Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

_ _ _ __ _ __A_ _ti_ll_l _Ch_ l!ionshil! 125/25Occ M AM N o a am a XSeries:Rounds4/4 M OrOeROSS ~ ~ By Kit Pal mer and Chris Jon n um Photos by Kinney J ones SACRAMENTO, CA, JUNE14 t might not have been exactl y p rett y, but Tea m Yam aha 's Dam on Bradshaw sco re d h is second co n secutive 250cc Na tio nal Champ io ns h ipoverall victory, despite losing a grudge match to series po ints lead er J eff Stanton in the second mo to at the 24 th runn ing o f th e Hangtow n Na tio na l a t the Pr airi e City OHV Park near Sacra mento. After breezing to a 10-second ma rgin o f vi cto ry o ver d efend ing 250cc Nati o na l C h a mpio n .j ea n -Mic he l Bay le i n th e firs t o f two rnotos , Brad shaw found it im possib le to pull off the same tr ick twi ce, a nd in th e seco nd mo ta Stanton simply out-rode th e 19-year- old factory Yamah a p ilot o n the dry, hard-packed and dusty H angtow n trac k. But what reall y matters is that Bra dsha w's 1-2 mot o finish es beat Stanton 's 3-1 for th e o vera ll victory , earning th e Yam ah a p ilot two more precious poi nts than Sta nt on, whose series poin ts lead over Bradsha w was narrowed to 12, Ii 9-167, wi th two ro unds rema inin g in the -series. Stanton went into the H angto wn National 14 points ahead of Bradshaw. Third wit h 137 points is Honda's Bayle, who did not star t th e seco n d mo ta a t Hangtown because of a sore sho u lder. Do ug Duba ch made it two Yam aha fac tory rider s on th e victory ros trum by pos ting a solid third overall show ing via 4-3 moto fini shes. Rounding o u t the top five overall were No leen Ra cing's L arry Brooks (5-4) a nd Suzuki support rider Cliff Pal mer (9- . he wou ld not compete at H an gtown. Before the firs t rnoto, Bayle, said, " It (the injury) isn ' t as bad as I firs t thought. It' s still prett y sore but I can still go fast. " 6). . In the 125cc National, local her o Steve Lamson returned to actio n for th e first time since breaking a fem ur at th e H ouston Supercross in February. His return was a profi table one as he scored not o nly hi s first -ever National mo ta vi cto ry; bu t hi s firs t- ever Na tio na l overall win as well. Lamso n led all but the first two la ps in the first rno to and fin ished th ird in th e second 10 claim the o verall trophy. Wh en asked h o w h e felt ab out wi nni ng his first Nat io nal, Suzuki's Lam son , who lives in near by Po llock Pines, Cal ifornia, summed it up in o ne word: " Awesome!" Yamah a' s j eff Emig was th e runneru p in the 125cc class with a 3-2 tall y. Li ke Lamson, Em ig was making a return to actio n, having injured hi s hand a t last month' s Mt. Morris National. Mik e LaRocco, th e series po ints leader, finished third. The factory Kawasaki rider co uld climb no higher than sixth after getting tangled up in a fir st-tu rn pi le-up in th e firs t mot a , but came back with vengence in the second mo ta and scored the win. Despite finis hing third, he still gai ned ground in the series po int standings o ver his nearest co m p eti to r , Ron Tic h eno r, wh o fin ish ed se ve n th . LaRoc co has 150 points 10 T icheno r's 118. A cro wed estima ted at between iOOO and 8000 specta tors turn ed out for th e event, and a day-long mode ra te breeze and su nny skies kept the hi lly track dry and quite dusty, especially in th e second round of the two 30·minu teplus- tw a-lap motos i n eac h clas s. Desp ite th e dusty co n di tio ns, th e d ryness was very much welcomed co m pa red 10 last year 's flooding, where o n ly one mota in each class was run. Perhaps the biggest surprise at Hangtown was the presen ce of Bayle, who injured his shoulder at the San jose Supercross one week ago, and said 250 National Wh en the gate dropped for the start of the first 250cc rnoto, it was Brooks wh o led the 40-rider pa ck into the offcamber left-hand first turn, bu t it was Brad shaw, on his Brian Lunniss-tuned Yamaha YZ250, who had contro l at the en d of the first lap . From th at point o n, it was all Bradshaw's race, as he stretched o ut his lead 10 a 13-second margin by th e ha lfway point over team mate Dubach, who had passed Brooks o n the third lap. Whil e Bradsh aw cruise d o u t in front , Bayle and Stanton were bus y making up for fifth- and sevent h- p lace starts. Bayle and his Cliff White-prepared Honda CR250 had control o f third by the halfway mark and the Frenchman was looking fo r da ylight aro u n d Dubach , while Stanton chased o nly a few seconds back in fourth . Holding o n. to fifth was Brooks, just ahead of KTM's Mike Fisher, Suzuki sup po rt rider Phil Law rence, Kawasaki T eam Green's Ge ne Na umec and Palmer. Dubach, mea nw hil e, was holding his own, mak ing life miserab le fo r the defending cham p, Bayle. It took the Bayle a number of laps before he was abl e 10 pass the Yamaha rider for secon d. " I felt reall y good out there," said Dub ach. " I'm riding like the way I sho u ld've been all season." Once Bayle go t by, Dubach 's problems were still no t ' over, as he had Sta nton to deal with. Du bach , how ever, kept Stanton at bay for five laps, until Stanton stu ffed him over a jump. By the time St anton go t aro u n d Dubach, however, Bayle wa s long gon e, as was Bradshaw. And Bayle couldn 't make a dent in Brad shaw 's lO-second lead . It was Bradshaw all al on e out in front at th e checkered flag, with Bayle finishing a lonely second. Stanton crossed th e finish lin e just inches ahead I jeff Emig (8) led more laps in the 125cc class than anyone else, but ende d u p th ird overal l wit h 3-2 moto fin ishes. The sign say s i t all. Steve La m so n 's mechanic PeteS teinbrecher lets h is ri de r know th a t "1 st overall" is j ust a few lap s away. of Dubach 10 tak e th ird , while 45 seconds later, Brooks crossed th e line in fifth. Lawrence, landed a distan t sixth, comfortab ly ahea d of Naumec, Fisher, Palmer and Suzuki rider Willi e Surratt. Kawasaki 's Mik e Kiedro wski fin ish ed a di sappointing 14th , after having to stop to rep lace a front wh eel in mid -mote . The two- ti me 125cc Nat ional MX Champion said th at h is front wheel caug ht Sta nton's foo tpeg in the first turn , resu lting in brok en spokes. Bayle decided 10 call it a day between rno tos. Accordi ng to Honda race team man ager Dave Arn old, " He (Bayle) felt o kay at first unti l the track (surface) go t harder and slic ker, and th e jarring off the big ju mps were really hurting hi s sho u lder. It (the shoulder) got worse rath er th an better bet ween motos, so that was it. He said he cou ld' ve ridden and finished between 10th and 15th, perh aps, but decided it wasn It worth it. II With Bayle out, the seco nd moto ended up bein g a 30-minu te duel between Stanton and Bradshaw . Bradshaw was the early leader with Stanton breath in g down hi s neck . After two laps, Bradshaw let Stanton by and into the lead. "Yeah, I let him (Stant o n) by, " said Brad shaw. " It was early in the race, so I figured I'd let him by and watch his lines. But aft er I did that, I realized I had made a mistake." O nce Sta nton had th e lead , Bradshaw kep t within striking distance of the Honda rider throug ho ut th e race, then sta rted losing ground near th e end. "The du st was bad," said Bradshaw . " I couldn ' t get close eno ugh 10 pass, ins tead, I almost crashed a coup le of times because I cou ldn't see." It wasn't until a few laps from the end wh en Brad shaw noticeably began losing a lot of ground to Stanton, who ended up taking the checkered flag on hi s Danny Betley-tuned Honda CR250 , ap pro ximately seven seconds ahead of Bradshaw. 17

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