Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

H ughes kicked off his weekend on Frid ay w ith a win in the Open Expert class . Although he d idn't w in eithe r of the 10-la p m otes, the Ka w a sa k i / Answer/Bell / Asics/Sco tt/ Ren thal/ MXA/ Fact ory Effex/Gaerne/ Mo tul/ Acerbis /Bridgestone-backed rider finished second in both mo tos and was reward ed for his con sistency wi th the overall win . Team Honda's Steve Lamson ripped o ff the line with th e holeshot in the opening moto, b u t on lap one enco untered what would be the start of a string o f bad lu ck tha t would haun t h im throughout the weeken d. "I just los t the front end in an offcambe r turn," sa id Lamson. "I d idn't even see it com ing ." W h il e Lam son scra m bled to re mo u n t, Davi s, Fox Ra cing ' s Mik e Healey and Big Valley H onda's Chris Bark er ch ug ge d pa st . Hu gh es st a rte d poorly, but ga ined momentum as th e moto wore on. Once into the lead , Davis seized his opportunity and p u t hi s fami liarity of the course to good use . Davis exten ded h is lead to eigh t seconds a t the fin ish , a nd was nev er se ri o usly challenged throughout the race. Healey ran seco nd for mo st of the rnoto, but Hughes ran him d ow n in th e closing s tages and greeted the checkered flag in second . Hea le y fi nished a close th ird, w hile Barker held on for a distant fou rth. After r em o unt in g, Lamson charged ba ck to ward s the fro nt of th e p ack but d ro p ped o ut nea r th e ha lfwa y p o int with a broken front wh eel. Mot o tw o sa w Rex Sta ten gra b th e holesho t with Ji m my Lavorci, Tyler H umme l a nd Healey in tow . H ea ley took over on the first lap while Lamson and Hu gh es began to wo rk the ir way to ward s th e fro n t afte r so-so sta rt s. Lamso n wo rked throu gh tra ffic qu ickly, and by lap four had closed to Healey's rear fender. Lamso n made the pass ou t of sig ht in th e "Backwoods" section o f the track, and once in front pulled away with a commanding win. "I wanted to prove a point after the first moto ," said Lamson. Healey ran seco nd for mo st of the race and looked to be on his way to the overall win, but once aga in, Hughes ran h im down and made the pa ss on th e final lap . In fin ishin g second, Hughes nabbed the overall w in over Healey and Ray Crumb, who turned in 6-7 moto finishes. "I just stayed smooth in both races," said Hu ghes. "I d idn't get great starts in either moto, but I jus t let everything sort out be for e I s ta rte d ch ar ging. It's too bad there's no more SOOcc Nationals, I like riding these things." First-moto winner Davis ran as high as fo urth in the seco nd m o to , but dropped out wit h a blown motor in the closing s tages . Teen-sen sation Robbie Reyna rd finished fourth in the seco nd moto aboar d a 300cc -k itted Kawasaki KX2S0, b ut carded a DNF in the firs t moto when his motor locked up. Hu ghes carried his mom entum in to Sa t urd a y' s 12Scc Ex pe rt cl ass fin al. Hu ghes and Lamso n topped the two 10lap qualifiers, and no one was surp rised when it was the same pai r w ho jumped into the top two spots at the start of the 3S-m in u te-p lus -one-Iap fina l. Lamson led Hughes , Reynard, Hu ffman and Dav is up and down the famous Mammoth start and d ownhill, and with that the top five positions were basicall y set. Lamson opened up a n im m ed ia te lead over Hu gh es, who had his hands full with a hard-eharging Reynard and Huffman, while Davis ran alone in fifth. At one point, Lamson enjoyed a fivesecond advantage over Hughes, but a Timmy Staufenbeil (15) couldn't hold off winner Kevin Windham (38) in the 125 and 250ccIntermediate classes. Staufenbeil was third. few slips cost the factory rider dea rly.in the closing stages. "I jus t missed a couple of lines and that allow ed them to close the gap," said Lamso n. "I was feeling good out fron t, but in the 125 class a few small slip ups can cost you a lot." Hu ghes broke away from th e Reyn ard/ Huffman ba ttIe over third and closed to Lamson 's rear fender by lap 11 of what w ou ld be a 16-lap moto, but lapped rid ers would playa major factor in th e ou tc ome o f t he ra ce. La ms o n encountered a particularl y" stubborn lapper on the 14th lap, and after yelling at the immovable rid er for five turns, Lamson attempted to jump past him on the insid e line of a tum /jump section. "Everyone was moving ov er pretty quickly, but when I caught up to thi s one guy he just wouldn't move," said a disgusted Lamson. "I finally jumped to the inside of him but he mov ed over on me and I crashed." Hu ghes said, " Tha n k yo u," and zip ped into the lead and on to the win, w hile Lamson remounted onl y after the Hu ffman and Reynard motored past as well. Huffman had sta lked Reynard for half of the moto and passed the youngs ter with rela tive ease in the back section of the course . Rey nard had n o answer and seemed to settle in to position. At th e ch eck ered flag, Hu ghes e njoyed a three-seco nd lead over H uffman, w ho in turn led Reyn ard by four seconds. Lamson cru ised hom e a d istant fou rth, well ahead of Davis. " I was just trying to ge t my lines dialed in at first," said H ughes. "I star ted to ch arge from abo u t the halfw ay poi n t, and that's w he n I ca ug ht Steve. Th en a lapper got in his wa y, b u t it wasn 't hi s fault and it wasn 't Steve 's fault. Ther e wer en 't any flaggers back there to get the lappers out of our way." Hughes looked to aga in carry his momentum into the followin g day, as he and Re ynard easil y topp ed th e tw o qualifying motos. At the drop of the gate in the final , though, it was Davis w ho ripp ed off th e line a bo a rd h is Kawasaki Team Green/Xtrem e/Shoei/ Varner / Sid i/ Acerb is /Smith / Endura / Dunl op /LR Ente rpri se s-b acked Kawasaki and led the field around the track. Former 125cc National Champion Rex Staten (1) holeshot and easily won both Vet Expert class motos. Winy Musgrave (parti ally hidden), Johnny O'Mara (9)and Larry Roeseler (19) gave chase. 25

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