Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

cou ple of leade rs fell off, eve ryone was there at the end - a race like tha t is jus t plain fun. I'm su re that it' s the best one the fans have see n. I' m just glad I was part of it and not just hearing about it." Th e peo p le wh o did see the main e ve n t - 44,600 of them sit ting in t he stands - we n t away wi th their money's worth, and not just on the merits of the 250cc class. Another wi n n ing streak ground to a halt in the 125cc su percross division as Team SplitFire / Pro Circu it Kawasak i's Micka el Pichon single- handed ly stop ped Suzuki's yearlo ng domination in the di vision. After starting midpa ck in the I S-lap main event, Pic ho n meth od icall y cut throu gh th e pa ck to inherit the lea d , u s in g a s pecta cu la r t riple ju m p as a time-saving d evice every time aro un d. "For me coming to the States was a dream and now I wi n thi s race," said Pichon, a Californ ia-based Frenc h rider, who lists Ne w Iberia, Lou isiana, as his hom etown for th~ purpose of par ticipatin g in the East Region of this se ries. "I hope to win the ch amp ion ship a n d so me more races. I feel very happy that I know now that I can do both." Th e rac e m a rked Picho n 's seco nd career U.S. Supercro ss win. He w on a West Reg ion round in San Diego, Californ ia, in 1993. The Fre nc h man now le ad s th e 125 cc Ea st Re gi on p o ints s ta n di ngs with a total o f 67 p oints . Kevin Windham is second with 62, followed by Tim Ferry with 60. In th e 250cc cla ss, th e Atl anta win ma rked LaRocco's seve nth career 250cc main event wi n and push ed him fro m third to second in the po int standings. Ironically, McGrath' s lead in the standings gr ew from 21 points on the' upstart Larry Ward to 23 over LaRocco. Ward sli pped back to third w ith 119 p oints, followed by Kied rowski (107) an d Emig (96). Dirt Wu rx d esigned the track th at filled the same floor that hosted the 1994 Su per Bowl, an d w here several spo rts in th e 1996 Su m mer Ol ympics w ill ta ke p lace. The red clay track ru tted deeply but p rovi ded numerou s lines to pass. A u nique four-j u m p spread at th e finish line was the focus of much of the action as riders flew down the straight in stagge red for matio n . Lap times measured jus t less than 60 seconds per lap. 250cc In the first h e a t race, Team No leen /Sizzler /Yamaha's Ward fo llowed local hero Ezra Lusk for tw o laps befo re moving into the lead and pu lling away. Lusk sta lled his factory Suzuki in a corner after the finish line and allowed several riders to pass, includ ing LaRocco. The Kawasaki rider set his sights on Ward but the p riva teer never gave in to the press u re - even after LaRocco briefly passed him - and scored a well-earned win ahead of LaRocco, Team Honda /1 SOO -Collect's Doug Henry and H ond a Of Troy's Brian Swink. "Mike's a real strong rider but so am I," sa id Ward in the w inner' s circle. "The tr ack is good and there' S a lot of places to go out there, so I'm jus t goin g to try to d o this again in the m ain event." Ka was aki- m oun ted p ri v a teer Phil Lawrence holeshot the second race, but Honda's Lamson and Yamaha ' s John Dowdeach slippe d past him in the ea rly go ing. McGrath went into third a short time later, followed by Kiedrowski. At that point , Lawren ce touched Kiedrowski's b ack and we n t d own, forci ng him i n to th e se mi ro u n d. M cGrath soon moved by Lam son and then started in on Dowd. "The track is really technical and he got a goo d s tar t, " sai d McG rath of Dowd 's early but short- lived brea kaway. "I di dn't jump the tripl e the first few la ps bec ause it was rutted. Af te r that I just made my move. I try to use all of the tra ck and find the best lines that I can. A lot o f guys have trouble d oin g th at and th at's wher e I might have an advantage over th em. You ca n't pass so meone if yo u ' re' fo llow ing righ t behind him." McGrath quickl y p u lle d away an d appeared head ed to a trouble-free wi n until the w h ite flag came ou t. At th at point McGrath double-d oubled throu gh the four finish line jumps as New Yor kbased ve tera n p rivat eer Kurt McMillen chose to double the middle two ju m ps and move to the inside of the next righ th and ed co rner. McG rath clippe d th e Suzu ki's front wheel as he land ed to the ins ide and McMillen we nt down. " H e turne d left u nderneath and I clipped him, but it wasn't my fa ult, " said McGrath of the incident. "I jumped the j u m p jus t as he tu rned left. I didn' t ha rd ly fee l it but [ kn ew it happened becau se he ra n ou t on the track without his b ike !" McMillen was wi thout hi s bi ke, t ry ing no t to fall, a s.McGrath recovered and exited the corner. Even wit h the near-disaster, McGrath cha lked up an easy, nac-nac -free win on the rutte d tr a ck while his Te am Hond a /1-S00-Collect team m ate Steve Lamson rolled in to second shortly .after McGrath himself pas sed Dowd . Kiedrowski also passed the New Englander after the midway mark for third , b ut Dow d held on to th e fourth and fin a l transfer spot. Failing to transfer directly from thi s heat were three-time World Moto cr o s s Champion Gre g Albe rt yn and former 125 cc National champ Emig. In the firs t s e mi Lusk to ok th e holeshot and pr etty much rod e off w ith a very p opular w in. Su zuki teammat e Dam on Huffman was not so fortu na te. He cased the lon g tripie on the side of the track opposite the finish line and his ' left ha nd appeared to come off the hand lebars. He rolled the gas on as he hit the next jump o u t o f co n t r o l a n d launched his Suzuki into several sp ectacular cartwhe els. He stayed o n th e ground for several lap s before walking off the track unassisted . The n he called it a night. "I jus t stalled in a comer and it th rew my timing off," sa id Lusk of his hea t race troubles. "I started dropping back and then me and Craig got togeth er and I fell, but yo u kno w, that's just racing. It w as really my fau lt . I just regrouped and wen t ba ck ou t th ere and won this semi." Craig followed him across the finish lin e w ith Team Sp litFire /Pro Circuit's Ryan Hughes third. Denny Stephenson, just coming off injured reserve, was fourth with Honda Of Troy's Todd DeHoo p fifth. Em ig g r ab bed th e seco n d sem i holeshot ahea d of Alberty n and effectively rode away w ith th e v ic tory . Albe rty n ended up second with p rivateers Lawren ce, Cliff Palme r and Bud dy An tu nez claiming the rest of the tra nsfer spots in that order. "My t im ing see ms re all y good tonigh t and that's wh at it's going to take if I' m ever go ing to wi n one of th ese main events," reasoned Emig follow ing his win. In the Last Cha nce Qualifier, KTM teammates Jeff Dement an d Tony A rnarad io finished first an d second to make the mai n event. The two were assured the positions after Oh io-based privateer Josh Steel's ride was affecie d by an outof-contro l motorcycle that shot across the track and took him ou t on ano ther part of the track as he rod e among the leaders. At the start of the 250cc main event Craig s u rged into the le ad ahea d o f Henry, Emig, Ward and McGrath, but by the end of the first lap McGra th was up to th ird. Moments la ter McGrath made his first real mistak e of the 1995 season when he tried to land insid e of Crai g on the same comer where he landed alongside the lapper in his hea t race . "Cra ig wa s just stopped in the co rn er, but it w as m y fau lt ," a d mi tte d McGrath of the collis ion that left him on the gro und an d kno cked Cra ig's exha us t pipe out of the cylinde r. "It was just on e of those things - I wa sn't thin kin g." " He d oubl ed in a n d d oubled o u t, wh ich you just don 't do wh en you're in that much tra ffic," said Craig of the incid ent. "The hit tore m y pipe out an d a lm o st p u lled m y s u b fra me o ff. My night was ove r from there." Craig mad e a pit stop and mana ged to get in a few good laps at speed . McGrath was all the way ba ck in ninth, but started to qu ickly make uptime. In his effort to regrou p he ' actually passed LaRocco, wh o wa s still so rtin g himself and the track ou t in traffic. For the next few lap s Henry rod e out fron t with Ward a very close second and Emig third. As for McG ra th , h e was ba ck up to fou rth by the fifth lap wit h , Kiedrowski moving up behind him. " It seemed like those g uys were going to ge t away a t first, " adm itted Kied rowski, who completed the first lap in 11th pla ce, two spots d eeper in the pack than laRocco. "The start was bottlenecked SO much that we're just fight - McGrath (1) and laRocco (2) battled for position s near the front of the pack while passin g lapper Jeff Dement (77). ing to get th rough traffic. Tho se other guys we re pretty far ou t front, but wi th all the ru ts an d stuff there were places to go aro u nd guys. All of a sudden everyone was right there in fro nt of us." The leaders stayed close u ntil the 10th lap, when all hell seemed to break loose. Ward was tr ying to ge t a d riv e throug h the whoops before the far trip le bu t instead he caught a rut wrong and bounced ou t into the banners. "I guess I wa s just try in g a litt le bit too hard," admitted Ward, who had his own strea k of five straig ht pod ium finishes snapped in Atlanta. "I made a ton of mistakes, which you can' t do and still expect to win o u t th ere . I goofe d u p beca use I tried too hard for the lead and it almost cost me the race. If sixth is the wo rst l-do all yea r I will be rea l hap py." Henry still had control at this point, but befo re the lap was com plete he was d isplaced as th e leader by Em ig. Tha t meant that th e first- an d se cond-place riders at this point were two guys who had never w on a 250c c main even t be fore . Then M cGrath di d a similar job on his teammate. " I thou ght that toni ght w as maybe going to be the nigh t, bu t then I jus t lost , my rh ythm," said Henry, who started to slip back once h e lost th e lea d . "I was ge tting a littl e tired and I just cou ld n' t keep th e pace. I got it togethe r after a few lap s but those o ther g uys were already on their way." Emig held the lead for two laps but McGrath, appearing completely recovered from his early fall, was quickly on him . At that point the pass of the night • took place as the Honda pil ot tried to go outside th e Yamaha throu gh th e long whoops. Just as he pulled up alongside Emig bot h we re suddenly passed on the inside line b y Kiedro w ski, w ho h ad see ming ly come ou t of nowhere to pass Henry and then the unknowing lead ers. Emig and McGrath ro de agg ressive ly with Kiedrow ski for two more laps until LaRocco roared past everyone in a matter of a lap and a half. , I didn' t know for s ure th at Mike' " was coming up with me because I was ju s t rid in g my own ra ce, " s a id Kiedrowski. "I was s tayin g in sid e all ni ght bu t I shoul d have moved to the 'outside when I heard him ou t there. It was obv ious ly a little faster but I guess you learn as you go." "I was just ri d ing wide open and hold ing on," exp lained La Rocco of his surprise outside pass on Kied rowski for

• Cover