Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

II while home state favorite Larry Wa rd, of the Nol ee n/Sizzler Restaurant/ Xtreme/Yamaha team, finished a sea son-high thi rd. Finishing fourth overall was Tallon Vohland, who took advantage of a short break in the 250cc World Champ ionship series to compete at Washougal, while John Down, last week's wi n ner in Minnesota, finished fifth overall via a 7-4 moto tally. With tw o r ounds yet to be held, LaRocco no w has an unca tch able 467 p o in ts , w h ile Dowd owns a delicate four-poin t lead over McGrath for second, 323-319. Ryan Hughes, o f the SplitFire/Hot W heel/ Pr o Circu it / Ka w asa ki team, recorded his second win of the series in the 125cc class by winning the first" moto and finishing third in the sec ond. Hi s nearest op ponent was Suzu ki's Dam on Huffma n wh ose 3-2 tally cam e up jus t short of posting wha t could've been his th ird win of the season. Instead, Huffman had to se ttle for second, while defendin g champ Doug Henry, of the 1BOO-COLLECT/Honda team, had to be content with third. But despite finishing third, it was a very productive day for the series points-leader, Henry. His nea rest points rival, and teammate, Steve La mson, failed to score any points in the second moto after crashing and then having his motorcycle slammed into by Kawasaki's Robbie Reynard. After finishing second in the first moto, Lamson crashed on the backside of a jump while leading the second moto and his bike was severely damaged. Reyna rd failed to see Lamson's downed bike on the other side of the blind jump and plowed into it. As a result, neither rider would finish the race. Lamson's misfortune gives Henry a comfortable 26-point lead with just two rounds (four motos) left,391-365. 250Cc NATIONAL Th er e was no ca tching McGrath in the first 250cc moto, The ever-improving Supercross Champion - on the outdoor circ uit, that is - po wered his Skip No rfolk-tuned Ho nda CR250 in to the lead and w as never re ally cha llenged througho u t the 30-minute-p lus-tw o-lap moto. Ward gave him a run early in the r ace b ut jus t could n' t q ui te ma tc h McGrath 's blistering pace on the fas t Washougal circuit. "I ripped a g o od start," sa id McGra th. "Tha t was cool." While McGrath breezed out in front, W ard felt Voh land ' s presence and quickly succumbed to the Pepsi-Honda team rider. Vohland passed Ward on the second lap, but Ward managed to hang w ith the GP regular. The two rid ers battle d closely throughout the race, until LaRocco, who got off to his usual bad start, started butting his nose into their bus iness. Near the end of the race, laRocco finally motored his Kawasaki around both Ward's Yamaha and Vohland 's Honda for second, but by that time, McGrath had already carved out a 16-second lead . McGrath ba rely wo rked up a sweat as he took the checkered flag, while laRocco finished second just a few bike lengths a head of Vohland and Wa rd . Suzuki's Brian Swink finished a distant (Left) Je remy McGrath (foreground), here alongside teammate Jeff Stanton , continues to ride well on the outdoor tracks. He easilywon the first moto, then passed Larry Ward on the last lap of the second moto to take second and second overall. (Below) Larry Ward didn't disappoint his Washington fans . He battled Tallon Vohland to finish fourth in the first moto and gave laRocco a run for his money In the second. Ward ended up third overall. fif th w hile Ya m ah a privatee r Do ug Dubach finished a very respectable sixth. Dowd crossed the finish line a lon ely seventh, whi le a tightl y kni tted gro up of riders mad e up of Team Noleen 's Larry Brooks, H onda's Jeff Stanton, KTM' s Cli ff Pa lm er and Yamaha rid er Lan ce Smail completed the top I I. Unable to finish the moto was twotime World Champion Donny Schmit, who, like Vohland, was taking a break from the GP series. Schmit, along with Tony Amaradio, G u y Cooper, Mike Craig and a couple of other riders, went down in a first-turn pileup. Schmit's handlebars were bent, making his Yamaha unridable. ,McGrath 's chances of an overall win went out the window early in the second moto. "I burned ou t on the line," said McGrath. "My back tire sp un; it was a terrible s tart. I ca me out of the first tum abou t 10th." McGra th's bad start was com pounded by the fact that LaRocco had gotten off the line well - in fourth to be exact. Ward completed the first lap in first, followed by Dowd, Craig, Lakocco, Vohland, Honda of Troy's Todd DeHoop and McGrath, who had improved a few positions. "Ac tu ally, I had the holeshot," said Lakocco, "But I went right by the first tum." Ward led the way for five laps before LaRocco had worked his way up and passed the popular Yamaha rider. "He's good," said Ward of laRocco. "Mike just s tarted catching me; there wasn't much I could do ." Wa rd, however, actually matched LaRocco 's pace fo r many la ps before beginning to drop back slightly. ' "I h u ng wi th him (LaRocco) for a while," said Ward. "Not too many people have been able to do even that much this year." Meanwhile, McGrath was making his wa y up through the pack, passing Vohland, then three laps late r, Cra ig. A lap a fte r t ha t Dow d w as zapped. Th en McGrath set after Ward but had so me catching up to do first. A large gap separated the two rid ers, but the Supercross champ soon ha d closed tha t bre ak to a few bike leng ths, wi th two laps to go. Finally, on the last lap, McG~ath passed Wa rd and h e ld on to finis h second behind laRocco. Dowd finished a safe dis tance ahead of Craig for fourth, while Vohland finished a d istant sixth. Sw in k took sev enth, ahead of a close battle involving Schmit, Jimmy Button an d Dubach. 125cc NATI ONAL H ughes and Lamson pre tt y m uch stole the show in the first 125cc Nationa l moto as they became engaged in a serious dogfight for the lead early in the race. Suzuki rid er David Pingree ke pt the two front-runners in sight for many laps, until be ing relegated to fifth by Team SplitFire/Hot-Wheels/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's James Dobb and Huffman. While Hughes and Lamson battled for the lead , Dobb and Huffman were involved in their own tug-of-war over th ird, while He nry eventually put his Honda into fifth after getting off to a soso start. As the race wo u nd d own, Hugh es be ga n gai ni ng the u p p er hand over Lamson, whil e H uffm a n e ven tua lly passed and broke free from Dobb. When it was all ov er , Hughes had tak en the moto win over Lamson, while Hu ffman had sha ken Dobb . Henry ended up finishing fif th, a hea d of Pingree, lo ca l favorite Jason McCormick, Kawasaki' s Robbie Reynard, Honda of Troy's Craig Decker and Suzuki support rider Denny Stephenson. By finishing ahead of Henry, Lamson had moved to within one point of the series lea der, and it looked as th ou gh , Lamson might leave Washougal with the points lead. At least it looked that way ea rly in the second moto. Lamson led the pack after the first lap, with Henry, Chad Pederson, Hughes and Huffman in 'I I , I p urs uit . Pi ngree w as se ve n th, Do b b 11th. Huffman qu ickly moved int o fourth beh ind Hughes, se tting the stage for a four-way battle for the lead . Lamso n seemed to be inching out a small advan tage over Hen ry, but that all changed with his big crash. According. to Lam son ' s tuner Mike Go sselaar, "Steve got out of sha pe and crashed on ~ the other side of a jump and he couldn' t 0\ get back to hi s bike. Th e bikes were r l whizzing by and the f1agger wasn't doing his job right. He (Lamson) yelled at him but the flagger went in the wrong direction. Finall y, Reynard, who couldn't see the bike, hit Steve's bike at high speed and destroyed it (Lamson's Ho nda). Robbie was knocked out of the race right there, but Steve managed to continue, bu t the radiator was punc-

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