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Jean-Michel Bayle led every lap of all three GP motos. Not even a rear flat in moto two could slow him down. Bayle rules Glen Helen By Nate Rauba Photos by Ken Faught SAN BERNARDINO, CA, APR. 5 hen Fr en chman jean-Mi ch el Bayle won the 500cc U.S. MX Grand Prix last year, he said it was hi s £irst and last 500cc GP. The com pe titors in this year's event wished he had kept hi s word. " T here was no o ther race today, so ·1 had nothing to do," said Bayle of h is decision to race one more 500cc GP. Team H onda 's Bayle co mpletely do mina ted the three, 25-minute plus two-lap GP motos at Gl en H elen OHV Park , amass ing lead s of more than 15 seconds in each race. Bayle was only hea ded at th e start of two motos, W 6 o therw ise h e led every si ngle lap aboa rd hi s Cl if£ Wh it e-prepared H onda CR500. Not even a flat rear tire in the second moto cou ld slow him do wn. Wh ile Bayle ran awa y wit h each race, Kaw asaki 's j ef£ Matiasevich gave the pa rt isa n cro wd one of the best shows as he raced from behind to 23-3 fin ishes and second overall. " I don 't know wha t Bayle was do ing, but it was like he was riding o ne th ird less of the trac k tha n the rest of us," said Geor gian Billy Liles , who fin ished th ird overall. " I kept looking for his shortcuts, but could never find them ." Although Bayle and Matiasevich were th e top point scorers at the U.S . G P, their top two positio ns in th e standings are relatively meaningless since they will stay in the U.S. to contest AMA supercross and Nat ional events . It was Lil es, a Geor gia nat ive who has chased th e World Cha mpio nshi p for severa l years, who got the rea l j ump on the cha mpio ns hip. Bayle's three-mo te sweep gave him 60 po ints and a 13-point lead in the sta nd in gs over Matia sevi ch . Lil es earn ed 45 p o ints via 3-2-4 rnoto finishes o n th e Action Worksh opbacked, wor ks HRC Honda CR500 an d, barri ng catastro p he, will build on th at score whe n the Worl d Cha m p io nship resumes May 3 in Czechos lovakia . And Li les doesn 't have defending 500cc World Cha mpion Georges j obe far behind hi m. The Belgian scored 41 points at Glen Helen by po sti ng 4-52 finishes aboa rd a Peak Antifreeze/ Pro Circuit-backed Honda CR500 wit h HRCmotor. ' 'I' m happy," said Liles. " I felt I put in a strong showing. l obe was the only Eu ro pean on the pace." It was mostly Eu ro peans wh o fill ed the starti ng ga te and overall standing s, as th e openi ng GP dr ew more than 60 en trants fro m throughout Europe and the United States. Wh ile nobod y cou ld ma tch Bayle's pace , l obe and Lil es were the fastest of the GP regulars, ma tchi ng and even surpassi ng that set by Mat iasevich. Altho ug h Eng land 's Warren Edwards looked swift in the fina l rnoto, he could n' t mai ntain the fast pace to the en d. While as man y as five riders broke away in each moto, th ere was still pl enty of ac tio n furt her back in th e pack as rid ers fought hard for every position and GP point. Unlike the last two U.S. GPs which were held in the middle of the summer, coo l and clo ud y weather pre vailed for th is year's event . And rainy weather pri o r 10 th e race left th e R oger DeC oster -designed co u rse in ide al conditio n . The track featured numer o us supercross-style jumps which a ren ' t common o n the Eu ropean ci rcu i ts, and all of th e top riders praised it. "T he track is fun," said j obe. " Many tracks in Europe are very fast and have no t changed in man y years." There were m ixed feelings on the new three, 25-mi n u te plus two-lap rnoto GP format wh ich replaced two 40-minu te plus two -la p mOlOS of th e past. Most of th e com plaints were aga inst the sched u li ng whi ch required th e com peti tors to rid e at least two practice sessio ns, q ua lifying and timed practi ce for starting ga te po sition , the day befor e the GP. " It makes for a lo ng day," said Li les. " We used to be able to go home and rest o n Saturday afternoon." " I prefer th e 40-mi n ute mo tos, it's a harder cha lle nge for the riders," said three-time 500cc World Cha mpio n David Thorpe, who has 12 years of GP expe rience. " It 's good for the spectators, though. They get to see three starts and three fin ish es." When the first G P rnoto started at I p .m , on Sunday afternoo n , Bayle rocketed 10 the lead foll owed by Swede jorgen Nilsson, Edwards and jobe. Belgian jacky Marten s, the runner-up in la st yea r's cha m p io n sh i p, was involved in a fir st-turn cra sh and restarted h alf a lap down. He later pulled o ut with no chance of reaching the top 15 po ints-paying positions. " Someone came from the inside and h it me in the leg," said Martens. On the first lap, Bayle began to pull away as L iles moved to second. Matiasevich reached third early on lap two, but Lil es was already five seco nds ahead. . Bayle cont inued to pull awa y at a rat e of about two seconds per lap . He had five seconds on Liles on lap three , seven a lap lat er and approaching the halfway point he was II seconds ahead .of Lil es. By this tim e Lil es had com e under attack from Matiasevich , and on lap seven of what would be a l-l-lap rnot o, Matiasevich flew by Lil es in a series of double jumps, whi ch were actua ll y cons idered whoops by FIM standards since the mounds were less than 3.3 feet hi gh. "I made a cou ple of mistakes and Matiasevich was rig h t th ere," said Liles. By the tim e Mat iasevich reached second, Bayle had built up a 14-second lead , and there was little he could do 10 reel th e Frenchman in. " I kn ew o nce Bayle go t o ut front he'd be tough to catch ," said Mat iase-