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/127688
(Above) John Dowd's crew rips him off his bike In celebration C!f his his win at Millville. The Yamaha privateer won two races In '94, both on the factory Yamaha of Michae l Craig. (Rlgh1) Ryan Hughes (22) and Damon Hutfman (20) both turned In some surprisingly strong performances In the 125cc class this season. son - Damon Huffman. The Suzuki ace appeared more confident, thanks in part to clinching the 125cc Western Regional 5upercross title, and he collected wins at both Hangtown and Troy. Inconsis tency was his downfall, but expect him to be an even bigger factor in '95. Also surprising was rookie Ke vin Windham, who for the past two yea rs has dom inated amateur eve n ts like Ponca City and Loretta Lynn 's . Having turned 16, Windham raced professional- . Iy for the first time at Mt, Morris, where he put in an ins piring performance in the first moto, leading every lap until getting passed a few turns from the finish. A poo r start in moto two left him in sixth overall, but the impression had been made, and Yamaha signed the youngster to a factory contract for '95. Windham raced three more times, twice finishing fifth. Windham 's performances were reminescent of Robbie Reynard, who last year was similarly impressive as a Team Gree n rook ie. This year, however, Reynard didn't live up to the expectations. Nagging injuries ke pt the Kawasa ki pilot from winni ng until the final round a t De lmon t, th e sa me track where he scored his first victory ever one year earlier. Also su rprising in his lack of strong finishes w as H uffman's coun te rp art, Ezra Lusk. Des pite wi nning the 12Scc (Above) Kawasaki taammates Mike laRocco (7) and Mike Kiedrowski (1) spent the first han of the season trading wins In the 250cc class. KIedrowski missed much of the lattar han attar breaking his finger. (Right) Jeremy McGrath IIstans to the council of tuner Skip Norfolk. McGrath didn't win race In his first season riding a 250cc outdoors, but the Supercross champ did perform respectably. a Eastern Regional 5upercross Series, "Yogi" never did come in to his own outdoors, never finishing above third. 250Cc To no one's surprise, the 250cc champ ionship boiled down to a dogfight between just two riders - Kawasaki teammates Mike LaRocco and Mike Kiedrowski. It would become known as the battle of the two Mikes . Le Rocco, th e 1993 SOOcc Na tional Champion, got a head start by winning the opening round at Gatorback Cycle Park in Florida, with Kiedrows ki, the d efend ing 2S0cc cha m p, fin ishing fourth. As a result, laRocco jumped out to an ll-point lead over Kiedrowski. Thi s pretty much set the stage for the rest of the 12-round series, as Kiedrowski would spend the rest of his time trying to make up those 11 points. Kiedrowski successfully m ad e up four of them at the next round at Hangtown. Des p it e fi nishing second to Lakocco in th e first moto, Kied rowski gained four points on his teammate via a second- mote win and laRocco finishing fourth. After only two races, LaRocco and Kiedrowski had proven that they were the two dominant riders of the series and that the championship would, no doubt, go to eithe r one of them. But for Kiedrowski, the next few races would be s 0'\ ,.....; N ,.....; l-< Q) .g ...... U o 31