Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GM OSS AMA National Championship 125/50&( MX Series: Rounds III4 OTOCR e ... Q') l-l Q.) .o o ..... u o J eff Ward sailed to his th ird consec utive Steel City USA 500cc National victory with 2-1 moto performances. G uy Coope r (1) held off J eff Emig (18) and La rry Ward (10) to finis h second in moto two of the 125cc class, gi ving the defending cham p his 13th career victory. Ward, Cooper hammer out Steel City wins By Nate Rauba DELM ONT, PA, SEPT, 29 or t he th ird year in a row , Kawa saki 's J eff War d str uck go ld in the 500cc Nat ion al at Steel City USA. After trailing 500cc National seri es points leader J ean-Mich el Bayle lO the finish line in the first 3D-minute plus two-lap moto, defending National F 8 Cha mp io n Ward led the entire distan ce in mot o two lo score his third consecutive win at th e facil ity that lies jus t east of Pittsburg. T he win, Ward 's 53rd in his 14-year National career, moved him to second in the series standings. "This track ha s my type of dirt," said the 30-year-old southern Ca lifornian, referring to the hard-pack co urse laid ou t on op posing hillsides cut by a deep ravine. The long uphills, fast straights and many sweeping turns made it all th e more suitable for the power of Ward's Tom Morgan-prepar ed Kawasaki KX500. " I like the way it feels, th e berms ar e ni ce and lo ng," Ward added. The sou thern Californian feIt even better abou t moving past Jeff Stanton, who scored third overall with 3-2 moto finishes, in the series point standings. Ward was optimistic abo u t ma king up th e 13-point deficit and overtaking points leader Bayle with two Nationals remaining in the six-race 500cc series . " I hope to get it down to six (points) next week at Budds Creek ," said Ward, wh o wou ld then be in a position to at least tie Bayle in the last round by winn in g both motos, A win awards three points more than a second place finis h in a Nati onal mot o, " Then we' ll see how he rid es under pr essu re. He hasn 't had to do it all year." T he Fr enchman seem ed un con cern ed about the possib il ity of not win ni n g a n unprecedented three champ io nships in on e season, having already fulfill ed his main ambition of winning th e Camel Supercr oss title, as well as the 250cc National crown. " I'Il just try to make the same points (as Ward in each remaining National) to win the cham pio nsh ip ," said Bayle, who won the first moto despite two cras hes. H e fini shed third in moto two after falling in the first turn and ended up second o vera ll. A runaway in the 125cc National title cha se may have been aver ted wh en series points lead er Mike Kiedrowski failed to fini sh the second 125cc moto afte r he had won the first race. Suzuki's Guy Cooper, wh o trailed Kiedrowski by 49 points ente ring the event, go t back into the chase wi th a pair of secon d-p lace finishes and nar ro wed the gap to 30 points. Cooper's overall victory was th e defending champ 's 13th 125cc National win and tied him with Broc Glover for second on the 125cc all-time win list. Three-time 125cc National Champion Mark Bar nett ho lds th e record at 25 wins. Kiedrowski suffered a rear flat tire while leading early in moto two, but a bent and broken ex haust pipe melted a ho le .in his Kawasa ki KX125's ga s tank and put the 1989 125cc National Champion out after 20 minutes. Last year at Steel City, Kiedrowski overtook Cooper in the po int standings whe n Cooper failed to fin ish a moto, also due lo mechanica l problems. With Kiedrowski on the sidel ines, Cooper ca refu ll y maneuvered h is Marshal Plumb-tuned Suzuki R MI 25 to second, severa l seconds beh ind winner and Suzuki teammate Mike LaRocco, who had DNF'ed the first rnoto. Although Cooper cut Kiedrowski's lead to 30 points. the 29-year-old Oklahoman knows it will be tough to o vercome Kiedrowski's advantage in th e two 125cc Nationals that remain on the 13-ro und I25cc schedu le. "I'Il need som e good luck, because Kiedrowski is so co ns istent and will hav e lo have some bad luck," said Cooper. " I hav e to go for the moto wins and do the best 1 can. " Yamaha's J eff Emig fin ished second in the overall colum n with 5-3 rnoto finishes and Suzuki's Larry Ward cap tured third overall with a pair of fourths. For the first time, the Steel City National was run under mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 60s. Promoter Dave Coombs estimated that close to 8000 spectators came out lo enjoy the racing on the bea u tiful fall da y, and they got to watch 70500cc class entrants and 87 125cc riders compete in pre -ra ce q ualifiers for riders not in the top 10 in th e point standings and four National motos. 500cc National J eff Ward was the fastest up the short start hill and led Stanton, FMF/Aloe Up / R R P-bac ked Ray Sommo, Tuf Ra cing's Ron L echien, Yamaha 's Damon Bradshaw, Barr's Competition /FMF/ Sm ith/Arai-backed Mike Jones and Bayle through the first few turns. As Sommo dropped to the back of the group on the first lap, Bradshaw shot up lo third with Bayle on his tail. Bayle wasted little tim e with Brad shaw and moved to third on lap two of what would be an II -lap race on the long course. A la p later he passed Sta nton for second and th en erased Ward's two -second a dv a ntage to assume the lead. " I did a big swa p on the th ird lap and had to regroup," said Ward. Bayle q u ickly pulled away from Ward, while Stanton slowly lost tou ch with the to p two. Bradshaw was no threat to Stanton as he settled into fourth , well ahead of fifth-pla ce Lechien . Just when it loo ked like Bayle wou ld run away with the race, his lead eva por ated when he fell over in a corner on la p five. T he Frenchman remounted ju st in front of Ward an d lost the lead a short time lat er, bu t it didn't take him long to find his way back to the front. But Bayle soon fell again on one of the many off-camber turns and Ward was right there to capitalize. Bayle charged back aga in, however, and made a brilliant pass , tak ing an o utside line approaching a fast off-cam ber corner and then cu tting under Ward to retak e th e lead o n lap seven . Although Ward kept him in sigh t for the remaining four laps, Bayle was just out of reach and crossed the fini sh lin e with a two-second winning margin. "I j ust tried to fin ish th e race without crashing,': said Bayle. "Bayle was riding better than I was," said Ward. Stanton didn't ride well enough to

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