ASK THE MXPERTS: Has Anyone Ever Won As Many Supercross Races As James Stewart In A Single Season And Still Lost the Championship?
ASK THE MXPERTS: HAS ANYONE EVER WON AS MANY SUPERCROSS RACES AS JAMES STEWART IN A SINGLE SEASON AND STILL LOST THE CHAMPIONSHIP?
Dear MXA, Based on Bubba’s ninth win this weekend in Toronto, I wonder if any rider has every won this many races and still lost the Supercross Championship in the past? It is hard to believe that a rider can win 70 percent of the races and still lose the crown. Has this happened before?
Jeff Stanton (left), Yamaha team manager Keith McCarty (middle) and Damon Bradshaw (right) practice looking uncomfortable together.
Yes. In 1992 Damon Bradshaw won nine of 16 rounds, but lost the Supercross crown to Jeff Stanton at the Los Angeles Coliseum race by three points.
It was a weird season. Bradshaw dominated, winning five of the first six events. Bradshaw then hit a lean streak at Daytona, Charlotte, Indianapolis and Tampa (which were split by Honda teammates Jeff Stanton and Jean-Michel Bayle). But Bradshaw roared back to win the next two rounds (which was the double-header at the Pontiac Silverdome).
Damon Bradshaw lost the 1992 AMA Supercross Championship at the 13th round in Las Vegas. The two dirtiest riders on the AMA circuit in 1992 were Jeff Matiasevich and Damon Bradshaw. They were famous for cutting across in front of riders when they passed them, jumping across the face of jumps and ramming in corners. At Las Vegas the two dirtiest riders turned their attentions on each other. In their heat race, Matiasevich knocked Bradshaw down. In the main event, Bradshaw decided to return the favor. With Matiasevich in front, Bradshaw jumped over a berm in a fast left-hand bowl turn (on purpose) and cleaned out Matiasevich’s front wheel. Unfortunately for Damon, his Yamaha hooked on Jeff’s front wheel and he went down also. The revenge take-out cost Damon Bradshaw 13 points (he finished ninth).
Again, Damon Bradshaw rebounded and won the next two Supercross races (Dallas and San Jose).
The final race of the year would be the "L.A. Riots" delayed Los Angeles Coliseum race. Held in front of a sparse crowd of 28,000 (the Coliseum had drawn as many as 72,000 spectators in its heyday), all Bradshaw had to do was finish in the top three to win the 1992 Supercross title (even if closest competitor Jeff Stanton won the race).
There was lots of drama. Team Honda was totally dysfunctional at this point. Bayle and Stanton hated each other. On top of that, Bayle hated Team Honda. At first JMB refused to race the L.A. Coliseum race. It turns out that he had scheduled a road race test in Europe with the Rothman’s team and didn’t want to miss it (the rescheduling of the Supercross because of the riots caused the date conflict). Finally, Team Honda forced Bayle to race the Coliseum, but they knew that he would not do anything to help Jeff Stanton win the title. They knew this because in 1990 Bayle refused to help Mike Kiedrowski win the AMA 125 National Championship at the final round of the series at Unadilla. And Bayle refused so vocally on the morning of the race that Team Honda pushed Bayle’s bike back into the truck and wouldn’t let him race. Team Suzuki’s Guy Cooper won the 1990 125 National Championship.
At the L.A. Coliseum, Cooper was back to haunt Team Honda again. With Stanton leading, Kawasaki-mounted Mike Kiedrowski second and Guy Cooper in third, Bradshaw was mired in fourth. Bradshaw had to pass Cooper for the title, but Bradshaw had choked. Damon could not move forward to challenge Cooper for the third place that he desperately needed. As for Jean-Michel Bayle, he followed Bradshaw around the track like a puppy dog. No matter how bad Bradshaw rode or how slow Damon went, JMB would not pass the Yamaha rider. Bayle was not going to do anything that would help Stanton. Finally, near the end of the race, Jeff Emig closed on Bayle, while Cooper had built a fairly large lead on Bradshaw. Bradshaw’s chances were over, so Bayle passed Damon, pushing the rider who had won three times as many races as Jeff Stanton back to fifth.
Bradshaw lost the 1992 Supercross Champion to Jeff Stanton by three points...points he gave up when he decided to take Jeff Matiasevich out in Las Vegas.
As for Bayle, he quit motocross and had a relatively modest road race career in Europe.
