Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Sta nton (left) and I 25cc class winner Je rem y McGrath (ri ght) cha tted in the Honda camp afte r p ractice. In the background is Stanton 's mech anic Da n Betley. holesho t in the second heat , but it was Kaw asaki 's Mike Kiedro wski leading th e way aft er the firs t lap, narrow ly a head of Bayle. Swi nk dropped back LO th ird. But it only LOok a lap for Bayle to tak e the lead by passing Kiedrowski over the tri p les. From then on , it was Bayle's race, and he scored the wi n going away. Bayle's winning time was ap p ro xi mately six seconds quicker tha n Bradshaw 's time. Kiedro wski sai led across the fin ish li ne a lonely second, while.Swink held bac k a charging Ron T ich enor LO la ke third. Finishi ng one spo t o u t o f th e transfer was Cooper in fifth, who was follow ed closel y by T eam Green 's Mich ael Craig and J eff Matiasevich , wh o had co me back strong a fter crashi ng on the first lap aft er clipping Swink's rear wheel in a turn. 250cc se mis H eadlining the first o f two six-la p sem i races, each of which adva nced the LOp five riders LO the main, was Brooks . He gra bbed th e ear ly lead and never let go of i t. Ch amberla in, wh o started th e sem i in third, kept Brooks o n his toes by fi n ish i n g a cl ose seco nd. Shay ne King , the New Zea land Supercro ss Ch ampio n, was in th e heat of th e batt le throug ho ut th e race and was rewa rded with . a stro ng third p lace fin ish . Fourt h went LO Rad ' N' Bad' s Ri ch Taylor, while Del Arno Suzuki's Ch ris Young rounded out the LOp five. T he second semi featured wh at was perh aps the mo st exciting race of the night , involving Guy Coo per, Suzuki's Denn y Stephenson, Matiasevich and Cra ig. Cooper rounded the first tu rn o ut in front , but his teammat e Stephens on . mad e a surprise pass and had the lead befo re the end of the first lap. Ma tiasevich had a mi serab le first lap after dropping a ll th e way back LO sixth , but he q u ickly regrouped a nd mov ed in to third by th e third lap. For the last th ree laps , Stephenson, Cooper and Matiasevich had the cro wd sta nding once again.. The thre e-way shooto ut for the lead was intense with Stephenson barely hanging onto the lead. Wi th the wh ite flag in sig h t, Cooper saw h is cha nce and dived under neath Step henson and stuff ed h is way int o the lead. Cooper p ushed Step henso n o ut wide, wh ich gave Mati asevich the roo m he needed to also zap him. T he fina l lap was a two-rider spri nt LO the checkered flag. At the finish line, it was Cooper inch es ahea d of Ma tiasevich, wit h Stephen son a close thi rd. A bike-length ba ck in fourth was Cra ig, wh o was foll owed by Fisher. " I wasn 't too disappoint ed havin g LO rid e the semi , because it ga ve me a chance LO get some extra tim e on th e track and check o u t so me new lines," said Cooper, who was an obvious cro wd favorite. 250cc last ch a n ce qua lifier Suzuki rid er Grayson Go odman was the earl y leader in the fou r-la p LCQ. . which wou ld transfer th e top two riders LO the main. But Goodman was passed by ano ther Su zuki rider, Cliff Pa lm er , o n th e th i rd lap . Whil e atte m p ti ng LO repass Pal mer , Goodman crashed and dr op ped LO third. Inheriting secon d was KTM 's Keith J ohnson, wh o pushed Palmer LO the ch ec kered fla g b ut made n o rea l attemp t LO pass. Palmer scored the win just ahea d of J oh nso n, whil e Good man fin ishe d thi rd, his night over. A surprise non -qualifer was La rry Ward , who finished fourt h in the LCQ. . "1 just had o ne of those nights," said Ward. " So mebo dy g hos t-rode . th eir bik e in to me in the semi a nd took me ou t, and the same th in g happened to me a t th e sta n of the last cha nce." 250cc m a i n As soo n as th e gate dropped for the start of the 20-la p Coors Light Cha llenge, Brad shaw was al ready in trou bl e. Gridded almost in th e middle of the stan line , th e factor y Yama ha rider was pin ched off from bo th sides an d was midpack going in to the first turn . Leading th e wa y was Broo ks, but hi s mom ent of glory would only las t for a lap befo re h e slowl y slipped bac k in the pa ck. Stanton quickly took over th e rein s with Mat iasevich and Bayle hot on his heels. Event ua lly settl ing into fourth and fifth were Kiedro wski a nd Bradsh aw , resp ectively.' ,I Positions didn 't change amo ngthe lead group unt il lap Iour. .when the lead . trio went in to a tight left-han d tu rn three-ab reast, wit h Stan ton o n the inside, Bayle in th e midd le and Ma tiasevich o u tside in th e berm . Immediately aft er the turn was a sand- pit McGrath (1) clinched the Western Regional l25cc Supercross Series title at San Jose. sectio n leading to a doub le, where Bayle caree ne d off th e tra ck and slammed in to a hay bale. " I had j ust passed Stan ton and he tried to pass me back," said Bayle. " Stan to n touched me - my back wh eel - and th at was it. Tha t's just racing. " Sta nt o n saw it differently. " T here was no contact," said Stan·LOn. " He (Bayle) passed me and 1 went und ern eat h to p a ss him back . If anything, my from wheel migh t have touched h is left leg that was hanging off hi s bike, but th at had no thin g to Bay-Ie to bailon·L .' u cr .AS ner osst fter crash ing, injuring h is shou lder, and finishing a.disappoi nri ng ni nt h at the San J ose Supercross on J une 6, defe ndi ng Cam el i Supercross Ch ampion Jean-Mic hel Bayle said that he will not ride th e final rou nd of the series, the reschedu led J u ly I I Lo s AngelesSupercross'at the L.A . Memo ria l Col iseum. The Frenchman, who an nounced at th last seaso n that th is year would be his the MX circui t in order topursue a careerinGP road racing , is going LO make hi s road raei ngdebut in the J uly 19 French 250ccG P. Before the Los Ange les Su percross was rescheduled to J u ly I I, from June 20, Bayle .had planned a p ractice road rac ing session in France on the same. da te. Since Bayle feels he is now out of titl e co ntentio n in . . th e Camel Supercross Series , he wants to follow Defending Camel ~up ercross throughwith the Jul y II practice session, despite Cham p ion J ean-MIchel Bayle a po ssible separa ted sho ulder he suffered at San J ose. . . But according to Bayle's race team ma nager DaveArnold. Monday June 8, "I 'm not 100% sure what 's going to happen. 1 believe t ituation is th is: H e has pre-arranged a GP practice session for J ul y II , a IllS as muc h practice as he can get to look as good as poss ible in his deb ffieiall y) an y attemp t to willfu lly miss a (Na tional MX or Supercross ) race II void hi s (current !\IX) . contract. What tha t exactly means, I do n 't kn ow yet." " Following th e Sa n Jose 'Supercross,' Bayle also sa id h e woul dn' t ride the J un e 14 Hangtown National Championship 250cc MX, because of his shoulder inj ury . "T hat depends on tHe. severity. of ' the injury," said Arnold. "If the inj ury is seriou?eilough, then he won 't ride. 'T hat's fine." . ;'Y .Bu"t'as fat a s the Los Angeles 'Su'perc ross is concerned, "I'm reasonably sur~ :' , he (Bayle) .will ride ," sa ' . . " I thin k he sai d he wo uld n 't ride ( t~e) L.A. (Su percro ss) because th i 1 going \,:ell for h im ri ght no w. Cra shmg an d 'h urt ing his shoulder a t , . he's mo,t li kely not go ing to wjn the Su percross ch amp io ns hip now, and t e date, con flict s wit h his road l':lcing plans . I think he'svery frustra ted righ t now. We'll know morelater in .the ;" ··.... .,. . _ \<>eek." ·iiii. · NIl A ~ 7

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