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/127739
Round 8: Unadilla Valley Sport Center (Above) Mike Craig (19) and Chad Pederson (36) fight for the early lead In the first 125cc moto. Craig would later suffer a flat tire, while Pederson would go on and finish seventh. (Right) Yamaha's Jeff Emlg won the first 250cc moto but crashed twice In the second moto, finishing fourth overall. Kyle Lewis held down second ahead of Emig, LaRocco, Dobb, Kiedrowski and Cliff Palmer. Dowd was back in 11th, but that wouldn't last for long. Lewis kept close tabs on McGrath for a while, then LaRocco moved into third by passing Emig: Emig lost even more time to LaRocco when the Yamaha rider crashed in the mud, which was beginning to pack up on the riders' fenders, helmet and shoulder pads. "Oh man, it (the mud) was getting heavy," LaRocco said afterwards. At one point, LaRocco pitted for a new pair of goggles, letting Emig catch back up to the Kawasaki rider. By the halfway point, McGrath had opened up a big lead over Lewis, who would soon lose .that spot to LaRocco. Emig's big concern now was passing Lewis, the one rider who stood between him and the overall win. A 10-second gap separated the two, then eight, then seven seconds, then Emig rounded the track in fifth place behind Dowd and right in front of Kiedrowski. "Oh, I cross-rutted and went down," said a very disappointed Emig, who would la ter also get passed by Kiedrowski. This all buLsealed the overall win for LaRocco, who took the checkered flag some 20 seconds be.hind McGrath. Dowd, who passed Lewis on the last lap when he washed out in the mud, took third, while Kiedrowski completed the top five: Sixth went to Emig, followed by Bradshaw, Dobb, DeRoop and Lawrence. "I .tried to stay with McGrath," said Lewis of his best ride of the year. "But the mud was packing on me so badly. It was getting heavy on me and making me sluggish." Lewis blamed his eighthplace performance in the first moto on "wrong tire combination - I just didn't feel comfortable." 125cc NATIONAL Ryan Hughes had it in his mind that he was going to win. After all~ he did it here last year and he wanted to do it again, so when the gate dropped for the start of the first moto, Hughes blasted out of his slot as though shot from a cannon. He opened up a huge lead by the end of the first lap and was never challenged throughout the 3O-minute plus two-lap race. Honda of Troy's Mike Craig ran second for a while until getting passed by Hughes' teammate Mikael Pichon, then Suzuki's Damon Huffman and then Steve Lamson. On the fourth circuit, Craig rode past the pit area pointing to his rear wheel. A lap later, he pitted and his mechanic changed the rear wheel after discovering he had a flat tire. The change only took about 45 seconds, but that was enough to knock him out of contention. Up front, Hughes had opened up a commanding nine-second lead over Pichon. Lamson made.his move on Huffman for third but still had a huge gap between himself and Pichon. By the halfway point, the 4O-rider field had become fairly spread out, as there were only a few position battles, one of which was for fifth between Suzukimounted Scott Sheak and Brown. The two riders battled back and forth, with Sheak getting the upper hand. In what was otherwise an uneventful race, Hughes crossed the finish line approximately 10 seconds clear of Pichon, who held a comforta ble margin over Lamson. Finishing a distant fourth was Huffman, while Sheak edged out Brown for fifth. Honda rider Chad Pederson finished back in seventh, followed by Hondamounted Jason McCormick and Suzuki rider Denny Stephenson. Finishing 17th was Kawasaki's Robbie Reynard, who was involved in a first turn pileup that also involved I1thplace finisher Buddy Antunez and that took out Cory Keeney, Carlo Coen, Rusty Holland, Brian Deegan and a few others. Hughes .had his work cut out for him in the second moto when Lamson powered his 1BOO-Collect Honda into the lead right off the start, just ahead of the first-moto winner. In third followed Stephenson, then Huffman and Brown. Lamson and Hughes quickly