Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page ) Damon Huff man (1D) and Jeremy McGrath (1) enga ged In a heated duel that brought the crowd to Its feet. Huffman Is the first ride r to have seriously challenged McGrath In '96. McG rath eventually escaped with his 33rd career win. (Right) Larry Ward (6) led Mike Brown (9). Mlckael Pichon (12), Brian Sw ink (23), Jimmy Butt on (1DO) and Ezra Lusk (34) th rough the fi rst turn. Surpris ingly, McGrath was mired at t he start. (Below) Ezra Lu sk (34) turned In the best fi ni sh of his 25Dcc-class career, finish in g fourth. Steve Lamson (4) was th ird . another rider," he said . "I mean, I know t hat h e ' s McGrath , but h e y .. . I' m Huffman!" Reign ing 125cc N ational Champion Lamson was third for the second week in a row, th e Team H onda /1 -S00-Co llect/ Fox rider crossin g th e finis h line so me tw o seco n d s b ehin d Huffman. After sta rti ng th ird, Lamson d ropp ed back to fourth for a few laps befo re settling into the p osition for good . Lamson rode a stro ng, stead y race that exemp lified his textb ook riding style. "My ch est is still hurting from my practice crash at Anaheim last week," said Lamson. "It was hard to breathe at the end, so I know that I stillh ave some s p eed in m e - I wasn't 100-p e rcent tonight." Rounding ou t the top five we re two riders who enjoyed the best 250cc-class performances of their caree rs - Suzuki ' s Ezra Lu sk and Sp litFire / Pro Circuit / • Kawasaki ride r Micka e l Pich on. Lu sk ran as high as second and as low as fifth before settling into fourth, while Pichon ga ted seventh and worked u p to fifth. The only othe r ride r to lead the pack across the finish- line jump all nigh t was Hond a o f Tr oy / Sin isa lo rid er La r ry Ward, the hometown hero wh o missed the previous two rounds due to a bro- ken thumb. Ward snare d th e holesh ot and pulled aw ay fro m the field in th e earl y going, proving that the short layoff and hi s recent change in m a ch in ery h asn 't cost h im a ny speed . But Ward lost the lead to McGrath on lap 10 and eventually faded to eighth at the finish. " I' ve been traini ng in the gy m a ll al o ng , but th a t' s a lot different than actu ally rid ing a bike," said Ward. "I only have few rides on the Honda and I haven' t really figu red it out yet. I went fas t for eig ht laps, bu t then I ju s t go t tir ed . It will come, though ." McG rat h is fou r-for-four so far, and sits atop the series po int stand ings w ith 100 points. Huffma n took over se cond with 74, whil e Mike Crai g - n int h in Seattle - is third with 60. Team Suzu ki's Mike. LaRocco entered the Seattle event in seco nd, bu t a smashed rad iator sent him to the side lines ear ly in the ma in event and he was credited with 19th. LaRocco d ropped to seventh in the title chase. In the Western Regional 125cc class, Te am Yama ha 's Kevi n W indh am ap pears to be evolv ing into th e sa me dominant force tha t hi s tw o 'p red ecessors were. Just like McGrath and Huffm an - th e la st tw o West ern Reg ional 125cc Su percro ss Champ ions - Windham appears to have the field covered every time th e sta rting ga te falls. Th e likable teen stole the.lead w ithin the first tw o turn s and ra ce d on w it h a n untou chable eight-second margin of victory. "I'm just taking it one race at a time, but they do seem to be coming easier," said Windham of his thi rd career 125cc supercross wi n. "I felt goo d ou t there, real confident." Secon d w ent to SplitFir e / Pr o Circuit/ Kawasa ki's Dav id Pi n gree, an d Team Suz uk i's James Dobb roun de d out th e top th ree fin ish ers . Like M cGrath, Windham enjoys a perfect score thus far into the ' seri es, and sits at op the field with 75 poin ts. Dobb is second wi th 55, and Ping ree, in third, ha s 52. 250cc The first 250cc heat race saw Suzuki's Greg Albe rty n grab th e ho leshot a nd lead Brian Sw ink, Huffman, Kyle Lewis and Dam on Bradshaw off the line. The Sou th African went on to lead a freight train of eigh t riders for the first five laps. Bradshaw was the man on the move in t he back of the pack, a n d closed to Albertyn's rear fen der by lap two. Brads haw s tormed pa st A lberty n on th e fou rth lap, but was surp rised wh en the Su zuki ri der s tru ck back a few turns later. Th e du o swa p pe d positi ons o nc e more befo re Bradshaw took over for good and wen t on to win with 10 bike leng ths to spare, in spite of a near loopout o v e r th e triples on th e la st la p . Albertyn held off the aggressive charges of LaRocco and Swink in the rem aining lap s. Bradshaw, Albertyn, LaRocco and Swink wo u ld head for the main, wh ile the rest wou ld try again in a semi. Surprise non-qualifiers in cluded H uf fman a n d H ughes, who fini shed six th an d eighth, respectively. Kawasaki's Jeff Emig n ail ed down his first holeshot of the year in the secon d he a t race an d led McGrath, Lamson, Lu s k and Great We st ern Ban k 's Phil La;"'ren ce th rou gh the firs t turn. McGrath u tilized a fas t lin e th at h e'd found in the od dly spaced jumps before th e tr ipl e jum p to tak e th e lead, and with th at th e ra ce fo r fi rst w as over. Emig held on to second with ease, whil e Lamson and Lawrenc e roun de d ou t the top four qu alifiers wh o would go directly to the main. Hu ffman and Hughes took control of th e first semi right from th e sta rt, and the twq flu oresc en t-g reen-Kawasakim ount ed ri ders easi ly o u td is t an ced Xtre me/ PJ1 / Ato mi c 22 /Burn s ville Yamaha rid ers Jimmy Butto n and Shaun Kalos. Huffm an then bo bbled in th e "d ragonba ck" secti on, and that was all Hughes needed to pounce his way into the lead. Hu gh es we nt on to earn th e win over H u ffm an, Button; Kalos and Noleen /Si zzler /Yamaha ri d er Kyl e Lewis, who came back to grab the fina l qua lifying spo t after getting stuck in the star ting ga te. Hon d a of Tro y / Sin isalo ride rs stole the spo tlight in the second semi, as Mike Craig, Ward and Mike Brown nabbed three of the fou r available tickets to the main . Brown holeshot and led for tw o laps before Craig too k over and went on to th e w in . Only Suzuki 's Lu sk coul d ruin the "Dragon Wagon " pa rty, wo rkin g in between the HoT teamsters to st e al seco n d pl a ce. Ward w as third, Brown fourth. Afte r crashing in his heal race and ge tt ing stuck in th e ga te in h is semi, Pichon pu t it all together for the win in the LCQ. Team Chap arral' s Brian Deegan rode on the bubble in second, bu t was stuffed out of qualifyi ng position by a ha rd -charging Denny Stephenson . The Great Western Bank rid er staye d in secon d behind Pichon and w ould round out the 20-man main-event field. 7

• Cover