Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GM OSS World Championship 250(( MX Series: Round 9 oroeR ~ Team Honda's Jeff Stanton (14) easily won all three motos, while Bobby Moore (81) finished fourth overall. DGY RaCing's Doug Henry swept both motos in the 125cc support class aboard his Yamaha with relative ease. Second and third overall were Kawasaki Team Green's Ryan Hughes and Tim Ferry, respectively. Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw was scheduled to compete at Unadilla, but chose to sit out the event. "Damon's leg that he bruised at the (July 5) Red Bud National is still bothering him," said Yamaha Team Manager Keith McCarty. As usual; rain played a role in the race day's program and' transformed the"loamy, natural terrain track into a slippery, sticky quagmire. Pleasant weather greeted racers for Saturday's scheduled practice and qualifying sessions, but only the 125cc support riders took to the track, as a few of the 250cc entrants were without machines. Four crates containing five motorcyclc:s were opened and searched as they went through customs in Venezuela, following the previous GP. Those motorcycles didn't arrive in New York until late Saturday night, and in order to be fair to all competitors, the FIM jury decided to postpone the 250cc practice until Sunday. The weather cooperated throughout Sunday morning and for the first 250cc moto, but rain dumped when the 125cc class riders took to the track for their first of two, 30-minute-plus-two-lap motos. 250cc Grand Prix Runner-up Edwin Evertsen (8) ~ed Stanton (14) early in the second moto. Three straight for Stanton at Unadilla By Donn Maeda Photos by Davey Coombs and Kinney Jones EW BERLIN, NY, JULY 19. un is something that Jeff Stanton takes very seriously and when he plays, he plays for keeps. "Now that the Supercross Series is over, I can relax and have some fun," said Stanton, who a week earlier had wrapped up his third Camel Supercross title. "I like Unadilla, all the wild spectators make this race a lot of fun for me." Fun for Stanton, maybe, but not for the others. The Team Honda pilot F 6 toyed with some of the best riders the world has to offer en route to his thirdconsecutive win at the U.S. 250cc MX GP at the Unadilla Valley Sports Center. The estimated 9700 spectators on hand for the Dodge Truckssponsored event went wild, as Stanton overcame mediocre starts, rain, mud and ruts to sweep all three of the 25minute-plus-two-lap motos. Finishing second overall with 9-24 moto finishes was Kawasaki pilot Edwin. Evertsen. The personable Dutchman led much of the second mato before being gobbled up by Stanton and rode consistently in the other two motos. Rounding out the top three was Belgian Marnicq Bervoets, who turned in 2-10-8 moto finishes. The Yamaha pilot looked to be a sure winner in the opening moto, but a hard-charging Stanton and a bundle of nerves foiled that plan. Though he only participates in two GPs each year - Unadilla and the season finale in Japan - Stanton's three-moto sweep was worth 60 points and he sits 17th in the series point standings. Leading the points chase is American Donny Schmit, eighth at Unadilla, with 345 points. Schmit, the 1990 125cc World Champion, was lucky to score what points he did after a horrendous practice crash. During timed practice, Schmi t parted company with his Team Rinaldi/Chesterfield Yamaha on a whooped-out uphill and was transported to the hospital with suspected neck injuries, but he returned later in the day. After missing the first moto, a sore but otherwise okay Schmit competed in the final two motos of the day and posted 11-2 finishes. Second in the series standings is Schmit's Rinaldi/Chesterfield teammate and fellow American, Bobby Moore, who finished fourth overall via 7-7-5 moto finishes. Moore sits 54 points behind Schmit with 291. Third in the standings is the 1990 250cc World Champion, Alessandro Puzar, also a member of the Rinaldi/ Chesterfield Yamaha team. The Italian rode inconsistently throughout the day, finishing 10th, 32nd and second, but left Unadilla with a total of 288 points. Rounding out the top four title contenders and completing the American parade is the defending champion, Trampas Parker. The American Honda rider turned in strong performances in the first two motos but faltered in the final moto to end the day fifth overall with a 5-3-18 scorecard. Parker has 287 points. Italian Massimilliana Gazzarata holeshot the opening moto but crashed out of contention early on after being passed by Belgiu'm's Peter Iven. Iven enjoyed the lead for only three laps before Bervoets stormed by the Belgian. Iven swapped off the track soon after being demoted, and Bervoets began to open a lead that would at one point stretch to nearly 10 seconds. Stanton and Kiedrowski were mired at the start, rounding the first turn 10th and 15th, respectively. After getting a feel for the track, though, the pair teamed up and sliced through the field By the sixth lap of the 13 lap molO, Stanton and Kiedrowski closed in on the battle for second, waged between American Mike Healey and Great Britain's Rob Herring. Kiedl'owski suddenly came to life and passed not only Stanton, but Herring and Healey as well. "I just found some' really good lines," said Kiedrowski. "Stanton seemed to be fighting the bike a little, but I felt great." Once into second, Kiedrowski began to reel in Bervoets, but his charge was cut short in a rutted turn. "My shift lever hit a rut and the bike popped into neutral right when I was about to gas it," said Kiedrowski, who tipped over and remounted fourth after being passed by Stanton and Herring. Stanton was happy to inherit the runner-up spot but was not easily satisfied and began to hunt down Bervoets. Slowly but surely, Stanton closed the gap between himself and Bervoets, and by the last lap was within striking distance. With the crowd cheering Stanton on, Bervoets began to tense up and look over his shoulder. As they navigated the infamous "Screw-V" (a steep downhill followed by a steep uphill) section of the tiack, Bervoets lost his front end, crashed and dropped back to seqmd. "I was very nervous the last two laps," said a disappointed Bervoets. "I was looking back and used too much front brake in tbe turn." Stanton motored past and went on to score the win a few bike lengths ahead of Bervoets. '

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