Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

followed by Yamaha 's Damon Bradsha w and Doug Dubach, resp ectively. Defending Camel Supercross Cham pion J ean-Michel Bayl e, who wa s ca rry ing the yell ow a nd blue n u mb er one pl at e for th e first time in th is country, was never a factor in the race, as he could climb no higher th an six th after a II th place sta rt . " I just had some problems with th e sus pension, " Bayl e sai d. " It wasn 't working the wa y 1 liked, but I'll tak e the poin ts. O nce we get th e bike working p roperly, everything will be o kay ." Some peop le a re predict in g th at Fre nch man Bayl e wo n' t be as competitive as he was last year , having reach ed hi s goal o f beco m ing th e Camel Su percross Ch ampion and wanting to begin a career in road racing in 1993. Bu t Bayle doesn 't go along with ·a ll that. " I like to ra ce, and I like riding with th e n umber-one pl at e, so I'm going to do the best I can. I will try to ri de like 1 did last year," Bayle said. "It should be easier, " Bayle added. " No w th a t I won the cha mpionship, the p ressure is off m e; I'm free to rid e. I' m go ing to try and be champion one more tim e." Damon Bradshaw, the rider who m any feel will strip Ba yle of the number-o ne pl at e a t the end of th e season, ruined his chances of wi nnin g a t Orlando wh en he cras hed and was run over while runnin g fifth on the fi fth lap. U ni nj ured i n .th e fa ll , Bradshaw regrou ped nea r th e back o f the pack a nd sti ll finished a respectabl e fou rt h. Despi te the crash, Bradshaw had a posi tive atti tude after th e race. ':1came back after th e fall. I felt good and th e bike is working great," Bradshaw said. " T ha t's the go od thing. This year I'm feeli ng like I did halfwa y through last season, an d that' s when 1 felt best. " In the Eastern Reg io nal 125cc feat ure, it was a three-way do g fig h t in volving Team Peak Honda rid er Jeromy Bueh l, Suzuki's Ezra Lusk a nd defendi ng 125cc Ea ste rn R egiona l Series Champion Brian Swink. Bue hl led most of the ra ce until lfi-year-old Lusk dove underneath Bu eh l in a turn, forcing th e H on da rider off the track. Lusk led th e next two la ps u ntil Swi n k motored by his teammate a nd held on for a well-deserved win. "I was rid ing a little stiff at th e beginning then I loos ened up," said former Team Peak Honda rider Swi nk. " I' m just tryin g to be smooth . That's what i t tak es." Swink earned $2000 fro m th e $10,000 125cc class purse. Perhaps the biggest surprise of th e night was the large attendance. An a n nou nce d 37,918 specta tors filled th e Citrus Bowl, over 6000 more th an last year's event drew. A grand total of 130 riders signed up to do battle, 60 in th e 250cc class and 70 in the I 25cc class . Only 20 riders would make it to the 250cc main by transferring through two ei gh t-la p heats, two six-lap semis and a six-la p Last Chance Qualifier. The I25 cc cla ss used two heat ra ces and a Las t Chance Qualifier to det ermine th e ma in event sta rters. 250cc Following the ope ning ceremonies, which in cluded a mod est fir eworks 'disp lay and th e National Anthem su ng by Miss Coors' Jill Thompso n , the first 250cc hea t race was set to get u nderway. The top fo ur riders in the two heats wo uld transfer directly to the main event, while the rest' would go to the semis. In the semis, the top five would tra nsfer to th e main , and the remaining riders to the Last Ch ance Qualifer, Defending Camel Supercross champ jean- Michel Bayle (I), seen here in a heat race, had suspe nsion problems in the main. Former champ J eff Stan ton 's face was battered in a hea t race pileup. wh ere o nly th e top two would make it into the feature. A fir st turn pile-up took o u t a number of top riders in th e fir st .250cc heat race, in cluding Stanton, Bradshaw, Suzuki'sSteve Lamson and Tuf Racin g ' s T odd DeH o op. Stan to n, Brad sh aw and DeHoop immediately retu rn ed to the pits with ba ttered bi kes a nd bodies. Sta nton too k th e worst of it as h is face look ed li ke he had just finishe d 12 rounds in th e ring. " I have no idea what hap pened," sai d a bl oodied a nd bruised Stanton. " Some guys behin d di d n 't slow do wn . and just kept pili ng in on us from behind. It just knocked th e shit ou t o f me. My face went right into th e ground." Larry Ward m issed th e in cident a nd led th e wa y, chased by Kaw asa ki's J eff Matiasevich, wh o is riding with a steel rod in the thigh bone he broke during th e 500cc MX Nationals la te last yea r. Sixteen-year-old Ezra Lusk (117) and defending East Coast 125cc Supercross Champion Brian Swink (I) supp lied p lenty of action in the 125cc ma in; Swink won. Desp ite th e pr essure, Larry Ward he ld o n fo r a n arro w win o ve r Matiasevich. Third across the line was two-time 250cc MX World Champion Trampas Pa rk er. ''I'm so ha ppy," Parker said. " T h is is th e fi rst tim e I' ve e ve r qualified for th e main even t (at a Ca mel Supercross Series event) ." Parker plans to 'ride the fir st five rounds o f the series before returning to Europe to defend his 250cc World Champ ionship title o n the newl y fo rm ed Cha mber s-Gatorade H onda tea m a lo n g wi th teammate Mi cky Dymond. Dymond, w ho fa iled to q ua li fy for th e main event a t Orlando , will also com pe te in the first five rounds o f th e series. Finishing fou rt h wa s Suzuki mounted priva teer Mi ke Jones fro m .Pen nsylvan ia. H e edged o ut Suzuki 's G uy Cooper, wh o had to ride th e sem is. Kaw asak i 's Mik e Kiedrowski, th e 125cc MX Na tio na l Champion, was the early lead er in th e seco nd hea t race, while teammat e J eff Ward was near th e back of th e pack after he crashe d over a tr iple jump . A first-turn pileup cla i me d Yam ah a ' s "Jeff Emig, LaRocco, On The Line Ra cing' s Eri k Keh oe and a few o the r riders. Kiedrowsk i felt early pressure fro m Ya maha 's Doug Dub ach , KTM 's Mik e Fis her and Enzo Racing 's G ene Naurnec, but it was Dub ach who was Kiedro wski 's biggest threat. Dubach p ressured Kiedrowski every lap u ntil just before the che ckered £lag when the Yamaha ride r bailed in a . section of whoops and dropped to th ird. Movi ng into second was Bayle, wh o had just passed both Fish er and fourth-place finishe r Naumec. Finishing behind Naurnec a nd just o u t o f transfer positions were Fish er, Tu f Rac i ng ' s R o n L ech ien , D ym on d , LaRocco a nd Emig, in that order. 7

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