Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jean-~ ichel Bayle (8) kept Jeff Stanton (2) at ba y to win the first500cc moto. the h ol eshot a nd Kied ro wski was in vo lved in a pileup exi ting th e first turn. The pileu p claimed several of the top riders in add itio n to Kiedrowski , such as Yam aha's J eff Emi g, Suzuki's LaRocco and Tallon Vohland, wh o was co m pe ting in hi s firs t National since May. "I saw th e pileup and slowed a little, a guy T-boned me a nd pushed m e into it ," said Kiedrowski. " Voh land hit so mebody wh o ca me in front of me , I plowed into him a nd then everyo ne plow ed into me ," said La Rocco , who go t th e worst of it when another rider's handlebar got ca ug h t in th e faceguard opening o f his he lmet, La Rocco was o n th e ground for more than a minute until he was freed, th en he rejoined th e race over a lap down a fter hi s broken cl u tc h lever was replaced. By th at tim e Larry Wa rd ha d moved up from h is fourth-place sta rt to sna tch th e lead from Cooper, a nd th ey were both well clea r o f Pea k/Pro Circui t Honda rider Steve Lamson, Bud d y Antunez who had j us t switched fro m Suzuki to a DGY -backed Yamaha, Swink a nd DGY team ma tes Jimmy Button and Doug Hen ry. After ta king the lead, Ward quickly p ut a few seconds o n Cooper. "He had a lot of good lines ," said · Cooper. While Cooper worked a t closing th e ga p on his tea m mate, Lamson a nd Swink sp read o u t in third and fourth, wh ile Antunez fell after he cl ipped Swink's rear wh eel. Button d ropped back into a battle wi th Hangtown 125cc Nat ional winner Henry, Peak 's Jerem y McG rath , Suzuki 's Denn y Stephenson and AXO/Pro Circuitba cked Erik Kehoe. Up front, Cooper reeled Ward in by lap six of the 15-lap moto a nd spent severa l laps on his tail. Cooper got the lead two laps la ter when Ward fell over , b ut Cooper's sta y at the front only lasted a few la ps. " I mi ssed a gea r a nd he got by," said Cooper, who fell agains t a ba nk of dip one lap after s utren deri ng fi rs t, Although Cooper was back underway quickl y without losing a position, Ward was gone with a six- second lead that he kept to the finish two laps later. Cooper finished second, just ahead of a cha rgi ng Lamson. " I could see Cooper fading a little bit, so I tried my hardest to get him," sai d Lamson. " I don 't think he real ized I was so close, for wh en I ca me up o n him he wicked it up." Swin k fini sh ed a distant fourth , w h iIe a ba ttl e for fifth went to th e finis h. Ea rlier in th e ra ce Button had faded when h is ankle, hi 't by another rider' s bi ke in the first-tu rn melee, beg an to hurt badly, and H enry co u ld n 't hold o ff McGra th and Kehoe. In hi s battle with H enry , McGra th bent hi s front br ake d isc a nd Kehoe got by two laps from the end to finish fifth. Nearing th e fin ish l ine Kiedrow ski , wh o had charged th rough the pa ck, also passed McGrath to clai m sixth. Hen ry was sevent h behi nd McGrath at the fini sh , Bu tton held o n 10 finish ninth, and Stephenson completed the to p 10. It was Coo per's turn to go down in m o to two as he fell a few turns after th e sta rt. " T h ey had wa tered the track, I co u ldn' t see a slick stu tter bump a nd th e front end pushed out from under me," said Cooper. Swink had grabbed th e holeshot and was go ne. After 10 mi nutes of the 30minute plus two-la p m oto , he had a seve n -second a dva ntage o n La rr y Ward , wh o had to pass Antunez 10 reac h seco nd. LaRocco also got by Antunez, and five minutes later wa s on Ward 's rear fend er. T he two Suzuki teamm ates ci rc u la te d th e tr a ck tog ether and slowly clo sed o n Swink. " I saw those gu ys com ing, but I couldn 't pick up the pa ce," said Swink. " T ha t's too hard to do when two g uys are pushing each ot her behind yo u." La Rocco and Ward were indeed pushing as they exchanged second a few times . At o ne poi nt they collided when LaRocco fell whi le hol d ing Bria n Swink (42) got the holes hot and ran off with the second 125cc moto win. second, a nd as he got going Ward ra n into him. " I fell and was laying against him," said Ward, who wise ly backed off afte r th e enco u nt er. " We were both out o f control and taking so many chances, I figured it was tim e to cool it. " " He wanted 10 be in front of me and I wanted to be in front o f him," said LaRocco. "I wanted to win a moto, to ge t a head of Swink. " Although LaRocco moved close a t th e end, Swink crossed the fin ish line just over one second ahead of LaRocco, who was well ahead of Ward. Near th e halfway point, McGrath had passed Antunez for fou rt h, while Kiedrowski moved past Antunez a short tim e later, Kiedrowski quick ly moved in and passed McGrath, but th en cras hed and dropped two positions 10 McGrath a nd Antunez. Kiedrowski charg ed back past Antunez and was o n fourth -place McGrath's tail as th ey crossed th e fini sh l in e, but McG ra th go t th e nod for fifth p lace. Antu nez fin ish ed sixth a head o f Emig, wh ile eigh th- p lace Lamson had Cooper in hi s trac ks a t th e finish. Stephenson co mpleted th e top 10 after fendin g off the last-lap challe nges o f Hen ry. 500cc National J eff Ward grabbed the holeshot a t th e sta rt of the first 30-minute plus two-lap rnoto, bu t Yamaha 's Da mon Bradsha w passed hi m in th e seco nd co rn er . Bu t before the en d of la p o ne , War d was back in front a nd pulling away from Bradshaw, Stanton, Bayle a nd Doug Dubach. Lech ien trailed in six th , while 1985 Washougal 500cc Na tional winner Eri c Eaton, aboard a four- st r oke Husqvarna , had Greg Zitterkopf, La nce Smail and Gen e Na umec o n h is tail. Bayle followed Stanton past Bradshaw on the fourth of what would be a 15-lap race, then took second from Stanton. He was three seconds behind Ward, but as the y approached th e halfwa y point Ward's advantage was shrinking. " My a rms pumped u p ," sai d Ward, who slip ped off th e pace as Ba yle and Stanton passed in quick succession. • "We a lso found out that th e rear (shock) had blown, so th e bik e was a real handful. " Fortunately for Ward, Bradshaw co uldn' t close in as well a nd th e four made it a parade to th e fin ish. Two laps fro m th e end, Sta nton briefly passed Bayle, but Bayle quickly retook first and crossed the finish lin e a few seconds ahead o f Stanton while Ward and Bradshaw were stru ng o ut far behind at th e finish. "I tried to m ake a mov e, but he set me up for the next turn ," said Stanton. "I got caug h t behind a lapper on the last lap and co uld n 't try again." Lechien passed Dubach , wh o was riding with an injured wri st, early in th e moto and th e two sp rea d o u t to finish fifth and six th . After T acoma, Washington's Eaton cras hed ea rly in th e race, Naumec battled past Sm ail and Zitterkopf to fin ish seven th. mail hung to eigh th over KTM 's Keith J ohnson. . " I was ridi ng hard a t th e begin n ing and aft er half wa y I cru ised," said Smail, who hails fro m Kent , Wash in gton, a nd has many la ps arou nd the Washouga l course. "I want to get so me good fin ishes in the firs t part of the series." Kei th" Bo wen battled with KT M's Mike H ealey la te in the race, bu t he broke away fro m th e ru n ner- u p in th e World Ch a mp ionsh ip 250cc MX Series and pas sed Zitt erk opf o n the last lap to co mp lete the top 10. H ealey, who had gone down a t th e sta rt a nd entered th e ra ce last, was unabl e to pass Chino, California's Zitterkopf and finished 11th . J eff Ward was magnificent in the second moto as he got th e hol eshot a nd ran o ff with the.lead. Stanton got away second, and after tra il in g Ward by a cou p le of seconds for most of th e race he moved in on Ward's rear fender at abo u t the 25-minute mark. " I just kep t the same pace and so me 13 lappers got in my way," said Ward.

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