Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

talian Alessandro Puzar (rig ht) clinched the 250cc World Championship with -5 moto finishes. Trampas Parker (left) was among the firs t to congratu late him. ' An inj ury th a t did n 't heal properl y R ick J ohnso n , winner of th e last ree U.S. 250cc C Ps, from co m petg at Un adill a. Althou g h he had oped to compete a t Unadilla, a week rior to th e race J o h nso n decided he 'a s no t yet fi t for racing after a long tyoff due to a hand injury suffered r lier thi s yea r at th e Da ytona upercross. Alt ho ug h Stan ton mad e sure th ere asn ' t mu ch excitement a t the front bot h C P mot os, Bayle and Suzuki's u y Coope r pro vi d ed ple n ty of rewor ks as they battl ed in th e 125cc up p o r t class. The two 125cc atio na l Championship co ntenders , Ho co uld possib ly bri ng a race fo r at titl e 10 th e fi na l 125cc Na tional re a t U na dilla in Octob er, traded ~ lead severa l lim es in the fir st mo to Ilh' Cooper co m in g o u t o n to p. doper fell ea rly in th e second mo to er a no ther b attl e w i th Ba yle , i ving th e Frenchm a n to ru n away iih a n easy win over Cooper . Bot h d er s ea rned $850 o f th e $5 000 pport p u rse. ~p t 250GP La rr y Ward hooked hi s Suzu ki u p r the hol eshot a t th e sta rt of the first o to with Sta nt on , Fr ench man Ya n g Ker vell a , Am eri can p ri vat eer rry Carsten , La Rocco a nd Swed "s P eter J o h an sso n f i li ng in in do Puza r started poorly a nd was th ea rly o n th e o pe n ing la p . It dn 't ta ke long for Sta nton to tak e e lead as he wa s by Ward o n lap '0 . " I figured I mi ght as well pass him rickl y so I co u ld have a clear track ," id Sta nton , LaRocco moved i nt o fo urth o n the st lap, as Carsten quickly fell behi nd d wo ul d fin ish 24th . Van den Berk d moved u p fro m his sevent h -p lace rt and sett led in beh i nd LaRocco. rker was sepa ra ted fro m th e Dutchn by J ohansson a nd had Veh nen and H erring , wh o sta rt ed 12th , h is tail. La Rocco qu ickl y closed th e gap to rvel la and spe n t tw o laps o n hi s I befor e he found a p lace to pass. n den Berk kept a close eye on th e tt le an d follo wed LaRocco by th e nchman. Van den Berk th en gav e Rocco a little pressure a nd th e two hed closer to Ward . litt le furth er behind Ker vella slid k into a tight battle for fifth with H e rr i n g , J o h an sso n , Pa r ker a n d Vehkonen . H err ing passed Kervella th en broke a way as Puza rca me up on th e tail end o f th e fra y. The batt le co nt inued until Vehkonen , Pa rker a nd Pu za r left th e rest beh i nd. Pa r ker fou ght o ff P u za r for a co u p le of laps but then fell way o rr the pace whe n he hu rt hi s sho u lde r. Afte r slid ing o u t o f the top 15 po intspa ying posi ti o ns , Parker pull ed o rr with two laps rema in ing. " I reinjured the shou lder, altho ug h I did n ' t crash ," said Parker. " I was trying to get Pekka back and it po pped o ut a second tim e, so I decided to let Puz ar by. T hen I dropped o ut of the po ints so there was no sense go ing o n, it's not wort h it. " I had to ride in Sw itzerla nd (i n th e Sw iss C P th at was h eld two weeks before Unadill a ) so I co u ld co me here," added Pa rker, who was th e o vera ll winner in th e Swiss CP with a 3- 1 sco re. " T he track th ere was n ' t so ro ug h, though. Here yo u rea ll y have to use yo ur u p per body, especia lly to p u ll the fron t en d up o ver the sta i r- ste p pe d uphill. But th e sho u lder po p ped o ut when th e bike jer ked in so me hi gh-spe ed ruts." Mean wh il e up fro nt L aR o cco began to -lea ve Va n den Berk beh ind as h e closed in o n Ward. After a close batt le with h is teammat e, La Rocco go t by on the 12th la p o f the 19-1a p rn o to . Stanton was nearly 10 seconds ahead, but La Rocco quick ly cu t a co u p le o f seco nd s off th at lead . H o wever , Sta n to n responded sw ift ly and stay ed a bo u t eig h t seconds ah ead unt il th e race ended. " W he n I sa w La Rocco ( ha d) ca u g h t up I wi cked it up ," said Sta nt o n. " Maybe a lit tl e too mu ch when I went o rr th e track." " Sta n to n wa s running a good pace and I wo uld 've needed a ll I had 10 ru n with him ," sa id La Ro cco. " I slac ked i t orr a bit a fter I passed Wa rd to co llect myse lf. I was n ' t worri ed abo u t winning th e fir st mo to: like Bob H annah sa ys, it's the seco n d mo to th at co u nt s," Ward staye d with h is teammate for severa l laps befor e sett ling in to thi rd . " It 's roug h ou t the re and th ose g uys were goi ng fast ': ' Ward said. " I felt a bit so re so I slo wed do wn a little and let th em go. Bu t I wan ted to ge t L a Rocco back. " H errin g dro p ped o rr th e pace lat e in th e ra ce and fourth-place Van den After a poor sta rt in moto one. Puzar (71) moved in and passed Rob Herring (15). buthe could n' t overtake Pekka Vehkonen (2) when he got close late in the race. Americans !\like La Rocco (35) an d Larry Ward (66) finished 2·3 in the first mo to, but were knocked out of conten tion in moto two by mechani cal problems and crashes. Berk ca me under a tta ck from Veh konen wi th Puzar chasing hard not far beh ind. T he th ree riders spent th e last three laps with in a few bi ke lengt h s o f each o ther, but no bod y co u ld ma ke a p ass. " After m y bad sta rt I tri ed to ca tch up very qu ickl y," sa id Puzar. " Whe n I reach ed Van den Berk · and Vehko ne n it wa s a ll I needed ; I felt sa fe (tha t I co u ld ge t the cha m pions h ip )." H erring fin ished seven th a hea d of Kerve ll a a nd Am er ica n R o n Tiche nor. Den ma r k's Soren Mo rten sen passed J o hansson o n th e las t lap to co m p lete th e to p 10. 7

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