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/127531
~ mnEw~O~~ ~_ lli_~_SS_~_~:_b_~_d3 _ ~ Erik Kehoe (20) led Mike Chamberlain (92),'jeff Stanton (2), and Damon Bradshaw (4) at the start of the 250cc main event. Kehoe eventually dropped to lOth. Bradshaw led all but two laps of the final to earn his second-consecutive win, increasing his series points lead to 10 over former series champion Jeff Stanton. Bradshaw attacks Anaheim, again By Ken Faught Photos by Kinney Jones and Faught ANA HEIM CA, JAN. 25 , wo years ago the Anah eim Supercross served as a turning point for Dam on Bradsh aw. Yamaha 's then 17-year-old -wua Child" won th e first two ro unds of the supercross series that year , including An aheim, before cras hing hi s way ou t of champ io nship conte nt io n in the foll owing ro und, forcing him to ride injured for most of the remaining seaso n. That was then , thi s is now . Now 19, the aggressive youngster with th e go-for-bro ke attitude is a seasoned veteran with a lot of confidence and a mor e conservative riding style. And for the second consecutive week th e new Bradshaw won the 20lap Coo rs Light Ch all enge, bringing hi s career Su percross victory total to 10 whi ch ties him for ninth on the al1tim e win list with Broc Gl over. Brad shaw , wh o hail s from Mooresville, North Carolina, ga ted fourth in the main event and shot hi s Brian Lunni ss-tuned Yamaha YZ250 past early lead er Erik Kehoe on .Iap two , en ro u te to recording a convinci ng win in front of 63,266 specta tors. Curren t AMA /Cam el Su percro ss Champion Jean- Miche l Bayle, who started fift h, passed both Kehoe and form er champ ion J eff Sta nton on lap T 6 three and even tually fini shed second, two seconds behind Bradshaw. Stanton was th ird after fending off charges fr om fourth-place fini sh er Guy Cooper, and Mike Kiedrowski, who worked his way to a fifth place finish after a medi ocre starL " I got out of the gate pretty good and knew that was al1 I needed, " said Brad shaw. " I got good starts all night long and knew that was going to be im po rta nt on this real1y fast track." The other start Bradshaw referred to came in the second heat race, where he gated second before col1ecting the win . Combined with the main event vic to ry, Bradshaw's heat race win earned h im the first Coors Silver Bullet Showdown award of the season. The $1000 award is offered to the rider who posts the fastest winning time in a heat race and then goes on to win the main. If the mon ey is not claimed at an even t, it roll s over to the following round and conti n ues to amass until somebody win s i l. Since no o ne was able to pul1 off th e feat during the first two rounds in Orlando or Houston, Bradshaw pocketed $3000 in addition to th e $10,000 winner's sha re of the $50,000 250cc purse. Mor e importa nt ly, th e win extends