Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ Bmp~RO~w~~~oo_o~~s_m_'~_:R_OU_~_IO ~ Jeff Mat iasevich (9) grabbed the holeshot at the start of th e main event and led for a lap before hom etown favori te Ron Tichenor (23) passed him on lap two . , ., , a ewmsa WI one In By Nate Rauba Photos by David Gowey and Rauba TAMPA, FL, MAR. 28 swi ft line through a difficult whoop sec tion helped p ropel J ean-Mich el Bayle from fourth place to his second victor y of the season in th e 20-lap Coors Li ght Challenge in T ampa Stadi um. It wa s a sho w th at th e 32, 899 spectators wo n 't soo n forge t. In a wild race that saw th e lead change at least seven tim es among five different rid ers, it eventuall y came down to a four-rider battle. Ba yle made th e fin al move to th e front wh en he shot from fourth to . second th rough a whoop sectio n, then passed Honda teammate J eff Sta nton for the lead a few seconds la ter. T he defendi ng Ca mel Supercross Ch ampion pulled out a six-second margin on his Cliff White-prepared Honda CR250 over Stanton a t the finish line wh ile Suzuki's Guy Cooper o ut-d ueled Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw to finish th ird. T eam Peak /Pro Circui t Honda rider J eremy McGrath rounded ou t the top five, and after the race the 250cc class rookie wa s quick to poin t out to Stanton: " I was di cing wi th you gu ys for a li ttl e bit." " Everybody was," Stanton replied . " Ever ybod y wa s boun cing o ff of A everyone ." 6 " It's always better to wi n a close o ne for the people," said Bayle, who ha s won the last three su percross events in the Tampa/St. Pete area. " It ,may be more difficult, but it 's better for the p eo pl e, th e sh ow , tel evisi on , everything. " And in a rare display of Ba yle showmanship, he salu ted th e cro wd with a raised ar m and thumb s up during a victory lap around a portio n of the T rack Bu ild ers In c.-built course which com p letely covered the playing field used by the Nat ion al Football League's Tam pa Ba y Buccaneers. T he cro wd responded with loud cheers. Bayle took home $5000 of the $30,000 250cc class purse, and now hol ds the points lead for the first time this year. The Frenchman leads Sta nton, 211208 , wi th si x roun ds rem ai n i ng. Bradshaw , wh o lost the points lead for th e first time when he cras hed in Indianapolis a week p rior to th e Tam pa event, slipped I I po ints behi nd Bayle. " I have to look a t it as a six -race series wh ere I steadil y have to make up points," said Bradshaw. Bayle seemed much less wo rried abo ut holding o n to his sli m points lead. " I'm just tryin g to do the best every tim e," said Bayle. " I 'Il try to win o r be on the podium a nd try not to think abo ut the cha mpionshi p. We'll check the poi nts after the last race." .While the Coo rs Ligh t Challenge was a barn-burner, the 125cc Eas tern Regional main event was a sleeper as defendin g cham p Brian Swi nk led from the start a nd won by 22 seconds on his Marshall Plumb-tuned, factory backed Suzuk i RM1 25. " I wanted to ride hard from sta rt to fin ish a nd see if the g uys could keep up with me," said Swink, who packeted $2000 of the $10,000 125cc purse. His victory was clouded in controversy as several riders accused him of ca using a start-stra igh t pi leu p that effectively eli m inated h is pri ma r y adversaries. Swi nk recei ved a wri tten warning from AMA referee Manny Hay nes for his actio ns (see sidebar). Although he didn 't crash , DGY Racin g's J im my Button was a slig ht casua lty of the melee as hi s fro nt brake was da maged. In the restarted race, Button was still ab le to pass severa l rid ers and finish second, well ahea d of Chad Pederson, who reach ed a supercross winner's circle for the first ti me. Swink holds a -l l-point lead over Button in the l25cc Eas tern Reg ional Supercross Series, 167-126, with three rounds re ma in i ng. The Mi chi gan resident can clinch the ti tle by finish ing II th o r bett er in the fir st n igh t of the Ap ri l 11-12 Pontiac Su percross doubleheader. 250cc The first of the two eig ht-lap heat races tu rn ed ou t to be a preview of wh at was in sto re for the main event. After Bradshaw and Stanton passed Yamaha's J eff Emig for the top two posit ions ea rly in the race, they set out in their own private battle for the lead . Kawasaki's Jeff Ward also passed Emig, bu t he co uldn 't get close to second-place Stanton. By th e halfway point, Cooper had charged up to th ird fro m a sixth-place sta rt, and closed in rap idl y wh en Bradshaw a n d Sta n to n hit lapped riders on lap five. Wh en Sta nto n began challe nging Bradshaw for the lead, it slowed them both down and Cooper .jo in ed the fray. On the last la p, Cooper and Stanton were battling side-by-side for second wh en Sta nton cli p ped Cooper 's rear wheel exi ting a corner a nd fell as the y en tered the wh oops. Cooper charged after Bradshaw , wh o won by a few bik el en gth s. Sta nton reco ver ed to fini sh third, wh i le Emi g clai me d fourth and th e last transfer position to the main after Ward fell lat e in th e race. " I told my wife J ayni that I really didn 't feel m yself ton ight," Cooper said. " I wasn 't going go od in prac tice." Heat two was relatively uneventful as Bayl e grabbed the lead and streaked a way to win by seven seconds. Kawasa ki teammates Mike Kiedrowski and ] eff Matiasevich battled for second for three quarters of th e race until Matiasevich , wh o was riding with a broken right index finger , cl ipped Kiedrowski' s rear wh eel entering a turn and n earl y fell. T h e bobble a llowed

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