Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~M oroeRass AMA National Championship 125/250(( MX Series: Rounds 5/5 the first win, the rest come a lot easier, I've been doing a lot of riding on a 500, in preparation for the 500cc Nationals, so maybe that helped with my aggressiveness on the 250." With a second-place finish in moto two, Stanton earned second overall, while Kawasaki's Jeff Ward had his best finish of the season after missing the previous round to have surgery performed on his shoulder. Ward's 43 moto finishes secured third overall. "My shoulder was really holding me back (before) because I couldn't train properly. I've only ridden about eight times since May, so I'm pretty happy with my performance," said Ward. In the 125cc class, 21-year-old Emig split moto wins with Kawasaki's Mike LaRocco to claim the top spot with 1-2 scores, earning $1600 from the $12,500 125cc purse. LaRocco posted 3-1 moto finishes, good for $1450, to maintain his lead in the 125cc National series with 220 points, while Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk turned in his bestever National performance and fin,ished third overall. After starting the season poorly, Emig jumped from sixth to third in series points. Emig trails Suzuki's Guy Cooper by seven points, 162-169. Cooper was fifth overall on the day. ~ Two-time 125cc National Champion Mike Kiedrowski notched his first-ever 250cc National victory at Red Bud Track 'N' Trail. Jeff Emig (8) holeshot the first moto of the 125cc class and posted 1-2 moto finishes to win the first National of his career. Kiedrowski,.Emig score first-ever wins at Red Bud By Chris J onnum BUCHAN~N, Ml, JULY 5 t may have rained on the Fourth of July in Michigan, but Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski and Yamaha's Jeff 'Emig provided plenty of fireworks the following day for the estimated 8600 fans on hand at the MS Ra,cing-sponsored,Red Bud Track 'N' Trail National MX. Kiedrowski, last year's 125cc National Champion, notched his first-ever 250cc National win, and Emig scored his. first-ever National win in the 125cc division on I 4 a track that, thanks to the rain the day before, was described by some as being perfect. Only in the late stages of the day did any dust appear and that wasn't enough to hamper the racers. Kiedrowski's 'win didn't come easily, as he split moto wins with crowd favorite Jeff Stanton of Michigan, the 1990 250cc National Champion. Stanton currently leads the 250cc series point standings with 226 points. Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, who entered the round second with 167 points, failed to score a single point as he crashed while leading the first moto and elected to sit out moto two, effectively ending his chances 6f winning the 250cc National Championship. Stanton needs to score only five points at the next and final round in Troy, Ohio, to clinch his third 250cc National title, as his Honda teammate Jean-Michel Bayle, who was running third in the standings with 137 points going into the Red Bud round, was a no-show due to a sore shoulder. Kiedrowski's performance I!etted him $1600 from the $15,000 250cc purse and vaulted the southern Californian from fourth to second place in the point standings, at 181 points. Kiedrowski finished a distant second to Stanton in moto one, but capitalized on a bad start by the Honda rider to win the second moto and the overall. When asked how it felt to earn his first 250cc National win, Kiedrowski replied, "It's what I wanted to do. I found out in the 125 class that after 250cc National Stanton charged to the head of the pack when the gate fell to start the first 30-minute, plus two laps moto, but Bradshaw was by him on the first lap. Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich, who missed the last round while recovering from injuries suffered at the San Jose Supercross, rode in third. Kiedrowski gated fourth. Bradshaw and Stanton battled closely for the first nine laps, and their fight carried them away from the pack. Stanton got by in a hairpin at the beginning of lap seven, but Bradshaw reclaimed the top spot one lap later. By lap eight, Stanton and Bradshaw had established a 20-second lead over Matiasevich, who had his hands full with Kiedrowski. Bradshaw appeared to have the upper hand as he maintained his advantage. A win was not in the cards, though, as disaster struck on lap 10, four laps from the finish. Bradshaw landed hard from a big uphill jump and was thrown over the bars. He crawled off the track, but was too sore to continue. While lying in his box van after the moto with an electronic stimulation device taped to his thigh, a somber Bradshaw explained the crash: "I was going fine, but I landed in some soft stuff after the jump and went over the bars. The bike landed on my head and my thigh is really bruised, so I'm going to sit out the second moto. I'll be ready for the (July 18) Coliseum Supercross, though." Bradshaw's fall left the door wide open for Stanton, who cruised to the moto win with a comfortab1t margin. The real action was for second through fifth. Kiedrowski finally got around Matiasevich to take over second on lap 10. Matiasevich was then challenged by Doug Dubach. Dubach and Ward had both suffered poor starts and were towing each other through the pack. Both got around the tiring Matiasevich on the white-flag lap to claim the third and fourth spots, respectively. -, "I bogged my bike off the start and then I got held up by (Mike) Craig," said Dubach. "Once I got around him, I felt like I was moving pretty good. I was catching Kiedrowski at the end. Who knows, if I had more time I might have gotten him."

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