Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ride well when your arms are p umped up, especially on a 500." Seconds after they passed Lamson, Kiedrowski wicked it up and passed laRocco for the lead. Unfortunately, he too would make a mistake and rode out of a rut less than a lap later. "I was leaned over into a rut and the front wheel came out," said Kiedrowski, who recovered quickly enough to salvage second. "I was able to keep the bike running when I fell and I jumped right back on, just ahead of Stanton." Stanton had made short wo rk o f Gla ss, who faded to an eventual 14th, and also passed Lamson shortly before Kiedrowski's slip-up. For the next three laps, LaRocco held Kiedrowski and Stanton at bay, while Lamson held a solid fourth we ll ahead of Healey and JT USA's Jason McCo rmick. O n lap seve n, Kiedrowsk i agai n powered pa s t hi s tea m ma te an d took over th e lead , w i th Stanton s ta lking them all the while. "I t too k m e a few la ps to ge t my rhythm back and to get used to my bent handlebars," said Kiedrowski. "Once I got com fortable I gassed it and passed Mike. I wanted to prove a poin t a n d s h o w why I have t h e number o ne plate." LaRocco glued himself to Kiedrowski 's rea r fe nder, and a long with S tanton, kep t the pace for the majority of the race . "I could stay with Mike," s aid laRocco. "But I wanted to let him set the pace because it's easier to follow . I was goi ng to wait until the end to pass him, but he was going too fast. To try and pass hi m might have been pretty risky. No sense in taking us bo th out. All that ma tters was that I beat Stan ton." In the closing la p s, La Rocco did indeed inc rease the pre ss ure on Kied ro wski, b ut he wa s never a ble to make a serious cha rge . Lappers p layed a big role in the race, and Stan ton even tually dropped off the pace in the las t few turns. "They were both going really fas t, I' ll give the m that" said Stan ton. "But the lappers w er e ridiculous. The race was pre tty much over and there was no way I cou ld pass them wi th all the slower guys in the way." Kiedrowski enjoyed a small lead over LaRocco at the fini sh, while Stanton crossed the finish line some six seconds later. Lamson finished a lonely fourth, although he did entertain himself by waving to the crowd each lap before he sa iled over the Ski Jump. McCormick found his wa y past Healey and rounded out the top five. Kiedrowski was quick to agree with Stanton about the lappers. "The lappers in the 500 cla ss are the worst, they're like 'geek lappers,'" said Kiedrowski with a laugh. "You have to pass them 10 feet away because they could swap out five feet on either side at any time and take you out!" Stanton led the way in the seco nd 30 minute-plus-two- lap moto while McCormick, La Rocco, Lamso n, a nd Hea ley filed in behind . Kiedrowski was mired at the start, and rounded the first tum in 10th. " I totally spun my rear wheel on the starting pad:' said Kiedrow ski. "I think tha t's th e worst I' ve ever d on e tha t in m y life!" While Kiedrowski b egan to work past his competitors and towards the leaders, Stanton and LaRocco latched onto each other in what w ould be a rac e-long no se-to-tail battle . Together, th ey in ch ed away fro m Lamson, who continued to thrill he crowd with his mega-leaps. Kiedrowski easily caught up to Lamson, but found that passing Henry (16) cut ins ide Jeff Emig (1), Scott Sheak (55), John Dowd (27) , Damon Bradshaw (8) and Jeff Pestana (70 ) at the start of moto one. hi m was a different matter. Whi le LaRocco searched for a way pas t Stanton, Kiedrowski tried to find a line past Lamson. "I could hea r Mike behind me:' said Lamson. "But I was riding much looser that I did in the first moto and I was _able to hold him off." Wi th little room to pass in many parts of the track, the follow-the-leader affair began to bo re the spectators, but that cha nged when all hell broke loose on lap 12. Stan ton slid into a tightly-rutted left-ha nder jus t as he had all mo to long, but this time he missed the inside r u t and le ft the door wide open fo r laRocco. "I just wen t in a litt le too fas t and m issed my line:' said Stanton. " Mike was qu ick to pounce." Quick to p o unce indeed . LaRocco rod e the inside line as if he were on rails a nd zi pped into the lead. " I was just about to start pouring it on:' laRocco sa id. " I wanted to let him set the pace a nd le arn h is lines before I made a move. I was ge tting ready to charge and he bob bled. I was like, 'Hey, I'll take it.'" On tha t same lap, Kiedrowski grew tired of watching the bright-red rear fender on Lamson's Honda and edged past him in a set of multiple jumps. "By the time I was able to get past Steve, the other guys were long gone:' said Kiedrowski. "I didn't ride as well in rnoto two as I did in the first." Try as he might, Stanton couldn't muster the speed needed to dethrone laRocco and eventually dropped off the pace. LaRocco crossed the fini sh line victorious aboard h is MSRI Belli Scott/Motul/Bridgestone/ProGrip/EB C/Rentha l1 Acerbisl GK/D .I.D/ Factory Effex/N-Style/MXA/Uni Filter. backed factory Kawasaki, five second s ahead of Stanton, who in tum enjoyed a 20-second lead over Kiedrowski and Lamson. Healey came home fifth ahead of McCormick, and earned top privateer h ono rs fo r th e da y aboard his The Brothers' Hondal Arai /Fox/No Fea rl Pro Ci rcui t/ Marzocchi-backed Honda CRSOO. 12Scc Henry began his pe rfect day by grabbing the holeshot in the openi ng moto a nd leading Emig, Hu g hes, Hond a of Troy's Todd DeHoop, Suzuki' s Ezra Lusk and McGrath onto t h e track . Henry pulled out an immed iat e lead, and enjoyed a IO-bike length cu sh io n ov er Emig as th ey enter ed the middle section of the track. Mike LaRocco stretched his series point lead to 11 with 2-1 moto finishes in the 500cc class. With the adrenaline flowing, Ernig charged too hard into a loosely-packed tum and los t his fron t end. "It just went out from under me without any warning," said Emig, who struggled to remount and rejoined the race in eighth. Emig's crash left Lusk in second with a hard -cha rging McG rath hot on his heels. A few bike leng ths behind, De Hoop had his hands full with Kawasaki Team Green's Scott Sheak, Suzuki's Jimmy Button and Hughes . But all the while, Henry conti nued to add to his rapidly-growing lead. " I felt grea t out front," sa id Henry. " I _was full of confidence and I just tried to stay in all of my lines without making any mistakes." Henry's wish would come true, as he rod e uncontested throughout the race and scored a comma nd ing win . McGrath found his way past Lusk in the back section of the course on lap three, but took an off-track excursion a few turns later and had a clos e encoun ter wi th a hay bale that allowed Lusk to zip past. "I got caught in a rut and it threw me way o ff:' 's a id McGrath. "I tried to wheelie back onto the track but I hit a hay bale or something and got screwed up." McGrath would not have to repass Lus k, however, as the factory Suzuki rider attempted to clear the same jump that Lamson had done on his 500. Lusk came up pa infully short and was ejected off the side of his machine. "I came u p short a nd cased it rea l ha rd : ' sa id Lusk. " I thi n k I may hav e tom so me ligaments in my fingers when 1 cased." "1 saw it all, I kn ew he was going to do that: ' McGrath sa id. Once into second, McGrath began to gain on Henry, but in the end he would finish alone, well ah ead of third-placed Hughes. Hughes ca me to life around the fo u r th lap and found hi s way pa st Button, Sheak and Del-loop , Emig recovered from his first-lap fall and at one point passed Hughes, but the defending 12See champ crashed again and allowed Hughes past. At the finish. Emig trailed Hughes by only a few inches, while 13

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