Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1995 07 05

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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win ahead of Dowd, Albertyn, McGrath, LaRocco, Kiedrowski and privateer Phil Lawrence. Earlier front-runner DeHoop dropped back to ninth, while Ward completed the top 10. "I just wasn't aggressive enough," said Dowd, who was the obvious crowd favorite. The second moto promised to be a great race as all the factory-backed riders gated cleanly and rounded the first turn leading the way. Just as in the first moto, Emig was the early pacesetter, followed by Dowd, McGrath, LaRocco, Kiedrowski, Bradshaw and Albertyn. Right behind the South African was the first non-factory rider, Ward. The factory stars quickly broke away from the rest of the pack, once again chasing each other single-file lap after lap. Eventually, Bradshaw fell off the lead pace and would eventually fade all the way back to ninth where he would finish. "I'm still not strong enough," said Bradshaw. "The track beat me. Oh, man, was it rough. This kind of track requires so much upper body strength, something I don't have a whole lot of right now. I just have to keep working. I'm disgusted but not discouraged." Emig continued to lead the way but after about four laps, it was obvious tha"t he was struggling and making small mistakes. "I was getting a little sloppy," said Emig. And it cost him. On the fifth lap, Dowd blew by Emig and opened up a sizable lead. "I didn't want to screw around," said Dowd. "I wanted to get around him (Emig) as soon as I could." A lap later, McGrath passed Emig, as did both LaRocco and Albertyn later on. Dowd opened up a modest lead but McGrath would soon close the gap to almost nothing and, just past the halfway point, McGrath dove to the inside and passed the Yamaha rider. The crowd suddenly went silent. Things went from bad to worse for Dowd when a seal blew in his shock, turning his bike into a rolling pogo stick. "At first I thought it was me getting sloppy," said Dowd. "I was so mad at myself. I started feeling it (the blown shock seal) about two laps before Jeremy passed me. I thought I was pulling away from those guys, then I started bouncing around." About the same time, Albertyn crashed while trying to pass LaRocco and dropped to fifth behind Kiedrowski, making the top-five order McGrath, LaRocco, Emig, Kiedrowski and Albertyn. With only a few laps left, the field had become well spread-out with McGrath going on to take the win 11 seconds ahead of LaRocco, who enjoyed an eight-second cushion over Emig. Twelve seconds later Kiedrowski finished, and seven seconds after that was Albertyn. Team Noleen's Kyle Lewis out-dueled his teammate Ward for sixth, while Lawrence, Bradshaw and DeHoop rounded out the top 10. "It's funny," said moto winner McGrath. "We (Team Honda) don't practice in sand, but my first 12Scc moto win was here, my first 2S0cc moto win was here, and today another win. I've been winning motos here for a long time." LaRocco was content with third, following his recent wrist injury. '1t's pretty sore," said LaRocco of his battered left wrist that is covered with scars. "I'm good for about half a moto, then I lose my grip. It gets weak and I have a hard time holding on." 125cc NATIONAL The first 12Scc National moto was all Tim Ferry's. The factory Suzuki rider blasted out of the gate and into the lead and was never seriously challenged during the whole race. Honda of Troy's Mike Craig gave Ferry a run early in the race until the ignition "fell off" his motorcycle, leaving him sparkless. Craig's departure gave Mike Brown sole possession of second, which he gladly accepted for four laps before Ryan Hughes had his way with him. But Brown didn't give up without a fight as he COI\tinued to hang with Hughes for the next few laps until Lamson, who rounded the first lap in ninth, stuck his front wheel in on the action and passed Brown for third. Lamson's next victim was Hughes, who succumbed to the Honda rider's come-from-behind charge four laps from the end. By the time Lamson had taken control of second, Ferry was already long gone, enjoying an uncatchable seven-second lead. Not long after getting passed by Lamson, Hughes crashed into a tree, giving up one spot to the pesky Brown, making the top-five finishing order Ferry, Lamson, Brown, Hughes and Huffman, who got off to yet another poor start. Mickael Pichon also had a bad start, and like Huffman spent the entire moto making up for it. He salvaged sixth, ahead of Suzuki rider Denny Stephenson, and a much smoother-looking Robbie Reynard, David Pingree and Brian Deegan. Huffman, the series points leader, was not happy with his fifth-place fin(Opposite page) Jeff Emig (6) was the early leader In both 250cc motos at Southwick. Here he leads Jeremy McGrath (3), Mike laRocco (1), Todd DeHoop (25) and John Dowd (14) coming out of the first tum in the second moto. (Above) Emlg (6) and Dowd (14) were never more than this far apart the entire first 250cc moto, In which Emlg held on to win. Dowd was at one point leading the second 250cc moto before a seal blew In his shock. (Left) Team Hondal1-800Collect's Steve Lamson used consistency as the key to success In the 125cc National. He went 22 for the overall Victory. (Right) Suzuki's TIm Ferry walked away from the 125cc pack In the first moto but a sixth in the second relegated him to third overall. ish. "It's been frustrating," said Huffman. "After winning all the supercrosses, I expected to come in and win the Nationals, but it just isn't happening." Huffman obviously took out his frustrations in the second moto. At the start of the second moto, the West Coast 12Scc SX champ found himself chasing Lamson for the lead and was matching the Honda rider's every move. No matter how hard he tried, Lamson couldn't shake Huffman, who was riding like a man possessed. The inevitable happened near the halfway point when Huffman cleanly motored around Lamson and gradually pulled away. "After the first moto, I knew I could win," said Huffman. "I was eating a lot of sand (from Lamson's roost). It (the sand) gets everywhere. I ride with my mouth open; I had so much sand in my mouth I couldn't breath. I was blowing sand out of my mouth - I had to get around him." Huffman went on and took the win his first moto win of the year - with five seconds to spare over Lamson. Hughes spent much of his race mixing it up with teammate Pichon and Brown before settling into third where he would finish. Brown rode another solid race, finishing fourth, while Pichon claimed fifth ahead of Ferry, Reynard, Pingree, Deegan and Scott Carter. I;N MX~ ~ 125 MOTO 1: 1. Tim Ferry (Suz); 2. Steve Lamson (Hon); 3. Mike Brown (Hon); 4. Ryan Hughes (Kaw); 5. Damon Huffman (Suz); 6. Mickael Pichon (Kaw); 7. Denny Stephenson (Suz); 8. Robbie Reynard (Kaw); 9. David Pingree (Kaw); 10. Brian Deegan (Hon); 11. Chad Pederson (Han); 12. Scott Carter (Han); 13. Barry Carsten (Suz); 14. Mike Treadwell (Suz); 15. Kevin Windham (Yam); 16. Paul Currie (Kaw); 17. Carlo Coen (Suz); 18. Scott Sheak (Suz); 19. Ty Wallace (Suz); 20. Jim Neese (Han); 21. Cory Keeney (Yam); 22. Steven Herman (Suz); 23. Lawrence Lashway (Kaw); 24. Patrick Waitt (Han); 25. Greg Schnell (Suz); 26. Chadwick Shepard (Suz); 27. Jim Povolny (Kaw); 28. Eric Reilly (Suz); 29. Jason Buzzee; 30. Jef Janssen; 31. Jeff Camtignani (Han); 32. Michael Peat (Han); 33. Henry Konosa (Suz); 34. Brian Berry (Han); 35. Richard Rogers (Hon); 36. Tony Lorusso (Suz); 37. Mike Craig (Hon); 38. Pedro Gonzalez (Yam); 39. Trey Owens (Kaw); 40. Buddy Antunez (Han). Time: 35 min., 43.91 sec. ~ Southwick, Massachusetts Results: June 25,1995 (Atter 5 of 12 rounds) tn 0\ 0\ 'r"""'4 l!')' ~ ";:::l ..~ 19

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