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/127721
crash but quickly got up and going, but no t before Team Noleen 's Larry Wa rd had already flown by. A d azed laRocco was s low to his feet, as he gasped for ai r, h aving the w ind kn o cked ou t o f him . To mak e mailers w ors e, h is Kawasaki w as nearly dem olished by the impact of Henry ' s crashi ng Hond a . laRocco staggered bac k to the pits, complete with knobby tracks running down th e s ide o f hi s je rsey , wh ile hi s tuner / dad, Mike LaRocco Sr., pushed his sev erely bent and tw isted bike back to the pits. There, laRocco Sr hu rriedl y repl a ced th e e n t ire fr ont end o f the motorcycle before the semis. " I don 't know what happened ," said Henry, who was heavily booed by the pro-LaRocco crowd. "He kind of messed up in the doubles a nd I cou ld n' t s low down in time an d ran into him. It was just racing ." looked to be headed to his third win of the seri es until he slid out and crashed in a tum, surrendering the lead back to Yezek, who he ld a modes t lead over Pichon. Tw o laps lat er, tho ugh, Pichon reeled in Yezek , moved in to the lead and h eld on for the last four laps to score the w in. Ferry recove red from his crash, passed 'Yezek just before taking the white flag and snatched second. "I'm kind of su rp rised; I really didn't feel so good on this track," said Pichon. " I didn 't get a good s ta r t an d I ju s t wasn't confident toni ght. I kind of figured I' d get second, but when I saw Tim (Ferry ) on the ground, I was ha ppy." Rounding out the top five was Windham and Suzuki rid er Barry Carsten. By w in ni ng, Pi ch on ex ten d ed hi s series points lead ov er Ferry to seve n, 114-107. Windham is third with 100. This year's Ind y track was extremely techni cal and proved to be brutal on the rid ers, man y of wh om wh ere eithe r hobbling a rou n d o r s h o w in g off s o m e in cre d ib le brui se s afte r th e race. It seemed as thou gh every rider crashed at . least on ce. "It (the track) wa s ve ry technical, " (Top) In typical McGrath fashion, the two-time champ (1) jumped out 10 an early lead and cruised 10 victory. Ezra Lusk (24) was plagued by crashes and eventually pulled oul of Ihe race by Ihe hallway point. (Above) Mickael Pichon (101) gal off 10 a an eighth-place start in the 125cc East Coasl main bUI finlshed up leading the way. It was his second 125cc win of the season. (Left)Alone point, TIm Ferry led the 125cc main before crashing late in the race. He slill salvaged second. sai d Kied rowski, one of the few riders w ho got th rou gh th e ni ght re la tively un s cath e d . "The re was so me rea lly tric ky sections ." Pich on ag reed : " It w as ve ry h a rd, es pecia lly on a 125. Th er e were many jum ps that were hard to clear." 250cc There certainly wasn 't a lack of ha ndl ebar bangin g in th e firs t 250cc hea t race, and most of th o se alte r cati ons in vo lve d Team Ho nda / l -BOO-Coll ecrs Doug Henry. The race sta rted off in nocently eno ugh w it h c row d favo r ite laRocco jum ping into an early lead after passin g Honda of Troy's Todd DeH oop. It looked as thou gh laRocco would simply run away and win, but Henry had othe r ideas. By the second lap, Henry was all over LaRocco looking for a place to pass. Before the lap was ov er, the two riders traded paint but LaRocco maintained his position. However, the same could n' t be said the next time the two ride rs m e t. Whi le le a d in g Henry through a difficu lt whoop/ do uble section , LaRocco bob bled slightly a nd Henry had no place to go but into the back of the Kawasaki rid e r' s kidneys. The two went down in a he ap, with LaRocco ge tti ng th e s ho r t e nd of the stick. He go t sla mme d in to the face of a jump an d his bike pounded him into the grou nd. Henry injured his thumb in the Henry then cau ght back up to Ward an d e ve n tu ally execu te d a tex tbook bloc k p ass on th e Yam ah a rid er in a tigh t left-hand tum. The pass was close eno ugh that Ward lifted his left leg to avoid ge tting run ove r by Henry's fron t wheel. Henry went on to wi n the exciting race over Ward, while not far beh ind in third finished Honda of Troy's Mike Craig. Sailing over the fin ish- line jump a d istant fo u rth was 125cc West Coas t Series point s lead er Damon Hu ffm an . The res t went to the semis . The second hea t race wasn' t nearly as spectacu lar as the first. McG rath wasted no time in jumping ou t to an early lead and sim ply left everyone in his wake. "T he trac k is so techn ical th aI it ' s important to ge t a goo d s tart tonight," said McGr ath. The defending cham p was untoucha ble, thou gh las t week' s Da y tona SX winner, Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski, barely kept the Honda ride r in sight. He seemed content with second but could never re lax, kn ow in g tha t McG ra th ' s tea mmate Steve Lamson - who was also sore follo w in g a h ard ge t-off du r in g practice - was br eathin g down his nec k in th ird . Late in th e race, th o u gh, Kiedro wski put a couple of bike len gths between himself and Lamson before taking th e checkered flag . Finis h ing wa y back in fourt h was Team Suzuki's Eira Lusk, the 1994 East Coast 125cc Charnpi-