Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

:" U E C O S: Round9: M orial S S PRR S em tadium •AMACamel S upercross Series - inally! Mike laRocco (7) leads teammate Mike Kiedrowski (3) late in the 250cc feature. laRocco held on to win, his first since th e open ing round last year In Orlando. Kledrowskl fi ni shed second. By Kit Palme r Photos by Kinney Jones • CHARLOTIE, N.C., MAR. 26 t might not have been much o f a s u r p ri se tha t Mike laRocco won a round of the Camel Supercross Series, but it was a surprise that it took him nine rounds into the 15race series to do it. "It feels great to win, but it's more of a relief than an ything - I hate these long d ry s p ells," sa id Te am Kawa saki's Mike laRocco, who hadn't won a supe rcross main event since the opening round of the series last year in Orlando. LaRocco now becomes only th e fourth di ffer ent rid er thi s ye a r to win a Coors Light Ch all enge feature, this time in front of a near-capaci ty crowd at Charl otte's Memorial Stad ium. "I knew I was in a position to win, so I just went for it." Indeed he did . LaRocco put hi s Mike laRocco Sr.- . tuned Kawasaki KX250 into fourth place a t the start of the 20-lap feature and grad ually worked his way to the front befo re recording th e fourth su pe rcross w in of his ca reer. "I needed this wi n," said an obviously relieved laRocco. But it was Doug Henry, on his Team 1-800-CO LLECT/ Honda CR250 , w ho led the majority of the race - the first 16 laps to be exact - before getting bru tally stuffed by laRocco in a tight, righ t-hand tum . Henry and his Honda went down in a heap and d idn' t get back into the running until seven riders had roosted by him. Henry p icked up his mo unt, du sted himself off and had to be content with an eighth-place finish . Desp ite getting floored b y LaRocco, the reign ing U5cc Na tion al MX Champion, He nry, had no ha rsh word s of laRocco's questionabl e passing techni qu e. "Yeah, it (laRocco's pass) was a little rough, but you really can't blame him, " sai d Hen ry. "The tr ack was tig h t, we were racing for the lead and yo u d o wha t you ha ve to do ." " I di dn' t in te nd to k nock peop le down, but that 's wha t you have to do on tight tracks like this," said laRocco. laRocco's teammate Mike Kiedrow ski inherited second place when Henry wen t down, setting the stage for a dramatic four-lap duel for the win between La Rocco a nd Kiedro w s k i. The two Kawasa ki riders battled to th e finis h, ban ging ha ndl ebars more tha n once in the process. Whe n it wa s a ll over , laRocco had sailed across the finish line double -jump less than a bikelength ahead of his teammate. "We both we re riding pretty aggressively," said Kiedrowski, "but I guess he was more aggressive than me." Finishing on the podium for the first time this season was Team 1-800-COLLECT/ Hond a's Steve Lam son , d espite struggling the last four lap s with a rear flat tire. "It really feels good to make the rostrum," said Lamson . "I ha d a lou sy race last weeken d and this really boos ts my confidence." Team Yamaha's Jeff Emig ran secon d early in th e race but fin ished four th, whil e three-time Sup ercr oss Champion Jeff Stanton completed the top five. Noticeably missing on the rostrum at Charlotte wa s th e se ries po ints lead er Jeremy McGrath, wh o had an evening he 'd just as soon forget. The defending cha mp was inv olved in tw o first-tu m pile-ups - one in a heat race that forced him to ride a semi, and one in the feature that for a ll intents an d purposes cost him an y cha nce of collecting his sev enth win of the season. In the ma in even t, McGra th, along with man y other ride rs, found himself on the ground in betw een the first and second turns - a di fficult, qu ick left-right combination that sand wiched two small jumps. McGrath qu ickly remounted his Team 1-800-COLLECT /Hond a CR250, re-entered the race in 13th and climbed to 11th before cras hing again, after tangling with his teammate Stanton on the third lap . McGrath regrouped in 15th and spent the next 17 laps clawin g and scratching his way up thro ugh the pack on the tight, challenging and spectatorpleasing track before taki ng the checkered flag in sev en th by abo ut a half a wheel over Hen ry. " Yo u can't wi n ' em a ll ," sai d McGrath, who seemed to take his disappoin ting seventh-place fi n is h a ll in stride. "I still had a good time ou t there, but these things happen an d sometimes there jus t isn' t a whole lot you can do about it. I jus t haven't been getting off the line like I used to - I'm going to have to change tha t." Finishing one po sit i on ahea d o f McGrath in sixth was Larry Ward on the Team Noleen /Sizzler / Xlre me/Yamaha YZ250. Ninth and 10th were filled by Yamaha pri vateer Jeff Matiasevich and Suzuki's Damon Huffman. Like McG ra th in the 250cc cla ss, everyone thought Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk was a shoo-in for th e Eastern Regional U5cc Supercross Series fea ture. Bu t such a win just wasn't in the script this time for the Georgian. Instead, it was his recent nemesis Jimmy Bullon on a factory-backed Suzuki who logged the victory, his second of th e series. Lusk, who already has five wins under his belt this season, did, however, look to be well on his wa y to a sixth win until taking an unexpected trip over the handlebars in a long, tough section of whoops. With nowhere to go, Button who was running in second at the time slammed into the back of Lusk's Suzuki, and third-place Mike Brown rammed Button's bike from behind. Both Button and Brown managed to stay upright, though Button was knocked off the course. Th e factory Suzuki r ider reentered the 'race track just ahead of Greg Rand, who was running fourth at the time . RRP/ Cycles of Palm Beach/Kayo Racing's Tim Ferry quickly got by Rand but couldn't quite ma tch the pace that wa s being set by Button, though Ferry d id keep Button honest throughout the 15-lap race. Lusk spent most of the race in fourth tryi ng to pass Jim Motorcycle Sales /Pro Circuit-backed Brown. The series points leader finally succeeded late in the r ac e and fin ished th ird. Brown took fourth ahead of DGY Racing's Chad Pederson. McGrath still enjoys a comfortable points lead over Kiedrowski in the . series points chase, 198-159, but LaRocco has closed to within two points of Kiedrowski with 157. In the East Coast Series, Lusk leads Button, 167-154. Ferry is third with 132. 250cc Team Noleen / Sizzler Restaurant / Xtreme/Yamaha ' s Larry Brooks

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