Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS ~ Ezra Lusk (1l 7) ou tduele d Mike Brown (54) to win the 250cc A class. L usk also topped the 125cc A division. Paul Goo de (626) led Kipper Ketro n (1) and th e rest of the 125cc C class. Lusk mugs Brown at Muddy Creek By Barbara and Loren Wi lliams BLOUNTVILLE, TN, APR. 25-26 uzuki's Ezra L usk stopped Mike Bro wn in his tracks for both th e 125 an d 250cc A class ti tles at th e 7th Annual Suzuki/ Pizza Plus Eastern Co nt inental MX Ch am p ion shi p at Muddy Creek Raceway. Brown , the loca l h o tsh oe who usu ally dominat es th e P ro classes wh en ever he races at Muddy Creek , su ffered from poor sta rts in the 125cc A class, but in th e 250cc A div isi on S 26 ~ Suzuki Eastern Continental MX ChampionshiE he was simp ly o u tdu eled by L usk in th e second rnoto. Lusk, of Bainbri dge, Geo rgi a, swept both 125cc A mo tos and pocketed $ 1050 of the $5000 purse, pl us $600 in Suzuki factory co nt ingency money. H e also assumed th e Mega Seri es po i n ts lea d in bo th cla sses. Altho ugh the weather was chilly, th e showers forecast for th e T ri-Cities area of eastern Tennessee failed to material- ize, and 486 riders, an increase of 20% over the 1991 entry count, sho wed up to claim thei r sha re of the loo t. All four major facto ries - Honda , Kawa sa ki, Su zu ki a nd Yama ha - are offering $454,500 in contingencies for th e AMA Pi zza Pl u s So utheastern Regio nal MX Ch ampi onsh ip MegaSeries, in whi ch the Eastern Contine ntal race was round four. Many racers ' programs are getting a real boost from th e factory bu cks, and several riders have a lready earne d eno ug h to enable them to acq uire new rid es for next year. Ron J ones, who leads the O pen Amateur, 25 Master and 30 Master classes in th e MegaSeri es, is alread y working on hi s second 1993 bike. At the start of the first I 25cc A moto, . Bare Bro s.!AXO / Rentha llSm i th / H ammerh ead Graphics-back ed Chad Lou gh blasted to the front of the pa ck of 27 riders, beating out Lusk, Bill y Cox, Mike Padgett and T eam Green 's Dennis H awthorne. For a lap and a half of the eig ht-lap cont est Lough held the lead , pressured by Lusk, and the pair developed a six -second ga p between themselves and third-place Padgett . Streak in g thro ug h th e back section of the track, Lo ug h went wide in a sweeper whi le L usk took the inside li ne, and 100 yards later, he had the lead. After another two laps Texan Hawthorne was tapping Lo ugh on the sho u lder and as king for second . A few more turns, and Lough lai d down and handed him th e posi tio n . " I th ink I could have held dow n second," said Lo ug h. " But I threw it away when I slid out on the tower sweeper. I kn ew Hawthorn e was there, and I was .th in king abou t that ins tead of wh at I should have been doing o n that corner. It was a dumb move." Lough reco vered q u ick ly, losing only one position, and set off after Hawthorne. . Meanwh ile, Peak An tifreeze / Pro Circuit Honda rider Brown was floggingthrough the Iield, systema tica lly picking off riders to recover from hi s eigh th -p lace start. At th e ha lfway point, Brown had clawed h is way up to fourth . _ Ohio 's J oshua Steel tag ged along, b ecomin g th e ca bo ose o n the H a wth orn e-Lough -Brown fr ei gh t train p ur suing Lusk. Bu t Lusk was the runaw ay locomo tive, an d took the flag first, followed by H awthorne, Lou gh , Bro wn an d Steel. L usk charged 10 the fron t at the start of moto two, accom pa n ied briefly by Hawthorn e befor e he checked o ut and left everyo ne, steaming to a 15-second win. Once aga in Brown was forced to shoulder his way through the crowd of riders, working his way from sixth tip to second over Hawthorne by the end of I;IP three. Bro wn stayed ahead to finish second ahea d of Hawthorn e while Lough, wh o was th ird at the start, he ld on for fou rth. Pennsylvan ian Davey Yezek, J r. came home fifth. In th e 250cc A class, Lusk and Brown wran gled over the first-moto holesho t. Lusk came up with it but los t the lead in th e woods near the end of the first lap . From there, it was all Brown, tho ugh Lusk stayed close jus t in case Bro wn ran in to some bad luck. . L usk al most go t h is chance when Bro wn bob bled in the whoops, but Bro wn recovered and slam med the door. Wh ile Brown led L usk to the finis h line, Steve Childress was busy co ming from beh ind. After a sevent hplace start, Ch ildress blasted ba ck to th ird by the mi dpoint of lap th ree then held the posit ion to the fini sh . Hawth orne marched up to fou rth from a po or start 10 edge out Yezek, while Lough fini sh ed six th. Brown cla imed the ho lesh ot at th e start of the seco nd rno to , but yielded to Hawthorne's charge mom entarily. For the bett er part of two lap s, the two swa pped for the lead until Hawthorn e went down at th e same pl ace in the wh oo p s where Brow n had n earl y crash ed in th e firs t moto. H awthorne rem o unted slowly and fin ished 11th. L u sk th en ad vanced to bed evil Brown, lurking j ust behi nd waiting for th e cha nce 10 cap italize on a mistake. He got h is cha nce in the woods du ring lap five. Going int o the woods, Brown was in command. Coming out, Lusk emerged first . " T he re's a big r ut co m i n g arou nd a turn in tha t secti on," exp la ined Bro w n . " G o in g through i t, I hit the side and knocked th e shi ft lever , and sta ll ed the bike. It sta rt ed on the fir st ki ck, but by th en he wa s aro u nd me ." Though Brown was able to close up the gap, not eno ugh time remained for him 10 regain th e lead an d L usk took the win for the overa ll victory. Lou gh , who had taken third when Hawth orn e crashed, held the position for several laps. H owever, Childress was on the move, pass ing Bill y Adki ns and dueling wit h Jim Chester to fina lly begi n worrying Lou gh abou t the time Lu sk got the drop on Brow n. On the last lap , Childress passed Lou gh in an offcamber turn to take over third for the same pos itio n in the overa ll column. Ch ester and Yezek fin ished fifth and six th in the mo to. Ea rl May racked up do uble aces in the 25 Master class, and Kip Bigelow of Michi gan cl a imed th e deu ces, - leaving the rest of the field to figh t . over the remaining placings. Aside fro m the io p two spots, no rider finished in the same positio n twice, and Billy Adkins secured th ird o verall with 4-5 rno to finishes. . Ro n J on es, bac ked by Atlas HondaYama ha, won the first 30 Master class moto with Bigelow finishi ng second. At the start of moto two, Bigelow leaped to the front with West Virgini a's Michael Postlewa ite and Kerry

• Cover