Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·MOTOCROSS .. . World C hampionship 1251250ccMotocross Series Round 2: Prarie City OHV Park pu rsuit of the leader and victo ry. "Once I got into se cond I kn ew th at Reyn ard saw me and I think he pumped up o r go t tired at that po int." Hughes made the pass on Reyn ard the fi rs t tim e Reyn ard has ever been passed while leading a 12Scc Na tional moto - wit h four lap s to go and started his own sprint to the check ered flag. Reynard was left to figh t off his own forea nn pum p w hile struggling to hold on to second as Brown and Hu ffman closed in. " I did n't get the best start and I know I rod e a little tight there at first," said Hu ffman, who com pleted the first lap in eighth place. "I slowly pas sed one gu y at a tim e, th ou gh I know I stayed behind Pi ch on for most o f th e ra ce . On ce I passed him I broke loose and s ta rte d really charging. I know that I felt better at the en d of the race than I d id at the beginning . Once I got up to Brown I just went to the inside of him bu t I go t a little scared because Brow n will pass you right back if you 're not careful, Once I passed him I jus t clea red my goggles and went righ t after Reyn ard." With two lap s to go, a struggling Reyna rd was ge tt in g maximum pressure (Left) Recentl y crowned 125cc Eastern Regional Superc ross Champ ion Mickael Pic hon (101) was sixth overall. Craig Decker (27) was 10th, and Gainesville winner Robbie Reynard (22) was 11th. (Below) Jeremy McGrath retained his series po int lead by fini shing sixth. at the front. Dowd, Emig, McGr ath and Albertyn followed. "I can't put my finger on what happened tod ay but I kept making little mistakes," reasoned Albertyn after the race. "It's hard to get used to the different riders and tra cks but I ju st need to w ork harder. I didn't get tired but I made a little mistake and Henry passed me, and then an ot her little m istake an d. Do wd passed me. I'm jus t not happy with my riding." It) 0\ 0\ ...... 125cc The first 12Scc mo to bolted from the sta rtin g gate int o th e firs t double-right corners with H onda of Tro y ' s Mike Brown leading Kawasaki's Robbie Reynard, Ferry , Team Vel veTouch's Mike Healey , Hu ghes a nd Pichon. An eightrider pileup in the first turn took down Mike C ra ig, Suz uki's Craig Decker and 12Scc Eastern SX runner-up Da vey Yezek. Craig's Honda of Troy teammate Brian Swi nk would also go down on the firs t lap and res tart outside the top 30. For two laps the lead order remained the sa me but th en Reynard made h is mo ve . Th e inconsis te n t teenager flew into the lead and immediately started to pull away fro m Brown . The situ a tion looked s im il a r to the second moto at Gainesville, whe n Reynard burst into the lead and promptly left th e rest of the field behind. Near the I S-mi n u t e mark, H ealey s ta rted to fad e and gave up sp o ts to Hughes, Pichon and Huffman. Hughes kept going, p assing Ferry and Brown within two laps and set his sights on Reynard, who possessed a lead of 10 se conds. Pichon appeared to be tiring and was qu ickly dem oted by Huffman, w ho had seemed to find his rhythm at the 20minu te mark. With just over ten minutes to go the order was Reynard, Hughes, Brown, Ferry and Huffman. Also starting to build momentum was Pro Circuit support rider Casey Johnson, who rose from ninth to sixth, pas sing Heal ey and Pichon along the way . "After a bo u t th e fifth lap my arms pumped up and I just tried to ride with Bro wn rem ounted for a ca re er-hig h fourth beh ind Reyn ard , while Ferry, struggling w ith fatigue after missing six weeks with a broken ja w, he ld o n for fifth . Johnson was an .im p ressive sixth ahead of H ealey and H onda privateer Buddy An tunez. "Tha t's still th e best o u tdoor race I eve r had, " said Brown as he pr epared for the seco nd moto. "Whenever I do get up toward the front I always seem to fade back a littl e at th e en d, but this tim e I stayed right up there. I eve n led a couple of lap s. I just w ant to go out there and d o it again if I can ." Brown started the second moto a close third to holeshot man Ferry and veteran California racer Heal ey . Within a lap Brown w as aro u nd Healey and began dueling w it h Ferry, an o ld rival from back east. "It wa s pretty cool to be up there with Mike because we aren't the most we llknown riders on the circu it," said Ferry, who hails from Florid a. "It' s always good to see East Coast gu ys up fron t - es pecially when I'm one of them." Whil e the two interl op ers raged to ge the r o ut front, h ome state heroes Huffman and Hughes were trying to rise int o contention. Huffman w as fifth after the firs t lap while Hughes w as back in 10th. It w ould take Huffman just three laps to make it to third but by that time Ferry an d Brown had worked together to bu ild a surprisi ng advan tag e. Huffman chip ped away at that lead but then gave himself more of a d isad vantage when he fell all by him self in a slow comer just before the hal fway mark. "I just kind of tucked the front end in 'a groove and I started pedaling and pedaling to keep myself up, but the groove was too lon g." sa id Huffman, "I just fell down and lost a little bit of tim e but in the end it probably cost me the race." "I felt like I could w in at th e beginning. but at the midway po int I kind of got tired," sa id Ferry . "H uffm an fell or bottled or something and it gav e us a gap on him." them pumped and it didn't work too good, " said Reynard, who has been off since being injured at the Pontiac SX a month ago . "I know Robbie starts off kind of fast but I kn ow that I've been training real hard lat ely a n d I knew I w ould be strong at the end," said Hughes of his from Huffman and a stubborn Brown. As th e tri o charg ed in to a slo p ing righthanded Ll-turn, Brown tried to go inside of both fac tory riders bu t d ro p ped hi s Honda in the berm, With his work cut in hal f, Huffman focused on Reynard and pulled the trigger within a few more corne rs to secu re second be hind Hughes. Further back Reynard was having his share of problems. A 12th-place start was made worse after four lap s when the 18'year-old factory rid er fell on his left side on one of the fast hills. "I didn't get too good of a start and I w as just trying to pick off people each lap and get in the top five," sa id Reynard. "I got cross-rutted on one of the d ownhills and went down." Reynard rode a few more laps but then called it a day. It took Hu ffman 10 more m inutes to catch back up to Brown an d he passed the semi-privateer wi th six la ps to go. Ferry · was right in front of him an d it appeared to everyone th at Huffm an w as go ing fas ter and that Ferry w as ge tting tired. But Ferry someho w stayed focu sed on the win and spent the last 10 minutes of the moto putting up a franti c defense against his teammat e . Seve ra l times Huffman appeared to h ave the drive to tak e over the lead only to be rebuffed by Ferry. " He got real close to me at th e end, especially coming out of the fast comer on the infield ," sa id Ferry. " He got half a bike length up on me but I just moved over and too k his line away." "Tim really su rprise d me at the end because I caught h im pretty quick but then I couldn 't get past him," said Huffman. "He rode rea lly good but even on the last lap I thou gh t I had so me chances to ge t him but I just kind of messed up right before I made my move. I had a little bit mo re speed than him on the infield but he moved over on me. Hey, anyone would move over like that. " But Ferry's victory was costly for the Suzuki team. Because Hughes was able to quietly supplant Brown as the thi rd-

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