Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS···· . . AMA -t25125Oci: 'Nati~nal ~riipio~ship MOtC1Cross series' Final round: Steel City Raceway ing and settle for anything less than the best 1 can do. But 1 will tell you that when 1 started pushing 1 thought, 'Good God, this hill is steep: Steeper than 1 remembered when 1 was riding up it. 1 was huffin' and puffin'. 1 was about ready to pass out." Finishing a deep fourth was Pichon, who clinched third overall after firstmoto contender Windham crashed on the start of race two. Huffman finished fifth. "The title hasn't even sunk in yet:' said. Lamson later as he wore his hotoff-the-presses National Champion shirt. 'This is a big thing for me. You don't know how big it is for me. Now I've got a title and I've· got a new twoyear deal with Honda. That's all out of the way and 1 can't wait for next year:' Lamson thanked his sponsors, his mechanic, his parents and his fiancee Cammy. "1 don't think anyone realizes just· how bad 1 wanted this championship:' added Hughes. "My dad never got to see me win an AMA event. When he (left) Ryan Hughes had to push his bike to the finish line In the second 125cc moto when the chain came off. Although the chain Incident relegated him from second to third In the moto, It did not affect the outcome of the championship chase. (Below) Jeremy McGrath and his longawaited and hard-earned 250cc National first-place trophy. Kawasaki's back wheel as he crashed into the ground. The 17-year-old remounted last and put together an attention-worthy comeback for eighth place, but all eyes were on the front of the pack. Lamson immediately took off in an effort to build a confidence-crushing lead on Hughes, who was trailing run~ ner-up starter Mike Brown, who rode to a trouble-plagued ninth in the first moto. By the end of the s.econd lap Hughes was clear of Brown and the battle for the national championship commenced. "1 saw Rhino there so 1 just put my head down and went to work," said Lamson later. "1 was afraid the pressure would get to me, but it didn't. He was probably waiting for a mistake but it never happened, and he sure didn~t make any mistakes either." For the next 30 minutes Lamson rode mistake-free motocross, while Hughes did his best to keep up. Neither rider gained an inch. As the crowd rose with anticipation, Lamson took the two-lap , signal with the same five seconds to spare on Hughes that he started with. And Hughes knew that it was time to go to extreme measures. "When I saw the 2-lap board I figures, 'That's it, I've got no choice but to ride over my head now:" said Hughes later. "1 couldn't do anything to catch him, so 1 decided to go all out." That included taking the fast, downhill, offcambered corner behind the starting ~ area wide open, a move that caused a 0\ stir among many 01 the 250c~ riders .... watching from there as they awaited Cf)' their second moto. .... Hughes just couldn't make a significant dent into the lead of the flawless ..0 LamsoI.l: The white flag came and went, ~ and by the time Lamson rounded the .., last corner before the checkered flag, Lamson was still about five ticks off. As Lamson happily took the checkered an epilogue of even more drama developed when Hughes lost his chain in the last off-cambered comer, leaving him stalled !n 0.. J5 8 90 feet downhill from the starting gate. Even though the title was already lost, Hughes never gave up. He started pushing his bike up the hill as the crowd cheered louder and louder. Head down and boots digging in, Hughes climbed the last hill as lappers streamed by. Brown came through before Hughes made it to the finish line but Pichon could not beat his fiercely competitive teammate to the finish line. And once Hughes got there - his arrival signaled by the roar of the crowd - he dropped his bike and collapsed in the dirt. "1 really want to thank the crowd for urging me on, 1 knew 1 was across when 1 heard the crowd scream:' said Hughes, who's efforts clinched second overall on the day for him. Why did he give so much effort after the fact? "Why not?" answered Hughes. "Why do all that rid- died 1 was pretty far off from ever winning one. Then something happened after he died and it just all started to come together. 1 won a couple 01 races and then 1 realized that 1 could win the championship for him. 1 also wanted to win it for my mom and Mitch (Payton) and Jim (Bacon) and Wyatt Seals and Chad Watts and everyone who ever worked with me or helped me. People who stuck behind and didn't just say, 'Oh, he's a crasher who will never make it: 1 think that 1 proved those people all wrong, and I'm going to prove them again next year:' . 250Cc NA'tIONAl The fiTSt 250cc moto featured the biggest holeshot pileup of recent years. No less than 20 riders tangled together in the second hairpin turn once the early leaders - McGrath, Dowd, Mike Kiedrowski, James Dobb and Larry Ward - got away cleanly. Left in the middle of the carnage was Emig, the last man standing between McGrath and the 250cc title. His slim· title hopes now gonE;, Emig charged with vigor back to sixth by the time the checkered flag fell some 37 minutes later. "1 went into the comer fifth or sixth and 1 was charging into the pack:' said Emig of the crash. "Mike Jones went down and 1 got pushed right into him and that was it. 1 knew a lot of guys were down because after 1 started passing everyone back, 1 got to a big break in the pack where 1 didn't see anyone for a while. 1 charged as hard as 1 could:' With an early lead and Emig nowhere in sight, McGrath relaxed and just flat took off from everyone. By the time the cross flags came out he was doing whip-its on the big double jumps for the fans and appeared to be savoring every moment of what would be a title-clinching win. Honda of Troy's James Dobb pushed through to second but then strung together two bad laps and let Dowd and Kiedrowski pass him. Team Noleen/Sizzler/Xtreme's Larry Ward was a quiet fifth. Emig had actually passed Ward but a slow endo In a corner caused him to lose some positions and make some re-passes. "That was actually an easy race for me," said McGrath matter-of-factly. "1 kind of got a crappy start but Dowd pushed out wide and got under everyone. After that it was just a fun race. Last weekend (at Binghamton) was the real emotional race for me because 1 went 1-1, and it set me up for the title this weekend. 1 really just had to go out there and finish today, but 1 decided to go for another win." "My arms pumped up when 1 was .chasing after McGrath:' said Dobb of his fade to fourth. "1 guess I'm just not used to that sort of situation." McGrath again holeshot the second moto with Emig a close second. This gave the crowd· a sense of anticipation! as a much-hoped-for McGrath/Emig battle seemed ready to begin. Unfortunately, Emig did not have his best stuff at Steel City and McGrath was able to slowly pull away and begin another "showtime" session of spectacular jumping for the otherwise disappointed crowd. McGrath won with ease, while Emig, who was having a little bit of fun on the jumps himself, finished second well ahead of Yamaha teammate John Dowd. Larry Ward and a poor-starting Kiedrowski rounded out the top five. "1 wanted to race with Jeff and all, but it didn't seem like he wanted to, so 1 just went off on my own. Still, 1 heard the fans every lap around and that really made me want to ride hard and put on a good show:' said McGrath during his post-race interview. "When it's hot like it was today those cheers help us. riders keep going the whole way, so 1 want to thank them." "1 wanted to win the second moto, but 1 just didn't have it in me:' admitted Emig. "1 didn't have the focus or the concentration and 1 figured, 'Hey, there will be more races: 1 didn't want to go too fast and jeopardize next week's (MX des Nations) race. 1 guess 1 just had a whole lot of things going through my mind." "1 didn't get the start 1 wanted in the second moto, but it ended up working out good anyway:' said Dowd, who turned 30 earlier this month. "1 think my bike did a real good job on this track and I'm pretty happy with getting second/' t:N

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