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/127660
launched his YZ250 into the lead at the start of the first 2S0cc heat race , but it wouldn't last for long. Lamson wasted litt le time in passing Brooks and building up a comfortable lead. The factory Honda ride r led every la p to score a seemingly easy and uneventful victory in front of the 24,832 spectators in attendance at the ra th er s ma ll stadi u m . Kied rowski led laRocco across the finish line in second and third, resp ectively, w hile Ward finished fourth ahead of Tea m Yamaha's Michael Craig. The second hea t race was all but a disas ter. N earl y half the pack w as involved in a firs t tum pile-up, which included McGrath, Honda of Troy' s Erik Kehoe, KTM 's Cliff Palmer, Stanton, Emi g, Suzuki's Brian Swink, and many others. Emig led the field going into the first tum but slid out in the middle of the "5" section and about half the pack stacked up on top of him. Luckily, no one wa s injured. "I drove deep in to the first turn there are these tw o little jumps between the two turns an d there was a little mud on them and the bike just slid out," said Emig. who wa s covered with m in o r bu mps and bruises. Those rid ers w ho avoided the big crash nearly completed a full lap before th e last rid er inv olved in th e pile-up managed to get back underway, causing a scoring nightmare. Henry maneu vered a round the pile of bikes a nd bod ies cleanly and he ld the lea d after the firs t lap ahead o f Team Sp litF ire /Hot Wh ee ls /Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes, Ferce Sports/Ben tleys/ Ba r rs-b a cked Mike Jones and Japanese rider Kohji Ohkawara. These four riders maintained their positions throughout th e ra ce, fini shing in that order. McGrath, meanwhile, was entertaining the crowd with his "Nac-Nacs " over the long triple jumps. "Hey, I might've been out of it, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun," said McGrath. "You can't let stuff like that (the pile-up) get you down ." The defending champ finished a distant fifth in the race, one position out of a direct transfer. Brooks led the first three laps of the first 2SOcc semi before getting passed by eventual winner Matiasevich. Brooks held on to second, while Noleen/SizzIer Restaurants/Xtreme/Yamaha's Kyle Lewis, Huffman, and Honda of Troy's Todd DeHoop rounded out the top five. Running third late in the moto before crashing was Craig, who would at that point call it a night due to a shoulder injury. After passing Stanton early in the race, Swink went on to win the second semi, while McGrath worked his way up from a slow start to finish second, ., dropping Stanton back to third. Emig ~ finished fourth and Palmer fifth. Kawasaki rider Buddy Antunez led all but the first lap in the Last Chance Qualifier, leaving Honda-mounted Rich Taylor, Kehoe and Kearney Mesa Yamaha rider Axel Holvoet to argue over the last transfer spot of the night - Kehoe got the las t word, and the last transfer spot. The 2Q-Iap feature got off to a rocky start with a bunch of riders going down in the first turn "5" section. Some of those involved were, again, McGrath, Swink, Huffman, Lewis and Palmer. "I got caught in that pile-up," said McGrath. " I really don't know what happened. We just all converged in one place and people started going down." Sneaking around the outside of the mayhem, once again, was Henry, who (Above) Doug Henry (8) led the first 16 laps In the 2O-Iap race. Here Jeff Emig (6) attempts to pass Henry early In the race Emlg slid out moments later. (Right) Jeremy McGrath (1) was held up In this first-tum pil.up In the 250cc feature. McGrath crashed a few laps later and ended up seventh. quickly established a significant lead over the res t of the pack. His nearest co mpetitor was Emig, w ho was bein g chased d own by LaRocco and Ward. Ernig whittled away at Henry's lead u n til it was nothing more than wheel length. On the fifth lap, Ernig deci ded to make his move by d iving to the inside of Henry in a wide, sweeping tum to the left. "Hey, I'm tired of just riding around in second or third pla ce," said Ernig, "so 1 decided to do something abo ut it." Unfortu na tely for Emig, his atte mpt at the lead ended up with him flat on his back when the rear end of his Steve Butler-tuned Yamaha slid out. He re covered quickly, losing only one position to LaRocco. Emig snatched the position back three laps later when laRocco bobbled over a series of jumps. Kiedrowski also took advantage of laRocco's miscue, relegating his teammate to fourth. This only seemed to fire laRocco up, as he blew by both Kiedrowski and then Emig on the ninth lap . Kiedrowski followed LaRocco's cue and slipped by Ernig at the same time, which made the top four at the halfway point Henry, laRocco, Kiedrowski and Emig, while Lamson and Ward weren't far behind in fifth and sixth. While LaRocco , Kiedrowski and Ernig were mixing it up, Henry enjoyed smooth sailing up front and had pulled clear of the racing going on behind him, At this point, it looked as though Henry just might pull off his first-ever 2SOcc supercross victory, bu t laRocco had different ideas. The 500cc National MX Champion , LaRocco, slowly but s u re ly reeled in Henry over the next four laps until he was breathing down the Honda rider' s neck. LaRocco didn't waste any time in trying to pass Henry and mad e his first attempt count by diving underneath the 12Sec National MX champ. The two riders slammed togeth er , and Henry go t the short end of the stick. "I didn't mean to knock anyon e down," said laRocco. " I knocked Henry down and I'm sorry for that, but that's what you ha ve to do on tracks like this . There were only a few places to pass ou t there." "Once I was out in front, I jus t tried to race the track and ride comfortably," said Henry. "Then they started catching me and I started rid ing tight. I got a lit- tle tired and started making mistakes." Henry remounted in seventh. For the remaining few laps, laRocco a nd Kiedrowski battled intensely as they ban ged bars for the lead. When it was all over, laRocco sailed across the finish line just inches ahead of Kiedrowski. "It was a close race," said Kiedrowski. "It (th e track) was tight and Mike (LaRocco) pushed me around; I pushed him back. I guess I wasn't aggressive enough. Since we are teammates we weren't going to take each other out. He took Henry out and he could've taken me down, but that's what's go ing to happen if they keep building tracks like this ." Lamson led a tightly kni t group of riders across the line in third, nipping Emig at the checkered flag. "I though Jeff might get me there at the end with my flat tire, but I just hung in there," said Lams on. "I covered my insi de line so he (Emig) wouldn't take me out. There we re some sharp-edged rocks ou t there and I think that' s what caused the tire to go flat." Stanton fi nished fif t h and Ward sixth. McGrat h literally passed Henry in mi dair over th e finish jump to sna tch seventh over his teamma te, while Mafiasevich and Huffman rounded out th e top 10. 125cc The large Charlotte crowd prep ared for what it seeme d wou ld be a no the r Lusk runaway at the start of the IS-lap 12Sec feature, as the Georgian sped into the early lead ahead of Rand, Button, Brown, Ferry and earlier heat race winner Jeff Dement, on a DGY Racing Yamaha. The other heat race winner, Chad Pederson, was 15th after the first lap. After the second lap, Button had moved into second and was keeping a close eye on Lusk, perhaps a little too close as it would tum out. On the very next lap , Lusk got out of shape on the track's only long section of w hoop s, crashed, and Button ran into him. "There were rocks in the whoops and my back wheel hit arock, said Lusk, who had also crashed out of contention in his heat race and qualified via the M LCQ. . As Lusk was falling, Button slammed into the back of his bike and nearly got his own bike wedged betw een the rear fender and tire of Lusk's Suzuki. While Button struggled to keep his bike upright, he was rear-ended by Brown. Button was knocked off the track. "E z ra got squi rrelly in th e whoops and I hit him," said Butt on. "I was really happy I stayed up, but I got bumped off the track." Button re-entered the track just ahead of Rand, while Lusk re covered in between Ferry and Brown. On the next lap , Rand wa s pa ssed b y Lusk and Brown. Shortly thereafter, Brown made a surprise pass on Lusk for third. . From that po int on, Bu tton stead ily pulled away fro m Fer ry, while Lu sk spe nt most of the race in fourth looking for da ylight a rou n d Bro wn, which didn't happen until a few laps from the finish in the whoops.