Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ing forward to this stuff (supercross). I want to be one of the big boys, and to do that you have to d o well on a 250. I do well on 125s, but they're for kids kids and the occasional vete ran like myself." Working up from ye t another poor start was Team Kawasaki's Mike LaRocco, fresh off a win at the Gainesville MX opener. Riding in front of his home-sta te crowd, the Hoosier sat in ninth place on the firs t lap, but steadily worked his way forward and fi nished in third approximately three seconds in arrears of Emig. "I'm upset," said laRocco, who earlier - during the opening ceremonies had explained the track to the crowd via a helmet-mounted microphone. "I got a bad sta rt, as usua l, and just started passing people. I kep t screwing up in the whoops, and that was costing m e. I couldn't blitz throug h them - my .ba ck end kep t kicking ou t." Rounding out the top five were Craig an d Team Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski - th e only two riders oth er than McGra th to ha ve won a main event so far this season. Sixth wa s Team Suzuki's Damon Huffman, who is leading the 125cc West Coast series, and the top 10 was filled out by Matia sevich, Suzuki's Brian Sw ink, and Honda /1-800-COLLECT's Doug H enry and Jeff Stanton. Fellow H onda /l-800-COLLECT rid er Steve Lamson was 11th, w ith Team N oleen/ Sizzler /Yamaha riders Larry Ward, Kyle Lewis and Larry Brooks finishin g 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively. Honda of Troy's Erik Kehoe crossed the line in 15th place. laRocco wasn't the only rider struggli ng w ith the whoop section - a long field o f rocker s th at gave many rid er s troub le all night long. The course also included nu merous d oubles and a pair of high-flying triples, all laid ou t on a long, stretched -out track d esign . . "We're tryi ng to put in longer straights this year, to allow for more passing," said AMA pro racing d irector Roy Janson. "Last yea r the rid ers were complaining becau se the twisty, technical designs d idn't give them time to p ull up alongside each other to pass. We' re trying th is, bu t who knows if it will help, with the wa y McGrath ha s been riding?" Despite the fact tha t the tacky indiana soil de veloped grooves and ruts in several spots, most rid ers seemed pleased with the course. In a last-di tch effort to add some solidity to the d irt, track worke rs had spread bags of dry cement on the surface the night before, and this helped to m in im ize t he unavoidable grooving. In the 125cc Eastern Reg ional race, Ezra Lusk apparently didn't notice th e numerous "no smoking venue" signs in the Hoosier Dome, or perhaps the Team Suzuki rider just chose to blatantl y ignore them. Whatever the case, "Yogi" thorough ly sm o ked the competition, riding to easy wins in both his heat race and the 15-lap main event, which made up for the one mo ment of "weakness" he has shown all seaso n - a runner-up performance at Daytona. His indianapolis win was his fifth of the six-race-old series, and gives him a healthy 18-point lead over Jimmy Button, with four roun ds rem aining. 250Cc Matiasevich took over the first eightlap heat race on the first lap, and rod e to an impressive win over Kiedrowski and Stant on. Lamson took the heat's fourth and fina l trans fer spot. The only rider to even give Matiasevich a fight was Ward, and that cha llenge came up short when he washe d out his front end and fell down. "I rode good in that race," said Ma tiasevich. "It felt good to win." McGrath led heat two fro m sta rt to . finish, leav ing the riders beh ind him to provide the only racing. Henry was in second and challenging McGrath on lap one, when he parted ways wi th his bike in the air and crashed. LaRocco was follow ing clo se beh ind, and ran in to the fallen Honda pilot. "My front wheel went in a ru t, and bounced kind of fu nny off the face of the next jump," said Henry. "I jumped off the bike in the air, and laRocco was already com mitted. I'd like to thank him for not just totally roos ting me. He took the time to back up and go aroun d." LaRocco go t go ing again, in ninth, and was working his way up whe n he was held up yet again, this time by a fu mbling Cliff Palmer. The KTM rid er forced laRocco to the outside of a tum, and he lost valuable time when he was forced to back up and go around. "Even after hitting Henry, I figured I could make it (to a transfer spot), but when Palmer held me up I was kind of curious (if I could)," said laRocco. (Right) Mike laRocco Sr. displays his son 's latest headgear. laRocco did Indeed ride "wIde open " to fi nish th ird after suffering yet another medi ocre start. (Below) Jeff Emlg (6) led the fi rst half of the main event before slipping to fi nish an eventual secon d. After pulling the hol eshot, Jeff Matiasevlch (21) drop ped back to a seven th-place finish. McG rath earned the easy wi n, but had a scare on the las t lap on a rutted ju mp face. "The dirt grabbed my toe and pulled it under the peg," said the cha mp. "It rea lly hurt." Sw ink was the di s tant ru nner-up, w ith Team SplitFire/Hot Wheels/ Kawasaki rider Ryan Hughes nab bing an impressive third place. LaRocco's hard work was rewarded wi th a transfer to th e main when he fin ished fourth, while Craig high -sided after running as high as second, and moved on to the semis. The firs t si x-lap semi was won by Emig, who per formed a series of aerial antics for the crow d once in the lead . He wa s followed across the line by Hond a of Troy's Eri k Kehoe, r eigning 125cc Western Regional C ha m p io n Jimmy Gaddis, Kyle Lewis and Ward. "My hea t race w as kind of em ba rrass ing," sai d Emig. "I ho lesh ot an d went back to fifth . I feel a little better now. I was going th rough the whoo ps better." H enry w on the second semi, with Craig second and Huffman third. Suzuki support rider Denn y Stephenson finished fourth and Brooks completed the top five. Palmer won the Last Chance Qualifier, and DeHoop took the final transfer spo t to the main after barely holding off a last-turn pass attempt by Buddy Antunez. Matiasevich fired his Ron Hebentuned YZ250 into the first tum ahead of the pac k in the 20-lap main eve n t, b ut was qu ickly passed by Emi g ov er th e triple. For the first seve ral laps, Emig led a freigh t tra in co ns isting of himself, Matiasevich, Craig, McGrath and Ward. La Ro cco s ta rted back in ninth, w ith Kiedrows ki a co uple of spots behind him. Stanton and Lamson were also mired back in the pack. McGrath appeared to be riding tight in th e early laps, but d enie d being ~ 0\ ~

• Cover