Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 9: Houston Astrodome (Left) Jeff Emig (6) fended off the charges of Jeremy McGrath (1) for the first six laps. The Yamaha rider held on for second, tying his best-ever supercross finis h. (Below) Mike laRocco fended off the race-long attacks of Mike Kiedrowski to finis h third. f8 a ~ the whoops, but each time he fou nd the door slammed shut in the followi ng lefthanded sweepe r. After two foiled pass attempts, McGra th had Emig figured out. On the sixth lap, he p ulled alongside Emig on the right, but cut in tight in the left sweeper. Emig was caught off guard, an d McGrath outpowere d him in to the next tum. . "I faked him ou t," said McGra th. "He was ri ding real good . He w as racing . After I cu t under him, I kn ew I had to re ally p in it, or it would take an oth er . two laps to pass him." On ce in front, McGrath opened up the lead that wa s expected of him and he styled to ye t ano the r win . A pair of nac-nacs on th e fin al lap saw his lead sh rink fro m nin e seco nds to five, bu t his performance was no less impressive. Emig ran alone for the remainder of the race , though LaRocco and Kiedrowski cl ose d in on s e v e ra l oc cas ions . Though they got close, they were never a threat to Emig. " I saw them com ing a few tim es," said Emig. "But then I would either cu t a good lap, or the y would screw up, and 1wou ld pull away again." "I could barely hang on," said LaRoc- . co. " My shoulders w ere so sore and weak that 1 had to try and compensate for them with the rest of my body . That made me tired all over." "I have nothing to say, really," said Kiedrowski, who was unhappy with his fourth-place performance. "I had to be m ore agg ress ive, but 1 w as n't. 1 felt okay, but 1 just w asn ' t able to make a pass happen ." Ward w orked in to a distant fifth after runnin g as far back as 11th o "I started okay, but Lewis stalled in front of me and I got pa ssed by a lot of guys," said Ward. "On ce I got into fifth, I pushed real hard. I only gai ned about half a second, so I decided to pla y it safe and take fifth." Craig, Lusk, Lamson, Lawrence and Dowd rounded out the top 10. 125cc Huffman and Pichon were the winners of the two heat races, an d it seemed fitti ng as th e tw o led their resp ective series cha mpionships. Many were anxious to see the showdown between the tw o ride rs, especially Pichon himself. . Hu ffman. "I was pa ssing riders six at a time." . By lap three, he was up to third behind Windham and Pederson, but looked to be ridi ng uncharacteristi cally tight. Pichon had also su ffered a terrible sta rt, bu t things got wo rse, rather than better, for the teenager. "I got a bad start, then I crashed in the whoops," said Pichon. "I was 19th on the firs t time past the finish . I keep trying hard, and I was able to catch up to fourth." . Windham, meanwhile, held a seemingly unbeatable lead over the rest of the field . Until he began to worry about his competition, tha t is. "Ab ou t the n inth lap I s ta r te d to think about who wa s behind me," said Windham, who on the ninth lap, held a seven-second lead over Huffman. "Then I started to tire out and make som e rnistakes." Huffman ga ined mo st of his time in the wh oop section, wh ere he was visibly faster than the rest of the field. "Ou t of th e whol e track, th at was where I felt the best," said Huffman. "I passed a lot of guys in the whoops, and 1 think I gai ned the most on Wind ham through there." H uffman p assed Wi ndham on the 12th lap before the triples, and we nt on to pu ll well clea r b y th e finish . Like Huffman, H ughes started poorly and put on a creditable charge through the field . Ninth on la p one, fou rt h on lap three and third by lap 13, Hughes made h is final pass with one lap to go, displacing the tiring Windha m in the far northeas t co rner. Wi th th at , th e top th ree position s were set, and Huffman, Hugh es and Windham wou ld occu py wi n ner 's circle. Picho n was four th, comfortably ahea d of Decker, who had wo rked fN to fifth fro m a 12th-place start . Houston Astr odome Houston, Texas Res ults: March 25, 1995 "My heat race win was tw o seconds faste r than Huffman's," said the confident, yet likab le Frenchman. "I can beat hiim, " Surprsingly, neither of the two were at the fro nt of th e .pack when the ga te dropped fo r th e 15-lap main event. Ch ad Pederson grabbed the holeshot, but Windham passed him quickly and zipped out to an immediate lead. Huffman entered th e firs t tu rn with only three riders behind him, but worked his magic on the first lap and began lap two . in sixth . "I nailed it on the first tw o straigh taways and through the whoops," said 250 HEAT 1 (10 la ps; 20 rid ers, top 4 transfer); 1, Mike laRocco (Ka w ); 2. Steve Lamson (Hon); 3. Doug H enry (Hon); 4. Larry Ward (Ya m) ; 5. Mik e Craig (Ho n); 6. Phil Lawrence (Kaw ); 7. Cliff Pa lme r (Suz);.8. Shaun Kales (Yarn): 9. Mike Fisher (Kaw): 10. An thony Ama radio (KTM); 11. Taka tcru A tsuta (Hon); 12. Kevin ' Cr ine (KTM); 13. Denny Ste p henson (Suz); 14 . Je ff H ed d e n (Hon); 15 . G en e Na umec (Ya m) ; 16 . Ji m Povolny (Kaw): 17. Terry Parsons (Hon); 18. G rayson Goodman (Han); 19. Je ff Demen t (KTM) ; 20. Bu d dy Antunez (Han). Time: 8 m inu tes, 35.00 seco nds. 250 HEAT 2 (10 laps; 20 riders, top 4 tran sfer): 1. .Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw); 2. Jerem y McGrath (H a n); 3. Brian Sw ink (Han); 4. Kyle Lew is (Yam); 5. Je ff Emig (Yam); 6. Tod d Del-loop (Han); 7. Joh n Dowd (Yam); 8. Rich Tay lor (Ho n); 9. Jean Seba stie n Roy (Ho n); 10. Axe l Holvoe t (Ya m); 11. T ravis Blac kb urn (Ka w) ; 12. Des Piih l (5uz); 13. Jim Chamberlain (Han); 14. Jeff Hed de n ; (Han); 15. Ezra Lusk (5u:£) 16. Chris Bense (Yam); 17. Alex McElyea (Suz); 18. Trey Owens (Kaw) ; 19. David Castillo (Kaw ); 20. Larry Linkogle (Ha n). T im e: 8 min., 37.09 St.'C . 250 S EMI 1 (8 la ps; 16 riders, top 5 transfer): 1. Mike Cr aig (Ho n); 2. Grayson Goodman (Hon): 3. Phil Lawrence (Kaw); 4 . Buddy Antunez (Han); 5 . Cliff Palmer (Suz ); 6. Sha u n Kalas (Yam); 7. Mi ke Fish e r ff (Kaw) ; 8. Je Hed den (Han); 9. Taka teru Atsuta (Ha n); 10. Anthony Amaradio (KTM ); 11. Gene Ne umec (Yam ); 12. Kevin Crine (KTM); 13. Denny Stephenson (5uz ); 14. Terry Parsons (Hon); 15. Jim Povo ln y (Kaw);' 16. Je ff Dement (KTM) . Time: 6 min., 37.31 sec . . 250 SEM] 2 (8 laps; 16 ri ders, top 5 tran sfer): 1.Jci f Emig (Yam) ; 2. John Dowd (Yam); 3. Ezra Lusk (Suz); 4. Todd DeHoop (Han); 5. Jean Sebastien Roy (Han); 6. Axel Hol voet (Yam); 7. Jim Ch a m be r la in (Han); 8. David Castillo (Ka w): 9. Travis Blackburn (Kaw); 10. Jeff Hed den (Ho n) ; 11. De s Piih l (5 uz) ; 12. C ha d Bens e (Yam); 13. Alex McElyea (Suz ); 14. Rich Tay lor (Ho n); 15. Trey Owens (Kaw) : 16. Larry Linkogle (Ho n). Time: 6 mln., 31.73 sec . 250 LCQ (6 laps; 22 riders, top 2 transfer): 1. Denny Step henson (5 uz); 2. Mike Fis her (Kaw); 3. Ge n e Na umec (Yam) ; 4. An tho ny Amarad io (KTM); 5. Shaun Kalos (Ya m ); 6. Jim ' Cha mberla in (Han); 7. Davi d Castillo (Kaw); 8. Trey Owens (Kaw); 9. Takateru Atsuta (Han ); 10. Tr avi s Bla ckburn (Ka w ); 11. Jim Po vo ln y (Ka w); 12. Des Piihl (Suz); 13. Jay Hedden (Ha n); 14. Axe l Ho lvoct (H on ); 15. Terry Pa rsons (Ho n); 16. Jay Hedden (Ho n); 17. Kevin Crinc (H a n); 18. Rich Taylor (Ho n); 19. Chad Bense (Yam); 20. Alex McElye a (Suz); 21. Larry Link ogle (Hon) ; 22. Je ff Demen t (KTM). Tim e: 6 min., 49.62 sec . 250 MA IN (20 riders, 20 la ps): 1. Jerem y McGrath (Han); 2. Jeff Emig (Ya m); 3. Mik e LaRocco (Kaw ); 4. Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw); 5. Larry Ward (Yam); 6. Mike Craig (Hon); 7. Ezra Lusk (Suz); 8. Stev e Lamson (Han); 9. Phil Lawrence (Kaw): 10. Joh n Dowd (Yam); 11.

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