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/127683
ou t of third place. He was back up and running in no time, but the Dunlop Doubles would again come into play. "I lit it up, but 1 spun and 1 just didn't have any dri ve: ' said laRocco, who earned praise from the fans for going all-out despite having clinched the crown. The crowd seemed split between Dowd and Stanton as the two battled into the second half of the moto. Dowd made two passes on Stanton for the lead, only to be repassed by the six-time champion. He finally made a pass stick with 10 minutes to go, only to see Ward follow him past Stanton and start yet another battle for the win. But Dowd held his ground and kept the energe tic Wa rd at bay all the way across the finish line. "I came here just hoping to be in the top five:' said a surprised Dowd, "somewhere near Jeremy, so 1 can beat him in points. 1 was in the middl e of that second-rnoto battle and 1 had a few run -ins with Jeff, but not as much as Jeremy did . There was all kinds of commotio n going on. It was kind of crazy for awhile." "When Jeremy and Jeff were bashing together in front of me 1 thought, 'Wow, [ hope these two guys fall or somethin g." said Wa rd . "They ha d no th ing to gain, really. [ think they just wo re themselves down or something. I stayed smooth and consistent and just tried to go after Dowd. J did the best [ could, but he's riding that bike really well I wish I had the chance to ride that bike." "I'rn really happy with my ri de, because this is my first time eve r on the podium in an outdoor national," said Button, who was a quiet fourth place in both motos. "I fell down in the first come r and that messed th ings up because [ m ight have been able to get second overall. But third is good for today - real good ." "That was more of a de molition derby than a motocross," said Stanton . "Th er e was some aggressive riding ou t there and Joh n 's rea ll y hungry ri ght now. He reminds me of myself just a few years ago. I'm just stepping out of the way now." The top three finishers received handcarved wooden trophies resembling goggles. (Opposit e page) John Dowd receives co ngratu latio ns fr om the New England fans for winn ing his second 250cc National of the year. Dowd Is seco nd in the po int standings with one rou nd remaining. (Right) Doug Henry (1) leads teammate Steve Lamson (4) across the line at the end of the seco nd 12Scc moto. Damon Huffman won the moto, but the overall went to Henry . (Below) Larry Ward's seco nd place was . his best-e ver 250cc Natio nal fin ish. (Below right) Newly crowned 250cc champ Mike laRocco (7) and Jimmy Butto n air It out over one of the track's many jumps. laRocco crashed hard on a similar move , relegating him to fifth overall. (Bottom) Damon Huffman (20) and Tony Graves (84) lead the 12Scc pack Into the first turn. Huffman fin ished second overall on the day. 125cc NATIONAL When the pack hit the first tum, Team Yamaha's Jeff Emig hit the ground ha rd. Henry took the lead from Team SplitFire/Hot Wheels/Kawasaki's James Dobb, Honda Of Troy's Davey Yezek and Hughes. Among the pre-race favorites who suffered poor starts were Reynard, Lamson and Huffman. Henry immediately built a sma ll lead on his Pete Steinbrecher-tuned Honda. He was the only one to consistently clear three extremely difficult jum p combos, including the Dunlop Double tabletops, a downhill double and a downhill triple. His lead was ' soon wiped out by such dangerous living, wh en he came up short on the long downhill double and crash ed in fron t of the grandstands. "That was a bad one," said Hen ry. "I just got a little sideways coming out of the rut down towards it, and I guess I really d id n 't commit to ju mpi ng it. If I had, I might have gone sideways off the jump. I kind of backed off a little, came up short and bounced right off over the handlebars." Hughes picked u p the lead while Henry quickly remounted . Within a few laps he was back in the lead, only to fall again in a slow left-hand comer. Hu ghes went back into the lead, but was passed again by the determined Honda rider. The two stayed a few comfortable bike lengths apart until the last two laps, when Hu ghes . made a bid for the win. He pressured hard, but to no avail. "He crashed twice and I should have beat him," said Hughes . "I was trying to ride my own race and he was just going faster than me. I tried to stay consistent every lap, and 1 tried to make some moves on him b ut the lapp ers worked against me." Dobb was a steady third throughout the entire moto, while Team Kawasaki's Reynard rose through the pack to fourth. Huffman and Emig found one another earlier in mid-pack, and rose through the ran ks together. The two passed Yezek with just one lap to go, and battled all the way to the flag with Huffman holding the last advantage. _ "It's about time I got a good start, bu t even after tha t I jus t didn' t feel comfortable," said Dobb. "I was making mistakes and couldn't really get into gear." After correcting a brief problem with his motorcycle on the starting line, Henry again blasted into the holeshot from the far inside starting gate and immedi ately started to pull away from the field. Howe ver, . Huffman, Lamson and Reynard got better starts than before, and followed Henry on his breakaway. Back at mid-pack were Ernig, Hughes and Dobb. Huffman, Henry and Honda privateers Tony Graves and Mike Brown led the charge to start the second moto . Reynard was fifth and Lamson seventh on the first lap, but the two soon joined Huffman and Henry up front for a multi-rider battle. Hughes was back in 15th, Emig 20th and Dobb even further back. '1 just sucked all day," said a frustrated Emig. "I was getting bad starts, missing doubles - every thing . Oh well, when it rains it pours." Henry charged early, jumping the downhill double that nearly destroyed him in the first moto and passing Huffma n for the lead . After five laps Huffman appeared read y to try a return pass on Henry, but instead Reynard made a pass on Huffman. The battle back and forth continued until the halfway mark, when Huffman stuffed Henry at the bottom of a rough off-camber comer, and immediately started pulling away. Lamson went past Reynard and started an assau lt on Henry that lasted the rest of the race, but the defensive Henry never budged from his runner-up position, and earned his third overall wi n of the series . "Lami came up on me and I just tried to hold him off the best I could," said Henry. "I was a little tired, but I felt that I could hold him off and I did. Now we've got one (race) to go." "I was doing everything I could to get by Doug, but nothing worked ," said Lam- 5