Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS . AMA S upercross Series i nvolve d La Ro cco and Hu ffman fo r fif th place. Heading int o the lon g whoops Hu ffman' s strongest section of the track - th e Ka wasa ki ri d er w a s breath in g down LaRocco's neck. Just as Huffman at tempted to pass, the Kaw asaki rider got a little out of sha pe and sw apped off the side of the cou rse and had to set tle for sixth. " I was a little bothered after the heat race," sa id w inner McGrath. "The bike wasn' t qu ite right in the heat race and we wer e trying differ ent things . I just had to come back and get my act together." In the 12Scc class, Team SplitFire l Pro Circu it/ Kawasaki's Casey Johnson nabbed hi s first-eve r heat race w in in the first 12Scc outing. topping Honda of Troy's Casey Ly tle, Dobb and Ashkena zi. Cha parral's Greg Schnell tu rned in an exci ti ng come-from -behi n d w in in th e secon d h ea t ra ce, pa ssin g Scotts Kawasaki' s Tra vis Hodges on the last lap . Th ird we nt to Suzu k i rider Cam er on Ta yl o r . Su zuki rider.Mike Metzger w on the LCQ . But no ne of these rid ers led the way w he n the ga te d ropped for the start o f t he l S-l ap fe ature . In ste ad. it w a s Willoh , who had finished fourth in his heat race, out in front and se tting th e p a ce . As h ke nazi se tt le d into seco n d a fter the h ectic first la p, fo llowed by Hond a rid er Rya n Hu ffman, Su zu kim ounted Mich ael Brandes a nd Lytle, who would later get out of shape over a trip le and crash. Lytle would ca ll it a night anyway. Briefl Rou d5:JackM rp yStadium n u h Dobb, back in sev enth and the oddson favorite to wi n, seemed to hav e trouble getting around riders. It would take him nearly half the race before he had control of third . "I was trying my hardest," sa id Dobb. "Willoh had a good pacing go ini and I just wa sn't riding good." For most of the race, Willoh enjoyed a sma ll lead over Ashkenazi, but that lead was slowly sh rinking toward the en d of the race. By the 'Iast lap, Ashkenazi was w ithin striking d istance, bu t Will oh was in ch arge and hu ng on to win ove r the Au stralian a nd th e Englishman. Finish in g fourth was Brandes, who (Right) Winner of the 125cc ma in event - Je ff Willoh. (Below) Team Suz u ki's Mike laRocco (8) leav es Ml c ka el Pichon sprawling after the Fre nc hm an c lipped LaRocco 's rear wheel. l,.aRoc c o w ent on t o f inish flfth;whll e Pichon retired t o the p its. pretty m u ch ra n fou rth a ll race long, wh il e Fr en chm an D a vid Vu ill emin ro unded out the to p five. Team Primal Impul s e ' s Ped ro Gonz al ez fin ish ed sixth, just ahead of Schne ll, wh o sta rted 0 off the race in 10th. J ack Murphy Stadium San Diego , Ca liforn ia Results: February 10 , 1996 (After 5 of 15 rounds) 125 HE AT 1 (6 la ps, lop 9 tra nst ~ r) : 1. Cas e y Johnson (Ka w ); 2. Casey Lytl e (H on) ; 3. James Dobb (Su z); 4. Kim Ashkenazi (Hon ); 5. Jaso n McCormick ••• Team Yamaha 's Kevi n Wi'nd ha m , the series point s leader 1 " the 125cc \;\Iestem Regional SX Series going into the San Diego Supercr oss, was a surprise no-show, According to Yamaha team manager Keith M cC arty , Windham crashed,while pract icing during .the wee k and ,bro ke' his co llarbone, W indham is recup erating at home in,Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Is hoping to make his retum at the M arch 16 Houston Supercross. " That's the game plan. " said M cC arty. "W e' ll know better after a co uple 01 weeks." If he does make Houston, then Windh am w ill only have missed one round of the W est Coast Series - S an Diego: D espite sitting out: 'he's still in a tie lo r th e series points lead wi th Suzuki rider James Dobb, ': ' '." , . , Another absentee in the ' 25 cc class was Team SplitFire/ Pro Cir. ' cuit/Kawasaki' s D avid P i n g ree , W hile practicing on Friday, the day befo rethe San Diego,Supercross. Pingree landed on top 01 a hay bale while tryini;l to avo.d a,slower ride r over triple jump, In the resulting' crash . Pingree broke the le mur in his 'right leg and injured his left knee , According : to team manager M itch Payton, Pingree will be, out of acno n indefini tely, Belore the San Diego Supercross: Pingree was seco nd in tneseres point standings " a O nly a lew hours before the race. Suzuki privateer nder Ru stY ,H o llan d was given the wo rd that he had been chosen to replace Pingree. on the Spl itFire/Pro Crrcutt/Kawasakl team , ridin g Pingree's moto rcycle , at least l or the -Sen Diego SX, Unlort unately, Ho lland had less-tban-spectacular results on the chromed Pro C ircuit bike. Hollarid failed to make the ' 25cc main event. II it w asn 't l or badluc k.i. Once again . Team Suzuki 's G reg Albertyn sat ou t the main event because 01, an injury . Du ring practi ce earlier in the aft ernoon. A1bertyn "tw eaked- his ankle. - I came up short on a j ump - I d id,;'t crash. but I hyperexten ded the -Achdles tendon , the' one behind the ankle," said the three -time M X W Orld Champ ion from 'South Aliica. 'A lbertyn tried riding' his heat race but pulled 011 the t rack afte r o ne lap. "J ust too 'much pain. " he said, Through it all, Albertyn remained op timistic and 'stayed all night to sign autogra phs.' " l'rn pretty much used to it : said Albertyn of another frust rating InjUry: "As lonq as the .ankle 'isn't broken, that 's goo d," , " ', ,' , ' , Team Yamaha' s John Dowd wa s another rider w ho did not' , Craig Decker reports that he hopes to return to action at the M ay 5 Sacrament o. Cahfornla. 125cc N ational a t Hanqtown. " I've compete, Dowd, who is in co ntention l or the 125cc East Coast been riding: he said, " I leel good : ' Sene's championsh ip. tw isted his knee at the Seattl e Supercro ss w hen he crashed in the li rst tum in the 250ccciass arid though t it , was best to save himself for the next 125cc East round in Atlanta, Shane T ~ittl e r showed up at S ~ n Di ego ' w ith co nve ntionaf , M ar ch 24 " "H e has his pri ori ties: sai d tea m manager Keith , Showas bolted back ontothe front 01 his FMF-sponsored Suzu ki , McCarty , " He doesn't want to take' any chances, " . ' RM 125, .Trlttler used a,set 01 last year's upside-down Showas at S eattl e, but op ted -to return to t he stoc kfo rks . Tritt le r was Pedro Gon z'; l ez 01 the Primal Impulse/ Bill' s Pipes/Honda team , involved ,in a multi-rider crash.early in the race and ended up 17th.' gets the touqh-quy award at S an Diego, While competing in the : ' 12Scc main event . Gonzalez hit his face on the handlebars; result- ,The Cathed~1 c,itY Police Depart;"ent was in I~II l orce in the pits atSan Diego, promoting its Racing ,For Kids program ing in his helmet putti ng a giant gash, which later, required stitc hes: ,above his eye. Blood po ured down his ,l ace Iocrcing him ,to , form ed by off icer R ichard Mosley , a lon qti me mot oc ros s enthu siasts. Kids were allowed to explore a black-and-white police pull 011 and toss his goggles aside,'and as he did this, he ran 011 . the track and. got plasuc banners wrapped up in his rear whe eL . car that was on display..and .talk with unilormed offic ers . Accord Despite blood restricting his vision and having the banners In his ing to M osley, the program was formed in an effo rt to keep yo ung ' rear wheel , Gonzalez continued racing. tripling all the jumps. 'He · riders active in the spo rt ofmotocross as we ll as recrui t new racers. teach you ng peop le that the sport-is challenging and a legal finished a comme ndable sixth. One 01 the medics who treated him , way to have fun, ellectively provide an alternative to drug use and was amazed Gonzalez even' finished the race. " create a posi ttve 'forum for interaction between the po lice and the Tory Joy and her lamily spen t 'the day 'in the Team H ondal1'- -cornrramity. "When I was a kid. I know that motocross kept me BOO-Collect/Fox pits with event winner 'J e rem y McGrath, The ' out 01 tro uble: ' said M osley, " Instead 01 partying on Friday and M ake a W ish Foundation flew Joy, a 16-year-old bone-can cer Saturday nights. I'd be at home in the garage werking on my bike patlent. ,from her home in Syracuse. New York , to ' San 'Diego , to or going to bed early to race thenext day, M ot ocross racing is a meet the three-time Supercross Champion. .- My brother races , good way to keep 'kids 011 drug s; and. by us co ming out to the motocross. and I've always liked Jeremy. so I chose 'him: said races, we Want to show kids that we (policemen) are real people: Joy, who has successfully undergone treatment lor her disease., ' too. and they shouldn't be afraidoi us, RFK is a voluntee r pro" He is really ruceand we had a great time ," . , . gram run tota lly by donations; hopel ully, we 'll be att ending more races through out the year il 'all goes well. " KTM supplied mot or- , cycl es that were on di splay to help promote the program: The . Numerou;' enors were displayed ,on the 'scoreboard throughout' the evening - including W estern Regional , 25cc main-eve nt · bikes ,had the words "police- written on the side panels, Mosley , added that il anyone wants more inlormatio n about the RFK pro,winner Jell Willoh 's name being misspelled and Mi ke Crai,g being ,',. " · gram, they are encouraged to call 6'91770-0300 : , " credi ted wi th third in the 250cc main instead of Ryan Hughes" And speaking 01 Ryan Hughes, the hometown l avorite was PiC ' Tea;" Yamaha's Doug Heni-y is expected to make his return io -tured on .the front 01 the sports sect ion. in the S an Diego Union " racing at , the At lanta Supercross jn two we eks:,Henry broke his T ribune , The caption " however. ident il ied him as thre e-lime back last year in M aryland at the Budds Creek 250 cc N ational champ Jeremy McGrath. . , M X, ' . ' , ' Mike Metzger co mpeted aboard a Suzuki at San Diego, opting to park his Honda s.' M et zger reported ly struggled wi th ignition prob lems on his C Rs and finally decided 'to sWitch'brands, The jumper extraordinaire l inished 11th in the W estern Regional 125cc' main. . . . . ' Speaking 01 G reg Albertyri ,'he now wears 'a brace to help sup" port his injury -pro ne shou lder , wh ic h he has dislocated twice, It was an lnternanonal night in the W est ern Regional ,125 cc class , ' " Randy H awkins (five-tlrne. Nat ional Enduro ' Champion) gave me , as .foreigners nabbed two 01 the top three positions. Austra lian this old brace to try," said Alberlyn : "1 mean this brace was old. ' K i m A sh k en azi and Brit J ame s Dobb finished 'second and like 20 years old , ,It' s made out 01 leather and sheep 's wool. 'It . third,'respect ively, Ccmc tdentally. both are filling tnfor injured rid,looks like something out 01 Noah 's Arlk. It seemed 'to work so I ' ers - A s h k en azi lor Rob bie Reynard on t h e Pr im al gave it toMike Raring (Innovation Sport s) and he whip ped ine up Impulse/Bill 's Pipes/Honda team , and Dobb lo r C ra ig' D ecker .a new one in abo ut an hour. - , . . on the,factory Suzuki squad. 10 . Aft er riding w ell in' his heat race, All-Japan Nai ional M X Chernpion JeH M at i a sevich officia lly recorded a last-place finish at San ' Diego in what was' his fm al U,S. supercross appearance belore retur ning to' .Japan. Early In the main eve nt. ·M atiasevtcb lock ed ' handlebars w ith Damon -Huffman and was dragged to theground as t h ey. appr oac he d the lini sh. llne ,j ump , M at iasevich bod y 'slamm ed the lace 0 1 th e jump . ,t h en slo w ly re mo un te d his Kawasaki. He event ually pulled all after eight laps, ' D ef en d ing 1,25 cc .Eest ern Region al, S X Champ ion M ick a e l P ichon lasted only one lap ionge r than Jell Matia sevich . He too crashed, in a COmer. while ru nning nint h. reco rding a 19th -place '.. ' ' finish, ,

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