Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127406
GREVIEW 1991 AMA professional MX season knock ed o u t of th e Ca me l Supercross and 250cc ational Series, he received a sustained challe nge th roughout th e six-rou nd Na tional 500cc Seri es. And th e cha lle nger wasn't Stanton, it was the defending cham p, Jeff Ward. Ward was never a factor in the Camel Supercross Series after he injured his wrists early in the year, then a . crash at th e 250cc National opener and a DNF in th e Hangtown mud put him o u t of contention once again. But Ward bounced back on the big-bore Kawa saki and traded overall wins with Bayle throughout the 500cc Nationals. Together th ey won all but one of 12 motos. Bayle won the most as he racked up seven race wins, including a sweep of th e series opener in Minnesota, while Ward won four rnotos. Bradshaw was the only o the r rider to win a moto, but a fall early in race two at Bingh.a rn ton dashed Brads haw's chances to score his first-ever 500cc National victory. One rid er who also had a sh ot at beating Bayle was Ward 's teammate , Jeff Mati asevich , but he actua lly never go t th e cha nce. While co mpeting in a heat race th e morning before th e first 500cc Na tional a t Mill ville, Matiasevich los t con tro l of his bike in a sectio n o f sandy whoops, cras hed and br ok e h is leg. Alt hough Wa rd was a co ns ta nt th reat to Bayle, he co uld never ma ke up the points defici t and finished nine points behind th e Fren chman in th e final stan dings. Ward praised his riva l after passing o n th e number one p la te. e ~ (.0 l-t (1) ..0 S ' (1) ;;:- o Z Gene Naumec was a top privateer in the 250 and 500cc Nationals. Mike Kiedrowski (4) and Guy Cooper spent m uch of the 125cc Nationals this close. " Bayle's a great rider a nd m y hat goes o ff to him , he deserves it ," said Ward after th e fin al rnoto of th e season. Sta nton stru gg led throughout th e series, a nd hi s enthusia sm seemed to be drained a fter h is heroic rid e in th e Mo tocross des Nati ons. H e finished a distant th ird in th e fin al standings, and Bradshaw claimed fourth. It was a co m mo n occ u rre nce in th e 500cc Na tio na ls to see th e top four factory-su pported rid ers run a way at th e fro nt, leaving th e pri vateers to provi de th e ac tion wi th th eir battles for the rem aining positions. For th e first half of th e seaso n th ere wasn 't mu ch o f a battle for fifth, as 1985 125cc Nati onal Champion Ron L echien retu rned to action after recovering from a broken leg suffered in 1989. Wi th ba cking from Tu f Ra cin g , Lech ien put tog ether a str ing of three stra ight fifth -place fin ishes th at was o nly brok en whe n he threw a chain at Stee l C i ty in P enn syl vani a . Alt ho ugh Lech ien finished no h igh er th an seventh in th e four mot os run af ter Steel Cit y, he still ended up fifth in the fina l sta nd ings. Gen e Naurnec, Ra y So m mo, Keith Bowen , Shau n Kalos a nd Fred Andrews co mp leted th e top 10, a nd they, alo ng wi th T odd DeH oop, Kip Sandell , Ri ch Taylor, Dag Boyesen and Brian Carroll, o ften p rovided the closest racing o n th e tra ck. Stanton sums it up 8 Before th e sta rti ng ga te dropped a t the Orlando Su percross, signaling a new season of supercros s a nd Nati onal MX raci ng, th e th ou ght th at o ne rider co uld win three cha m p ions hips never serio us ly crossed anyone's mind. No rider had done it before, a nd with the number o f quality racers on tap, who would hav e th ought th at on e rider would dominate th e way Bayle had? Certainly not Stanton, th e dominant rider th e pr eviou s two years wh o just m issed bein g th e first to acco mp lish th e feat both tim es. But Sta nton's dominati on ended this year. In stead , he'll be ca rry ing the number two a nd three plat es next seaso n. "It was p rett y much a fru strating year," said Sta nton . " I won just about as many races this year as before, but no cha m pions h ips. I started off well in Supercross , then I got hurt. I came back from that and did real well in the 250cc Nationals, then I got h urt, and th e 500cc season was just a flop for me. I j us t d idn 't do good , something always ' happened - a cras h , ge tt ing hurt, being sick. It was just one of those years. " You ca n have th ose good years , but it tak es a bad year [ 0 m ak e yo u a p p rec ia te th e good o ne s," adde d Sta nton. ''I' m just go ing to have to work a little harder and correct wh at I d id wro ng." Can Bayle repeat in '92? By th e end of the season, Bayle had demoralized his American rivals, m uc h like R ick Johnson did in 1988 when he won 14 su percross and National events. There 's no doubt Bayle, who is one of th e most naturally talented rid ers in th e world, will be tough t beat again next year. But Bayle has said that winning th Camel Su percross Championship w th e most important thing to him , an now that he's done that, he's set a ne