Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/146688
laRocco, who, at the halfway point of the series, had a presumably uncatchable 41point lead over second-place Guy Cooper and 58 pointS over third-place Emig. Who would've thought that five races later, Emig, alongside his tuner Steve Butler, would be standing on top of the victory rostrum holding the number-one plate? Not many, including Emig. ''I'm really relieved," said Emig moments after securing the 12Sec crown at Budds Creek MX Park in Maryland. "It's like I won a lot of races, (but) I just never thought I'd get the championship." National MX Champion would normally receive. And, as it turned out, Bayle failed to successfully defend any of his three championship titles. A week later, at the Houston Astrodome, Bradshaw Came alive. The 19year-old factory Yamaha rider won the round and went on to score victories at the next four events in Anaheim, Seattle, San Diego and Atlanta. Bradshaw was aiming for arecord-tieing sixth-straight win going into the Daytona Supercross, only to be beaten by Stanton in an intense duel. Stanton's win gave him the record for the most wins at Daytona with four, but, more importantly, Bradshaw maintained his stronghold in the series point standings with 165 points to Stanton and Bayle's 139 points. Opening round-winner LaRocco had faded back to fourth with 118. The next stop on the circuit was Charlotte, North Carolina, "Bradshaw country." Bradshaw, who hails from near-, by Mooresville, was expected to take advantage of the support of his homecrowd fans and win his sixth race of the season, but it was not to be, as Bayle successfully survived late-race challenges by Jeff Stanton to win his first supercross of the year. Bradshaw, on the other hand, crashed iri the first turn after ramming into his teammate Jeff Emig. The homestate hero worked his way up from dead 1al1t to finish a respectable sixth place, but still saw his points lead over Bayle dwindle to 16, with Stanton three points back in third. The next round in Indianapolis marked the beginning of the second half of the season, and it was'a disastrous round for Bradshaw and Team Yamaha. The series points-leader was· challenging front-runner Stanton, when the Yamaha rider landed on top of a lapped rider and crashed hard, injuring his wrist in the fall. Bradshaw was forced to retire from the race, which effectively cost him the Camel Supercross Championship. Stanton went on to win and moved into the series points lead just ahead of Bayle, who finished second in the race. Bradshaw dropped to third in points. Following the race, Stanton said, "It just goes to show that nobody has the championship won until the last race is run." How true. With seven races remaining, it was clear now that it would be a three-man chase to the title, involving Stanton, Bayle and Bradshaw. Camel Supercross Series The opening round of the 1992 Camel Supercross Series showed signs that perhaps many new faces would appear on the high step of the rostrum during the upcoming season, as LaRocco outlasted Jeff Stanton in a late-race duel for the win. LaRocco had only one previous supercross victory to his name going into the Orlando opener, having won the Las Vegas Supercross the year before. But as it turned out; only three riders other than LaRocco would win a main event during the course of the season, and they were familiar faces: Yamaha,'s Damon Bradshaw would rack up a single-season record of nine wins, and Jean-Michel Bayle and Jeff Stanton would each round up three wins apiece. Leaving Orlando, LaRocco enjoyed a slim three-point lead in the series point standings over teammate Jeff Ward, who announced prior to the opening round ., that the '92 season would be his last. The 31-year-old Californian had decided to pursue a career in auto racing at the end of the year. Ward took full advantage of cross. Bayle had announced that 1992 would also be his last season as a motocrosser before taking up a career in GP road racing, and he also hinted that the Camel Supercross Series title didn't mean anything to him anymore, since he had accomplished a life-long goal by winning the title in 1991. The U.S. fans didn't take kindly to such sentiments and many began turning against him. Bayle would eventually become a serious threat for the .title, but would never receive the kind of adulation a multi-time World and u.s. 1992 AMA National Championship 125cc MX Series Finishes/Points Stanton crashing on the last lap in Orlando to finish second, while Stanton recovered for third place. Bradshaw finished fourth, while teammate Doug Dubach rounded out the top five. Orlando also marked the beginning of the decline in defending champ JeanMichel Bayle's popularity. Already struggling to gain the support of U.S. fans, despite earning their respect by wi.nil.ing every major U.s. MX championship (Supercross, 250 and SOOcc Nationals) in 1991, the 22-year-old Frenchman raised some doubts about his seriousness of defending the Supercross title, as well as the 250 and SOOcc titles. After he finished an "un-Bayle-like" sixth in Orlando, many quickly began mumbling that he was more interested in road racing than super- (Top) Damon Bradshaw and tuner Brian Lunniss weathered an emotional see-saw battle for the Camel Supercross Series title. Stanton edged Bradshaw by three points for the Supercross crown. (Above) :Many believe that JeanMichel Bayle wasn't completely focused on motocross racing in 1992. The three-time U.S. champ will pursue a career in GP road racing in '93. 7 Yam 11 6 'Kaw 1 5 1 2 Suz 3 3 Yam 4 7 3 16 1 4 Suz Kaw 14 8 6 13 Suz 2 2 4 Hon 5 5 9. Steve Lamson Suz DNS DNS DNS 10. Brian Swink Suz 9 6 9 Yam11. Jimmy Button 13 21 18 12. Denny Stephenson Suz DNF 10 12 13. Erik Kehoe Hon DNS DNS DNS 11 Kaw 14. Tim Ferry 9 20 15. Chad Pederson Hon 17 23 8 16. Buddy Antunez Hon 10 DNF 19 17. Tyson Vohland Yam 7 11 22 18. Ezra Lusk Suz 8 DNF DNF 19. Barry Carsten Suz 15 15 13 21 20. Jeff Dement Suz DNS 12 ·DNS = Did Not Start DNQ = Did Not Qualify 1. Jeff Emig 2. Mike LaRocco 3. Ron Tichenor 4. Doug Henry 5. Larry Ward 6. Ryan Hughes 7. Guy Cooper 8. Jeremy McGrath 2 3 7 9 6 5 4 8 1 15 16 22 1 2 13 11 9 '5 6 8 7 4 14 18 DNS 17 10 21 11 13 15 21 16 10 DNS DNS 18 ;3 19 12 1 2 11 DNF 4 10 3 22 12 DNF 1 10 3 4 9 6 13 5' 2 7 14 12 11 19 5 1 2 3 21 13 8 6 15 DNS 1 2 DNF 5 8 4 4 7 3 5 6 16 ' DNS 13 15 11 10 8 DNS 10 7 17 12 3 9 14 11 9 13 22 16 1 7 2 4 5 3 DNS 9 6 DNS 12 DNF 5 16 8 6 4 18 8 11 DNF 9 10 7 500cc 9 19 8 14 17 15 17 Dt-JF DNS DNS DNS 20 18 10 DNF DNQ DNS 13 DNS DNS 15 19 14 16 15 DNF DNF 24 DNS DNF = Did Not Finish 500cc = Competed in 500cc class 430 411 348 316 297 296 260 259 213 173 168 157 154 153 138 124 110 93 87 75 5