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/127395
Saturday, aga in saw Reynard get off to a good sta rt a nd led the field of 33 rider s. Ba ton Ro u ge, Lo uisiana 's Kevin Windham , who finished six th in moto one, gave chase bu t was never a major threa t. Horton finis hed thi rd ahead of Skaggs and Bowyer. The first rnoto of the 80cc (12-13) Modi fied class got underway in Thursday's pouring rain. Reynard got a good jump off the gate, but fell during .the early stages of th e race. "I got caught in a ru t," said Reynard, "and just fell over. 1 tried 10 work my way up, but the track was all oneline." Windham, wh o later p roved to be R eynard 's nu mb er-one th reat , captu red the rnoto win wi th Reynard cruising ho me secon d ahead of H orton, Skaggs and G reg Yearsley. Moto two saw Reyn ard get his revenge in th e dr y co nditio ns. In Sunday's ac tion, he motored away fro m Windh am , ' Skaggs and H orton before greeti ng the chec kers firs t and takin g the overall Stock class win . Whi le R eyn a rd domina te d th e younger class, Craig Decker was doi ng damage in the 14-16 year ol d 80cc classes. Decker, from Palm Desert , Ca liforn ia, ap peared to .be the fastest m in i rid er on the course. T he 16-year-old won the Stock class with a 1-2 rno to score, easily topping Mike Metzger's 4-1 finishes. Doug DeH aan 's 2-7 score earned him th ird a head of Casey j ohnson 's 8-4 and Steve Andrich's 58 mo to tall ies: . And after topping David Pingree, Andrich , DeH an n an d Metzger in rnoto one of the 80cc (11-16) Modified class, Decker was the on ly rider who had a shot at equalling Reynard's nearper fect overall Gran d Nati onal.Ch ampi onsh ip po ints accu mula tio n. It all came down to one race that wou ld determine wh o would be declared king in the m in i ra nks, a title that would belong 10 either Reynard or Decker. Bu t at th e sta rt of th e second 80cc . (14-16) Mod ified class moto, Decker and Metzger went down just a few yards from the starting ga te, ending the hopes of a (14-16) class rider becoming th e cha mp. " Pingree was on my left an d Metzger was on my righ t," said Decker. '. We ' too k off and Pingree came into me and then Metzger ran over my bike. I go t u p last and th en sta rte d to co me through th e pa ck whe n my p ipe brok e - I wasn ' t able to fini sh." It was lat er determin ed tha t the p ipe was actua ll y damaged when Metzger ran over th e bike. H ad it not been damaged, Decker's usu al fast pace may have all ow ed him to eq ual Reynard's 1-2-1-1 molO scores . . Bu t wit h Decker out and a clear track ahead of h im , johnson rod e a caut ious race, wh ich he parlayed into the moto win. Ackers finished second ahead of Pin gree, Brad Woo lsey and Andrich, but it was American Suzu ki /Pj l / Sh oei /FMF/ Answer/ Hall Precisi on spo nsored Pingr ee earning the Modified overall victory with a total of five points. Decker's stri ng of bad luc k had actually started during th e first Super Min i (12-18) class moto. Mechanical p rob lems forced him off the track whil e he was cru ising in the point positi on, four seconds ahead of Greg Rand. " I sucked a reed into the cyli nder, " said Decker. Decker's absen ce .thrust Rand into the lim elight for a short tim e before collect ing the checkers ahea d of Revna rd, Metzger, Skaggs and Windham . Reynard bounced back wi th th e holeshot in th e second moto and led the race wire -to-wire. Decker finished Ezra Lusk (17) won every moto of Pro compe tition . Jason Edwards (121) fini shed second, behind Lusk, six tim es. Diminutive Ricky Carmichael won every mo to in which he competed, In th e past few years, th e Pee Wee racing has enjoyed a huge boost in popularit y. second , foll owed by Windham, Skaggs and Rand, bu t Reyn ard got the overa ll win , hi s third of the week. Ra nd fin ish ed second overall followed by Windham, Skaggs and Metzger, Reynard 's success was topped only by Lu sk, who won every m oto he entered - a total of eigh t in th e 125 and 250cc Stock and Modified Pro classes. Aside from occasiona l cha llenges by Tommy Clowers, H ayden Richards and Ray Crumb, jason Edwards was Lusk's closest opponent. Edwards, from Cleburne, Texas, finished runner-up six tim es beh in d Su zuki- mounted Lusk - a combi nation that earne d him second overall in the 125 and 250cc Mod ified Pro classes. Clowers scored second overa ll in th e 125cc Stock cl as s with 7-5 m or o fini shes wi th an injured Cru mb taking the ru nne r-up spot in th e 250cc Stock Pro class. "T he front en d washed out in the second 250cc Modified race and it sent me into a wall wide open ," sa id Cru mb , who twisted hi s kn ee. " At the time I ha d j ust pas sed (Dan ny) Ulven for third." Am erican Suzuki/ Scott USA/ Dun 10p/Tsubak ilFMF/PJI /R&D /MS R a c in g / S ND Design s/ IOO %/ Be ll Hel mets/ CTi-backed Lusk origi na ll y th ought tha t his main competition would be Phil Lawrence. " I ha ve been working ha rd to beat Law ren ce because he was my main compe tition in Vegas (at th e World Min i Gran ' Prix, also sanc tio ned by Factory- sunn~or~t NMA )," said Lusk. " Whe n he couldn ' t rid e becau se of his broken wri st, I figured I was fast eno ugh to beat the o th er gu ys. I didn 't ex pec t th at Edwards would be gelling so many good starts and be as consistent as he was. " The only rider wi th a better track _ or th e first tim e since American Honda pulled out of NMA-san ction ed racing in the early 1980s, all four japanese manufacturers supporte? .th e Gr~nd National Championship in Ponca City to some degr ee. In addition, Ita ljet, the Italian manufacturer of 50cc ma chines, was on hand to supp ly parts and offer technical advice to its Pee Wee riders and their parents. Kawasak i T ea m Green 's effort was the most noticeable. With nearly 20 personnel lend ing a helping hand to any rider wh o ~eeded assistance, it was . o~vious th at Kawasaki is committed to its motocross bik e purchasers. Kawasaki IS presently the only company whose lineup includes a 60cc machine. Suzuki technicians jim Danforth and Mark johnson were on hand, helping out a ll Suzuki riders. Honda was represented by a local dealer, Oklahoma City H onda, while Pro Circuit stood in for Yamaha to help all YZ riders. . All of the manufacturers' 1992 motocross bik es, with the excep tion of the new Yarnahas, were on display in the pits. During a br~ak i~ Thursday> competi.tion, T eam Kawasaki 's Mike Kiedrowski, th e current serres pomts leader in the National Championship 125cc MX Series, made exibition laps on the 1992 K~wasaki KX125. Multi-time National and Supercross Champion Bob Hannah did the same for Suzuki on Eriday aboard a 1992 Suzuki RMI25. F 11