Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e AMA National Championship 125/250 MX Series: Rounds 4/4 .... o ('1') Q) § ~. Mike LaRocco (5) suffered poor starts but finished fourth. Guy Cooper (7) was sixth. Jeff Emig fell on the first lap of mota two, causing this crash and ruining his chances at the 125cc class overall win. Note Emig's front fender at the bottom of the pile. Jeff Emig (1) holeshot and won mota one. James Dobb (100) placed fourth overall. 16 to Emig before the first of 16 laps were in the books, remounting in 10th. Honda of Troy's Erik Kehoe was third at the end of lap one, with Dobb fourth. Four more spots back in eighth was Henry, who was up to fifth just one circuit later. McGrath began hounding Ernig for the lead, while Dobb pressured Kehoe for third. Dobb made the pass early on the third lap, but Emig held off McGrath's initial charges and started to pull away. Two laps later, Kehoe succumbed to the hard-riding Henry, then encountered more trouble in the form of a track-side banner. "1 came into a turn on the back section, and someone had pushed the berm way out," said Kehoe. "The banner was hanging out in the track. 1 knew 1 was going to hit it, so 1 tried to be easy with the throttle, but (my rear wheel) sucked it up anyway. 1 didn't have any rear brakes for a long time, then it wore through and (my brakes) started coming back in the last couple laps." Despite his problems, Kehoe contin~ ued to set a good pace, though Swink got past him midway through the moto. Henry got around Dobb for third place, but Emig and McGrath were too far ahead to catch. On the final lap, however, McGrath swapped in a slippery uphill tum, then got thrown off the high side of the bike. Henry narrowed the gap, but McGrath remounted in time to salvage second. Emig scored the easy win, with Henry finishing third and Dobb fourth. Swink was fifth ahead of Kehoe, while Yamaha's Doug Dubach worked his way up from a terrible start to finish the mota in seventh. "The moto went great," said Ernig. "It was one of those perfect, patented Jeff Emig motos. I'm one of those guys who likes to get out front and ride my own race. 1 don't like being back there dealing with everyone else's roost." As moto two got underway it appeared that Emig would enjoy another mota without eating roost, as the Yamaha rider was first through turn one. In the following left-hander, however, Emig went down in front of the pack. He quickly jumped to his feet and attempted to right his bike, but several riders hit him and he was in last place before he could get back underway. "They had watered the track and it was slippery 'right there," explained Emig. "1 just lost the front end. Then 1 got run over by everyone and his brother. Actually, 1 consider myself pretty lucky 1 didn't get hurt or bend up the bike too bad. 1 bent my clutch lever down a little bit, but that was it." '1 wouldn't want to wish ill on anybody, but 1 knew it would help when I saw Emig go down," said McGrath. Dobb motored by the downed Emig and into the l~ad, with McGrath riding his rear fender in second. Lusk, who finished the first moto in 21st position, was third, with Dubach fourth. Kehoe rounded out the top five, while Henry again started poorly and sat in eighth after the completion of the first lap. "1 need to work on my starts," said Henry, who lives in Oxford, Connecticut, but also spends a great deal of time testing in southern California. "1 have a gate at home, but I've been out here for a month so I haven't been able to use it." While Henry began advancing through the pack, McGrath pressured the leading Dobb; passing in a turn on the second lap. NI'm starting to feel pretty good out there," said Dobb. "I'm getting used to the tracks and the heat. In England, the tracks aren't this fast and it doesn't get this hot. I didn't really get tired, just physically hot." In an effort to salvage points, Emig was cutting through the pack with abandon. By the fourth lap, the n-year-old was already up to 18th place in the 40rider field. Out front, McGrath started pulling away from Dobb, who was under fire from Lusk. Lusk forced his way by in a tight left-hander near the end of the fifth circuit. Henry, now in fifth, challenged Dubach in the same turn, but the veteran Yamaha rider held him off until the next lap, when Henry flashed by on a downhill. Team SplitFire/Hot Wheels/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Jimmy Gaddis, who one week earlier wrapped up the 125cc Western Regional Supercross Championship, was riding a strong race after crashing in the first mota and finishing 35th. Gaddis climbed to seventh place by the seventh lap, but was well back from Kehoe. Also moving up were Suzuki riders Larry Ward, Huffman and Swink. While McGrath stretched his lead out front, Lusk powered by Dobb at the base of an uphill. Henry's charge took him into fourth place on the seventh lap, and he began closing the margin on the fading Dobb. On the 11th lap, Henry turned it up another notch, passing both Dobb and Lusk to take over the second spot. Henry took off after the leading McGrath, but with only five laps remain- ing and a 17-second deficit, Henry would have to settle for the runner-up spot. Emig continued to advance, passing Kehoe for eighth on an uphill with three laps remaining. On the final circuit, Emig chased down Gaddis and passed for seventh. McGrath cruised ahead to the win, easing up in the final laps but still crossing the line with a IS-second advantage. Henry held off a last-lap charge by Lusk to finish second and Dobb was fourth. Suffering from heat exhaustion, Dubach held off a late advance by Swink for fifth place, and was helped off his bike and given a check-up by the medical crew. Emig crossed the line in seventh, just making the podium and salvaging valuable points towards the title. Cl\' Results 250 MOTO 1: I. Mike Kiedrowsk; (Kaw); 2. JeII Stanton (Hon); 2. Steve Lamson (Hon); 4. MUte LaRocco (Kaw); 5. Guy Cooper (Suz); 6. John Dowd (Kaw); 7. Larry Books (Vam); 8. Jeff Matiasevich (Suz); 9. Phil Lawrence (SUZ)i 10. Jeromy Buehl (Yam); 11. Brian Manley (Kaw); 12. Shaun I

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