Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

won th eir first-ever supercross main events in Las Vegas and San J ose, and veteran J eff Ward, who struggled for much of the series after inj uring both wrists at th e second ro und, kep t an 'eight year supercross win strea k al ive with a victory in Ok lah oma. But Bayle stol e the spotlight that day after cli nc hing th e Camel Supercross Cham pionship. Alt ho ugh Bayle received $100,000 in po int fund money fro m Ca mel (plus a bonus from H on da tha t reportedly matched Camel' s award as well as an incentive from clothing sponsor JT ), he sai d, "The nu mber plate is mo re im portant than th e chec k. " Bayle 's eigh t victories surpassed two-time Supercross Ch am pi on Ri ck Johnson's mark of seven wins in a season, and Johnson was there to see it fall, although he wasn 't competing. After comp lica tions with a broken hand in 1990 and the infamous wrist injury of '89, Johnson planned to retire at th e end of th e '91 season. But after crashing during practice at San Diego and another crash several da ys later, whi ch he blamed on h is injured wri st, J ohnson was forced in to earl y retirement wh en he determined that his injured wrist hampered his riding to the point that he would only enda nger himself and othe rs. Another rid er who had to retire prematurel y was johnny O 'Mara. Unable to land facto ry support for 1991, th e 1984 Su per cross Ch ampion planned to compe te at ro und th ree in Anaheim and retire in front of th e local crowd. But a preseason injury prevented O 'Mara from racing, alt ho ugh he did mak e a slow lap before the fans and fell ow competitors bid him a fond farewell. (O'Mara did return to motocross in October, winning a local event in southern Cal ifornia.) The supporting 125cc Eastern and Western Regi onal Supercross Series were dominated by Brian Swink and Jere my McGrath , respec tively, both members of th e newly formed Peak Antifreeze/Pro Circuit Honda team and riding distinctiv e, blue/black/ white-colored H onda CR12 5s. Swink easily captured the Eastern Champion- sh ip with five wins, while McGrath also scored five victories in the Western Region, alt hough a brok en lower leg su ffered in a I25cc- National crash caused some anxiety near the end. McGra th m issed one round, then wrapped up the tit le ·in the pe n ultimate race by riding with a speci al brace on his still-hea li ng leg. As in previous years, the 125cc class p roduced some of the most exci ting Supercross racing of the year , quite often more exciting than th e 250cc features. 125cc National MX Series For th e first three of the 13-round 125cc National s it appeared as th ou gh . the titl e race would be wide o pen. Guy Cooper got the holeshot on the defens e of hi s number one pl at e when he wo n th e series opener in Florida and hi s primary rival, 1989 125cc National Ch ampion Mike Kiedrowski, enco untered ignition problems during the second moto. Cooper main tained his advantage through round two , despite finishing one position beh ind Kiedrowski in th e Hangtown mudbath. Two surprises came. out of that sloppy race. One was privateer Doug Henry, wh o maneuvered hi s Downers Grove Yamaha-backed YZI25 into th e lead on the final lap to score th e win . Swi nk was th e o ther surprise as he led until crash ing, th en came back to fin ish fourth. At the next rou nd in Pennsylvania , Swink took over the points lead when he scored th e overall victory . Cooper crashed ha rd in the first moto, and at the day's end dropped back to th ird in the sta ndings beh ind Kiedrow ski. Round four in Michigan proved to be a turning po int in the series. At Red . Bud T rac k N Trail, Kiedrowski scored th e first of two straight overa ll victories to move into the points lead . Cooper was right behind him at both races but began sli pp ing beh ind in the sta ndings, wh ile Swink fell off the championship pace as he struggled to overcome a bout with the flu. Although Cooper won th e sixth ro und at Kenworthy's Motocross Park in Ohio, he scored eq ual points with Kiedrowski and was unabl e to gai n any ground. Cooper's ho pes of retaining the numb er one p la te nearly vanis hed two days before the next round in Southwick , Massachusetts. The 29year -old Oklahoman was practicing with multi -time Supercross a nd National MX Champion Bob Hannah when he fell and was struck by Hannah. O n race day, Cooper bravely rode with a broken rib and extremely sore lower back, but Kiedrowski won both motos and pulled away in the point standings. Kiedrowski won another four rnotos in the six remaining 125cc Na tio na ls and was in a posi tio n to clin ch the title before the fin al round at Una dilla. But a DNF in a moto at the Steel City Na tio na l postponed the celebra tio n until th e final moto was completed a t Una dilla. H aving fully recovered from h is So uthwick cra sh , Coope r ca me on strong late in the series and scored 't hree straight overall victories but on ly one moto win. He lost the champ ions h ip by 16 po ints . After Swink won hi s first Nat ion al at Mt. Morris, Pen nsylvan ia, he never seemed to full y recover th e form he lost during his bout with th e flu and won on ly one more moto throughou t th e second half of the seaso n. After a slow start, J eff Emig cam e on strong in th e middle of the season but was pl agu ed by inco nsistent fin ishes as the series wound down. Swink and Em ig swa pped th ird p lace in the standings several times down the final stretc h, and in th e end Emi g had the edge by 15 points . 250cc National MX Series Although Bayle and Sta nton tra ded moto wins at th e series opener at Flor ida 's Gat orb ack Cycle Par k, th e following round in the pouring ra in at Han gtown in northern California effectively decided the 250cc National Championship. . Desp ite th e pl eas of man y riders to have th e H an gtown event · cancelled, th e National was run but the p rogram sho rtened to one moto, And in tha t o ne 250cc m oto , Ba yl e kep t h i s mach in e running to th e end while nearl y all of hi s championship rival s - St anton, Ward , Bradshaw a n d Matiasevich - drowned their bikes o u t on the wet course. Bayle did n 't win the mo to, bu t his second-place finish beh ind privateer J oh n Do wd gave him a 22- poi nt adva ntage on Stanton and his ot her title rivals. From that point on, Bayle rode rat her conservatively and on ly won two more motos on his way to wra pp ing up the championship.. Dowd, who also finished well in th e series opener , wouldn't compete in another Na tional. Near the end of a two -m onth break in th e National sche dule, Dowd broke h is collarbone . du rin g practice at the Meadowlands Supercross and was forced to miss the Mt. Morr is Nati onal. Dowd was ready for the fourth ro und in Mich igan, but he crashed in practice there as well, broke his leg and was sideli ned for the rest of th e season. Stanton was clearly the fastest in th e series as he won six of the 14 motos and scored four overall victori es in the seven-ro und series. But he failed to start a rac e wh en he cras hed and inj ured h is elbow in Ohioat a cri tica l tim e. At the T roy Nati onal , Bayle was involved in a first-turn pileup in the o peni ng moto and remounted nearly last. Stanton was near the front of th e field , with a chance to po ten tially mak e up a lot of points, but cras hed on the openi ng lap. Sta n ton finished the rnoto , bu t h is i n j u re d elbo w prevented him from starting race two , wh ich Bayle won. Although Sta nton bounced back to win bo th mo tos at the fin al ro und, even th at was not enoug h to catch Bayle, who won th e cha mpionshi p by 26 points over Sta nton, after logging 42 moto fin ishes. Bradshaw , wh o won two rn oto s and scored one overa ll victory in the series, finished a distant third in th e final standings. Mat iasevich, wh o notched hi s first-ever 250cc National win in Ohio, fin ished fourth in the standings. 500cc National MX Series While Bayle 's cha lle ngers we re Crashes and injuries frustrated Jeff Stanton throughout the year. He handed over two numb~r one plates to his Honda teammate, Jean-Michel Bayle. 7

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