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/127585
eMOTOCROSS AMA National Championship 125/250(( MX Series: Rounds 6/6 mKiedrowski forges ahead, Dobb breaks the ice at Unadilla (1') _ . 0\ 0\ rl • • Winner M ike Kiedrowski (3) and John Dowd (27) dice for the 250cc class lead on, what was thi s yea r, a dusty Unadilla track. By Donn Maeda NEW BERLIN, NY,jULY 11 he tou ghest weather conditions in recen t mem ory ·greeted the record 255 professional racers who showed up to compete on the famous Unadilla Valley Sports Center motocross tra ck, and when the thick, lingering d ust settled , it w a s Te a m Ka w asaki's M ike T 4 Kie d rowski and Team H otwhee ls / Sp litfir e/Pro Circuit/Kawasak i' s James Dobb who negotiated the wh oops, ru ts, holes, and rocks better than their com petitors to emerge the winners in the 250 and 125cc classes, respectively. While Kiedroswki's win was his fifth of the series and no real surp rise to the estimated 10,000 specatators wh o showed up d esp ite a continuing heat wave and lined the picturesque, naturalterr ain track, Dobb 's victory in the 125cc National raised more th an a few . ey ebrows. For the. past few seaso ns the 21year-old Englishman had contested the World Championship 250 cc MX G P Series with limited success, and in 1993 le ft Europ e to contest th e Camel Supercross and AMA Nat ional MX Series as a member of the " p riva teer" Hot Wheels team. Un til n ow , Dobb's res ults had been less-tha n-s tellar, as preseason injuries slowed the foreign rider. " I've won a Grand Prix he at (ra ce) before, but this is the first time I've won any so rt of major eve n t," s a id Dobb. "I've been stead ily improving each week as I heal and increase my conditioning. This helps my confidence a great deal." Dobb spanked the competition in the first rnoto, capitalizing on the mechanical failures and cras hes of his comp etitors, and raced to a conservative fourthplace finish in the second mota to secure his overall victory. Second and third on the day were Tea m Honda' s newlycrowned Su percross Champion Jeremy McGrath an d Yamaha's defe ndi ng 12Scc Na tiona l MX Champion Jeff Emig, respectively; Current series point leader Doug Henry of Team Ho nda suffered an engine seizure in the first go-round, but rebound ed with a commanding w in in mo to two to maintain his point lead by a slim one-point margin, 233-232, over McGrath . Emig sits a clos e thi rd with 230, while privateer Honda rider Erik Keh oe, fifth at Un adilla , holds down fourth w ith 183. Fifth- plac ed Dobb has 158. Dobb's 1-4 finishes earned h im $1300 of th e $1 2,500 125cc p urse, w h ile McGrath and Emig went home with $1050 and $900, respec tively. In the 25 0c c cl a ss, Kiedrow sk i crashed on the opening lap of moto one and raced to a se con d - p la ce fini sh behind his Kawasaki teamm at e Mike laRocco, but showed everyone who was boss by trouncin g the second moto with a sta rt-to-finish romp. laRocco finished second, good en ough to sec u re second overall ahead of Honda's Steve Lamson , who earned thi rd overa ll with a pair of place-position finishes. Absent from the p i ts was defe ndi ng 250cc N a ti o na l Ch a m pio n Je ff Sta n ton, as th e Team Honda ride r sa t ou t the race in ord er to re st a n a g g in g back injury th at h as h au nt ed 'h im for th e past few w eeks. Also missing from the leader boa rd was Damon Bradshaw. The factory Yamaha rider grabbed the hol eshot in th e first mo to but crashe d as he nego tia ted the first tum and ret ired for the da y with a jam med left w rist. "I d idn 't do so good her e a t the 250cc GP last yea r, bu t I just tried to p ut that out of m y head and race w ith an open min d ," sa id Kiedrowski . "Even a fter I cr as he d I knew that I co u ld p robably ca tch up pretty good, especially since I've bee n winning wit h pretty big leads latel v." With two of his major title-riva ls on the sidelines, Kiedrowski con tin ued to pad his alread y siza ble series poi nt lead, a nd now en joys a 78-point lea d over laRocco, who leaped from fourth to second in Stanton 's absence . Kiedrowski boasts 289, while laRocco and Stanton have earned 211 and 201, respectivel y. Though he h olds a seemi ng ly un surmou ntable lead with only two rounds left, Kiedrowski is qu ick to poi nt out that "it ain't ov er 'till it's ov er." Wi th tal k of th e Glen Helen O H V Park 250cc series final e pa yin g d ouble p oints du e to its s in gle-mo to forma t, Kie d ro ws k i a d m it s th a t s uc h a race could mak e or break a cha m p ions hi p title race. " I thin k it's a reall y ba d id ea," sa id Kiedrowski . "The one mo to idea is bad enough. Th at id ea (double points) just ma kes it worse." Sporting parallell 1-2 and 2-1 moto scor es, Kiedrowski and LaRocco each