Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Over 30,000 fans turned out at the Rose Bowl, which was hosting a supercross for the first time since 1990. The technical track was popular with most of the riders. used a hot line through a section of whoops to pass Stanton and Lamson almost simultaneously on lap five, and the order remained the same· to the finish, with Stanton the last rider to transfer directly from a heat. "I made a few mistakes," said McGrath, whose winning margin was not as large as he has become accustomed to of late. "1 can't take anything away from those guys, though; they were riding fast. I like the track; there's lots of lines and lots of places to pass." 250cc Semis Swink snared the holeshot in the first of two six-lap semis, each of which transferred five riders to the main, but Stephenson put a block pass on his teammate during the first circuit. Swink tripled back into the lead on the next lap, then pulled slightly ahead and held on for the win. Well behind the leading duo, Cooper had the crowd chanting his name as he consistently used a slick move through a section of whoops to pass his way into third. LaRocco recovered from a poor start to challenge Cooper in the final laps, but Cooper managed to hold him off for a Suzuki sweep. Yamaha privateer Jeromy Buehl followed in filth. "1 broke away early," Swink said. "My goal this year was to be consistent, and 1 haven't been doing that, so I'm just trying to get in the top five." Lusk again started fast in the second semi, with Honda of Troy's Erik Kehoe holding down second. Lusk immediately began to pull away, but he bobbled and went off the track at the halfway point, allowing Kehoe to close. Newly crowned 125cc Eastern Regional Champion Doug Henry, also riding for the first time in the 250cc class, had his Honda in third, and he used Emig's line through the whoops to zap both Kehoe and Lusk and assume the lead. Lusk retaliated, but Henry held tight for the win. Kehoe was third, and Team KTM's Cliff Palmer finished in fourth ahead of Rich Taylor. "These guys (in the 250 class) are really tough," said Henry, who had crashed in his heat. "It feels good to come straight off the 125s and win a semi. 1 think something happened to Lusk, and that helped." 2SOcc LCQ Japanese rider Kohji Ohkawara emerged at the head of the pack after two pile-ups in the first two straights mixed things up in the six-lap last chance qualifjer. FMF rider Ray Sommo put his Yamaha in second, and with DeHoop in third, the top three positions were set. Sommo made a couple of charges at Ohkawara, but the Yamahamounted Ohkawara held him off to post his first-ever win in the United States. Sommo settled for runner-up, the last rider to transfer to the main. Sporting an ear-to-ear grin, Ohkawara was clearly excited about the win, but his broken English limited his post-race comments to, "Good track!...Good tractionL ..Thank you very much, Pasadena!" 250cc Main The start of the 20-lap main event was a familiar sight, with the Skip Norfolk-tuned CR250 of Jeremy McGrath bolting to the front of the pack and whipping sideways over the first step-up jump. Emig was second off the start, with Cooper third, Stanton fourth and Lusk fifth. Kiedrowski gated in sixth, ahead of LaRocco, Ward and Lamson. Up front; McGrath quickly began to pull away from the pack, adding approximately one second to his margin with each lap. "1 was pretty nervous going into the (main) after the bad start 1 got in the heat," said McGrath. "As soon as the gate fell, I knew I had it, though." Cooper moved by Emig for second before the first lap was complete, then, on lap three, Emig passed him back. The two swapped positions a few more times before Cooper bobbled and began to slip back in the pack. "1 crashed in my heat, and 1 was kind of shakey after that," said Cooper. "It's a shame to get a good start like that and not be able to do anything with it." By the fifth lap, McGrath's lead over Emig was already more than seven seconds, and he began to increase it even more by using Emig's line through the whoops. Stanton moved up to pressure Emig, then used a nice move to squeeze by for second through the inside of a turn. Kiedrowski was also moving up, Damon Huffman rode to an easy win in the l25cc class, his second victory of the year. and passed Emig for third over a triple. Soon after, Emig got out of shape in the whoops and "ghosted" his bike in midair, sending it cartwheeling down the track. Emig was unhurt, but with a tweaked bike and the time lost in the fall, his chances for a top finish were shot. As he has done for most of the season, Bradshaw got a poor start when it counted, then went down hard early in the race. Bradshaw remounted and slowly circulated the track for a few laps, posting an eventual 18th-place result. McGrath pulled ahead to as much as a 17-second lead, a substantial margin considering average lap times were under a minute on the tight track. With the Honda ace riding a flawless race by himself, the real battle was for second. Once in third, Kiedrowski approached Stanton and began to pressure the Honda rider. The two battled for several 5

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