Cycle News

VOL. 53 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 15, 2016 P111 lowers one of the best races in the championship's history. Early in the race there were as many as seven riders battling for the lead and swapping positions multiple times per lap. Most of the 43,100 fans in Fulton County Stadium were on their feet for the entire main event. The lead group consisted of Brad- shaw, Matiasevich, O'Mara, Coo- per, Kiedrowski, Johnson and Jeff Ward. Halfway through, Bradshaw and Kiedrowski tangled and both ended up in the haybales. Cooper then took the lead with Johnson on his tail. Those two traded the lead nearly every lap with veteran Ward laying back in third waiting for an opening. With two laps to go he made his move past a surprised Johnson, who didn't even realize Wardy was there. Then he made a picture-perfect block pass on Cooper and held on to take his first victory of the season. Chalk one up for the veterans. Stanton won Daytona comfort- ably, but Matiasevich, who finished fourth, continued to lead the series in spite of not having a victory to his credit. He took care of that with a win at the next round at the Silver Bowl (now called Sam Boyd Sta- dium) in Las Vegas, becoming the fifth different winner in seven rounds and extending his series lead. Jeff Ward came back to win again in the return to the Rose Bowl for the first time in five years. That was followed by the first AMA Supercross victory for World 250cc MX Champ Bayle at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, adding to the tally of victorious riders at midseason. There would be no others added to that number in the second half of the season when just three riders—Bayle, Bradshaw and Johnson—traded wins at the remain races. Bradshaw sat out a couple of weekends with his foot injury, and returned to his winning ways in the first race of the doubleheader at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michi- gan. Bayle won his third race in Tampa, joining Matiasevich and Stanton in the championship battle with six rounds remaining. Charlotte's Memorial Stadium, at just 20,000 seats, was possibly one of the smallest venues the se- ries ever visited, but an enthusias- tic crowd was thrilled when home state favorite Bradshaw took victory in a tight battle with Stanton. Bayle got on a hot streak and gave fans a preview of what was to come in his career after scoring consecutive wins in the northeast swing to Giant Stadium and Sul- livan (Foxboro) Stadium. With just three rounds remaining it was a straight up three-way battle for the championship between Matiasevich, Stanton and Bayle. In triple-digit heat at State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City, the Honda pair of Stanton and Bayle had their own personal duel for the win, with the ultra-fit Stanton taking control in the final laps. The victory vaulted the Michigan rider into the series lead, by just six points over Matiasevich. The penultimate round at San Jose, California's Spartan Stadium went a long way in deciding that year's championship. Stanton took his second straight victory ahead of Bayle, who moved to second in the standings, with Matiasevich strug- gling to a 10th-place finish. Stanton enjoyed a 14-point lead over Bayle going into the final round at the Los Angeles Coliseum on June 23. He only needed to fin- ish ninth or better to clinch the title. Stanton looked as if he wanted to win the championship in style by taking the lead in the final. But he later admitted he nearly threw it away a couple of times while trying to hold off a surging Bradshaw. Bayle was surging late and he and Bradshaw put on the most enter- taining final lap of the season. Bayle took the lead heading up the hill to the peristyle end of the Coliseum. Bradshaw regained it as they swept under the columns at the far end of the stadium. The two riders weren't giving an inch and banged into one another a couple of times as the crowd roared. Brad- shaw gave his Yamaha too much gas and nearly lost it coming up to the finish-line jump and he took the checkered flag more off his bike than on with Bayle just inches behind. The victory tied Bradshaw with Bayle for the most victories on the season with five each. Stanton cruised to the champi- onship in sixth, ending the cam- paign with four wins and a slew of podiums. The riders of the '80s showed they still had the speed on occa- sion to win and the young guns def- initely put their stamp on the first season of the '90s, but in the end the man in his prime, Stanton, took home the 1990 AMA Supercross title in the generational clash. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www. CycleNews.com/Archives

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