Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

into fifth by th e 12th lap but had no ' chance of catch in g th e leaders once there. Te am Yama ha's Damon Bradshaw also got off to a bad start and was 14th after lap one, bu t he mad e up for it by fini sh in g seve nt h behind Hu ffman , whil e Team Honda /l -8OO-Collect/Fox's Steve Lamson , wh o started off in Brad sh aw ' s s h a do w, climbed to eighth. Ninth went to Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk, finishing just ahead of Great Wes tern Bank's Phil Lawrence, who at one po int ran as high as fifth. Honda o f Troy's Bria n Swink, who qua lified for the main eve nt via the last chance qualifier, started off in 13th and finished 11th , w hile Honda of H ousto n/ Reclai m's Je ff Dement s tayed in 12th all race lon g. Team PJl / Xtreme's Jimmy Button had a promi sing race in hand until he and Lawrence had their front whee ls taken out by Bradshaw in o ne m o ve th rou gh a t ight, left-h and turn. But ton wa s runn ing s ixth at th e time o f th e cra sh a n d wou ld end up 13th . Honda of Troy's Larry Ward faded ba ck to 14th a fter a prom is ing third place start, wh ile Grea t Western Bank's Budd y Antunez, Honda of Troy /Sinisalos M ike Bro w n, Tea m Chapa rra l's Larry Brooks, Tea m Noleen's Kyle Lewis, SplitFire /Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Mickael Pichon and Kawasaki / Pro-Circuit-backed Jeff Matiasevich filled out the final finishing order. "I' m happy but a little d isappointed ," said Ashkenazi. "I felt that if I was more fit, I could've done better, .bu t I'm pumped to get my first AMA trophy." Finishing th ird w as Suzuk i suppo rt ride r Jam es Dobb, wh o was hoping for a win to gain maximum poin ts on series lead er Kevin Windham, who was unable to ride due to an inju ry suffered ea rlier in the week while practicing. Wind ham and Dobb are now tied for the series lead with 75 points, while Chaparral's Greg Sch nell, w h o finished seventh in th e mai n, is thir dwith 63 points. In th e 2S0cc class, McG rath's fifth w in ex ten ded h i s series lead ove r Dam on Hu ffm an to 36 poin ts, 125-89. Hughes is now third w ith 79, just one point ahead of Craig . 250cc Local s ta r Crai g gave th e home crow d someth ing to chee r abo u t whe n he blas ted into the lead at the sta rt of the first 250cc heat race. Keeping a close eye o n th e H o n d a r id e r w as Ka wasakimounted Law ren ce, wh o stayed close to Craig for a wh ile before los in g tou ch w ith the lead er. Craig wen t on to score the popular w in, while Law rence hung on for seco nd. Mos t of the racin g action took place from third place on back, as Brown, LaRocco, Huffman, Button, Lusk and Matiasevich all mixed it up lap after lap. Th e closest d ic ing in v olved Brown, (Opposite page) Jeremy McGrathand his Skip Norfolk-tuned 1-800-ColiectlFoxbacked Honda appear to be unstoppable. He recorded his fifth straight win at San Diego, unchallenged from start to finish . (Above) Honda of Troy's Jeff Willoh (73) took full advantage of the absence of the Injured Kevin Windham and David Pingree to win the 125cc West Coast main event over Australian Kim Ashkenaz i. (Right) Kawasaki's JeflEmlg finally came to life at San Diego. In a heat race; Emlg became the first rider to beat McGrath thus far. Emig went on to finish second in the main. Here he leads Larry Ward (6), M Craig (17) and Phil Lawrence (13) at !ke the start. McGrath and Mike Brown have already gone by. the Kawasaki pits after finishing second for his best pe rformance of the y ea r. Plagued by poor starts thus far in the series, Emig ro u n ded the first lap in sixth and had cont rol of second by the sixth lap. The former 125cc Nationa l MX Champion loo ked like the Emig of old, obviously ridi ng more aggressively and with more confi dence, thanks in part to h aving flat -out beat en McGrat h in an ea rlier heat race. "That (heat-ra ce win ) w as a definit e boost for me in th e main," said Emi g . "My sp ee d is u p, a nd th at' s th e ma in th in g. I feel m u ch bette r n o w , and I know I can race wit h him (McGra th)." Ryan Hughe s made it two Kaw asaki team riders on the podium with a thirdp la ce fin ish in fro n t o f h is homet ow n crowd. Hu gh es rode what he sai d wa s the bes t rac e of hi s you ng caree r af ter co m ing up th rou gh th e pack fr om a 17th-place getaway. "I wheeli ed coming ou t of the gate," said Hu ghes. "After that I just felt goo d and let it fly. The track was pretty technic al ton ight and I seem to do b e tt er wh en it' s more techn ical. [ feel good I'm stoked ." Team Hond a of Troy /Sinisalo's Mike Craig, from nearby EI Cajon, had the crowd on its feet after getting off to a second-place start. He would cam p out t h e re for seve n la ps befo re getti ng p a ssed by Em ig, then Hu gh es seven laps later. From there, Craig held on to cla im a well-deserved fou rt h . But in spite of his top-five placing, Craig was d isappoin ted . He said in frustration, ."I cou ld n' t get the whoops down," referrin g to a long sectio n that was made u p of 35 medium-sized an d eve nly spaced bumps. " I w as s tr ugg ling w ith th em from lap one. I liked rid ing up front, but I felt like I was jus t surviving out there a ll ni ght (beca use o f th e w hoops) . Ev erywh ere e lse I w a s a ir rig ht , but they'd catch me in the wh oop s." Rounding out the top five was Team Suzuki's Mike LaRocco, wh o once again got off to a bad start - 10th after the first lap. He clawed and scra tche d his way In the 12SccWestern Regiona l final. a new name topped the chart, as Honda of Troy / Sinisalo newcomer Jeff WiIJoh, from Glendale, California, scored the win, Not only was it WiJloh's first SX victory, but it was his first trip to the p odi um, as we ll as his first top-five finish . "I' m way p u mped," sai d Wi lloh . "Every lap a fter the first lap I' d th ink , ' Okay, one d own, 14 m ore; one m or e down, 13 to go.' At first the race seeme d to go on forever until I lost track of wh at lap it was, then it went pretty fast. I just tri ed to co nce nt rate an d kee p b reath ing." Aboard h is Mark Sc he ff -t u ne d Hond a, WiIJoh led from sta rt to finish in .th e IS-la p m ain, bu t w as hounded by . six-time Aus tralian Nationa l MX Champion Kim Ashke nazi, riding a Team Prim a l Impu lse/ Bill's Pipes/ Ho n da CRI25. . LaRocco and Hu ffman. LaRocco and Huffman traded places several times before making their moves on Brow n. LaRocco zapped Brown th rough the whoops, then Brown and Huffman tang led with Br ow n hitting t he deck. LaRocco an d Hu ffma n contin ued their battle to th e finish as they closed on Lawrence. When the checkered fla g came ou t, Lawrence held on to his third spot, while LaRocco edged out Huffman for third. Missing out on a direct ticket to the main in fifth was Button. Emig got his first holeshot of the season in the second heat race, barely beat ing out McGrath to the first tum. Less tha n a lap la te r, tho ugh, M cG ra th s lam med in to Em ig in a tu rn , taking over the lead. This move only infuriated Em ig who ca me righ t back and gave McGrath a tast e of h is own med icine. Two turns later, Emig stuffe d the champ in a left turn and retoo k the lead . 7

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