Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bummer. Ray Sommo (standing) was not impressed with the sloppy conditions at Troy. Here he's trying to figure out ~ow he's going to extract his buried motorcycle. Stanton added: ''I'm just glad to bring the number-one plate back to the U.S. and back to Michigan." Stanton, who hails from Sherwood, Michigan, stripped the '91 title from Honda teammate Bayle. The Frenchman finished third in the series point standings, 43 points behind Stanton, 270-187. Sandwiched between the two Honda riders is Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski with 214 points. Kiedrowski finished fifth overall on the day via 8-3 moto finishes. Rounding out the last spot on the 250cc rostrum was Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich, who slithered through the deep mud to two fourth-place finishes. By winning both motos, Bayle took home the maximum $2000 share from the $15,000 250cc class pUrse ($1000 per moto), while Stanton collected $1200 ($600 per moto) for second overall, as well as a bonus from Honda, reportedly worth $100,000 for winning the series championship. Damon Bradshaw was a no-show at the Kenworthy's National. Bradshaw underwent knee surgery to repair a tom anterior cruciate ligament the Friday before the race 'in North Carolina. He injured the knee at the Red Bud National. Also missing from Troy was Yamaha teammate Doug Dubach, who decided to rest a lingering wrist injury. Mike LaRocco, the series points leader - in the 125cc class, led from start to finish in the first 125cc moto. But he couldn't match that feat in the second moto which was won by Jeff Emig, who was second in the first moto. Grabbing the lead right from the start, Emig was uncatchable and at one point enjoyed a one-minute lead over the LaRocco. Emig's 2-1 tally beat LaRocco's 1-2 for the overall honors. Crowd favorite Guy Cooper ended up third overall via two thirds on his factorybacked Suzuki. LaRocco added seven more points to his series points lead. He now leads Emig and Cooper, who are deadlocked, oy 58 points, 267-209. Emig e;uned $1600 out of the $12,500 125cc class purse, as did LaRocco. Despite rain that fell off and on throughout the day, an estimated 6000 spectators were on hand. The sloppy track and deep ruts kept the racers fairly spread out in every moto and there was very little close, handlebar-to-handlebar racing. Most of the competitors switched to survival mode after the first lap of practice and spent the rest of the day avoiding each other's roost and staying upright. Just about every rider fell at least once. Team Green's Ryan Hughes, who finished 10th in the 125cc class, said, "This was the hardest race. I've ever ridden; even harder than Hangtown (National) where we ran just one moto because of flooding last year. I must've crashed six or seven times in the first moto alone today. I even crashed while riding to the pits after the race. That's how muddy and slick it was!" The conditions forced a delay in the day's program, and the first moLO didn't get underway until 2:20 p.m. It was scheduled to start at 1:00 p. m. After the first 125cc moto had run, the 250cc field lined the gate for the start of their first 30-minute-plus two lap moto. Matiasevich nailed the holeshot, but the Kawasaki rider drifted wide in the mud and Stanton dove underneath and into the lead. As the 4O-rider pack slid, fishtailed and bounced off each other down the next couple of straights, Stanton jumped out to a commanding lead and enjoyed clear sailing ahead of him. By the second lap, Stanton had pulled clear of runner-up Jeff Ward by 14 seconds, while Bayle lurked in third and Matiasevich rode in fourth. It looked as though Stanton would run away, but Bayle had different ideas. A few tums later, Bayle had passed Ward for second and began reeling in Stanton. Amazingly, in just one lap, Bayle cut Stanton's lead in half and a lap later was only a few bike lengths behind his long-time rival. By the fourth lap, just 12 minutes into the race, Bayle had .roosted by his teammate and into the point position. From then on, the race was all Bayle's. Stanton simply could not match Bayle's mud riding expertise and had tosettle for second, eventually rolling across the finish line a distant 45 seconds behind Bayle. "I like riding in the mud," said Bayle. "I've had a lot of experience in the mud racing back home (in France)." Stanton said, "He (Bayle) just rode better than me. What else can I say?" After battling back and forth with teammate Matiasevich, Ward took the checkered flag in third, some 50 seconds behind Stanton and about 10 seconds ahead, of Matiasevich after nearly 40 minutes of racing. David Hand, a privateer Honda rider from Mantua, Ohio, ended up taking fifth, just ahead of Suzuki support rider Phil Lawrence, Suzuki-mounted Willie Surratt and Kiedrowski. Kiedrowski, a two-time 125cc National Champion, got his factory Kawasaki stuck in a rut on the first lap and was thankful that a rider stopped and helped him pull his bike out of the bog. Kiedrowski, who won his first 250cc National at the last round in Michigan, spent the entire moto working his way back up through the pack. Rounding out the top 10 were Surf Detergent:sponsored Jeff Glass and privateer Kawasaki rider Jeff Curry. Due to the trying conditions and the amount of time it took for the riders to negotiate a lap, the second moto was shortened to 18 minutes and two laps. Following the completion of the second 125cc moto, the final 250cc go got underway at 4: 15 p.m. Matiasevich again beat the pack to the first tum but he again slid out wide and opened the door for Stanton to take the lead, while Kiedrowski and Ward snuck into second and third. Matiasevich filed into fourth behind them and just ahead of Bayle. As Stanton set the pace, Bayle was the rider to watch, and he quickly motored his way into second. With the sun shining for the first time all day, and the track getting tackier and tackier, and the grooves getting deeper and deeper, Bayle focused on Stanton, setting the stage for an exciting two-lap duel. The two riders swapped the lead twice before Bayle finally got the upper hand and pulled clear for good. Stanton stayed fairly close, but not close enough to pressure Bayle into making a mistake. Bayle .grabbed his second win of the day with 14 seconds to spare over Stanton. . While the two factory Honda riders diced up front, the three factory Kawasaki riders - Kiedrowski, Matiasevich and Ward - had a battle among themselves for third, fourth and fifth. The dogfight, which saw no passing, lasted until the halfway point when the three riders 7

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