Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

hat was perhaps the closest, most intense and exciting conclusion to a supercross series ever, came at the expense of Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw. The 1992 Camel Supercross Series Championship was on the line at the final race of the year at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and Bradshaw, the 19-year-old "phenom" from North Carolina, was 20 laps away from his first major motocross title. All the factory Yamaha rider had to do was finish third or higher and the W c.D >-~ ;::l ~ Angeles Supercross) was just one race that didn't happen for me. I always try to look at the brighter side of things." One of the hardest things to accept in losing any kind of race or championship, or seventh. I could've won in Las Vegas, but Chicken creff Matiasevich) was pretty much getting in my way. But that track was so difficult to pass on, it was going to take a pass like that to get around him. Maybe I should've waited a lap later and got a little closer, but I tried that same. "Nobody's fault but mine" ~ ~~%b~;f~~:~1:;;3~:~~; 26 third or higher was a seemingly easy task for Bradshaw, who had finished outside of the top three only five times throughout the course of the series. Bradshaw finished the first lap in fourth place, while Jeff Stanton, who was three points behind Bradsha,w going into the Los Angeles race, shot to the front of the pack. "All I had to do was pass one rider," recalled Bradshaw. "1 thought, 'Well, I've got to finish third: That was in my mind; I was thinking about that, when I should've been thinking about winning the race:' . Instead of being his usual aggressive self, Bradshaw faded back to fifth and, ultimately, let a seemingly easy supercross title slip away between his fingers. Stanton went on to win the race and earn his third Camel Supercross Championship. "After the race I was ashamed of myself for not winning the championship, not so much for me, but for all those people that really knew I could do it:' Bradshaw admits that failing to win the title was all "mental," despite the fact he was nursing a sore knee that he injured a few weeks earlier at a 250cc National MX. "My knee had nothing to do with it. I just started thinking about the race too much. In my head, I didn't have the right feeling about it (the Los Angeles SX) tha t I normally had at every other race. My normal routine at each race is to have fun, then 30-40 minutes before my first qualifier, I concentrate going to the line, and I usually take 45 minutes to an hour to start getting myself prepared for the main. But that day in L.A. I was thinking about the race all day; I just ran myself into the ground; I concentrated way too much, and when I got to the starting line, my brain was frazzled. "1 would've been better off if I had gotten a dead-last start, because I would've had to work so hard to get there (to the front of the pack), my mind wouldn't have been even thinking about what was going on, like having to pass just one rider." Bradshaw had every right in the world to feel down on himself for losing the title, but he held his head high. He realized there was more to the '92 supercross season than the championship title. "Hey, I won nine races - a single-season record! I did the best I could and I did a herr of a lot. I didn't get lucky by winning nine supercrosses, and I did,n't especially one as prestigious and as financially rewarding as the Camel Supercross title, is looking back on the season and thinking about all the "whatifs." One what-if quickly comes to mind for Bradshaw. "Oh yeah, you always think that. I think Las Vegas was a stupid move. (Editor's note: At the Las Vegas Supercross, Bradshaw tried a questionable pass on Jeff Matiasevich for third place early in the race only to crash into him and eventually finish ninth). But it was one of those things, but if it had worked, at L.A., I could've finished sixth move a lap earlier and he wasn't budging - I had to try something. I'm not going to accept fourth or fifth place, I don't care what it is. "But overall, I just beat myself at L.A. It was nobody's fault but mine; I can't blame it on anybody. I don't think the fastest guy won the championship, by no means. I think Jeff (Stanton) was at the right place at the right time. But he deserved it (the title), I mean, you don't luck into a championship after so many . races. I think I was the fa!\test guy last year 0992); I just didn't win the championship. That's the way it is. I learned this year that all my strategies throughout the seaso~ were-good; I think L.A. was pretty much my screw-up of the year:' Minutes after the checkered flag had dropped at the L.A. Supercross, many began alleging that Bradshaw lost the championship on purpose. Their reasons being that Bradshaw had a "clause in his contract with Yamaha, that if he won the '92 title, his contract would be automatically renewed. But by not winning the championship, people thought, he could be free to bargain for bigger money with other teams, such as Honda and Kawasaki - teams that would have big holes to fill after the '92 season. "Yeah, that's what everybody thought," says Bradshaw. "It was kind of funny, because I didn't even think about it on that perspective. But a lot of people brought it to my attention after . the series was over." But it didn't take long for Bradshaw to prove the naysayers wrong. Shortly after the racing season ended, he signed a previously unheard of fiveyear contract with Yamaha. "I've been with Yamaha for a long time and I like it. Everybody knows me at Yamaha, and that's a big plus. H gives me a good feeling. If I go anywhere else, I would have to climb that ladder I've already climbed at Yamaha. I'm in a good position there, the people treat me good, so when it came contract time, it was done real quick, and that makes me feel real good that we don't have to go back and forth on a contract later on; at least five years. Honda was there, and so was Kawasaki. Both offered me a lot of money, but money isn't everything. There were a couple of times in my career that if I thought money was everything I would've left Yamaha; there were a couple of times that I rode at Yamaha and stayed there'for a little less money, but it's all come back ever since then. I have a longterm contract now; the money was right, the timing was right, and it keeps me free from all that contract negotiation buIlshit for a long time." Not only is Bradshaw known for his all-out, do-or-die and extremely aggressive riding tactics - forget the L.A. Supercross, he's also known for not holding back off the track. His straightforward and, perhaps, cocky attitude has left many "antiBradshaws" in his wake. "You can't please everybody. To a certain extent we're out there to please the crowd; we're there to put on a show, but we're also there to do a job. It's probably hurt me that I've said things that I thought, whether I've been pissed, or happy, but that's the way I was brought up. I'm that way in everyday life. Whatever I think I say it, regardless of where I'm at, or when I'm there. "If it wasn't for the people, .the supercross fans, we wouldn't be there. And I know that, but there are times when things get real tight - pressure - and I was pushing a lot of things to the side. But I feel that at every race, you should take time out, an hour to an hour-and-a-half to do autographs. It doesn't bother me at all to sign autographs and meet with the people."

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