Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127176
Last yea r's ma in event-winner Chris Young (23) leads Marc Peters (2 7) an d Paul Vl ac h (1 6 ) at the start of the first heat race . Donny Schmit (4 4) chases overall winner Jeff Em ig (47) and Tyson Vohland in the main event. Voh land lat er crashed, giving Schmit second. Mickey Thoinpson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix Series: Round 1 Emig electrifies Anaheim Ultracross By Ken Faught ANAHEIM, CA, JAN. 21 T eam C reen Kawasaki's Jeff Emig made h is journey from Independence, 'Missouri, p ay off, as h e topped Donn y Schmit and 'Brian Man ley in the 250cc Ultracross class a t . 30 Anaheim Stadium. Emig came (rom th e Iourth row to lead th e ( r .h . race rom start to In IS In front of a reported 64,948 sp ectators, a record cro wd for a Mickey Thompson Entenai n ment Group (MT EG) event. . The Ultracross form at I S ra ther uniq ue. First th e riders ride in timed qua lifiers which determine their starting position in one of two heat Passing points worked to Brian Manley's advantage as he picked up the series po int lead after com ing from the back row to place th ird overall. races'. Once th e riders transfer to a heat race the y a re placed in o ne of 12, tw o-man rows. The sta rt is inverted with th e fasterriders stan in g in th e rea r and th e-slower rid ers leadi ng off up fron t. Then the riders who place high eno ugh in th eir heat race advance into the fin al wh ere the riders are agai n inverted, An MTEG official draws a number out of a box a nd wh atever number th ey draw, is where th e inve rti ng starts with th e heat race winners. In th e fir st heat race Chris Young came from the front row to lead Jeff Hi cks, Brian Manley, Mike Young a nd Paul Vlach around the co urse. - H icks kept the pressure on Young until the second lap wh en Kawasaki / Mal colm Sm ith/Dallas Bak er Produ ct s/Pro -Tee/Pro Ci rcuit/Bell / Spec tre -spo nsored Manley sho t past th e Honda rider for th e runner-up posi tion. Back in th e p ack Yamaha' s Mi ch a el Jon es and Kawa saki 's Denny Step he nso n were trying to ma ke up for th eir less th an perfect starts. The two rid ers pounded their way towards the front wi th J ones being th e first to smash into th e top five. J ones easily kn ocked Vlach to sixth and than proceeded to displace Mike Young to th e final top five position. Sh ortl y a fte r being passed by Jones, both Vlach a nd Mike Young lost one more slot as Stephenson powered his way into fifth. The Team Green Kawasaki /Malcolm Smith /PJ l /Scott/Dunlop-backed Stephenson was riding a smooth race a nd cont inued to chase the leaders. Em ig was also working his way up through th e field. With the inverted stan th e Kawasaki rider, who had th e fastest qualifying lap, was having to make up for lost time. Near the halfwa y point Emig was among th e top 10 and cont in ued to pick up positions. U p near the front the battle continued for third. Jones reeled in Hicks a nd a ppea red to be doing everyth ing he could to take away h is position. With only two laps remainin g J ones found what he had been waiting for a nd powered past th e Honda rid er. J ones cont in ued to catch the lead ers but time soo n ran ou t. The Answer/Exxon/Scott/ C.O. Thompson /Tri ck /Enzo / Race Tech /Su zuki C ountry /FMF-