Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cooper, who took over th e spo t wit h a pass o n Nol een Racing' s Sha u n Ka los o n th e seven th la p aft er a racelo ng fig h t. Sta nton, who said he "sta rte d o u t co ld" a nd " j ust rod e lik e crap," was fifth and had to rid e a semi a lo ng with teammat e Ba yle, wh o finish ed eig h th, The seco nd hea t was decided just a few turns from th e sta rt wh en Bradsha w qui ck ly took th e lead a nd never look ed back. H e would fini sh ab out six seco nds in front of Kiedrowski and earn a Coors Li ght Si lver Bull et point for winning th e fastest heat of the night, bu t just bar ely. H is eig h t-la p tim e of 5:23,21 seconds was .77 faster than Mat asi evich's time. . T ho ugh th e win loo ked easy, Bradshaw was concerne d a t th e sta rt. " T he bik e was sp u tte ring a little bit a t' th e start ," he said. " 1 didn 't know ' if th e ign itio n was burning o ut or wha t it was. I was hopin g I co u ld go a litt le faster tha n I was goi ng, but some la pped riders go t in my way and th ere were ju mps I co u ldn't jump , b ut th at 's raci ng ." Awav fourt h at th e sta rt. Kiedrow sk i moved' fir st past Yam ah a ' s Dou g Duba ch, th en passed T u f Racin g 's Ron ni e T iche no r in a set o f whoops sho rt ly before th e en d o f the fifth lap. Free of traffi c. he p u lled a way to a safe ' seco nd. whi le Tich enor held third to th e fini sh in fro nt of Dubach , T he fir st s i x- lap se m i had th e number " I " and " 2" bik es o f BayIe and Stanton a nd.it wa s a safe bet th at th ey'd be two ' of the five riders advanc ing d irectl y to th e main . T ea m Pea k/Pro Circu it H onda' s J erem y McGrath got the j um p a nd led for the first two laps befor e Ba yle. us ing a berm in a left-ha nd horsesh oe in the o pe n end of the sta diu m end zone , je tted in to the lead. Team m ate Sta nton joined' h im a t the front after passi ng McGra th in a left-handel' j us t afte r th e fin ish jump, bu t Bayle ' was pull in g away and wo uld w in by over fo u r seco nds. Stanton . was seco nd , McGrath third , a n d 125cc World Cha m pion Stefan Everts , in hi s last American a p pea ra nce befor e head ing back to Europe, was fo urth ahead o f Em ig. " I lik e th is track a lo t; it 's very tech n ica l," Bayle said. H e al so sai d he fel t the y were mak ing pro gress with the factory H onda CR250 aft er a slo w sta rt th is year. "Now everyth ing is r ight o n th e bik e. If I ge t the ho lesh o t, I' m goi ng to try to win." Suzuk i's Larry Ward ap peared to have th e second sem i wra p ped up until h is bike sp u ttered a nd sta lled o n th e thi rd lap. H e was a ble to restart it, but fi nishe d 14th. The p rob lem was traced to so me wat er in th e float bowl wh ich was inte rm itte nt ly suc ked up into th e main jet. Wh en Ward 's bi ke sta lled, T eam G ree n's Mich ael Cra ig inh er ited th e lead, with Kawa saki 's Mik e Lak.occo in pursuit a nd KTM 's Mike Fisher close behind in third . LaRocco mad e a charge at th e end but ca me up just ' short , and Fisher held on to th ird just in front o f T u f Ra cin g ' s Todd DeHoop. Canadian Ca rl Vailla ncou rt fini sh ed fifth. La rry Ward made sure he'd be o ne of th e two rid ers tranferring to th e ma in from the si x-lap last cha nce qualifier. T he 21-year.old from Soc iety Hill , South Ca rolina, led from sta rt to fini sh, with WKR /Pro Action Su spen sion / Max ima 's Brian McElroy doing th e same in seco nd. KTM's Keith Joh nson took over third rid ing arou nd a pi le-up j ust before th e fini sh. "Anything ca n happen outthere," Ward sai d of having to rid e the LC_Q into th e main. " It puts a lo t o f pr essure on yo u. I'm g lad I got to ride tha t last Larry Ward (10) finished third in the ma in while Dam on Bradshaw (4) came back from a first -turn crash to finish sixth, Ezra Lusk (1 17) led to the first turn in the 125cc main. Jimmy Button (39) later passed hi m an d won his first-ever main event. on e, The jumps are reall y high a nd it's scary wh en th e bik e bogs go ing up th em . It just to tall y q u it in th e sem i," J eff Ward go t the jump a t th e sta rt of th e 20-la p main event with Matiasevich right behind h im a nd in fro nt of Stanton , . Larry Wa rd a nd Dub ach . Bayle was a way ninth. T he re were four sepa ra te crashes on the firs t lap a lo ne , with Brad sh aw go ing dow n in the first turn a nd ge tti ng a way last. Larry Ward was briefly in fro nt of Sta nton for third, bu t th e Ho nda rid er to ok th e posit io n back o n the fo urth la p while Bayle moved up to fifth . . Sta nt o n LOok o ver seco nd on th e sixth la p by passin g Ward, wh o was having troubl e ho lding onto th e han dl ebar s. " I have a broken fin ger tha t's no t heal ed u p too we ll ," the 30-yea r-o ld J eff Wa rd sai d, "It was co ld ou t th ere a nd m y fin gers cra mped u p . I had to back down in th e wh oop s. I th in k I got passed o nce a la p. " First Bayle and the n Larry Ward went by J eff Ward o n th e seven th lap a nd began to pursue Matiasevich a nd Sta nton. T he race was signifi cantl y sett led o n th e eig h th lap wh en Mati ase vich crashed o n th e face of th e finish jump, sta ll ing Sta n ton and a llow ing Ba yle to scoot into th e lead. Matiasevich rod e back to the pi ts after the race a nd wa s la ter carr ied a way o n a stretcher with a sus peered broken leg. " I had to get by him . (Ma tiasevich) as fast as 1 co uld," Sta nto n said. " I knew he (Bayle) was righ t there." T he H on da teamma tes qui ck ly pu ll ed a way from Su zu ki 's . Larry Ward , making it a two-m an race, ' Sta n to n never let up, bu t Bayle would not be den ied a nd took h is first win o f th e year. " I di d n 't have a very good sta rt and I came back a nd I'm happy with this race," Bayle sai d. . Sta nton sai d, " . . . jus t did th e best I c

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