Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'" SUPERCROSS , Round 1: Citrus Bowl "u . .s series ' . ,' s~ (Left) Larry Ward was impressive in Orlando; he was balked at the start ' when Jeff Emlg crashed, but he recovered to finish third. (Below left) Greg Albertyn suffered a severely dislocated shoulder when he crashed dur ing his hea t race. (Below) The top three Kiedrowski. McGrath and Ward celebrate on the winne r's podium. Although LaRocco charged hard , there was no catching Lusk, and Suzuki had thems el ves a h ea t-race vic to ry. Kiedrow ski ended up th ird with Henry holding on to fourth and the final direct transfer po siti on . Em ig sho wed th at h is fas t-start in g skills hadn't eroded ove r the off-season as he jelled to wa rd turn o ne w ith th e lead in th e second 250cc heat race. H e was s ha dowed in th e fir st corner by H ond a /l -800-C oll ecl's St eve La mso n and the star of the show, McGrath. Emig sta rted to pu ll away with McGrath getting past h is tea mma te Lamson on th e seco n d la p . La m s on h it th e d e c k m om ent a ril y on the third lap, bu t was qu ickl y back u p with out losing a position. By this time. Ward and Team Suzuki ' s Damon Huffm an ha d mo ved into fourth and fift h. respect ively, w it h a pa ss on the impressive Fren chman Frederic Bolley. At the start of the fifth lap , McG rat h dove ins ide Emig to take the lead in the tight left-han der th at immed iately followed th e fin ish -lin e jump. Th er e w as n o quit in Emig, th ou gh . as he ve ry nearl y tripled ove r the head of McGrath h alf a lap la ter. H uffm a n a lso m o ved past Wa rd and into th ird . a position he would hold to the end. M other Na ture was kind enough to allow mo st of the racing to be held w ithout precipitation. and tha t included the two 250cc h e at races . Despite t he inclement weather. 30,512 s p ecta to rs came o ut to witness the action. The first of the two eight-tappers was a sight for sore eyes with two Suzukis out front for most of the race. Initiall y, though, it was Henry and the Hon da ou t front. with Albertyn tucked in be h ind . Ez ra Lu sk qui ckl y re bound ed fro m a firs t-lap bobble to move into th ird on the seco nd lap, and both of the Suz u ki tea msters bolt ed pa st the factory Honda by the end of the lap. Those two continued to go a t it unt il th e s ixt h la p . w hen Albertyn had the first of his tw o crashes. a slow wash-out in the first comer. The man on the move wa s the slowsta rti ng LaRocco; six th after o ne lap. the Kaw asak i pilot w as up to fifth on la p thr ee, fourt h on lap five and se cond on lap seven. It was on the sev enth lap that Albertyn s u ffe re d inj u ry . the South African walking off th e track with hi s arms raised over his h ead in typical shou lder-inju ry style. Emig slowly bu t su re ly los t g ro u nd to McGrath. and the popular cham pion started to entertai n the cro wd with three la ps rem a in ing in th e race; a nac-na c here, a nac-nac there... Mike Craig an d h is Ho nda of Troy C R250 were sim p ly in a class of th eir own in the first of two 250cc se mis. The Southern California n nailed dow n th e h ol e sh o t and th en s imp ly va nished , putting o n a d ispl ay o f sh o w m anship that su rp assed even McGrath ·s. Seco nd place turned into a Dow d vs. Lewis battle, with Do wd en d ing u p ta kin g th e positi on. Lewis w as th ird w ith Buddy Antunez fourth and Todd DeH oop fifth. The Honda of Troy stearnroll con tinued with Brian Swink foll owing team7 mat e Crai g' s exa mple to win the second se mi. Larry Brooks wa s the first to exit th e fir st co rne r, but Swi n k qu ickl y moved by o ve r th e fir st se t of tri p le jumps to tak e th e lead. It wa s one he would never relinquish. Brooks held on to s e co n d pl ac e for two la p s before Ward too k over the runner-up spot. Brooks then fell into the grasp of Hughes, who took over third place on the

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