Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jean-Michel Bayle (left) prepares to steal first from Jeff Ward during the first 500cc moto. Bayle won the race, but fell at the start of moto two and finished third. ha ve either in sig h t, as he fin ish ed a di stant third, with Brad shaw a more distant fourth. " I rode o kay," said the teen ager fro m North Carolina, " I j us t was n 't going as fast as those gu ys." Bradshaw was fast enoug h to finish with a huge margin o n Lech ien , th e fifth place fini sher. Although Jones, wh ose house is within view of th e tra ck, held sixth throughout the moto, he had to fight for th e posi tio n th e wh ol e wa y. First, So mm o cha llenged h im early in th e ra ce before th e so uthern Californian dro p ped bac k to an even tual 13th place fin ish . Then , lat e in the ra ce, J ones was emb ro iled in a dogfight with Ya ma ha 's Doug Dubach , KT M's Keith Johnson a nd Tuf Raci n g ' s Keith Bowen. At one point Du bach go t by Jones, who said, " I repassed hi m up the steps and the n he slam med me in the nex t co rner. J ohnson also had ha rsh words for Dubach after the two tangled with just . ver one lap rem ain in g. " I went by Dubach a nd J ones in th e arn e tu rn," J ohnson began. "The n o ming down a fast hill I don 't th ink Dub ach even sto p ped a nd (he) sent me fo r a ride. " J o h nso n d id n ' t fini sh the race, in juring his elbow and side in th e fall , hil e Dubach was d el a yed lo n g nou gh for Kawasaki T eam Green's ene Naumec to get by a nd finish seventh behind J ones. "I'l l ad m it I slammed J o nes," said Dubach , wh o finished eighth with an xt rem ely sore wrist th a t has pl agued h im since August a nd a t Steel City kep t him ou t of th e second mo ta . " We were id e-by-sid e and bumped. J ohnson [u m p ed way to th e right on the ownhill a nd I was to the left. Coming into th e turn I couldn 't avo id him, he ut acr oss a nd ran into th e side o f m y ike. I guess I share some of the esponsibility, but he co u ld' ve gl anced ver. " KTM-mounted Bo wen dropped off he pace near the en d and fin ished inth, wh ile Fred Andrews completed he top 10. At the start o f th e seco nd rno to, Ward ad e another pe rfect getaway with tanton , J ones , Br adshaw and ndrews trailing. Ba yle was runnin g t th e back of th e pack after a fall ~n urn one. "So mebody hit me fro m beh ind," ayle said. A few corn ers into th e race, Bradhaw a nd J ones ca me to gethe r as radshaw attempted to pass. " H e cu t o ver on me, ca ugh t my handlebars and took us both down," said a n irate Jones aft er he retired with a damaged front brak e. " I kn ew if I didn't get around him quickly I'd be screwed," said Bradshaw. " I had him passed , yet he said I moved over. He's th e o ne wh o hit me in the back. " Bradshaw got up and rod e his bent air-coo led Yam aha WR500 to an 18thplace fin ish. At th e fro nt, Ward quickl y establish ed a two-second lead on Sta nton, and by the time Ba yle reached th ird on lap three th ey were out of sig ht. They finished in th at order, wi th Ward about five seconds clear of runner-up Stanton and Ba yle wa y behind in third. " I never slacked off a nd actually went a litt le faster in the m iddl e of the race," sai d Wa rd. " I go t smoked," said Sta nton in his typi cal , st raig h tfo r wa r d way . " I cou ld n' t keep u p with him. I did my best a nd ca me up short." Although th e race for th e top three pos i tio ns was uneventful, th ere was plenty happening in th e scra m ble for , o ther positio nsamo ng th e pri vat eers. Smi t h l DG Y I Pro Ci rcuitl An swe rbacked Rich Taylor br iefly too k over third when Bradsh a w a nd J ones wen t down , a nd th e Ketch um , Ida ho, na tive kept the position until Bayle passed him ear ly in th e race. In a fight for fifth, Andrews had his hands full with L echi en earl y in the moro , but Lechien 's race ended ea rly o n lap three when his chain derailed. Andrews too k u p the chase of T aylor a nd passed him for fou rt h on th e fourth lap. Tay lor the n dropped back into a battle wi th Na u mec and Bow en , but Bow en won that dice a nd moved in on fourth-place An drew s. Bowen took the position lat e in th e race, a nd before Andrews co uld retaliate his Ka wasaki quit. " I ran out of gas !" said Andrews, wh o is backed by Rad N Bad a nd his parents ' mu lti-line dea lership in Salem, Ohio. "That 's the first tim e I've gotten a good sta rt all year." With An drews o ut o f th e wa y, Bowen cruised to a fourth p lace finis h wi th 18-year -old -Na u rnec and T ay lor str u ng out behind for fifth and sixt h , respectively. They all ended up in th e sa me order in th e overa ll res ults and shared a portion of a bonus giv en to the top three p rivat eers in each class. The mo ney for the bonus was raised by selli ng $5 pi t passes tha t let th e spectators get u p close to the fac tory r iders for a li m i te d tim e i n the morni ng. The second 500cc National moto saw Fred Andrews (17) and Keith Bowen battle over fourth. Andrews later ran out of gas shortly after being passed by Bowen. Tallon Vohland (19), Jeremy McGrath (125) and Mike LaRocco battled in the first l25cc moto. A loose rear axle forced LaRocco to retire, but he won moto two. Sedalia , Co lora do 's Kip Sandell a nd Dag Boyesen , son o f reed -val ve a nd suspe ns io n enginee r Eyvind Boyesen , battled over seventh until Boyesen fell back to 14th lat e in th e ra ce, giving the posi tio n to Sandell. Ohio's Tom Carson ca ptu red eigh th a head o f Tuf Racing's Todd DeHoop a nd Brian Ca rro ll of New Je rsey. 125cc National It's no t often that Kiedro wski gets a holesh ot , but he rounded the first turn a t the front of the pack in moto o ne with Cooper ' and Emig in his tracks. It wasn't long befor e Kied rowski had a two-seco nd cus h io n on Cooper a nd Emig began to slo wly slip back. A tig ht batt le among Team Peak/Ho nda' s J er e m y McGrath , Suzuki teammates T all on Vohland, Mik e LaRocco a nd Larry Ward, A XO I Pro Circuit's Erik Kehoe and T eam Peak's Brian Swink moved them up o n the Yamaha rid er. Vohl and a n d La Rocco passed McGrath on the th ird o f what would be I I laps in th e 30-m in ute plus two la p race to ta ke over fourth and fifth. After another circuit LaRocco got by Emig and moved to th ird, bu t Cooper was out reach. "There were a cou p le of spots where 1 co u ld gain on him, bu t he's clever and knew where to get th e time back," sai d Coo per. With La Ro cco now running a ll alo ne in third, Vohla nd p u t pressu re o n fo urth-place Emi g but h is ch allen ge ended whe n he fell on la p six. " I was using a n inside groove in an off-camber, the fro nt end slid out arid 1 went o n my head ," said Vohland, who dropped back to sixth behind Keh oe, War d a nd McGrath. Swink had al so dropped o ff the pace a s h e stru gg led to rid e wit h a br ace on his righ t wri st to help su p port a broken bon e suffer ed at th e Washougal National. Aft er n early 30 minutes, l eader Kied rowski still ma intained a few seconds o n Cooper. A vali ant ch ar ge by La Rocco brough t hi m slightly clo ser to his Suzu ki .tea rnma te, but it ended a few laps from th e end as he sudde nly slowed. " T he rear ax le came out o f th e swingarm and that's a ll she wrote," sai d La Rocco. Kiedro wski nearly lost the lead whe n mistakes allowed Cooper to get on hi s back fender two la ps from th e end, bu t the southern Ca lifornian reg rouped and was abl e to put two seconds on Cooper before they crossed the fin ish line. Kehoe, competi ng in his first race since breaking his foot at th e Troy, Ohio, National in July, and Ward hounded Emig throughout th e race as McGrath faded from the battle for third. Two laps from the end Emig's Ya maha began sp u tteri ng wi th ignition problems and bo th Keh oe a nd Ward shot by on th e fina l circu it to finish thi rd a nd fourth, respectiv ely. "O n the seco nd lap 1started not icing it," said Emig. " It becam e wo rse up th e hills, and 1 tri ed to hold everybody o ff as lon g as 1 co uld," " Em i g was lo okin g o ver h is shoulder a nd m ovin g in to my lin es," said Keh oe. " He was tryi ng to stay u p as fa r as possib le," McG ra th finished six th beh ind a slowi ng Ern ig, with seventh go in g to Vohland a nd eigh th to DGY's Doug 9

• Cover