Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

riders behind hi m and giv ing the top two a ch an ce to make a clean break from the pack. Stanton gave chase, but th e Frenchman began to distance himself slightly at the halfway point and finished about 2.5 seconds ahead. " I had Stanton on my back and I had to ride very fast," Bayle sa id. Yam ah a's J eff Emig finished th ird, abo ut 15 seconds behind Stanton , wi th Suzuki's Larry Ward a close fourth, th e final transfer position from the heat, and Shaun Kalos fifth o n a Noleen Racing-backed Kawasaki. The second heat started with Kiedrowski in the lead with Peak Antifreeze/Pro Circuit Honda 's J erem y McGrath second, Kawasaki 's J eff Matiasevich third, and crowd favorite LaRocco fifth . Bradshaw sta rted poorly, but by the end of the second lap he was into third after Matiasevich fell in a slo w downhill left-hand corner when he " h it the groove wrong. " On the fourth lap, LaRocco took the lead , but was repassed by Kiedrowski before he took it back for good. Just aft er the halfway point Bradshaw and Kiedrow sk i tangled and both were kn ocked out of the race. Bradshaw exp lai ned that whe n the " two Mik es," La Rocco and Kiedrows ki, didn 't make the finish jump well, he went to the outside, lan ding o n Kiedrowski and damaging bo th of thei r bikes. Kiedro wski said th at La Rocco had passed him over the jump, bu t he no ticed that he was sai li ng towar d his teamma te's front wheel. He let off and came up a little sho rt on the landin g. " Nobod y wants to get passed, even though we're teammat es," LaRocco said. " We both want to win races." . It was LaRocco wh o sped a lone to the heat wi n. McGrath, in his third 250cc Supercross, finished second, Yamaha 's Dou g Dubach was th ird and KTM 's Mike Fisher was fourth. T o get ready for the semi , Bradsha w's Brian Lunn iss-Ied crew had to rep lace h is Yamaha's triple cla mps, ha ndlebars, levers, a nd fro nt whee l. " We ben t pretty much everyt hi ng on the front end of the bike," Brad sh aw said. . Kiedro wski's mecha n ic, Shane Na lley, replaced hi s Kawasaki's rear subframe and front fork guard. The firs t of two six- lap semis that would put the top five finish ers into the main was briefly led by Kalos until he endoed o n the second lap. Cooper took over the point position and won by over five seconds, thou gh his knee had begu n to swell up following his heat race crash. " I slammed my knee on the ha ndlebars," he said. KTM 's Keith J ohnson ran second the whole way in front of Su zukisupported Cliff Palmer, while Kawa -. saki's J eff Ward finished fo urth ahead of Surf Detergen t-backed J eff Gl ass. To no o ne's surprise, Bradshaw and Kiedrow ski ra n away with the front position s in th e second semi , Bradshaw pulling o u t about three seco nds at th e end. . " My ba ck is a little bi t sore," Bradshaw said regarding the effects of his heat race crash. " You hav e to deal with that and go on to th e main even t. Riding the semi doesn 't mean you can't win the main." Kiedrow ski wa s a co m fo rta b le second, KTM /jT/ KR W C ycl esbacked Mark Musselman finished an equally untested third with Tuf Ra cing teammates Ron Tich enor and Todd DeHoop fourth a n d fifth , respectively. The final two riders to com p lete the main lineup would come from the last chance qualifier and Matas ievich, after Damon Bradshaw (4) battled wit h Stanton for the lead durin g the firs t half of the main until he crash ed on lap 12. str uggl ing in his heat and semi, held it together for the win , despite riding with a bro ken index fin ger. " I was taken out in th e first turn of my semi," Matiasevich said. " I broke my index fin ger. It was hard to hold "On. My leg still isn't feeling good. I haven 't been abl e to ride all week." Esso Canada's Carl Vaill an court ran second for th e distance wi th Rich Taylor third at th e fin ish . The main began with Bradshaw flyi ng do wn the start chute and leading the pack into the first left tu rn . Stanton and Bayle were close behi nd with Kiedrowski and LaRocco h olding dow n the next two spots. Sta nton flew past Brad sh aw o n th e third lap to tak e th e lead , Bayle still he ld th ird while th e Kawasak i duo began their own fight th at would las t the entire race. Up fro nt , th e top two ga ined a little breathing room o n BayIe as th ey raced side- by-side, with Stanton crossi ng th e line in the lead every lap. Their battle ended on th e 12th lap wh en Brad shaw wasn 't able to get cleanly pa sta lapped rider and went over the handlebars. Bayle clos ed up on Stanton , but the leader wasn't to be den ied and wo n by abou t a second , " I lo ve th e Hoosierdo me,' Sta nt o n said. "I just rode my race an d didn't do anyt hing out of the ordinary. I knew Jean-Michel was coming o n, but I was just riding my pa ce. A win 's a win , a point's a point. " Bayle said he was waiting for Stanton to mak e a mi stak e, " And he didn't make one , so I had to try to catch him." Still , Ba yl e was well ah ea d of LaRocco, wh o had passed Kiedro wski on the ninth lap. " I' d lik e to be th e next step up," LaRocco said o n the po dium. "Unfortunately, I didn't get off quick eno ug h. I didn 't get out fro nt with those guys at th e begin n ing, then I had a little trouble wit h tra ffic," he added before thanking the partisan crowd. Fourth went to Kiedrowski after he rode by himself for the second ha lf of j im my Button (39) stalled on the last lap of the 125cc Eastern Regi onal main but managed to stay just ahead of Brian Swink (I) to score his second straigh t victory. th e race. The 23-year-old Californ ian was disappointed with h is perfo rmance, but kn ew what it would take to improve. " I need to hang it o ut a little bi t," he said. "Through the whoops Mike wa s a little more aggressive. T ha t's wh a t I need to do . He got a little bit of a lead and I couldn 't do an yth ing. " Cooper passed McGrath for fifth five laps from the end. McGrath , wh o lead s the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Seri es and is concentrati ng on th e 125cc Nationals, said he was worn out from riding the bigger bike. " I had fifth in th e bag and I could n't hold on," he said. ' 'I' m a little mad I cou ldn' t hang on for 20 laps, but I'm happy with th e finish. I 'v e be en training real hard. Not training to race 250s, but tr ain in g for the 125cc Na tio na ls. This is my third race (o n the 250). By the time next year comes around, I want to be able to wi n th ese races ." Emi g finished seventh, Larry Ward eig h th, and a battered Jeff Mati asevich ninth in front of Fisher, wh o is coming off a sho u lder injury . " I sho u ld've stayed hom e," Matasievich said. " I rode so much my leg started hurt in g," he said, referri ng to h is left th igh that he bruised th e previo us week in Charlotte and prevented him fro m training du ri ng the week. 7

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