Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Supercross Series and $4000 of the $IO,OOO-per-day I 25cc purse. ''I'm real happy ," said Sw i n k. "T here was mor e competition th is year. The others were inconsistent but they had the speed. " For the first time in at least five years, the Silverdome course was changed. The course, which was construc ted by SuperTrack Builders under the direc-tio n of J erry West and Rich Winkler, still sent riders up into a portion of the grandstands , bu t the start straigh t was moved towards the center of what is normally the Detroit Lio ns ' foo tball field. It was a crowd-pleasing trac k with multi ple jumps that created some sideby-side raci ng in front of the main spec tator areas, altho ug h the 78,813 fans wh o a tte nded o ver two da ys probably didn 't real ize the fru stration it ca used to th eir hometown hero Sta nton. Desp ite an effor t to alle via te Saturday ni gh t's first- turn crowding, there were pi leu ps at the start of nearly every race on Sunday in the gO-degree bend. "The track was too easy," said a frustra ted Stanton following Sunday's main. " Everybod y was doing everyth ing and I had to wait for someone to make a mistake to get by." Wh ile La Rocco, along with a few other riders, felt it was difficult to ma ke up time on the track , he knew passing wasn't impossible. " Bradshaw made a pass , so it 's not like it co uldn' t be done," La Rocco said. Saturday Priva teers Mark Musselman and Mike J ones jumped to the front of the first eigh t-la p heat while Stanton and Suzuk i's La rry Ward were left back in th e first turn. " Jones jus t ra mmed me and knocked _me off the track ," sai d Sta nton. Jones sto le the lead from Musselman on the first lap and held it for ha lf of the race. Musselman began drop ping back afte r lap two as Peak /Pro Circuit Ho nda ride r J erem y McG rath , Noleen-backed L a rry Br oo ks and Brad shaw go t by. McGrath ju mped into the lead over a tri p le on th e fourth lap wh ile Brad sha w shot fro m fourth to second. Bradshaw q u ickly closed in o n McGrath , and after a co up le of laps of side-by-side racing throug h a side line jump sectio n , slipped by as they began the final lap. Bradshaw crossed the finish line just a head of McG rath , while Cooper finished third after taking the position on th e sixth lap. Jones finished fourth, the last transfer position to the ma in , after holding off th e late-race cha llenges from Brooks and Ul tracross Champion Michael Craig. Yam aha 's Dou g Dubach exited the first turn with th e lead in heat two with Bayle right behind him . The two rid ers battled for six laps while LaRocco broke o u t of a tu ssle with teammate Jeff Matiasevich and mov ed in on the two front runners. It appea red that Bayle's pressure go t to Dubach on lap seven as the Yamaha rider got sloppy an d missed several of his lines. It was a ll Bayle needed as he got by and rode on to the win . Dubach settled do wn o n the last lap and held La Rocco off for second, whi le Ma tiasevich finished a distant fourt h and had teammate Mik e Kiedrowski, who char ged up fro m a fir st-turn fall , on hi s'tai l. The first of two six-laps semis, each of wh ich put th e top five finishers in th e main, saw Ward get the holeshot , Stanton quickl y moved by Brooks o n th e opening lap and was soon challenging Ward. The two battled the rest Mik e Kiedrowski (3) stayed just ah ead of Bradshaw for 15 laps before surr en deri ng th e lead in Sunday's 250cc mai n _ of the race wit h Ward keeping Stanton beh ind him to score a narrow win. Yamah a's J eff Em ig moved to thi rd o n lap th ree and that's wh ere he finished, far behind runner-up Stanton. KTM 's Keith Johnson put on a midrace charge that carr ied from sixth to fo urth at th e finis h, while Broo ks held off a last-lap attack fro m No leen teammat e Kyle Lewis. Semi two belonge d to T uf Racing's Ron Tiche no r as he led fro m start to fini sh. O nce again, Kiedro wski was down at the start. "Tichenor stopped, I ran into him and my front wheel turned down the jump," said Kiedrowski, who got up in last and finished 13th. Tuf Racing's T odd DeH oop sta rted second and was still there at tin: end, alt ho ug h he had a stri ng of ri ders o n hi s ta il duri th e last two laps. Suzuki-supported Denny Steph en son pa ssed Surf Detergent-b ack ed J eff Glass on th e last lap to fin ish third, Glass held o n to fou rt h and KTM 's Mik e Fisher pa ssed Cliff Palmer la te in the race and held h im off to tak e the fina l transfer to the main. Kiedrowski fin all y made it through the first turn at the fro nt of the pack in the six-lap last chance qualifier , and he streaked away to the victo ry. Lewis held second the ent ire distance for the last spot on th e gate for th e ma in . A pair of privateers , Brooks and Jones, were at th e front of the pack wh en it rounded the first turn at the start of the main. On ce again Kiedrowski had first- tum troub les as he went th rough t he o u tside hay ba les alo ng with Fisher an d Ward, Bayle went to the in side to avoid the mishap bu t ano ther rider forced him into a haybal e and he was left at the rear of th e pa ck. At th e end of 'the first lap Brooks had th e lead foll owed closely by Jones, Bradshaw, Glass and Cooper. Stanton Mike La Roc co (7) held off challenges from Jean-Michel Bayle and finished third Sunday, La Ro cco finished fourth on Saturday, while Bayle recorded 7-4 finishes. was eigh th be hi n d DeH oo p whi le Bayle was 15th. Bradsh aw go t by J ones on lap two , then sna tched the lead fro m Brooks earl y on th e third lap. Cooper and Sta nton both passed Gl ass, who crashed o n la p fou r a n d retired , T ich enor also fell, hit his head hard and retired: A lap aft er movin g to first, Brad shaw had opened up five seconds o n Brooks. After Cooper jum ped pas t J ones for third o n lap five, he got by Brooks a 5

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