Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1992 02 05

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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Bradsh a w' s cha mpio nship series points lead to 10 over Stanton in the cha se for the number one pl ate and the $100,000 bonus from Camel that awai ts the man who's cro wned champ ion in June. "T he lead isn 't anyth ing with 13 races left," said Bradshaw. " I need to win five or six in a row (to make any significant diff erence). T h is is no time to get cocky ." In 125cc action, 20-year-old J eremy' McGrath repeated his Anaheim ma in event victory of last year and extended his series points lead in the process. McGrath, th e defending We stern Regional Champion, led the race final wire-to-wire for his first win of the season. Teammate Buddy Antunez, who started the 15-lap 125cc race in third, battled with Team Suzuki's Damon Huffman during the opening laps. ' Antunez passed the first-year pro on lap three and then set his sights on McGrath, but never really got close. Suzuki support rider Phil Lawrenc e was third. · "It won't be so tough to carry the number one plate any longer," said McGrath of Murrieta, California. " I' ve been talking to my parents about all of the pressure and they hav e really helped me out on the mental part. Last week, I finished third in Houston and had a tough time coping with it. That was an East/West race and th ey (the Eastern Regional riders ) had already raced once this year. For the guys in the West, th at was our first race." 250cc Bader Manneh kick ed off th e act io n by leading Jeff Stanton and 125cc World Champion Stefan Everts of Belgium in th e first of two eig h t-lap heat races that would transfer the top four riders from each directly to th e main. The fifth through 20th place fini shers would have to ride o ne of two six-l ap semis and fini sh among the top five for a transfer spo t. The remai ni n g riders com pete in the Last Chance Qualifier from which only the top two fini shers adva nce to th e main event. Stanton quickly esta blished hi mself as the man to bea t, moving into the point position ah ead of Everts , the son of four- tim e World Cha mpio n Harry Everts. Manneh eventually fell off the pace as a battle brewed between Team Gr een Kawasaki's Michael Cra ig and. Suzuki's Guy Cooper for third. The pa ir went at it for two lap s until they coll ided. . " Craig was on the inside and I went to the outside," said Cooper. "I saw him bobble and cut into my line. I was passing for third wh en we both went down pretty hard." The incident left both Cooper and Craig out of contention and moved Larry Ward into third. Ward caught Everts and made a successful bid for second on the final lap, giving him the runner-up spot at the checkers behind winner Stanton, with Everts finishing third. Kawasaki's Mike LaRocco, the winner of the opening round in Orlando, worked hi s way up from a midpack spot to secure the final transfer spot. The second heat race began as an all-star affair with factory riders Matiasevich, Bayle and Bradshaw •taking to the front of the field on the opening lap. Kehoe was fourth followed by Kawasaki teammates Mike Kiedrowski and Jeff Ward. Bradshaw didn't waste any time and .he worked his way to the front and held a six-second cushion by the fourth lap as Bayle hounded Matiasevich. "He (Matiasevich) was riding really good and protecting his lines," said More than 63,000 spectators turned out at Anaheim Stadium. The event traditionally draws the season's largest crowd. Bayle. "I didn't want to risk goi ng down and possibly gett ing hurt. I just kep t pressuring him and hoped that he would ma ke a mistake." That mi stake came on th e sevent h lap wh en Matiasevich hi t a hay ba le, allowing Bayle to cru ise past. Matiasevich held on to fin ish th ird. Kiedrow ski, the 125cc National MX Ch ampion, worked h is way arou nd Keh oe for fourth, with Kehoe even tually dropping to eigh th behind Brian Swink, J eff Ward and J im my Button, all of whom would have to ride a sem i. For the second time on the night, Manneh holesh ot the field to lead th e first six -lap semi. Sh au n Kalos, who ga ted second, for ced h is way into the lead o n lap two , but couldn't break away from th e pack. All eyes, though, were o n Cooper, wh o wo rked his way into second o n lap two aft er a po or start. " I jus t couldn't get off th e gate in any of my races tonigh t," said Cooper. " I ma de a lot of progress through the whoops and that ena bled me to catch th e lead ers. A good start, though, would have ma de it a lot easier. " After quickly pass ing half a dozen riders, Cooper was houndin g two-time 125cc Nati on al Champio n Micky Dymond, wh o held second. Cooper p layed Ioll ow -th e-leader for the rest of the opening lap and then wor ked hi s way past Dymond on lap two and Kalos a lap lat er. Kal os tried to retake the lead , but couldn 't ma tch Cooper's pa ce. Dymond finish ed third with Dub ach slipp ing past Manneh o n the fin al lap for fourth. Emig finished sixth and would hav e to ride the Last Chance Qualifier. FMF/Aloe-Up-backed Ra y Som mo led Kehoe and Jeff War d into turn o ne in the second semi , but th e top three positions reversed themselves by the end of th e second lap. While Ward and Kehoe cru ised up front, Californian Sommo had to contend with Floridian Gene Naumec and Oklahoman Cliff Palmer. Near th e halfway point. . Sommo and Palmer coll ided, handing Naumec th ird. Both Sommo and Palmer recovered, but finished in th e back of the pack. The incident also all owed J immy Button and two-time Worl d Champion Trampas Parker to break into the Defending Supercross Series Champion Jean-Michel Bayle finished second. top five. At the fin ish th e p osiuons stayed the same wi th Ward taking th e easy win over Kehoe, Naurnec, Button and Parker. The Last Ch an ce Qualifier was by far the mo st spectacu lar race of th e n igh t. Local rider Mik e Ch amberl ain , of "nearby C arden Grove, gated perfectl y to lead Chris Young and Palmer. Back in th e pack were fact ory riders J eff Emig, Mik e Fish er and Brian Swink, last year's 125cc 'Ea s tern Regional Supercros s Series Champion. Both Fisher and Swink never got up to speed, but Emig was making tremendous progress. T he a ct ion , though, was more spectacular up front as Palmer and Chamberlain swa pped positions while Young looked o n from third. The actio n becam e mor e inte nse on the last lap as Emig overtook Young and challe ng ed for a transfer spo t. Em ig made a pass attempt o n the top two in the final turn, bu t almo st crashed. Chamberlain was credi ted with the win , foll owed closely by Palmer. " T h is is prob abl y the closest race I've ever been in," said Chamberlain. " It was made even tougher by the sim p le fact tha t it 's the last chance to make it to th e main. Let me tell you, there's a lot of pres sure." " Las t week I crashed pretty hard and bit my tongue reall y bad," said Fisher, who did not qualify for th e main. " In fact, I didn ' t kn ow if I was even going to ride . My tongue was so swollen I couldn' t even talk until yesterday." Wh en the ga te dropped to start the 20-lap main even t, On-The-L in e/Pro Circuit-backed Kehoe shot out of the first turn with Stanton, Chamberlain, Bradshaw and Bayle hot o n his rear fender. Chamberlain quickly faded to midpack as Bradshaw worked on Kehoe. On the second lap Bradshaw moved into second and he got a good drive ou t of a tight left-hand comer to rocket past Kehoe through a whoop section. " I can't remember the last time I led a main," said Kehoe. " It must have been at least two years ago . It's been so long that I was having trouble keeping the pace - I was making a lot of mistakes and tensed up earl y. Once I mellowed out I got into the groove." 7

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