Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

finished an eventual 16th. "Then later in the race someone rammed me and bent my shift lever under the frame." Cooper was next to fall prey to Stanton as he too began to slow. "This is my first race back after hurting my shoulder a t the Sea ttle Supercross," said Cooper. "It started to ache a little and I figured that I'd better not push it too hard." After Stanton worked his way past, Cooper managed to ho d on to third until the eighth lap. But it warn't Lamson who moved into third at Cooper's expense. After starting a bit slow, Suzuki's Phil Lawrence had set a blistering pace and motored past his competitors with ease. Lawrence moved past Cooper and into third, where he would stay to the finish. "I got an okay start, but my goggles got wasted while I was passing everyone," said Lawrence. "1 threw them off right after 1 got Cooper, but that might've been a mistake." A mistake indeed. In the closing stages of the moto, Lawrence gained ground on Stanton, but was unable to challenge because of the small amount of dust that lingered in the air. "[ wasn't worried about him (Lawrence)," said Stanton. "Once 1 got into second, 1 saw how far gone Kiedrowski was and knew that it would be hard to make up all that ground. 1 just rode a steady pace that was good enough to stay in second." Kiedrowski greeted the checkered flag and sailed up out of the quarry approximately 15 seconds ahead of Stanton, who in turn enjoyed a five-second cushion over Lawrence. Dowd muscled his way past Lamson and into fourth, while KTM's Cliff Palmer, ProCircuit's Buddy Antunez, Cooper, Andrews' Cycles' Fred Andrews and Bradshaw rounded out the top 10. Bradshaw got the jump at the start of moto two and led Kiedrowski, Stanton and Lamson through the first set of turns. Behind them, a huge pileup claimed many riders - among them Cooper, Suzuki's Jeff Matiasevich, Japan's Kohji Ohkawara and Lance Smail. Smail was knocked unconscious in the crash and was transported to the hospital for further tests. Meanwhile at the head of the pack, Stanton and another rider made contact at the top of the drop-off, and Stanton was knocked off the track and sailed down onto the quarry without his machine. Stanton remounted in last place, well behind the field, but in typical Stanton fashion, set a steady pace and began the long trip up through the pack. Bradshaw continued to lead the first lap but succumbed to Kiedrowski halfway.through lap two. Once into the lead, Kiedrowski again set sail and roosted away with another convincing win. Making Kiedrowski's mission easier, however, was a small miscalculation on Bradshaw's part. "1 pushed it a little too hard into a turn and the front end washed out," said Bradshaw. "Once 1 got up it took me a while to get going again, and by that time he was pretty far ahead. 1 did feel a lot better in the second moto, though. My suspension wasn't even close to being set up right in the first race." Bradshaw picked his bike up after his little spill in time to hold on to second, and from that point on, rode a lonely race, 14 seconds behind Kiedrowski, yet well out of reach from the rest of the field. Lamson rode in third in the early stages of the moto but fell prey to a hard-eharging Lawrence on lap six. No sooner had Lawrence scooted past, Dowd did the same, as Lamson began to Camel Supercross Series points leader Jeremy McGrath (15) quieted his critics by scoring the overall win in the 125cc National. give into the pain from an injury sustained earlier in the week. "1 crashed really hard on Wednesday and messed up my shoulder," said Lamson. "1 faded a bit in the first moto because of it, but the pain was almost unbearable in the second race." Lamson eventually finished out of the top 10. In the meantime, Stanton continued to methodically pick off riders and on lap 10 of what would be a lS-lap race, sat in seventh, just behind Palmer and Antunez. Stanton worked past both of them on the next circuit and set out after Lawrence and Dowd, who were engaged in a heated battle for third. Dowd gained the upper hand on Lawrence and managed to slip away before Stanton closed in. Stanton found' his way past Lawrence with three laps left, but he failed to close on Dowd. Kiedrowski thrust both fists into the air as he sailed over the finish jump well ahead of Bradshaw. Over 30 seconds later came Dowd, then Stanton, Lawrence, Palmer, Canadian Carl Vaillencourt, Kurt McMillen and Antunez. "1 made a clean pass on Bradshaw and that was the last 1 saw of him," said Kiedrowski. "Once 1 got out front 1 knew that 1 could win again. This win helped me a lot. I'm going to ride the rest of this series harder than any other." 7

• Cover