Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 1:Citrus Bowl a learning experience. I' ll kn ow what to do next time." . Brown finished 13th. Craig held down th ird for a while, ahead of Law re nce and Bradsha w, who were tradi ng p laces b a ck and fo rt h . Bradshaw a n d La wren ce soo n got around Brown, the n Cr aig, m akin g the top five after seven laps McGrath, Bradshaw, Lawrence, Craig and Hughes. By now, McGrath had opene d up a big lead, while Bradshaw and Lawrence continued th e ir battle for secon d. Lawrence even tually sa w hi s ch ance and pounced when Brad sh aw bobbl ed over a tripl e jump. He got ou t of sha pe approaching th e jump and rather than risk coming up short over th e tri ple's, Bradshaw d ou b le d th e ju m ps while La w re n ce tripled by h im. Br ad sh aw stayed close to Lawren ce for the res t of the race but could never make a serious pass attempt. " I was ho ping Phil was going to get ti red, b e caus e I w a s ge tting a littl e ragged," said Brad sh aw . "I still need to get a little stronge r, bu t I feel I'm on the right track." . By the halfway po int, Hu ffman was the rider to watch as he started to pressu re his tea m ma te Hu ghe s fo r fi fth. The y mixed it up for a while until Huffman made a clean pass on his longtime rival. Huffman th en se t h is sights on Th e second heat rac e saw McGrath and Lamson go at it for a w hile. Lamson actually passed McGrath for the lead on the first)ap_bu t could not hold back the d efe n d in g cham p for long. M cGra th took con tro l of the lead on the second go-aro u n d an d was never cha lle nged th e r e s t o f th e r a ce, whil e Lam son cru ised all alon e in second to the finish. Lusk looked to have third p lace in the bag u ntil Hughes zap p ed him on the la st lap . Fin ishing on e s pot 'ou t of a tran sfer positio n in fifth was Albertyn, followed by Swi nk, Bradsh aw, Brown and Windham. Honda of Houston 's Jeff Dem ent led the s tar t of the fir st 250 cc se m i but crashed befor e the first lap was complete d. Craig w a s th e benefi ci ary of Dem ent's fall an d sud denly found himself with a big lead, followed by Grea t West ern' s Denny Stephenson, Brooks and Lewis, who would later get p assed by BSY Racin g' s Gene Na umec. Mired in the middle of the pack was Emig. Cra ig ope ned up a comm andin g le a d over St ephen son, while Brooks crashed ou t o f the picture, h anding Naumec third. Emig , however, was the rider to wa tch as he stead ily climbed th ro u gh th e pack, ev entu all y tak ing ove r third p lace from N aurnec, w ho was al so later repa s sed b y Lew is . Steph enson was Em ig's next v ictim, making the final finishing order Craig, Emig, Stephenson, Lewis and Naumec, all of w h om tran s ferred to the main event. The second semi was easily handled by Brown. He led fro m start to finish, while Windham edged out Swink for second. Finishing fourth and fifth were Bu t ton and Bradshaw, respectively . Albertyn wa s running secon d before crashing in the whoops and injuring his shoulder on the second lap. Brooks scored -a wire-to-wire victory in the Last Chance Qualifier, where on ly the top tw o riders transfer to the main event. Shaun Kalas of the Xtreme team looked to h ave second p lace all to hi s own un til crash ing, handin g Ant u nez the last ticket to the show. (Above) Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw (28), here sandwiched between Ph il Lawrence (13) and Damon Huffman (10), also turned in a surp rising ride. Bradsh aw finis hed right behind Lawrence for third, his first rostr um appearance s ince 1993. (Right) "took half the race before Team Kawasaki's Damon Huffman . loosened up. Huffman went on a tear late In the race and nearly passed Bradshaw on the last lap. He IInlshed fourth. McGrath powered his Skip Norfolktuned Honda into the lead at the start of the 20-lap final , bu t Bro w n wanted to gi ve McGrath at leas t a li ttl e bit of a race. He challenge d McGra th down the fir st s tra igh t and actu all y p assed the number-one pla te hold er go ing into the next tum, but McGrath qui ckly retali ated on the next lap . Brown hun g close to McGra th for a while, bu t he - alon g with everyo ne e lse - just coul dn't ma tc h McGr ath's ever-in creasin g pace. Brown rod e well, hanging on to second p lace for five laps before beginnin g his slide backward through the pack. "I had never been ou t in front befo re like this, an d I jus t didn' t know what to do," admitted Brown. "I kept th inking, 'What am I doin g up here?' It was all in m y head. I tried not making any m istakes, but I just kept ma king more mi stakes. I beat m yse lf, bu t no w I know wh at it's like running up there, so it w as the bac k of me. He sho uld' ve backed off. I bet he had his eyes closed : ' After the race, tempers flared . Whil e ridi ng back into the pits from the track, an all-ou t br awl developed wh en Hu gh es rode by Craig and bopped him on the back of the helmet wit h his hand . "He go t me prett y goo d, so I gra bbed a co uple o f gea rs and ghost ro de m y bike in to him," said Craig. "After all, he did it to me on the track : ' Hugh es' mech anic Wyatt Seals saw the inc iden t a nd ta ckl ed Cr a ig to th e gro u n d, and the two trad ed punches. Swi nk, se eing h is teammat e p inned, ju m pe d in, as d id Huffman's mech anic Brian Lunni ss and Swink's mechanic Ma rshal Plumb. " Pit boards we re flying," said one witness. The b r a wl ended as qu ic kl y as it started, and everyone retired to the pit s. "The ma gazines will have a field d ay with this," joked Craig. " I just w ant to apologiz e to the fans w ho sa w it a n d t o Ka was aki, " s a id Seals. " I feel bad ; I'm not p roud of what I did, but I just could n' t let that happen to m y rider : ' Th e cras h dropped Hugh es back to e igh th a t the fi n is h, whil e C r a ig dropped to sixtli behind LaRocco. Emig and Swink rounded ou t the top 10. "I' rn still m ot iv a ted t o win," sai d M cGrath a fte rwards. " It helps to win the first race becau se it tells you you' re going to have a pretty goo d season." As for th e tr ack, McGr ath sai d, " It wasn't th at di fficult. Th e ju mps w ere easy and everyone cou ld do them. That makes it harder to pull away, but it d oes make racing tighter." 125c c Craig an d picked him off two laps later. He th en clo sed in on Brad sh aw and nea rly passed him on the"last lap . "I'm happy, for su re," said Huffman . "I want ed to finish in the top five, and I was a little ner vous at the beginning. 1 d idn't make an y big mistake s, and once 1 got by Ryan, I really loosened up." Things heated up between Craig and Hughes late in the race. Whil e dicing for fifth, the two ride rs collided in the tum, sending bo th rid er s sprawling . "Craig took me out," said Hughes. "I was in the corner, he just killed me . It (the crash) bent m y fro nt brake di sc and th e ax le. Th e front whee l b ar el y turns ." Craig b lamed Hu gh es for the gettogether . " I w as on th e ins ide and he wa s on the outside," sai d Craig. "I had th e p ass, an d the lin e I was in comes together with the outside line. He sa w me an d just held it wid e op en right into John Dow d blasted out of the gate at the start of the first 125cc heat race but ca rr ied too mu ch speed in to th e firs t turn an d p lowed into the ou tside ha y bales. Kawasaki Tea m Gre en's Sha un Perol io m oved into the lead ah ead of Suzu ki of Winston- Sa le m 's Na than Ramsey, F&S Suzuki's Davey Yezek and Brom ley Cycle's Barry Carsten. Perolio led for th e next th ree la ps until both Yezek an d Ca rs te n pa ssed him, th en Ramsey . Yezek w ent on to w in, fo llowed by Carsten, Ramsey and Perolio. Dowd en ded u p 11th o Th e secon d heat race feat ured b oth Fer ry and Pichon, and, as expected, the tw o battl ed fro m start to fini sh. Ferry led most of the wa y until getting passed by the def ending cham p on the last lap . Team Chaparr al's Brian Deegan, ridi ng a Hond a, fin ish ed th ir d fo llowed by Rossini Racing's Tommy Clowers . Dowd came ba ck and easily won the LCQ, followed by Suzuki Sports' Scott Sheak, Fun Center' s Joe l Dengl er and Montgomeryville Cycle's David Kratz. Pichon blew out of the gate and into the lead at the start of the 125cc final ju st ahead of Xtreme Team ' s Cory Keeney, Ca rs ten an d Peroli o. Back in se ven th was Ferry, much o f which h ad to d o with h im gettin g a poor pick on the starting line. Ferry was late to the staging area before the race and, as a result, had to line up on the far outside. By the time Fer ry had worked his wa y into seco n d - o n th e third la p - Pich on was already long gone. Again, buried in the back of the pack was Dowd. "I just didn't kn ow what gear to start in - first or second, " said Dowd of his poor start. "I tried both earlier and neither seemed to work. I jus t couldn't get out of the gate." By the seventh lap, Pichon had built up a lO-second lead over Ferry, who also had pulled clear of the tight battle involving Carsten and Ramsey for third, while

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