Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.SUPERCROSS AMA S upercrossSeries . Roun d3:A ah n eimS tadium (Left) Reigning 125cc National Champion Steve Lamson finally rid himself of the bad luck that has plagued him thus far In 1996. Lamson was a solid third. 8 Kalos and Matiasevich did a fine job of holdi ng off th e three fa vored ri ders be h ind th em . Pi ch on p a ssed bot h Lawrence and Bradsh aw on the last lap, bu t could not get a wheel in on Matiasevich . He was force d into th e round of semis along with the others. McGra th 's holeshot o f the se con d heat race was to no one's su rprise. In close forma tio n behind h im wer e th e Suzukis of three-time World Champion Greg Alber ty n and two-tim e Nationa l Champion Mike LaRocco. But wi thin a lap , H o nd a of Tr oy ' s M ik e Br own agg ressi ve ly passed both of the yellow bikes and took control of second , LaRocco w ould re pass Brown a sho rt time later . Deep in the field rode Kawasaki's Jeff Em ig, who w as ju st beginning wh at woul d turn ou t to be a terrible night of his own. He failed to qualify via the heat ra ce - a lo ng w it h v isi ti ng Fr ench Mot ocross des Na tio ns sta r Seb astian Tortel1i and Team Great Western Bank 's Denn y Stephenson. M cG rath w on co m fo rta b ly w ith LaRocco an equa lly secure second ahead of Brown. An ex ci ting batt le for th e fourth and final transfer spo t erupted between Albertyn, Suzuki' s Ezra Lusk and Cr ai g, who provid ed th e cr owd with several stirring pa ss atte m pts on th e tigh t tr ack. The bulk of his sho ts were aimed at fifth-placed Lusk, which gave Albertyn time to escape from the pair on the white flag lap. Lusk ran off the track coming across the jump-strewn infield an d lost the meaningless posi tion to Craig wi th just two tu rns to go. Brooks go t his chain back on in time to lead the first semi ah ead of fellow Yamaha-moun ted privateer Kyle Lewis, Butt on , Lawrence, Hu gh es, Honda o f H ou sto n ' s Jeff Demen t a nd Pich on . Brad sh aw was back in about 10th. Lewis d is pl aced Brooks an d tried to break away from the long parade that was following. Brooks was quickly relegated to a non-q ualifying po sit ion as Hu ghes, Lawr ence and Pichon charged through, Pich on passing h im w ith a muscul ar move in one of the man y ban ked cor- ners. Bradshaw also passed Brooks, but could not improve from there, meaning that he wou ld have to serve as the featur e act in the privateer-packed LCQ. Up front, Noleen /Sizzler rider Lewis continued to ho ld the lead all the wa y past th e checkered flag while Hughes edged out Button for seco nd. Pich on kept firing and passed Lawren ce for fourth, though "Factory Phil" was able to hold on to the fifth and final trans fer spot. H ond a o f Tr oy / Sin isal os fourth rider, Brian Swink, sha red the holesh ot with Lusk go ing into the left-h anded first tu rn in sem i tw o with Craig and Emi g in close forma tion . Team Great Western Bank 's Buddy Antunez, OCSspo nso re d Scott Sheak, the SMP-sh od Tomm y Clo w ers a n d Kawa sakimounted Torte lli followed. Both Crai g and Emi g forced th eir way past Lusk within a few la ps and went after Swink. Lusk tipped over and surrendered his qu a lifyin g s po t to An tu ne z and Sh ea k. Th e o ft-inju re d Lusk was able to put it together in time to get back around Sheak, but the New York -bred rider came right back at Lusk. H e got alongsid e "Yogi" and tried to ju m p past him o n the outside of th e short double jump th at closed ou t this week' s sand box section, but ended up on his head instead. Swink threw a few o f hi s popular ju mp tricks ou t to the crowd on the last lap as he aimed hi s Hond a for the winner's circle ahead of Craig, Emig, Antunez and Lusk. All ey es were on Bradshaw at the start of the LCQ and he lost the race in turn one to Su zuki-m ounted Clowers an d former KTM factory rider Dement. But within a lap the no-nonsense Bradsh aw pulled in to the lead position to ea rn the 19th pick on the gate in the 2S0cc main event. Dement earned the second and final transfer position . When the main event got und er way , Suzuki' s Albertyn continued hi s string of lightning starts and swe pt around the outside of turn one and into th e lead with McGrath hold ing control from the inside. The Hondas of Lamson, Brown and Crai g were next , while LaRocco, Lewis, Sw in k, Huffman and An tunez made up the next set of riders over the first-base-sid e triple jumps. . At the back of the pack , Lusk and Kalos rode around slowl y after mak ing ea rly mi st akes. Back there with them were Bradshaw and Emig, who were having a terrible time finding places to pass on the Anaheim track. Emig made things worse for hi mself w he n h e push ed too hard through the w hoops . an d hit th e grou nd at sp eed. He la y the re momentarily, shaking ou t the butterflies before getting back into the race. Later on, the frustrated Kawasaki rid er rode as fast as McGra th, who did n't lap h im even though he ' sta r te d to bea r d own on the for mer 12Scc Natio nal champ with 10 laps to go. "I felt better th an I ever have in my whole 250 supercross career, bu t I just couldn't get to the first turn," said a disappointed but gracio us Emig. "I felt fast in my pra ctice, my heat, the semi and all that. I wa s back in the pack an d I was charging as hard as I could, but I jus t went down. Tha t was just a racing thing there and I rang my be ll. And while I wa s laying there I looked up and saw th e guy I was plan ning on beat in g all week ou t front - that's the point when you realize that you just aren't going to win tonig ht. It's not the best feeling." While McGrath began to sp rint away just a lap or two into the race, Albertyn was left to stem the rest of the pack. The Sou th African proved to be no match for Lamson , who seemed set on hunting d own McGrath after poor sho wings in the first two rounds. "I know I'm as fast as Jeremy is when we ride together," said 12Scc National Ch ampion Lamson . "After th e star t I just tried to stay secon d and not wor ry about where he was goin g or who wa s behind me, but just keep the pace. Once he got ou t there I tried to stay even and see wh ere he was going." "I wanted to get awa y from Lammy and everyone else so that they couldn't pick up on my lines," said McGrath . " It seemed to work out well enough." "McGrath gets a good start and I've go t to ge t ou t fro n t with him to race with him," said a disgruntled LaRocco. "I got a good enoug h start tonight, but I wasn' t up there with him: ' After five lap s McGrath he ld a lead of about six seconds over Lams on, with Albert yn , Brown, a rapid ly cha rging Huffman, Craig, LaRocco, Lewis and . But ton . Hugh es and Lawren ce - both victims of bad starts - were at the back of that long train . "I got out of the gate ma ybe 10th or so, but once I got around LaRocco I really started to get it going," said Huffman, w h o added tha t th is race probab ly marked the first time in his career that he ever passe d the veteran LaRocco. "I started to ride smoother, and then I just kept goin g up th rough the pack." _ Huffman w as up to third by lap se ven, and fou nd hi mself with seven - seconds se para ting him and Lamson. Slowl y but surely, Hu ffman closed the gap on La mson, an d fou nd hi mself breathing down the Honda rider's neck on lap 15. It took only two lap s of trying for the two-time Western Regiona l 12Scc Champion to find a way past. Once into second, the baby-faced Kaw asaki rider was neve r seriously challenged. Lamson held on to th ird and enjoyed his best fi nis h of th e season, wh il e LaRocco, Hughes, Craig and Lewi s followed at a distance and rounded ou t the top seven in sing le-file fashion. "I kn ew that Huffman wa s comi ng th e whole time I was in second," said Lamson. "He had some fast er lines in the whoops, bu 1.1 tr ied not to think about it. After he passed , me, I actu ally started to ride a little smoother." 125cc Team SplitFire /Pro Circuit /Kawasaki's David Pingree led the wa y at the start of the ·1S-lap Western Regi onal 12Scc main event, bu t heat- race winners Schnell and Windham wai ted on ly one lap to motor past and into the top two positions. An aggressive pass by Schnell sen t Pingree reeling on a banked righthander, and the Kawasaki rider would finish an even tual seventh. Schnell he ld control of the lead for a full si x laps aboa rd hi s Chap a r ral / Ame rican Suzuki/FMF ma chine, even though Windham was tryi ng every trick in the book to find a wa y past. Windh am was finall y ab le to make a p ass stick on th e eighth lap , and from tha t mo ment on , the race for th e lead was over. "I knew Kevin was back ther e. I kep t seei ng his fro n t w heel, " said Schnell, who was still qui te pleased with second. "Th is m akes up for the bad luck I ha d last week. I hope to get stronger as the series goes on." W i th a clear tr a ck ahe ad of h im, Win dham p u lle d away wi th re lative ease and looked smooth an d comfortable aboard his factory Yamaha. On the final lap, the u su all y ca lm and quiet Louisianian cut loose wi th a can dy-ba r heel clicker over one set of triples, and waved to the crow d on the other set. "I felt great out· there," said Windham . "I rod e with Mike Met zger a lot last year, and I figured if he can do it, why can't I?" . Schnell was a lonely second ahead of Eng li shman Dobb, w ho ov e rc am e a sixth-place start and ro unded ou t the top th ree. Th e Qui cksil ver-sponsored Suzuki factory rider passed three riders on the first lap and battled briefly with Clawson Motorsp or ts' Rust y Holl and before pulling away. Frenchman David Vuillemin wa s argu a bl y one Of the fastest riders on the track, as he started 17th and work ed his way into fourth at th e finish . Team Primal Impulse /Bill 's Pipe' s /H onda rid er Pedro Gonza lez sho wed flash es of his true speed as he raced into fifth after starting 15th . The likable Mexican was relieved to break into the top five after failing to qualify at the 'series opener. a Anaheim Stad ium Anaheim, California January 27, 1996(Round 3 of 15) 125 H EAT 1 (6 laps, top 9 tra ns fer): 1. Greg Schne ll (Suz ); 2. Jam es Dobb (Suz); 3. David Pingr ee (Ka w); 4. Case y Lytle (Hon); 5. Kim Ash kenazi (Suz) ; 6. Casey John son (Kaw) ; 7. David Vuill emin (Kaw ): 8. Shane Tritt ler (Suz ); 9. Pedro Gon za lez (Han ); 10 . Mike Cham be rla in (Yam) ; 11. Ry an Cl ark (Suz); 12. Tyler King (Hon); 13. Stev e Andrich (Suz); 14. Erick Vallejo (Ka w ); 15. Marlo Pain ter (Hon) ; 16. Jake Win dha m (Suz ); 17. Scott Davis (Kaw); 18. Shawn Wa ring (Kaw), 19. Terr ance Malan (Suz); 20. Larry Linkogle (Yam). 125 HEA T 2 (6 l a ps, top 9 tran s f e r ): 1. Ke vin Windham (Yam ); 2. Mike Br an de s (S uz); 3. Mike Metzg er (Hon); 4. Ryan Hu ffman (Ho n) ; 5 . Tr avi s Hodges (Kaw ); 6. Jeff Willoh (Ho n); 7. Tra vis Preston (Suz ); 8. Du stin N elso n (Kaw); 9. Jason McCo rm ick (Ka w ); 10. Ton y Gr a ves (Suz); 11. Jim m y La m astus (Hon ); 12. Keith Troccoli (Suz); 13. Mat Batem a n (Yam ); 14. Ryan Leach (Hon); 15. Tebro Nak ayama (Hon ); 16. Anthony Wh ipp le (Hen ): 17. Scot Ste ffy (Ho n ); 18. Casey Peck (Ho n ); 19. Rusty Holla nd (Suz); 20. Mark Easley (Ka w). 1 25 LCQ (4 laps , to p 4 t ransferh L Mike Ch a mberlain (Yam ); 2. Erick Vallejo (Ka w ); 3. Rusty Ho lland (Suz); 4. Ryan Cla rk (Su z ); 5. Ton y Gr aves (Suz) ; 6. Ste ve Andrich (Suz); 7. Jimmy Lamastus (Hen): 8 . Tyle r King (Ho n ); 9. Keith Troc colt (Suz) ; 10. Mat Batema n (Yam ); 11. An tho ny Whi p ple (Hon ); 12. Jake Windham (S u z) ; 13. Scot S te ff y (H a n ); 14. T eb r o Na kaya ma (Ho n); 15. Scott Da vis (Kaw ); 16. Sha wn Waring (Kaw); 17. Mar lo Painter (Han ); 18. Ryan Leach (Hon); 19. Terr ance Malan (Suz); 20. Casey Peck (Hon) ; 21. Larry Linkogle (Yarn); 22. Mark Easly (Kaw ).

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