Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'; AMACame.lSupercross$eries:> Round 11: Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome S P R R S. U E C O,S Matiasevich led the first semi from star t to finish, w ith Kied rowski adv ancin g from ano th er poor gate to fini sh sec on d. Th ird and fourth went to Team Sizzler I N oleen / Ya ma h a rid ers' Kyl e Lewis and Larry Brooks, respectively, with Beach Sportcycle's Gene Naumec in fifth. "The holesho t is real important, " said Matiase vich. "I don't think anyone 's gon na run aw ay a nd win (th e main event). The track suits my riding style; I'll hav e no excuses tonight. " Cliff Palm er imitated Matiasevich by leading ev ery lap of se m i two, w ith Suzuki support rider Denny Stephenson in the runner-up spo t. Larry Ward finished third in front of Honda of Troy riders Erik Kehoe and Todd DeHoop. "This is two yea rs in a row that I've made every main event, and I hope to ' keep th at tradi tion alive for a lo ng time, " said Palmer. James Eickel and Dag Boyesen took th e to p tw o posi tions in th e Las t Chance Qualifier, the last two transfers of the night. Matiasevich got his second holeshot of the evening at the start of the 20-lap main event, with fellow Yam aha ride r Craig close behind . He nry was th ird ahea d of McGrath , while Lamso n, Emig and LaRocco all found themselves on the gro und. "I w ent do w n a nd m y p ip e w as bu rning Lam i (Lamson)," said Emig . "He was yelling, 'Get it off, get it off.''' " I had a good start, but I hit someone ov er that little d ouble and we n t down," said Lamson after the race, displ aying a nast y-lookin g burn on h is back . "Emig's bike landed on me and was ju st fr yin g my ba ck . It felt like bacon sizz ling . I'm prett y sore." Kiedrowski also had troubles in the fir st turn, and while he mana ged to stay upright , he was back in 11th place. "A lot of people cras he d, and Stanton almost wen t down ," said Kiedrowski. " I ran into the back of him. I was just going, 'I'm staying up this time.''' Back up fron t, Crai g block-passed Matiasevich for the lead on lap two, and began attacking the track as he attempted to pull away. McGrath passed Henry for third on the fifth lap, and closed on Matiasevich in the who ops, passing him just before the finish line. ' At that point, Craig had just und er a four-second lead on McG rath, an advantage he maintained for the ne xt seve ra l circu it s . After the m idway point, Craig began to falte r and McGrath smelled blood. The Honda rider rapidly closed the gap on Craig, hounding the leader for a lap before trying to pass over the finish-line jump at the end of the 15th go-around. He couldn't complete the move, but Craig faltered soon after, and McGrath moved by over a s mall double, then cut to the inside in the following turn. "1 made a mistake, and I heard Jeremy go, 'Whoo!' like (he was saying), 'That was a close onel" said Craig. Cra ig faltered once more in the whoops, then appeared to back off and accept second place. He finished over three seconds in arrears of McGrath, ~ who again pulled a nac-nac over the triples. After cross ing the line, McGrath ..... high-fived Craig, congratulating him for a strong ride. "Mike Craig was jamming out there, ....... and it was tough," said McGrath. "He held a lead on me for a while, but I ~ 0.. caught him in the whoops and I think he got kind of flustered. He made a mistake and I got him in the next turn." After his midpack start, Kiedrowski g:: ..... < 8 (Left) Mike Kiedrowski (3) worked through the pack to finish third. Doug Henry (8) was fourth. (Below) Brian Swink's mechanic Paul Steinbrecher walts for the start of the main event. Swink sported a trick titanium pipe on his factory Suzuki. (Below left) Mike laRocco (7) stalks Mike Kiedrowski (3) and Brian Swink (10). All three suffered poor starts. maybe the bolts fe ll out. It ri pped in half, though, so that's obvio us ly no t wh at happened . Jeff doesn't remember hitting anyone, so all I can figure is that he landed hard off a jump, and his butt pu shed it into the rear tire." 125cc had marched steadily forward through the field, arriving in fifth place by the halfway mark. He hammered at the fourth-placed Stanton for several laps, block-passing the former champ with six laps left when Stanton's clutch again got the better of him . Kiedrowski then moved by Henry, who had ridden in third (or most of the race. Henry followed Kiedrowski across the line for fourth. "1 had a pretty good race," said Henry. "1 rode smoo th and I didn 't make many mistakes." • LaRocco had completed lap one back in 12th place, but put on a patented attack and was se venth m idway through the ra ce. He advanced two more spots in the latter half of the race, displacing first Ward, then jumping by Stanton over a tabletop jump. Stanton finished sixth, riding the last couple of laps with out a rear fender. " We're not really sure what happen ed (to the fender), " said Stanton's mechanic Wyatt Seals, pointing to what little of the plastic was still bolted to the CR. "1saw it flopping around, and I was pretty embarrassed because I thought Lusk and Hu ffman split wins in the two 125cc heats, se tti ng up a showdown between the top guns from the East and the West. Jeff Curry won the Last Chance Qualifier, and the 22-rider field was set for the 15-lap 125cc main event. The hol eshot was snared by Jim' s Motorcycle Sales-sponsored Mike Brown, winner of last week's race in Pontiac; but the Honda rider miscalculated a jump and went over the bars big-time on the first lap. Lusk inherited the lead, while Button and Huffman were held up by a first-turn pile-up. The two finished lap one in fourth and fifth places, respectively. With the winner of the last showdown out front, most people assumed the race was over. Button was on fire, though, and despite the fact that he was too heavy to jump eit her triple, he mo ved into second and began chasing down Lusk. Button capitalized on an error by Lusk, block-passing his way by his teammate, but his lead was short-lived. Button nearly looped out while jumping onto a table jump, shooting off the track and onto the plywood sheeting. He skirted the next jump before rejoining the race in third place, behind Suzuki teammates Lusk and Huffman. Lusk 's worries were not over, as Huffman tried to triple past the leader on lap 11. The attempt was foiled

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