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/127413
eINTERVIEW 125cc MX National Champion Mike Kiedrowski ; Aiming for the top By Nate Rauba furrow formed on Mike Kiedrowski's brow as he strained aga inst the bow pressure and aimed hi s arr ow at a distant target. The first sho t was wide and high of the three -inch bu lls-eye, but desp ite the cold, stiff win d blowing out of the sou thern California desert, his aim was tru e on h is second and third attempts. J ust as Kiedrowski strives to improve his arc hery skill s for his first hunt, he also has his sights set on reaching higher goals in motocross. Now that Kiedrowski has won his second 125cc Nation al Champion sh ip , he' s looking ahea d to winning a titl e in every class, just lik e his Kawasaki teammate Jeff Ward has done. " I don't dwell on the past," says Kiedrowski, who turns 23 in January. "If you win , you 're only king for a week. When you lose, you 're. back down to where you were before." . In Kiedrowski's case, he's king for the year in the 125cc Nat ional class. He was also a memb er of the winning Amer ican Mo to cross de s Na tio ns team . But he had to loo k back at his previous year to h elp him rea ch A 6 Mike Kiedrowski's most coveted trophies are his two 125cc National number one plates, Mot ocross des Nations cup and medal, and Japanese headdress for winning the 125cc GP at the Suzuka circuit in J apan. his goa l o f winning two 125cc Na tional titl es. After winning the first cha mpionshi p in hi s ro oki e yea r in 1989, Kied row ski began the 1990 s eason read y to defend hi s title. But his then new Honda teammate, Je an-Michel Bayle, was int ent on taking it away. And accord ing to Kiedrowski, Honda was help ing Bayle do just tha t by givi ng him special parts to make his CRI25 su perior. Kiedrowski still fough t hard to retain hi s number one pl at e, and that led :to an int ense rivalry with Bayle. The two had some run-ins in the Camel Supercross Series, bu t an incident during a National in Michigan - where Bayle accused Kiedrowski of running him off the tra ck - pushed things too far. " H e was on the outside, I had the inside," recalls Kiedrowsk i. " Neither of us shut off and we ran into each other. He said it was my fault, but that's racing. The outside guy shuts off. After that I couldn 't ri de the suppo rt class at Unadilla. Honda said I was being penalized for the incident." Kiedrowski knew then that he wouldn't be back a t Honda the follow ing year . But he still did all he could to defend his championship, especially after Bayle broke his arm at the halfway point of the series. "They (Honda) looked at me and said it was up to me to win the title