giving Bradsh aw just enough time to move into second. Stanton only had a few laps to try and reel Bradshaw back in , bu t Stanton had lost h is rh yth m and came up short. Bayle too k the win nine seconds ahead of Brad shaw , who finished just a few bik e lengths ahead of Stanton.

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