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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127684
(Opposite page) Mike laRocco pu lled off two holeshots and wo n both 250cc National motos at Steel City . He will carry the number-one plate next year. (Left) Doug Henry . might not have won In Pennsylvania but, more Importantly, he did wrap up his second consecuUve 125cc championship. (Right above) Robbie Reynard (33) scored his second career 125cc National class win exactly one year after winning his f irs t National. He obv io usly likes th e Steel City track. (Right below) Doug Henry and Ryan Hughes brawled In the seco nd 125cc mo to when the two riders crashed into each othe r. The mi shap cost Hugh es ,second pla ce In the series standings. ou t th e re even though the rest of us were pushing each other.", Lamson was referring to the exciting four-w ay battle for second formed between Henry, Lamson, Em ig and Hughes, who needed to beat Lamson in the moto to beat him in the standings. For four laps they rode in that order, with Hughes trying frantically to overcome Emig. However, Henry made a mistake at that point and slipped back into fourth between Emig and Hughes. That set the stage for the last dramatic episode of what has been a remarkable 125ccseason. . On the eighth of 11 total laps Hughes finally pushed to the inside of Henry on a long, wide downhill off-camber left and pushed the champ all the way into the outside embankment. "I yelled , ' Ge t the 'F ' outo f the way!" said Hughes. "I passed him with no contact and then he just seemed to take his brain out and put it on the back fender." " He said some thing on the way down and pushed me ou t but it really wasn't anyt hin g but racing," explained He nry of the first exchange. .One-half la p later He nry drove to the inside of Hughes in the same do wnhill off-camber that he and Rey nard nearly collided in during the firs t race. He took the same line as before while H ughes rode in Reynard 's tracks. However, the track was slicke r o n the insi de this time after the water trucks made a pass between motos. And as Henry slid in from the inside, Hu ghes, unlike Rey- nard, did not back off. They mad e contact and locked handleb ars, which in effect took Henry off his bike. The two went down in a heap and began to fight in the middle of the outside berm, right in front of a MotoWorid cameraman. ' "I went on the inside while he followed Emig to the outside," said Henry. "No one was going up there and it was all wet. I really just cou ldn 't stop. After we went down I tried to get back to my bike but he started hitting me. I yelled at him, 'What the hell are you doing?!' He started swearing at me, so I threw him down on the ground and left." "He came in and ran righ t into me," said Hughes of the incident. "We both flipped and kind of sta rted hitting each other. I said , 'Dude, let's get going, let's get racing,' and he started saying that it was my faul t and I always do this crap -. Well, he took me ou t at Wash ougal and he took me out now. His tu m is coming - off the track or on the track, I don't care. Th e re was n o reason for that because he already won the champions hip. I yelled at him earlier but that's no big deal. Why d id it become 'Kill Ryan' after that?" Once they got to their feet Hughes worked back up to sixth in the rnoto, while Henry cruised around in 19th. Each rider received his fa ir share of cheeri ng as he rode along the grandstand sections of the track. The crash-and-brawl took the spotlight away from some ot herwise fine performances up front. Reyna rd cru ised across the finish line with a comfortable lead, whi le Lamson bettered a sprinting Ernig for second. Team RRP's Tun Ferry scored a season-high fourth-place finish , while Windham put in another impressive ride for fifth. "That was the best race I think I've ever had under pressure," said Lamson, who never let an aggressive Emig get a wheel up on him. "I d idn 't screw up or lose it or anything. He was on me, especially the last couple of laps." .Lamson added, "I'm happy with second in the championship but I sure would've liked to have won. There were a couple of races there at the end where I kind of blew it but I think I learn from my mistakes. It was my fault and no one else's fault that I d idn't win this year. I'll be back after it next year." 250CC NATIONAL When the 250cc class ignited from the starting gate to start the first moto Team ' N o lee n /Siz z ler Res tauran t / Xtreme's Larry Brooks a nd McGra th appeared to share the holeshot, However, both drifted wide on the l8O-degree uphill left-hander that marks the first tum and allowed LaRocco to slip into the lead from the inside. Team BoyesenPens ke Yamaha's John Dowd also went inside for second bu t was no match for laRocco on this track. "I had one of the better spots on the gate and I just used it to my advanta ge," sa id La Rocco, who started on th e fa r inside. "I gated good , I pulled u p on the inside and I came ou t good." "I tried to stay ah ead but Lakocco dove in on the inside and took over," said McGrath. "I slowed a little to let him go but then everyone else charged in." laRocco started to pull away from everyone while McGrath moved back into the second position ahead of Kiedrowski laRocco's lead on McGrath - a steady 10 seconds - was equal to McGrath 's own gap on third-place Kiedrowski. "The track is kind of fun," said laRocco. "With all these rhythm jumps if you mess up on one you're messed up for the next half lap. I just rode smooth and enjoyed myself, really." "Dowd kind of messed me up in the beginning and that let Mike get too far away," sa id McGrath, who has been showing steady improvement in outdoor racing. "I felt pretty good. Hopefully I can get out of the gate with Mike and make a race of it next time." "I fe lt go o d, really go od ," said Kiedrowski after a smoo th-looking third place finish in his first ride since midJuly. "The track was great but it's just kind of diffic ult going to a tacky track from the dry tracks I've been practicing on." Sta n to n ended up finishing fif th after lo sing a race- lon g battle with Team Suzuki's Jimmy Button, w ho unders tood the historic foo tnote he would earn by beating Stanton in his last race. "I tried to not think about who it w as," admitted Button, "I was just 5