Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

those places where I should just win. Period." Now 22 years old, the MSR-backed Red Bud Nationals have long been considered one of the premier stops of the AMA National Championship Series. The Gene Ritchie-organized event attracted a huge audience of approximately 15,000 fans on a bright and sunny day, along with nearly 200 professional and Pro-Am competitors. The course itself offered a crowd-pleasing mix of stadium obstacles strewn across an old-school motocross track. 250Cc NATIONAL McG~ath mastered the start of the first 250cc moto and blasted through the first few comers at high speed. LaRocco, from nearby South Bend, Indiana, was second ahead of the Yamaha trio of Jeff Emig, John Dowd and Damon Bradshaw, then Kawasaki teammate Kiedrowski. LaRocco stayed close to the leader's roost but could not make any early passes. However, laRocco himself was zapped by Emig on the third lap but within a few laps he was back in second. Together, LaRocco and Emig would chase down McGrath and enter into a spectacular late-race brawl that had the fans cheering their every move. Bradshaw overtook Dowd but lost sight of the leading trio and settled for fourth. Still, Bradshaw was cheered by the Red Bud faithful, and fourth was his highest finish since returning from his 2D-month hiatus. He finished just a few bike lengths clear of three-time World champ Greg Albe.rtyn, who ·was in recovery from a so-so start. McGrath's breathing room was gone by the time he passed the official's board signaling two laps to go. For the last five minutes of the race McGrath, LaRocco and Emig raced around the course in .a small freight train but no passes were made. They crossed the finish line at one-second intervals. I'm totally stoked!" said McGrath in the winner's circle. "I think that I maybe could've beat them by a little bit more but some lappers got in my way and that made me nervous. I thought those guys were gaining on me when they really weren't and I started screwing up a little bit. I came across first and that's all that matters." "I felt good and strong in the first moto but I messed up and fell," said LaRocco, who briefly lost second place to Emig as a result of his spill. "I got Emig back and together we just went after McGrath but we couldn't get him. It disappoints me because 1 really wanted to win today." Emig shot into the lead at the start of the second moto with McGrath, Bradshaw and Albertyn in tow. However, a collective groan rose from the startingarea spectators as LaRocco was left in the dirt halfway down the starting chute. The defending 250cc National champ lost his chance for a first-ever Red Bud National win when touched handlebars with Emig and was bounced from his bike. '1 was up there off the start but Emig was moving over and I ended up locking handlebars with someone, I'm not sure who," said LaRocco. '1t made me do a full turn and the soft dirt just sucked me up and threw me down. It kind of hurt my shoulder a little bit." Even with bent handlebars, LaRocco put on a passing clinic, recovering 25 spots within two laps and eventually taking back 33 positions. He finished seventh behind Kiedrowski and Dowd. Emig was never headed by McGrath, though the Honda rider did draw close after 20 minutes. McGrath himself was (Left) LOClII hero Mike laRocco placed SllCOnd In the first moto but a crash esrly In the second moto ended any hopes of him winning his first National et the Red Bud track. (Above) Yamahe's Damon Braclsh8w had his beSt ride since his Mt. Morris comeback debut. He poeted speir of fourths for fourth overall. fleeing from Albertyn, who seemed to wake up at the halfway mark and rapidly picked up the pace. The rest of the moto was the same as the first, only this time the lead freight train was .an Ernig/McGrath/ Albertyn affair. The order never changed. "I feel good about winning the moto . but I wish 1 could've given this crowd the overall," said Emig, who enjoys generous support from the Red Bud faithful. "I would pull away but then the lappers would just get in the way again. It was as if the lappers were pulling out of the way for him. They were just in the way the whole time. I had the speed to get away from him (McGrath) but 1 just kept getting frustrated by the lappers. 1 just couldn't ride the race 1wanted to." 'We were close the whole time until 1 singled all the whoops before the finish line," said McGrath. '1t was really rutty and I kind of screwed up. 1 was able to catch back up to him but 1 couldn't do anything about it. The track was kind of hard to pass on at the end." "Those two were both riding really well and they weren't making mistakes," said Albertyn of the second race. "It seemed to take me awhile to get going and I let them get away. Jeremy was putting on a charge and Jeff was defending himself. I started getting smoother but it was just too late." Bradshaw finished another impressive fourth, leading him to give his fourth race back a positive report. "I was having a lot of fun out there, especially in the second moto," said Bradshaw. "I need a bunch of days like today - good strong rides. In the first moto I had a hook in those guys. I didn't get tired but I just started riding like shit. I was just hanging on but at the end 1 start riding better. That carried ·all through the second moto." To celebrate his improving results Bradshaw stopped after the finish line and threw his goggles, gloves and jersey into the crowd. "They had been cheering and yelling for me all day and I thought 1 would 'give them something back." 125cc NATIONAL Ryan Hughes grabbed the holeshot at the start of the 'first 125cc moto but was replaced as the leader by Ferry coming out of the second corner. Hughes responded in kind halfway through the first lap, and a lap later Lamson passed Ferry as well. A lap later it was Hughes' turn to be overtaken by the sprinting Lamson, marking the last time in the afternoon that anyone would lead the Honda rider. '1 was kind of worried that Ferry and Hughes would kind of give me a little bit of trouble but it didn't happen," said Lamson later. "I motored right by those guys and just took off. I felt really good out there and I pulled out a pretty good lead right away." On the third lap Ferry passed Hughes for the second time in the race, this time moving up alongside the Kawasaki rider through four rolling jumps and then pushing him out in the right-handed V-turn that followed. Hughes made matters worse for himself when he crashed on the fifth lap and gave two spots away to Reynard and Honda of Troy's Mike.Craig, each of whom started inside the top 10. Reynard slowly pulled back Ferry and then passed the Suzuki rider in midair over a spectacular downhill tabletopdouble. "I thought that was a pretty cool move," admitted Reynard after the moto. 'We were right beside each other all the way through the air and I could see his front tire right beside me. It worked - that's all that counts! After that 1 wanted to go after Lamson but my arms got a little bit tired, so 1 decided to just settle for second.'" Further back Brown, Pichon and Huffman were each trying to recover from mediocre starts. Brown made the most improvement, rising up to fourth before the moto's completion. Hughes held on for fifth, while Craig scored sixth ahead of Pichon. Huffman's rally ended in eighth after he passed top privateer Corey Keeney (Team NCY /Primal Impulse) on the last lap. "My back shock was adjusted wrong," said Hughes of what caused his unsteady first-moto performance. "The shock was set high and it was kicking me all over the place. 1 went into a corner and my front end washed out and I went over the bars. I was fighting the bike the whole time." Lamson holeshot the'second moto ahead of local rider John Kitsch, Suzuki privateer Denny Stephenson, Reynard and Brown. Within a few turns Reynard was into second and chasing after lamson, and together the two of them would again move away from the pack. Hughes, Huffman, Honda privateer Chad Pederson and Pichon were in the next wave of motorcycles' while Ferry was trapped deep in the pack. "1 was about 10th or so but then 1 dug the front wheel into the ground right before that double setup thing and went down," e"Plained Ferry. "1 tried to get right back up but so many people were.coming that 1 was afraid someone would hit me. 1 ended up waiting until everyone went by." Lamson steadily eased away from Reynard and settled into a fast pace that would carry him all the way to the checkered flag. Reynard was second throughout but at the end he allowed the dueling Huffman and Hughes, who rolled pass Brown in tandem, to get a little too close for comfort. Still, Reynard had some breathing room to spare when he took the checkered flag about 10 seconds behind Lamson. '1 got a good start and 1 was going to try to stick with (Lamson) but he found some better lines than 1 did," explained Reynard of his inability to hold on to Lamson's shirttails. "1 found his lines but 1 was just stuck on that speed. 1 couldn't get any ground back so 1 just rode that pace the whole moto. I think it worked out pretty good." As for the late surge by Huffman and Hughes that carried them into his roost, Reynard said, '1 saw them with three laps to go but I slowed down a little too much on the last l",p and they got pretty close. Too close, I guess. I'm just trying to be consistent. I'm definitely not out of the series." "We were catching Reynard but there just wasn't enough time for us," said Hughes, who might have also been speaking for Huffman. "It just wasn't too eventful of a day for me." '1 got a pretty good start but I got out there by myself and lost concentration,"

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