This Week in Yamaha History: Anaheim 1990
Friday, January 6, 2012 | 11:20 AM
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Welcome to a new weekly feature here on Racer X Online—This Week in Yamaha SX History. Last year we chronicled great moments for the KX set, this year Yamaha is on board to open up their history books, and we’ll outline some of the great races and racers of Yamaha’s past right here.
Up first, the Anaheim opener. A YZ really set the sport on its ear in 1990, when a 17-year-old 250 class rookie took on the best in the world, and won. The kid was a manchild named Damon Bradshaw, born and raised on Yamaha equipment. The investment in Bradshaw started paying off as soon as he hit the pro ranks, where he shocked the establishment by winning an off-season supercross in Japan at just 16. He then stormed to the ’89 125 East SX title and just missed the ’89 125 National Championship. For 1990, he jumped to the 250s.
Bradshaw and Jean-Michel Bayle were part of a pack of new faces on the scene in 1990.
Photo: Moto Verte
The North Carolina native was all about “rubbin’ is racin’” so it didn’t take long to build a rivalry with a rough rider from the West Coast, Jeff “Chicken” Matiasevich. Chicken won the ’89 West 125 title, setting up a showdown on 250s. And a showdown it was, as the two immediately started bashing in their heat race!
The main event was stacked with stars such as Ricky Johnson, Jeff Ward, Jeff Stanton and Johnny O’Mara. Bradshaw and Matiasevich could be expected to take a back seat to the legends, but instead Bradshaw pulled one of the gutsiest moves of all time, railing all the way around the outside of turn one, holding it on, and just barely slipping past 19 other bikes on the inside to steal the holeshot. If Bradshaw had gotten to turn one a second later, he would have been shoved up into the stands. Instead, he had the lead, and Matiasevich was soon with him. They battled hard until late, when Matiasevich began to fade and Bradshaw got away. Later, Jean-Michel Bayle got in the mix and made the move on Matiasevich to take second.
The legends in the pack? Nowhere to be seen. The 17-year-old Bradshaw took off and threw in a sick (for 1990) double pump no hander at the finish. In just his second season as a pro, Bradshaw had won the AMA 250 Supercross opener.
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Was there for that race good stuff
Bradshaw was one bad dude too bad he moved to the 250 class so fast then burned himself out and let all that talent drift by.
Bradshaw was one bad dude too bad he moved to the 250 class so fast then burned himself out and let all that talent drift by.
i disagree Claxton...he needed to be in the big boy class, he won a bunch and 2 years later almost won a title. Today we have lifers in the lites class who are fast enough to hold their own in the big balls class(lil hanny), the racing would be better if they weren't allowed to stay there for 6 years...privateers have no chance of proving themselves when lites racing is full factory now. in the beginning, the 125cc class was meant to be a breeding ground, now it is just another pro class, which is fine, but there is nothing those wanting to make a name. Ax?
I remember riding with Damon, Doug Dubach and Mike Healey at White Sands in 1990. Before there were practices at all the tracks in so-cal. Healey and Bradshaw were doing these insane cliff jumps that were 30 feet tall shooting another 10-15 feet higher then the cliff and landing 6 inches from the edge. One wrong move and it was a 40 foot drop. It was crazy! Damon and Chicken were so aggressive and hated each other so much it got the best of both of them in the points.
Highly talented drama queens. Ideal is somewhere between Stanton/Dungey and Chicken/Stewart. Not a specific Reed fan, but he seems to be the best mix of mild drama and on-track action. Kids need to use him as a model to be imitated, similar to imitating Mike Larocco.
I was there that night.Holeshot from Hell they called it!I haven't seen anything like it since.
i was there too- but had to hear about the next day because drank too much. oh the good old days.