Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127552
Kiedrowski, who finished in that order behind him. "I just watched what was going on ahead of me, studied the lines, and did what I had to do," said Bradshaw. " It's so muddy out there you have to choose your lines carefully." Slipping into fifth was Bradshaw 's teammate Doug Dubach, while sixth went to J ones. Suzuki-support rider Cliff Palmer, who spent most of the race dicing with Dubach and J ones, successfully held off Noleen Yamaha's Larry Brooks for seventh, whil e ano ther Suzuki support rider, Phil Lawrence, finished a close ninth. Rounding out the top 10 w'as Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich. "On the third lap, a rock broke my rear brake, so I basically had no brakes," said Matiasevich. "On a hill y track like this, that was really a. problem." Matiasevich al so sported a badly bruised palm on his right hand, suffered earlier in the day in a heat-race crash. " It really hurt, so I just couldn 't hit anything really hard; I couldn't attack, " said Matiasevich. Three-time National MX Champion Jeff Ward was never in the heat of battl e after crashing on the first lap. H e ended up 22m!. Another hard-luck rider was Team Green's Michael Craig. He was running sixth early in the rnoto before a radiator hose popped off, which eventually caused his motor to overheat and seize. The second 250cc moto was effectively over after the first couple of turns . While bidding for the holesho t, Stanton ran up on the inside of Bradshaw, tagged the Yama ha rider 's back end and crashed, almost taking Bradshaw down with him. Larry Brooks and a coup le of other riders also hit the High Point soil in the resulting pileup. A tum later, Bayle washed out and crashed, and both Bayle and Stanton spent the rest of the moto playing catch up . _ Ward led the pack into the second lap before getting passed by Bradshaw, who then proceeded to ru n away and hid e. The factory Yamaha pilot made himself uncatchable by stretching his lead each and every lap . Kiedrowski also slipped by Ward early in the race for second, whil e Bayle and Stanton conti nued to charge through the pack. I Just after the halfwa y mark, Bayle had alrea dy moved into third after passing Ward , then set his sights on second-place Kiedrowski. With nine laps left and abo ut seven seconds to make up on the Kawasaki rider, the Frenchman slowly whittled away Kiedrowski's advantage and eventua lly slipped by on the secondto-last lap. At the same time, but quite a distance back, Stanton was working on Ward for fourth. Ward didn't put up much of a figh t, and Stanton easily roosted by on the inside of a left-hand sweeper. Bradshaw cross ed th e finish line ap pro ximately 10 seco nds ahead of runner-up Bayle and third-place Kiedrowski, while even furth er back was . fourth-placed Stanton. Ward was fifth, while sixth-place Palmer came out on top of a race-long dogfight with Matiasevich, Jones, Craig and Rad 'N' Bad's Fred Andrews. . Dubach, who finished fifth in the first moto, failed to fmish the second moto when his bike seized a few laps into the race. Bradshaw was elated with the overall win , as he took a victory. lap and saluted the crowd. ~ "I feel great," Bradshaw added. " I proved that I can come back and pass the best of them. Basically I wanted to get a better start and get out in front as soon as possible." Neit her Sta nton nor Bayle were Denny Stephenson had a day he'd j ust as soon forget in the High Poin t mud. available for comment afterwards, as they barely had time to take off their riding gear before heading to the airport to catch flights home. Kiedrowski said: "Those guys were going fast today. I saw Bayle comi ng in the second rnoto, but there just wasn't anything I could do about it, " l25cc National The 125cc National featured close racing in both motos. In the first rnoto, local rider Chad Lough, riding a Bare Brothers/ AXO / RenthallHammerhead Graphics-backed Suzuki, nailed the holeshot and led for a half a lap before getting passed by ยท Cooper and LaRocco. Lough , from Tazewell, Virginia, ran third for seven laps , and fourth for a few more before eventua lly dropping back to ninth where he would take the checkered flag. "I wasn 't really nervous up front, I was more like extremely excited," said Lough. "After I settled down, I actua lly felt like I belonged up there. I j ust can 't wait to call my parents and tell them!" While Lough was enjoying his firstever top 10 National ride, it was Cooper in command of the race, as he enjo yed a fi ve-seco n d lead o n ru nner -u p LaRocco. But it didn't last for long. On the third lap, Cooper misjudged a berm, got crossed up in a rut and came to a stop. " I slid into the main ru t and my front wh eel climbed up the berm ," sai d Cooper. " My rear wheel stayed in the ru t and I just hung there, stuck." His legs dangling in the air, Cooper wrestled with his bike and eventua lly got it pointed in the right direction, but by that time the damage was done, as La Roc co had caugh t h im. Cooper, however, held LaRocco at bay for the next nin e laps before LaRocco made his move and passed Cooper in a tum . Cooper man aged to stay close to LaRocco for the rest of the race but didn't really chall enge until the last lap. But it w'as too late, as LaRocco and his Mike LaRocco Sr.-tuned Kawasaki held on for the win, only a few bike lengths ah ead of Cooper. While LaRocco and Cooper fou ght for the lead, an intense battle brewed over third involving Yamaha's Jeff Emig, Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes and Tichenor. The three riders traded places numerous times, with Hughes forging his way into third, Tichenor fourth and Emig fifth. But while trying to pass Hu ghes for third, Tichenor and Hughes tang led with Hughes hitting th e di n . The Kawasaki rider recovered in seventh, while Tichenor found himself all alone in third with Emig now one position higher in fourth. "H e (T ichenor) came in on the inside of me and rammed me," said Hughes. " It wasn't reall y a dirt y move, but I didn 't think it was a very good place to try to pass." Fini shing a fairly close fifth was Suzuki's Brian Swink, who started the moto in lOth. Close behind Swink was Cooper congratulates an exhausted LaRocco after the second 125cc moto. LaRocco edged Cooper in both motos for the overall win; Cooper was the runner-up. A mechanic's nightmare - mud. Bradshaw's wrench Brian Lunniss was a busy man. Team Peak/Pro-Circuit/Honda rider J erem y McGrat h. H ughes ended up seven th , whi le Suzu ki's Larry Ward finished eighth. Ward, who won last week's race in Sou thwick, Massachu setts, was one of many riders involved in a first tum pileup. The crash also claimed team mate Den ny Stephenso n, North Carolina 's J im Neese, DGY Racing's Tyson Vohland and Suzuki support rider Grayson Good man . T ichenor was the early leader in the second moto with Cooper and Larry Ward in close pu rsuit, and hot on their heels was first-rnoto winner LaRocco. Tiche nor's lead was sho rt-lived, as Cooper passed the T uf Racing-backed rider during the first lap. At tltis poin t, tltin~ looked good for Cooper as his main n val, LaRocco, had to pass Cooper' s teammate Ward and Tichenor before getting a shot at him. However, Cooper threw it all away when he crashed in a tum. " I made a mistake," said Cooper. " I overshot the inside line, caught my front wheel in some mud and went over the bars. Then I had to pu ll my bike out of the muck." Ward , wh o had moments earlier passed Tich en or for second, found himself leading the way just ahead of Tichenor, LaRocco and now fourthplace Cooper. A few turns later, LaR occo also slip ped by T ichenor. For the next eight laps, Ward and LaRocco diced for the lead , wi th LaRocco fina lly getting the upper hand on Ward in a tum. Whil e Ward and LaRocco dueled, Cooper snuck by T ichenor and closed in on them. Moments after LaRocco passed Ward , Cooper moved into second and made a thrilling last-lap , do-or-die bid for the lead only to come up a few feet short. LaRocco held on for the win ahead of Cooper, Ward and T ichenor. " I gave it all I had ," said Cooper. " It was the best I could go, LaRocco ju st went beuer, I tried extra hard on the last lap . I wish I could've gone that hard the who le race, but I just wouldn' t have lasted." "Tichenor and Ward were tough; they've been rid ing good , lately," said LaRocco. "Cooper was right there the who le way. If he'd ridden the whole race like he did the last lap , I would' ve been in trouble. " - - - - - - Continued on page 23 9