Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

· : MOTOCROSS;::':, i·~·· "=: :. ~:·:~· Round 4: High . o tRaceway P in :AMA l25125OCcNational ChainplonshipMotoerosS series e K erewslii, en., shae igh Peint wins By Kit Palmer Photos by Ki nney Jones MOUNT MORRIS, PA, MAY 29 f you were given just one word to describe Mike Kiedrowski's performance in the 2S0cc class at the 18th ru nni ng of the High Point Nation al, that wo rd 'would have to be flawless. The defending champion turned in two mista ke-free rides on his Shane Nalleytun ed Kawasaki KX2S0 to score his second overall win of the season and, more importan tly, gain six valuable points on series points leader Mike laRocco, wh o also has two overall wins to his credi t. laRocco now leads his fellow Kawasa ki teammate by a slimmer ll-po int sp read with eight rounds yet to be run. laRocco has thus far rung up a tota l of 184 poin ts to Kiedrowski's 173. ' Team Honda/l-800-COLLECT 's Jeremy McGrath proved at High Poin t that he is certa inly a force to be reck oned with on the outdoor National circuit. The defending Supercross Champion and current Supercross series points leader backed up his second-place finish a t the previous week' s Budds Cr eek , Maryland, National with a solid thirdplace performance at High Point. In fact, McGrath led the first half of both 2SOcc m o tos be fore givi ng wa y to both Kiedrowski and LaRocco, taking third overa ll via 3-3 moto finishes . McGrath's recent s uccess has ca rried him into fourth place in the series standings, and he is now seven p oints behind Ne w Englander John Dowd, w ho tallied 9-7 moto finishes on hi s Boyes en /Pen skebacked Yamaha. Dow d left High Poin t Raceway with 122 po in ts; McGrath with 115. As usual, the 12Scc class d isplayed some of the day's most aggressive, closest an d exciting racing of the day. Both mo tos were hard-fought affairs to the finish . After the d ust had settled, it was the n umber-o ne Honda ridden by the defending cha mp Doug H enry posting the overall victory, using a somew ha t inconsisten t 1-5 tally to do the trick. His win, however, was perhaps diminished slightly by Team Yamaha's Jeff Em ig, who dazzled the massive crowd with a sp ectacular come-from-behi nd win in the second moto. Unfortunately for the 1992 12Scc Na tional champ, a seven thplace finish in the first moto effectively ended any hopes the Californian had of recording his second overall win of the season. His 7-1 combo placed him third behi nd Ryan Hughes of the powerful Sp li Hire / H ot W h ee Is / P r o- Circuit / Kawasaki team ; Hughes pos ted a more compatible 4-2 mo to score. The rapidly improvin g Hughes came from behind in th e first moto before taki ng the che ck- . ered flag in fourth, and he led much of the second moto befo re succum bing to Emig's relentless attacks. Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk was one of four riders who, at one time or another, led the second 12Scc moto. Bu t wh en all was said and do ne, the Georgia n occupied four th pl ace overall in the fin a l resu lts column after recording 6-3 moto finishes. Desp it e finishi ng th ird in the first 125cc moto and being relegated to ninth in the second moto, afte r being involved in a first-lap pile- up, series points leader Steve Lamson m a in ta in s a I S-p oint I 10 (Above) Mike Kiedrow ski (cent er) wo n both 250cc National motos at Hig h Point Raceway . gaining six valuable points on ser ies points leader Mike laRocco (left) . who finished second in both motos. Jeremy McGrath (right) went 3-3. (Right) Doug Henry (1) roos ts Jeff Emlg (6) In the second 125cc National moto. Henry sco red th e overall win via 1-5 mot o fi nishes. cushion over Team Suzuki's Damon Huffman, who wen t 8-4 on the da y for seventh overall. Lamson has 161 points to Huffman's 146. Sitting in third with 141 points is a fast-closing Emig. Under blue skies and with warm temperatures - which made for ideal racing conditions - a huge crowd turned out fo r the 18th running of the High Poin t National, traditionally held during the Memorial Day weekend. An estimated 10,ODO-pl us spectators lined the scen ic track tha t is laid out over rolling, green hills near the Pennsylvania/West Virginia border. 250cc NATIONAL McGrath led the initial three laps of the firs t 3D-min u te plus two-lap mo to befo re giv ing way to Kiedrowski. Know ing that his main concern, la Rocco, had been mired back in the p ac k after a m ediocre ga te, the defending cha mp quickly broke free from McGrath and began pulling awa y. "Jeremy go t undern ea th us on the start and got away," said Kiedrowski of McGrath's qu ick getaway. "I had to get him (McGrath) as fas t as 1could because 1knew that laRocco was coming." laRocco was, ind eed , "coming." The series points leader rounded the first lap in 11th place but ha d already moved

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