Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Damon Huffman kept his record perfect with another win'in the 125cc . class. Huffman led every lap. (Above) Trophy girl Tina Newgives Jeremy McGrath a taste of his own medicine, dousing him with champagne as he celebrates on the podium. ~ , ~ ,-: l!) 0\ 0\ ,....., ('l' N i::' CI3 ::l ..0 Cra ig hel d on to finish fou rth , h is best 'resu lt in quite so me time. " I got a littl e tired, p lus it's a head game," said Craig . "I saw th ose guys and made a , couple of mistakes ." Henry and Lamson foll owed , with Emig finis h ing an u neventful seven th. " I cha rged the who le time , (but) it's jus t ha rd to p a ss," sai d th e form er 12Scc Nationa l MX Ch ampion . " I had a hard tim e with ol d Ju nkyard (Dowd ). You co uld pa ss, you ju st had to be su peraggressive ." Dow d was eig h th a fter a la te-race tussle wi th Kiedrowski . "He did a pass o n m e th at was p retty sca ry, " sai d Dowd . "It wasn 't d irt y , but it cou ld have bee n ugly. He ju mped off a bump inside a tu m and landed right next to me. If my leg was sticking out or somet h in g , h e cou ld h a v e s na p p ed it . It made me mad so 1 went insi de of him ove r by the fin ish line. 1 don't usu ally rid e d irty, but it kind of irked me." , "Everyone was r amm in g, " s ai d Kie drowsk i. " Yo u' d pas s s o m e o n e clean and the y'd ru n in to yo u . It w as too tigh t - like Excitebike. 1 couldn't get arou nd Dow d, so 1 d ropped d own in fro n t o f h im . H e cou ld se e m e -t h e w hole tim e . Then h e co mes up a n d tot all y ram s me, when 1 cou ld n't even see hi m coming . My foo t got caught in his rear wh eel." Do wd 's p ayb ack netted him eighth ahead of Kied rowsk i, an d Sw in k finished 10th. - Q) ~ 8 125c c Pe derson rode well to a rare heat win over Decker, then near ly forgot his s u bse q ue n t in te rvie w w it h fl o o r a n n ou n ce r La rry Ma ier s . Hug hes worked up to third fro m a horrendous sta rt. Pin gree became the first rider to bea t Hu ffm an th is yea r in h ea t two, w hi le th e d ef ending cha m p fi n is he d second after two beautiful, back-to-back p a sse s on Shan e Tr i t tl e r and Scoll Sheak. Back from an inju ry, Team Spli tFire / Pro Ci rcuit / Kawa saki' s Cas ey Johnson won the Last Chance Qualifier. After working th rough the pack last we ek at Sea tt le, Huffman d ecid ed to m a ke thi ngs e asie r o n h im self th is time around. Th e Tony Berlu tti-tu ned , number-one Suzuki head ed the pa ck out of tu rn one, and - at lea st as far as the to p position went - that w as all she wrote. "One thing 1 wan ted to work on this yea r was m y s ta rts," s ai d H uffma n. " Las t yea r the y weren't so good, but I'm ,psyched wi th my starts (this yea r)." Hughes started in second, but rather th an p ressuring Huffm an, he actu a lly h ad to w o rry about ano ther Suzu ki rid er - Decker. Th ose worries proved well-fou nd ed when Decker za pped the Kawasaki rider through a set of whoo ps on lap tw o, and immed iately opened a ga p . " 1 tried t o g e t a wa y fro m him quick, so 1 wasn't rea lly too su rprised," s a id Deck er w he n a sk e d if h e h a d expec ted mor e of a fight from Hu ghes. Decker set ou t after the lead er an d was e qua ll ing Hu ffm a n ' s lap tim es u nt il abo ut five laps from th e end. At that point he decided not to risk crashing, and settled for second. "As lo ng as 1 can keep on ge tti ng holeshots, 1 think I'Il kee p getting back up here (in first place)," said Huffman, wh o now lea ds Decker by 20 points in the standi ngs, 100-80. " I' m n ot too di s appointe d ," said Dec k er, w hose runn er-up res ult equaled h is best finish eve r. "I jus t wa nt to ge t on the top spot. I'll kee p working at it and I' ll ge t there." "I don ' t know, I'v e go t to figu re out so me thing," said a d isappointed Hughes, who had his hands fu ll hol d ing off Pingree to finis h third. 'T d like to beat him (Huffman) fair and squa re." Followin g Pingree in fifth was Pe de rson, with Sca li Sheak sixth. Cory Kee ney, Joh nson, Jeff Willoh and Ray Crumb filled out the top 10. WOM EN A Will Ward win? W ro und of the MT EG / U. S. it h th e s eason n ow one-third complete, many people are still shaking their heads in disbelief of Larry Ward's impressive performance thus far. The Team Noleen /Sizzler / Yamaha rider has made every race podium this year, and he finished second again at San Diego. Why is Ward, who many assumed to be past his prime, suddenly beating most of the factory riders on a consistent basis? "I expected him to be in the top five every race," said team manager Oark Jones . "In testing, his speed was up, his endurance was up and his confidence was up. 1 didn't really expect him to be in the top three every race, but he's riding really good and we've got the bike working so that he's happy with it." With Ward hav ing b eaten Team Yamaha riders Jeff Emig and John Dowd at each of the first five rounds, one would naturally wonder if the factory squa d has considered offering him any works parts. "We've always told Clark that if there's anything they think they need, just to ask, " said Yamaha team manager Keith McCarty. "This is a little bit different situation than last year (when Yamaha loaned privateer Dowd a factory bike after Michael Cra ig left the team). Besides, they seem to be doing fine with what they have, and sometimes it's no t a good idea to mess with something that's working wel l. We knew Larry had potential and we're really happy to see him doing so well. Of course, we'd prefer to have one of the guys we sponsor specifically doing better, but it' s better a Yamaha than a Kawasaki or Suzuki ." Ward has turned several faster laps than Jeremy McGrath this season, and now that he has two seco nd- and three third-place fin ishes, the inevitable qu esti on is bei ng as ked mor e and mo re : Ca n he put an en d to the champ's in credibl e wi n streak? Ward seems to think 50 . "We've got a couple wee ks off now," he said after the main. "I' m go ing to wo rk hard both weeks and come back and kick jeremy's butt in Atlan ta!" .

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