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
GmnEw~W~~_m_~_&_~_:R_OO_~_5 _ ~ Mik e Kiedrowsk i (3) charged to the seco nd tu rn wi th Erik Keh oe (20), Damo n Bradsh aw (4), Jeff Ward (6), J eff Mat iasevich (9) and the rest of the pack chasing after h im . Damon Bradshaw (left), Yamaha T eam Manager Keith McCarty (cent er) and mechanic Brian Lunniss (righ t) ga th ered for Bob Hannah's television in terview . Bradshaw makes it four straight.in San Diego By Nate Rauba Pho to s by Ken Faug h t and Kinney Jones SAN DIEGO, CA. FEB. 8 a ma ha's Dam on Bra dsh a w felt he did n 't ride as well as he has in the past few weeks , bu t tha t wasn 't apparent to the 36,796 spectators in J ack Murphy Stadium: Y 8 For the fo urth week in a row, the 19-year-o ld North Carolinian domina ted th e 20-lap Coors L ight Ch al leng e ab oard his Bria n L un niss-tu ned Yamaha YZ250 and crossed th e finis h line wi th 10 seco nds to sp ar e over Ka wasak i's Mik e Kied rowski. " 1 didn 't feel like I rod e as well as I have in the last cou p le of races, but I ro de well enough to win ," said Bradsh a w, wh o has won fo ur of the first five ro u nds of the Camel Supercross Series. T he ra ce was a bit closer than Brad sh a w's l O -seco nd margin of victory may mak e it appea r. It too k him thr ee laps to pass ea rly race leader Kiedrow ski, and once he reach ed the front , Brad shaw cou ldn ' t pull a way like he's don e th e past few weeks. Kiedro wski sta yed abo u t four seco nds beh ind th e lead er until he fell and lost a positio n to H onda 's J eff Stanton on la p 12. Bu t Sta n to n cras hed two laps from the finish, a nd Kiedr o wski went by and then held off a last-la p charge by defendi ng Cam el Supercross Ch amp io n J ean -Mi ch el Ba yle to fi n ish seco nd . his best-ever supercross placin g. T ea m Honda 's Bayle cra shed hard in hi s heat and raced the ma in with a severe head ach e and a sore back. Sta nt o n recovered from his cras h in ti me to salvage a fourth -p lace finish , well a hea d o f Kawa saki 's Mi ke La Rocco. Brad sha w co llec te d 7000 , p lu s bo n uses, for hi s victory. $5000 ca me fro m th e $45,000 purse posted by the event p romoter , the Mickey Thompso n Eruert a inrn e nt Group. Co o r s added another $2000 as Bradsh a w wo n the Silver Bu llet Showdown award, wh ich is given to th e ma in event win ner wh o also wi ns th e fastest hea t race. T he $1000 award wasn 't claime d the pr evious week so it ro lled over to th e San Diego round. Brad sh aw's four-race su pe rcro ss win st reak is the lo ngest since two -time Supercross Champion Rick J ohnson beg an th e 1989 sea son with fiv e stra ig h t win s. 1£ Bradshaw can win the next two races in Atlanta a nd Da ytona, he'll tie th e record of six wins in a row set by Johnson in 1988 a nd in 1978 by three-time Supercross Champion, Bo b H an na h. The streak has given Bradsha w a co m m a nd i ng 20-point lead in th e young seaso n over two -ti m e Ca mel Supercross Champion Stanton , 118-98. Ba yle lies th ird, one poi nt behind Stanton. " My goa l was to go back East wit h a wi n and good po ints," sai d Brad shaw . " It keeps the adre na li ne a nd co n fidence up, bu t -I' ll still ride like I'm 10 points behind," Defend ing l25cc Western Reg iona l S u p e rc ro ss Ch ampion J er em y McG rath ha s hi s own strea k going in the 125cc class. T he Pea k Antifreeze! P ro Circuit H o nda rid er from Murrietta, Ca lifornia , led every in ch of th e 15-lap main event aboard hi s Sk ip. Norfol k-tuned CRI25 to co llect hi s thi rd -straight win o f the eigh t-ro und Western Reg ion a l Se ries . Suzuki su p porte d Jim my Ga dd is ro de the ent ire race in seco nd a nd cross ed the fi nis h l i n e fi ve seco nds behi n d McG ra th , whi le McGrath 's teammate Buddy Antunez co mp leted th e top three. "The 250 gu ys be tter ,,'!Itch o u t," said a confident McGrath from the rostrum, which wasn't far be hi nd the sta rti ng lin e whe re the th e 250cc riders were staged for th e mai n. McG rath will move u p to the 250cc class as the series moves to th e Eastern Region for the next seven events. Besides win strea ks, the co ntin ui ng trend o f in creased a ttenda nce a t Camel Supercross events this year co ntin ued. T he a nnounced a ttenda nce of 36,796 was nearly 4000 more th an last year 's event dr ew. 250cc The first o f two eight -la p hea t races, in wh ich th e top four finish ers tra ns fer d irectl y to the ma in, was co ntrolled