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/127722
w ith a block pass a few turns later, bu t his second m om ent of glory would last only u n t il th e whoo ps . McGrath bo unced back in to the lead, and from there, looked set to sail to an easy w in . Kiedrowski started third and began to close the gap on Lusk, but the Suzuki rider made things easy for him by endoing violently just before the finish-line jump. Kiedrowski inherited second, and it looked as though he was se t to cru ise to the finish, conten t w ith a direct transfer. On the fifth lap, McGrath brought the crowd to its feet w he n h e a p peared to . misti me a tricky tabletop-do ub le section and went down . Kied ro wski motored past and on to the win. "I got kin d of lucky," sa id Kiedrowski. "But I'll take it." . "My bike h e s it a te d a bit and it screwed me u p," said McGrath, who was unhurt in the spill. " I came up way short when I tried to jump off the table an d onto the first jump." Honda of Troy rider Brian Swink held down third at the checkered flag, well ahead of No leen's Kyle Lewis. All fo u r wo u ld h ea d to the m a in , six thplaced Emig wou ld ride in a se mi. Bo th C ra ig and Em ig had bare ly mi ssed tr ansferr ing di rectly from their res pective heat races, and b ot h m ad e q uick work of the se m is they h ad been rele gated to. Cra ig style d his way to the . wi n in the firs t eig ht-lap se m i, p u lling off several can-cans an d a seemingly im possi ble whi p over th e triples e n ro ute to his win. Texan Grayson Goodman scored a very p opu lar seco nd, ahead of Ph il La w rence, fa ther-to -be Buddy A ntu nez and Cliff Palmer . A ll five w ould comp ete in th e m ain. No t to be o u t do ne b y h is fo rm e r Yamah a team mate Cr aig, Emig also controlled eve ry lap o f hi s' semi. As he padded hi s lead with every passing lap, Emig kept th e cro w d en tertain ed with several whip s of hi s own. As he flew over the triples, he looked back over his s ho u lder severa l time s and probab ly sa w his tea m mate John Dowd, who finished second. Lusk was third ove r H OT rid er Todd DeHoop and Canadian JeanSebastien Roy. • Rich Taylor and Kawasaki R&D man Mike Fish er battled ove r the lead in the LCQ, bu t ju st when Tayl or lo oked to have a firm gri p on the lead, he crashed ove r the tripl e jump and was rende re d uncons ciou s. The red flag came out and th e race was stop pe d with Taylor's safety in mind . The popular pri vateer eventually wa lked fro m the tra ck with a minor concussion. On th e re sta r t, Suzuki's Denny Step henson took control of the lead and rode to an eventual w in , w hile Fis her emerged.. fro m the pack to nab second, and th e final transfer position . Emig snared the holeshot at the start of.the 20-lap main, an d had McGrath, Le w is, Cra ig, Henry, LaRocco a nd Kiedrowski right on his tail. Craig got a littl e too anxious on the second lap and flew off the track, but recover ed q uickly enough to lose only two p os it ion s to LaRocco and Kied rowski. The Kawasaki QU O also managed to di s place H enry, a n d th e Ho nda r ider ' s n ight w ould come to an end onl y a few turns later . " I m istimed a section of jumps and wasn't a b le to make a double," sa id Henry . "I sing led over it and Craig doubled in to me. My bars were be nt really bad, and I was scared to get up and push hard after that. I was afraid that .they migh t be bro ken or something." Henry would finish an eventual 16th, bu t Craig rem o u nted and fought his way to sixth at the finish. Meanw hi le, Emi g continued to lead, thwarting McGrath' s every ad va nce . The Yamaha rid er hu gged the in side lines and m ad e McGrath work for his win . "I wasn't trying to block h im, I wa s ju st trying to ride relaxed:' sa id Emig. "I th ink I got a little too relaxed, maybe. I knew neither of us wanted another battle like w e had in Atlanta." Just as Emig sta ted, McGrath certain- ly d idn't want su ch a battl e, and was worried that thi rd - and fourth-p laced LaRocco and Kiedrowski would join in the dice for first , "I was yell in g an d yelling," said McGrath . "Then, all of a sudden h e started to go and we pulled away from those gu ys." On the fourth and fifth la ps, McGrath succeeded in pulling alongside Emig in (Top) Defending Western Regional 125cc Supercross Champ ion Damon Huffman kept his perfect '95 record intact with an Impres s ive come-fram-behind win. (Above) Jeff Emlg (6) led Mike Craig (19), Jeremy McGrath (1), Ezra Lus k (24) and Kyle Lewis (15) at the start of the 25-lap main. Emlg led for six laps, but finished an eventual second. ....... ..... ;.., 0... -< 13