The Vault: Jean-Michel Bayle
Thursday, November 15, 2012 | 2:30 PM
Share
Comment
Email
PrintBy: Jason Weigandt and Steve Matthes
With the Bercy SX just wrapping up 30 years of racing, it seems like a good time to look up France’s favorite motocrosser ever, Jean-Michel Bayle, and recap some memorable races in The Vault.
Matthes and Weege can go on for days talking JMB, so they're tag-teaming this one.
Anaheim Supercross, 1989
Matthes: The 1988 125 World Champion’s first ever race in America didn’t produce the results that would indicate his future greatness. In the main event, he made mid-air contact with defending champion Rick Johnson right after the first turn. The #111 Honda rider landed on a hay bale and flipped over the bars and that was it, the World Champion DNF’d his first ever SX. I can close my eyes and hear Larry Maiers now: “The commie can’t hack it in America…” or something like that.
As we all found out, despite the inauspicious beginning, Bayle was just finding his way and he’d be back the next week with a top five and the following year was back full time.
Weege: This race was a big deal because in '89, the idea of a foreign World Champion even attempting supercross was considered ludicrous. John Van Den Berk, David Thorpe and Eric Geboers were not exactly lining up to race supercross. I remember MXA writing, condescendingly, “Bayle has never seen a set of U.S. quads.” And then when he crashed out spectacularly on the very first jump in the main event, well, all the anti-Euro folks though they were very smart.
Gatorback 250 National, 1989
Matthes: Before JMB was forced to go back and ride the 250 GPs (which he would dominate) he had one last U.S. race at the opening round of the AMA Nationals at Gainesville, Florida. The big news was defending champion Rick Johnson’s wrist injury that morning in practice, but that wasn't the only surprise that day. Wearing his #111 and running “Starbuster” on the back of his JT pants, Bayle took his Pro Circuit CR250 to the overall win, shocking America in the process. JMB went 1-3 for the overall and stamped that when he did come back full-time, he’d be something special.
Oh, and by the way, in case anyone thought that this race was a fluke, Bayle came back after his GP season was over and won Unadilla in the 500 Class. So, uh, yeah, this dude was really, really good.
Weege: RJ's career essentially ends on the same day a European comes and wins on American soil for the first time in ages. Is Gatorback '89 the biggest transitional day in the history of American motocross? It's got my vote.
Bayle at Gatorback in 1991, during his quest to do what no one else had ever done.
Racer X Archives photo
Dallas Supercross, 1990
Matthes: I remember early on in the 1990 Camel Supercross Series, they showed a video asking the riders what it would take to beat Damon Bradshaw. The Yamaha kid had racked up early season wins and looked unstoppable. All the riders gave the politically correct talk about working hard, staying confident, etc, etc. except for when they came to JMB. What's it going to take to beat Bradshaw? He said, “Just JMB.” At the Cotton Bowl at Dallas later that year, he was right. The number #22 Honda rider beat the returning-from-injury Bradshaw by doubling past him, and then went onto his first 250 SX win. JMB missed two races with an injured elbow and came pretty close to the SX title at the end of the year. But as we all know, you never forget your first.
Weege: The one thing The Vault can't show you are races a rider didn't compete in, and those two races JMB missed early in '90 were huge. He finished second at Anaheim, then missed rounds two and three, and lost the SX title to Jeff Stanton by seven points. That Dallas breakthrough was bound to happen, and the '90 season was filled with parity and one-off winners. It's what was coming next that really changed things.
New Jersey and Foxboro, 1990
Weege: I'm throwing these in here because they're key to the JMB career arc (and it's key for me to always mention New Jersey's small contribution to supercross history). Bayle's Dallas win was soon followed by victories in Tampa, Florida, New Jersey's Meadowlands (outside of New York) and Foxboro, Massachusetts (outside of Boston. Yes, SX fans in the Northeast used to have some choices. But very few chose to go, judging by the slim crowds). Suddenly the Frenchman was the hottest property in supercross. If you had told someone a year earlier that this would happen, they would have locked you up and stored you under the Meadowlands, next to Hoffa.
Personally, I remember Bayle having the fastest heat race lap time in NJ, and the winner of that award each week was given a kiss from Miss Coors Light! The smooth Frenchman got in a good peck, and then, his mullet flapping in the night wind, went in for seconds. The American fans liked to boo him but they had to cheer that move.
Matthes: Figures Weege would throw the Jersey race in here. No one else would have.
JMB won the Gainesville 250 National at the beginning of '89, went home to grab the 250 World Championship, then came back to the U.S. to win the Unadilla 500 National.
Racer X Archives photo
Lake Sugar Tree 250 National, 1990
Weege: Although he was the 1989 250 World Champion, Team Honda dispatched JMB to the 1990 125 Nationals in the U.S. (hey, they had guys named Stanton and Johnson on 250s, so they were kind of covered there). He was consistent early, then won round three in Virginia, and started opening a big points lead over Guy Cooper and Mike Kiedrowski. JMB was headed to his first American title, until he crashed at Washougal and broke his arm. How do you say “D'oh!” in French?
Matthes: JMB would ‘a, could ‘a, should ‘a won the ’90 125 title as by all accounts, he was checking out before Washougal. A side note here: his main competition was Mike Kiedrowski, the champion from ’89. Once JMB got hurt, the MX Kied got 'hold of JMB’s motor set-up and started racking up the wins partly because it was a lot better than his bike. This was back in the day when mechanics did much more than bolt on parts, and Bayle’s wrench, Cliff White, was going in there and making some of his own mods.
Another key race for Bayle was one that he didn't race. In 1990 at Budds Creek, JMB showed up healthy, but was told to move over for Kiedrowski to help with points. JMB said, “No.” So Honda team manager Dave Arnold benched him for the day. As Bayle told me recently, “Yeah, ok you pay me to just watch the race? Cool!”
Results from Lake Sugar Tree '90.
1991 Phoenix 250 Supercross
Matthes: Last week, I was over at Bercy and did a Pulpmx.com Classic Commentary with Bayle on this race. He personally chose it as the race that he wanted to talk about. After just losing out on the 1990 250SX and 125MX titles, Bayle came into 1991 as a full-time 250 rider and looking to finally win a championship. He had already won three SX races going into Phoenix and was only four points back in the title hunt. At Phoenix, JMB, running #8, got a horrible start and was forced to come through the pack to capture the win. Bayle passed rivals like Stanton, Ward, Matiasevich and Kiedrowski by using the outside berm after the finish and sling-shoting his way past. It was a great race by Bayle and he would eventually go on to win the 1991 Camel Supercross Championship. Look for the Classic Commentary next week with the JMB himself.
Weege: Hate to say it, but I got all caught up in the American thing that year and started rooting against Bayle. I'm embarrassed about this now, but hey, these were the Gulf War days and I was only 12. USA! USA! USA!
Bayle says Steel City was his favorite U.S. Motocross track, and here he is ripping it up for the last time there in '92.
Racer X Archives photo
Hangtown 250 National, 1991
Weege: JMB would make history in 1991 by becoming the first (and only) rider to win the 250 Supercross and 250 and 500 Motocross titles in the same year. Huge in that run was the famous Hangtown 250 National, where massive rains basically flooded the track. The race was cut to one moto and some privateer dude named John Dowd won. JMB finished second and made up 22 points on defending-champ Stanton, who drowned his bike.
Matthes: This basically won the championship for JMB because he finished second while Stanton and Bradshaw both DNF’d. He never won a 250 National but in the shortened series back then the Hangtown finish was enough for him to ride around in second and third and win the title for his second championship in the year. Also, ever see photos from Hangtown that year? JMB was an innovator as he put a cardboard #8 sign on top of his helmet so he would be scored properly in the slop. Brilliant!
Unadilla 500 National, 1991
Weege: JMB only went 2-5 at this one, but that was enough to edge Jeff Ward for the 500 National Championship, thus making him the first and only “three-peat” winner in one season. The 500s are gone, so no one is going to touch this record.
Matthes: JMB’s skills really shone on the bigger bike, in my opinion. He never raced the 500’s in Europe but he would’ve waxed those guys and he does have two 500 USGP wins in two attempts. The line selection, the throttle control and the ease of his riding really came to the forefront on the bigger bike. I know a bit about it because he passed me in practice at Millville three times while he was trying to find a good line in the sand whoops.
Las Vegas Supercross, 1992
Weege: After winning all of those '91 titles, JMB then ran the standard “Winning titles is one thing but defending them is another” and, “It's all about the record book” lines. Just kidding! He actually announced that he no longer cared about motocross or supercross! He'd ride out his Honda dirt bike contract in '92 while looking for an entry into road racing for 1993. Very, very strange.
But even while struggling on Honda's all-new CR250R, Jean-Michel was still fast enough to contend. Late in the season Bayle won a crazy race in Las Vegas, where points leader Damon Bradshaw took out himself and Jeff Matiasevich. Bayle was back in the title hunt ... but then he nearly collided with his teammate Stanton in San Jose, and crashed back to ninth, which basically ended his chances of repeating as SX Champion. The Vegas win would be JMB's last supercross victory.
Matthes: In doing a podcast with Bayle a couple of years ago (check it out HERE) he told me that despite the public thinking he didn’t try this year, he did indeed try to go out a winner. But he also said he didn’t want to get hurt and that he did not like the all-new ’92 model. It was too twitchy and unstable in his eyes. I myself blame his decision to go with the Taichi gear as the reason he didn’t defend. Should’ve stuck with the JT.
The legacy lives on. JMB paved the way for riders born outside of the U.S. to find success here. Le Pioneer!
Racer X Archives photo
Los Angeles Supercross, 1992
Weege: Perhaps the craziest supercross ever. Bayle's inter-team rivalry with Stanton had boiled over badly. They crashed into each other in a heat race, and Bayle says on TV that he will not do anything to help Stanton win the title, even though they're teammates. Then in the main, Bayle actually tries to help Yamaha-mounted Bradshaw beat Stanton for the title! Late in the race, Bayle gave up and went around Bradshaw to finish fourth in his last Supercross race ever. Stanton won the race and the title.
Budds Creek 500 National, 1992
Weege: Bayle's motocross career ends with a fourth-place finish at the Budds Creek 500 National at the end of the season. From there, it was off to road racing, and thus one of the most talented riders to ever throw a leg over a dirt bike retired right in the center of his prime years. Sadly, he decided to give his last racing jersey away to our own Davey Coombs, because there weren't any fans who really wanted it. That jersey is now hanging up at a bowling alley in Morgantown, West Virginia, among some other great sports memorabilia. You can't make this stuff up!
Matthes: I did not know this at all but if you see a headline in the Morgantown paper saying, “Police Report: Theft at Bowling Alley” it wasn’t me. I was shopping at a very busy mall where lots of people saw me.
Did you like this article?
Check out LONE STAR RISING
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
The James Stewart Freestone AMA Spring Classic in Texas has quickly earned a place on the list of must-attend springtime amateur events. Page 182.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
All I can remember about JMB was that he came over, kicked everyone's @$$ dominated everything until there was nothing more to dominate and then left. Someone like him may never come again but it was good while it lasted. He gave everyone a big serving of humble pie and who could forget how he blasted past Wardy on the inside of that off camber at the outdoors.
I remember him doing a photo shoot on this hillside back in the day and getting the bike just slightly further than flat out....so just a bit upside-down. I remember thinking 'holy crap, he's upside down'......childsplay nowadays ha
I remember him doing a photo shoot on this hillside back in the day and getting the bike just slightly further than flat out....so just a bit upside-down. I remember thinking 'holy crap, he's upside down'......childsplay nowadays ha
How can we forget the most (possibly) significant thing of all about JMB?!?! The next time you see someone skim a set of supercross whoops you have him to thank!!
Can't believe Weege and Matthes missed that one. They are however forgiven because in most all other areas of MX knowledge they have me scrubbed....
Look how much credit "bubba" gets for the "scrub" (we all know who really did it first but...) but that doesn't save as much time as blitzing whoops does it?....sometimes though the whoops get so bad they have to be doubled or tripled so maybe its a wash...
i want to apologize for all the American fans who booed him. He also beat a Bobsled on a bobsled track with a CR 500.
JMB was without question the most talented person to ever through a leg over a motocross bike.....period. Seen him do a lot of amazing things on a motorcycle that nobody else could do. At Kenworthy's after holeshot riders were half way around the track, I heard a bike start up at the first turn it was Jeff Ward then another it was Bayle. By this time riders were over three quarters of a lap ahead Bayle passed a rider around the last turn for third... amazing. Seen him ride a weelie in circles in the pits on a scooter like it was nothing.
PISS OFF EUROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a surprise that fatty and four-eyes loves camembert and champagne ...
jmb? overrated. 0 win at Daytona over Stanton, 0 title in 1990 and 1992, 0 overall win at the MXdN, only 1 overall win in 250cc outdoor in two season (1991 and 1992), 0 win in 500 outdoor in 1992, and get beaten by an injured Johnson at Unadilla
and in 1989 at an international event in france jmb finished 6th or 7th behind the 500 GP "dudes" Thorpe, Geboers, Jobé etc
Jimmy15 - I agree. He thought up cool things. I saw him ride a straight up and down wheelie and then hit the kill button and still coost it a ways until dropping it to a stop.
I raced for a large part of my life and never got a championship. I find it hard to understand how he could walk away when he did as a young healthy and increadably fast rider. I am sure he had a few more championships in him.
He might just be the fastest ever through the whoops
he was so silky smooth,barley looked like he was trying. the crazy thing is he really didnt train much. i used to live down the street from him in redondo bch ca. got to know him alittle,he liked tennis and we used to go hit it around a little bit. little known fact,he would go down and rent the local"slick track" and practice feet on the pegs sliding and throtle control.(explains his road racing prowes) he was good!
Great write up, love this stuff, keep it coming guys.
I was a huge fan of JMB, my favorite of all time. I only ever got to see him race live once, being from Australia and that was by driving a few thousand miles to Manjimup for the Motocross Des Nations. Anyway I was lucky enough to score a three day pit pass which was awesome because I got to hang out with Larocco and Emig too.....The highlight however and probably the most legendary motocross story I have involves JMB. The first practice goes out and the excitement was just intense, the whole place buzzing with everyone out there for the first time. After a while I noticed my main man JMB was no where to be seen on the track...huh? I few moments later I heard a Frenchman speaking behind me in the pit area. I turn around shocked to see Jean Michel standing there in casual clothes chatting away making jokes without a care in the world. I asked him why he's not out there, his reply: "There is no need at this time..." !! I was stunned. But no where near as stunned as I was a few hours later when he went out for qualifying where he did one sighting lap and then went faster than anyone by a country mile...........to take the number one spot...... the best ever. Just JMB!
Yea...JMB is DEFINITELY one of my all time favourites ( as I am European) don't need to mention his superior riding skill, JMB was probably one of the smartest riders MX ever seen. if you look at his SX races he almost always took the inside starting gate as he did know that even though he did not get the holeshot, getting a decent postion without a start crash he could win OR a podium. Remember the commentator saying "Bayle have great problems in the whoops" and he did look like he was struggling then a few laps later he just blew skimming by Stanton LaRocco, Kiedrowsky, Bradshaw like they were standing still....I was also sad to be at a SX where the American Audience Booed him.....maybe that was the only thing they could do that year he was in his own league...and probably that was one of the reasons he retired from MX/SX.
I SALUTE JMB....one of the best Motorcycle riders EVER
Yea...JMB is DEFINITELY one of my all time favourites ( as I am European) don't need to mention his superior riding skill, JMB was probably one of the smartest riders MX ever seen. if you look at his SX races he almost always took the inside starting gate as he did know that even though he did not get the holeshot, getting a decent postion without a start crash he could win OR a podium. Remember the commentator saying "Bayle have great problems in the whoops" and he did look like he was struggling then a few laps later he just blew skimming by Stanton LaRocco, Kiedrowsky, Bradshaw like they were standing still....I was also sad to be at a SX where the American Audience Booed him.....maybe that was the only thing they could do that year he was in his own league...and probably that was one of the reasons he retired from MX/SX.
I SALUTE JMB....one of the best Motorcycle riders EVER
I nearly saw him DIE once at Honda land! Roger D came over adn asked if the doog that he almost landed on was mine....I had never seen Roger so pissed...I was very happy to say that it wasn't mine!
since I was shooting some vid of JMB going through the whoops later he and I shared that with the suspension guys... amazing that the "moto" language said much while I couldn't speak a lick of french! LOL....
Dave
Not many people know this but JMB was going to come back full time for the 2001 season with full Suzuki support. He had been riding in California but had to abandon the plans because he developed vertigo symptoms from a road race crash. His rival Bradshaw un-retired again in 2002 to race arenacross.
I used to love to watch this guy ride. So smooth and energy efficient. A skinny guy who sat very still on the bike and did it all with throttle control and good lines. Very David Bailey/CP377-esque. At many races he'd find one line that would have him passing all the greatest riders. A very smart "thinking man" type of rider. You'd watch him effortlessly do stuff and tell yourself "I can do that" and then you'd go out and crash your brains out trying. New riders should watch video of him.
I couldn't understand how someone with that much ability could walk away. Figured he didn't love riding like I did, which I couldn't understand. I used to day dream about doing what he could do. I went up to him when he won all three and no one was bothering with him. I got his autograph and jokenly asked him if he was going to "go Disney Land" now (that was the thing to say when you won something big back then). He gave me a nasty look and seemed to get mad. I was just trying to be nice to him. He was very unhappy by then. I heard he missed his girl friend. I alway liked that he didn't fall in line and wass alittle bit of a rebel, but after that I thought he was a little bit of a brat.
He didnt exactly walk away, he had serious backing from Honda to race GP's. Hardly a step down since you usually can do this longer than MX, make even more dough, and is ten times more recognizable around the globe.
I do remember some of his odd training methods, like practicing just one corner over and over again. Makes sense in a way. If you know you're leaving something on the table in a turn why wait a whole lap to get it right? It took some serious mental toughness to endure the hostile atmosphere around the track and still succeed. In his own way, dude was hard.
OK lets get something straight JMB went out of his way to be aloof and prickley. He likley enjoyed the whole thing. And to say he was the most talented guy to throw a leg over a bike is overboard. I not dissing JMB but lets not make him a victim either. What would have happend if Johnson had not been hurt or if Mcgrath had arived earlier.
What IF?Firstordirt?
When I was racing in the 90's I tried to pattern my riding style after him and Lechien.I also partied like Lechien(LOL).So you can figure out the rest.
I loved the guys style and his personna,even lviving in So.Cal at the time.
Pulp MX has a podcast from a couple years ago and Stanton even calls in.It might give you a different perspective of the way he thought.Admirable.
Next week there will be a "Classic Commentery"with JMB next week.
No I don't work for pulpmx but a fan of the show.
Have a good weekend Motoheads!
@FistOrDirt Johnson, McGrath.......Carmichael ,Decoster Etc. nobody rode as effortlessly as Bayle. He could ride a motorcycle like it was a bicycle. The guy was PURE talent. I feel sorry for all of the shit he got just for being a euro, I personally don't care where your from I like watching the best of the best show there skills.
First of all I didn't say he wasn't a great rider. I do belive we all know who best rider of all time is though. Second he willing purchased much of the shit he got. Don't reinvent history and say he was treated rudley because he was from France that is total BS.Jmb revelled in the contraversy that swirlled around him. If anybody was acting in a "nationalistic" manor it was him. Not that we don't have plenty of idiots that play right along. Asl David V about how he was recieved.
I agree with you
I have a copy of the 1991 hangtown mud race. bayle had the cardboard numbers on his helmet but if you look closely he started the race without goggles. He was a special rider , possibly the best ever! his vault page is very impressive. I feel lucky to have seen him race at gainesville,southwick,unadilla and foxboro.
Two things--The crowd at the NJ Supercross races held in the early nineties were about 35,000. That was good, certainly for that time. I'm sure if the promoters were to try there now, they would do better. There needs to be a SX race in the east.
Also, I think the remarkable thing about JMB's win in Phoenix in '91 was the way he took an inside line on a right-hander to pass for the lead. He went into the turn full speed and then pivoted out without the use of a berm. One of the most amazing feats of riding I've ever seen.
I think Union squables made East Coast races cost prohihitive. Not only NJ didn't Philly and Pitsburg have one also.
FirstOrDirt, RC is certainly the most accomplished mxer ever. "Best" requires definition. It's just one man's opinion but I have been at and around this MX thing since 1971 and I have zero doubt the best mxer I have ever seen is JMB.
National trials champ. World and US MX champ. Then poles 500 GP roadraces on the wrong bike. Massive, giant, unfathomable, possibly unrepeatable talent.
We ought to celebrate the guy. We haven't seen anything like him since and very possibly wont live long enough to see another. Truth.
Funny how none of the new Euro's know about JMB who everyone disliked here. I always appreciated his smooth effortless style and stories about how
Stanton practiced his butt off while JMB was carving his initials in the ground
using his Cr250 on practice sessions.
He left to go road racing ,this guy was a stud......If you hve some thing NEGATIVE to say, SHUTTIE YOUR MOUTH...