Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·:~~f~~~~S~<::. ~ound 4: Jack Murphy Stadium Round ing o ut the field were Kim Ashkennzi, Doug Dubach, Shaun Kalos, Mike Chamberlain, Cli ff Palmer, Rich Taylor and Kyle Lewis . 250cc Emig was the early lead er in the first heat race, b ut there w as nothing he could do about Kied rowsk i, w ho was moving u p qu ickly. By the halfway p oin t, Kiedrows ki w as do gging th e leade r, sea rchi ng for daylight to pa ss. He soon saw the light and shot into the lea d, gradua lly pulling away from the Yamaha rider to take the checkered flag go ing away. Henry finished a distant ' third, while Lamson grabbed fourth ahead of KTM's Cliff Palmer. Stanton had to ride the semis after crashing on the second lap while running fourth. LaRocco scored the win in the second heat race, but not without help from McGrath and Craig, who took each other out. Craig nailed the holeshot but was quickly passed by the champ. A lap later, McGrath bobbled in a section of whoops and Craig ran into the back of him. Both riders hit the deck, while LaRocco scooted by and into the lead. McGrath and Craig found themselves in the back of the pack with little chance of landing transfer spots. These positions were eventually filled by winner LaRocco, Matiasevich, Ward and Swink, in that order. Craig, however, made it close by passing Ron Lechien on the last lap and breathing down Swink's neck at the finish. Pa lmer and Stanton put on quite a show while dicing for the lead in the first semi. Palmer and his KTM grabbed ' the holeshot with Stanton close behind. It took Stanton three laps before he finally stuffed Palmer in a tum to take the lead . However, Stanton's aggressive pass only seem ed to add fuel to Palmer ' s fire, and the Oklahoman im me d ia tel y retaliated. He made it a r ace to the finish, but the three-t ime champ managed to hold on for a narrow victory. Third went to Dubach, followed by Kalos and Brooks. The second semi featured a rematch betw een Craig and McGrath. Craig ' jumped out to the early lead, while McGrath settled into second. The two riders quickly put distance between themselves and ·th e rest of the pack as they matched each other's every move. Craig maintained his blazingly fast pace and held McGrath back to score the win, proving that McGrath can, indeed, be beaten. "I' m the first guy to beat him (this yea r), and he needs that to slow him down," sa id Craig. " It got a little too close out there, but I thought, 'Never say quit:" Lechien qualified for his first main . event in quite some time, by placing third in the semi. Finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, were Team Noleen's Kyle Lewis and Japanese rider Kim Ashkennzi. Lancaster Sport Cycles' Jeromy Buehl led the start of the Last Chance Qualifier, only to crash on the second lap . This gave Honda rid er Rich Taylor the lead, but hot on his rear fender were Chris Young, Mike Ch amberlain an d Honda of Troy's Todd DeHoop. C hamberlai n sli p p ed b y 'You n g, (Top) Jeff Matlasev lch (21)led the first lap and later crashed Into a fallen Mike laRocco. "The Chicken" passed Larry Ward In the last tum to finish fifth. (Left) Damon Huffman was Involved In a flrsttum pile-up in the 125cc feature , but turned In a spectacular come-from-behlnd ride to finish second. while DeHoop began p utting pressure on both rid er s . DeHoop displaced Youn g on the last lap to make one final attempt on Ch amberla in and the la st transfer position of the night - but he came up a few inches short. Kyle Lew is blas ted out of the gate an d powered his Team Noleen /Sizzle r/ Yamaha-backed YZ2S0 in to the first tum in front of the pack in the main eve n t, but he stalled his engine a turn later and the p ack w ent ro aring past him - all excep t for Palmer, Lechien and Henry, who were held up by Lewis . Matiasevich found himself leading the way ahead of Craig, Emig, LaRocco and McGrath. Craig relegated Matiasevich to second on the second lap and, two laps la ter, both' McGrath and LaRocco slipped by "The Chicken:' This set the stage for what could 've been an epic three-way dice for the lead, inv olving Craig, McGrath and LaRocco, but LaRocco crashed on the four th lap when he dipped a haybale, and Matiasevich was too close to avoid hitting the downed rider; Kiedrowski inherited third ahead of Lamson, Emig and Ward. For the next seven laps, Craig led McGrath around what many of the riders described as a very challenging and technical James Kitchens-built track. Rain the previo us day left the tr ack damp and tacky, and deep grooves had formed in many sections. "I sat back and figured out all the good lines," said McGrath. Just past the halfway point, McGrath had enough of sitting back, and began making his move, eventually out-jumping Craig through a section of whoops. Three laps later, Kiedrowski motored past a fading Craig and set his focus on McGrath. With the white flag in sight, Kiedrowski had closed to within striking distance, but two turns from the checkered flag, he lost control of his bike and hit the dirt. ' c "I just leaned it too far; trying too hard," said Kiedrowski. "It was just one of those things:' "I knew he (Kiedrowski) was there," said McGrath. "I was pretty tired. 1 was just trying not to make any mistakes.and ride smoothly to save my energy." Kiedrowski recovered in plenty of time to keep his second place ahead of Craig. Having won every ro und th us far, McGrath has a perfect score of 100 in the AMA Camel Supercross Champions hip Point Fund, while Stanton is a distant second with .70 points. Five points behind Stanton is Craig with 6S, and Lamson is next in line with 61. 125cc There was plenty of drama in the Western Regiona112Scc Supercross feature. Ryan Hughes, of the powerful SplitFire/Hot Wheels/Kawasaki team, recorded the first victory of his career. It could not have happened at a be tter time for the 20-year-old rider from Escondido, California. Hughes is coming off a strin g of injuries, and a little over a week ago, his father, Bill, passed away. At Anaheim, Hughes didn't qualify for the 12Sccmain event. "Times ha ve been tough lately," said Hughes . "I needed this: ' H ughes' evening go t off to a roc ky start after he finished sixth in his heat race, but he came back with a venge ance in th e IS-la p fea ture. He managed to a void a m ajor firs t-tu rn pile-up th a t incl u ded series points leader Damon Huffman, heat race winner Mike Metzger and David Pingree, and squirted

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