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/127535
Winning 125cc main events has become routine for jeremy M cG~th (right). j immy Gaddis (left ) finished second and Budd y Antunez (cent er) was third. from start to fin ish by Stanton. Bayle passed Kiedrow ski [or second posi tion on the first lap , a nd for th e next two la ps he searched for a place to pas s Sta nton. Bayle's cha llen ge ended on la p three when he crashed in a set of sma ll ju mps. " I just went over th e bar s," said Bayle, wh o event ually got up and rod e back to the p its. "The track is very strange, sometimes you make a mistake and the lin e is comp letely diff erent. " Bayle would have to compe te in a semi . Bayle also described the tra ck as being "Very technical, better than all the tracks we've had before. " The track featured the standard double, triple a nd tabletop jumps, as well as a 180foot long whoop section. Unlike the previous weekend's event a t Seattle where riders comp lained about not being abl e to pass on the one-line track, there were no complaint s about th e San Diego course, but most riders said it was difficult to get into a good rh ythm. After Bayle's fall , Kiedrowski took over second and remained about five seco nds behind Stanton to th e finish line. Shaun Kalas held third place throughout the ra ce, while Doug Dubach cha rged up from a terrible start and passed Australian Anthony Gobert for fourth hal£wa y through the race . Gobert dropped to seventh at th e finish behind fifth-place finisher Ron Tichenor and jeff Emig. Heat two belonged to Bradshaw as he stormed to 21 convincing five-second win and comp leted the race eight seconds quicker than Stanton did in the first heat. There was a good battle for second as jeH Ward was constantly challenged by Ultracross Champion Michael Craig, but Belgian Stefan Evens, the 125cc World Champion, joined the duel late in the race, and on the last lap he passed Craig through the long whoop section. Everts moved in on runner-up Ward, but couldn't find a way past in the last four corne rs and fin ish ed third wit h Craig on h is tai l in fourth. In th e first of two six-lap semi-fina l races tha t wou ld advance the top five fini shers in each to the ma in , j eff Matiasevi ch grabbed the holeshot a nd carried the lead to the finish. Bayle dogged him for mu ch of the race but appea red to back off sli ght ly near the end and finished two seconds behi nd the winner Mati asevich. Bu t most of the attention was on th e unknown to Ameri can fans - Aussie Gob ert. Gobert ran fourth beh ind Cal ifornia 's Mike Chamberlain in the first hal£ of the race before T ichenor passed him. Tichenor also got by Yamahasuppo rted Chamberlain late in the race to finish third, while Gobert found himself o n th e bubbl e and being attacked by Kawasaki T eam Green's Gene Naumec and local favorite Larry . Brook s. Na u mec fell back on the last lap and No leen-backed Broo~s .too k fifth away fro m Gobert , who fin ished six th a nd was headed [or th e last cha nce qual ifier. " I'm here with an Austral ian prom oter," said Ifi- year-old Gobe rt, who li ves in Sydney and won Australia's 125cc Supercross Champion sh ip last year. " Hopefu lly I'll be back in th e U.S. for th e last two rou nd s of the series." , Gu y Cooper dominated the second semi as he built up a four-second cushion on Larry Ward on his way to the win. Mike LaRocco held third until he went down in the difficult whoop section, moving Erik Kehoe up to the show position. j immy Button and Micky Dymond diced for fourth until they tangled and crashed in the whoops, which put LaRocco back up to fourth . Ward had Kehoe closing in on him when he crossed the fin ish line well behind Cooper, while LaRocco maintained fourth to the fin ish well ahead of Team Peak memb er j eromy Buehl. Dymond led the six -lap last chance Kiedrowski (3) crossed the finish line second, just ahead of jean-Michel Bayle. Winless butnotworried C amel Supercross Champion jean-.Mich~1 Bayle is 0[£ to a slow start defending his title. but he's not worried, In the first five rounds he has one runner-up finish, three thirds and a sixth. La st year at this time he had won three events and had I he points lead . ..It's just racing. you can't win everyone." said Bayle at San Diego. Bayle attributed part of his difficulties 10 clutch problems with his factory Honda in the first two rounds. And injuries suffered late last year In European supetcross events delayed his preparation for the Camel Supercross Series. Bayle said that he had surgery to remove a plate in his arm on December 13, and that he wasn't fully fM when the series began january II in Orlando. Despite the slow start. the 23-year-?ld Frenchman i.~n·t disappointed. " Trn happy with my results, to be III the top three, Bayle said. He feels no pressure carrying the number one plate, " I don't care , if I'm champion (again) I am, if not. I am not. It's my I~st year (iA MX) and it's nice to ride with the number one plate. Th~ bes~ guy ~Ill take the championship, I was best last 'Year and hope to be best again this year, So far Damon Bradshaw has been the best in the Camel Supercross Series, and Bayle, who 1ies third in the standings and is 2q points behind Bradsltaw, believes all the pressure is on him. "I know what it is to be champion and know it is very hard to win the title," said Bavle. "It's the first time he's (:in position) for the championship. ''I'm Just going to try to win some races and do my best to be champion. agai~," Bayle also does his best to ignore the spectators who have been booing him when he 's introduced during opening ceremonies at SUpeRTOSS events, "It's better to feet that everyone is with you, but it's no big deal ," said Bayle. "I just adapt and do what I have to do . not think about them.'" 9