Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

moto one as he applied heavy pressure to McGrath , bu t a few bobbles allowed the Kawasaki duo of Emig and Hugh es to snea k past and he came home fourth. In race two, Albe rtyn crashed hard in the first tum but worked back up to 10th for fi ft h ove ra ll. Form er 250cc N a tio nal Champion Mike LaRocco had a terrible day . Though he was fifth in the firs t race, an end o on the huge "elevator" uphill doubl e jump in race two dropped him to eighth overall. Heavy rainfall in the da ys preceding the event had many worrying about the course conditions, but the Mark Barnettd esigned track shaped up beautifully and provided excellent race action and plenty of different lines. (Above) Defending champ Steve Lamson struggled a little bit In the first 125cc National mota, finis hing second. But Lamson came back in the second mota and barely worked up a sweat en route to the mota win and overall victory. (Left)McGrath and Emlgscrapped in the second mota, where Emlg led for most of the race before getting . passed by the .. defending champ. 125cc NATIONAL When the gate dropped at the start of the first 30-minute-pIus-two- lap moto, it was Lamson' s nu mber-one Ho nda that led the fie ld th rou gh the first tu rn . Honda of Troy / Sinisalo teamsters Jeff Willo h and Mike Bro w n, and Pichon, Huffman and Yama ha's John Dowd gave chase. Brown was the first to strike, and passed both Willoh and Lamson on the first lap. "I saw a good chance to pass the m bo th, so I took it, said Brow n. "Bu t on abou t the second or third lap , my arms s ta r te d to pump u p really bad a nd I could n' t hang on." Brown su r rendered his rece n tl y acquired lead to Lamson on lap two, and only a few tu rn s later he was also ' bumped back by an on-fire Pichon. . The Frenc hman jumped past Brow n b y the grands tand tab letop area a nd instantly began to pressure Lamson , and was able to take over the lead ill the back section o f the course on lap th ree. The du o swapped the lead twic e before Pichon was able to mak e a clean break, and by lap five, the race for the win was over. Picho n .stre tched .his lead to fiv e seconds over Lamson, who in turn' also had breat hing room over the rest of the pack, but his lead jumped to a wh opping 12 seco nds a t one poin t w hen Lamson fell in a so ft berm near the start area. "I was r id ing tight , bu t I wasn' t rea IIy worried abou t Pichon," said Lamson. "Just as lwas startin g to loosen up, I lost the front end in a soft berm. I got up and the radiator. was bent 'p retty bad and coolant was leaking out, but luckily it didn' t seize or anyt hing." Lamson ' s spill all owed Pichon to relax up front, and at the some time gave third-placed Huffman the chance to close in an d take a shot at second place . But Huffman, like so man y others, was struggling to relax his pum ped up forearms . . "My arms were tight and I wasn't riding good at all," said Huffma n. "That's common for the first Natio nal of the year, though ." While Huffman tried to.find a way around Lamson, no one even noticed the steadily ad vancing Suzuki of Scott Sheak. The personable New Yorker started the race sixth and slowly but su rely began to gain ground on the front-runners. While his facto ry-backed competitors complained of arm pump, Sheak set a blistering pace that rew arded him with a thirdplace finish in the end. Sheak pu shed his wa y past Huffman on lap 11, and went on to hou nd Lamson for second u ntil the bitter end. "I finally have it all figured out - what . it ta kes to go fast as a pri vateer," said Shea k. "When I go t up to Lamson he had better lines than me, but I started to take them also and I was right on him ." Runaway lead er Picho n eased up toward s the end and greeted the checkered flag five seconds ahead of Lamson, Sheak, Huffman and Brown . "That was not so easy ," said Pichon. . "I got a good start, which was importan t, bu t in the firsttwo laps I did not have a good rh y thm . Whe n it came , I passed Lamson a nd Brown a nd .trie d to pull away as fast and far as I could, becaus e I knew I w ould ge t tir ed a t th e end . I haven' t been rid ing motocross enough, and I was very tired at the end of the race, bu t Lam son ' s cras h helped me. I made no mistakes and I had good lines, so we w ill see' w ha t happens in ra ce two ." Unfortunately for Pichon, his chances for the overa ll w in were d ismal at th e drop of the gate and non-existent before the completion of the first lap . Lam son again led the way with a hu ge holeshot, and had Suzuki's Ezra Lu sk, Brown, Chaparral's Brian Deegan , Suzuki's Tim Ferry and .Sheak in tow . Pichon suffered a terrible start, and ended his chances of a co me-fro m-be hi n d win w hen he crashed in the whoops. "I got a bad s tart a nd I was tryin g very hard, " said Pichon. "I made a very big mistak e in the wh oops, and I hit the jump at the end out of control and went over the bars. After that I was very tired . But a moto win is good for the team, and it is a long championship." Meanwhile, Lamson locked his bra in into autopilot and ran aw ay with an easy win . The Honda rider was nev er cha llenged th ro ughou t the race, and flew across the finish line with a seven-second margin of victory. . "I got the holeshot and just used my head," said Lamson. "Mike (Gosselaar) gave me my lap times on the pit board, but I never knew how big my lead was . I had bet te r lines in mot o two. I talk ed with Jeremy in between motos and we comp ared notes." . Behind Lamson, the action was hot and heavy for the first few laps. Lusk and Ferry rode strong in the first half, but both tapered off in the end. Ferry ran as high as second, but tired and ended up a di stant sixth. Lusk, meanwhile, got as high as third, but was an .even more disap pointing 13th. Suzuki Team Manager Roger DeCoster was spotted shaking his head as he watched from the sidelines. Brow n gaine d con tro l of second for good on lap 12 after sc ra p pi ng w it h Ferry, and even tually crossed the finish lin e w ith fo u r seco nds to spare over third-placed Sheak. "I knew that I would ri de better in the seco nd moto," sa id Brown . "In the firs t ra ce 1 ha d to sit around for a whi le and wait for my arms to stop pumping up, bu t I was able to ride hard in the whole second moto." Sheak's race to third was remarkable, as he collided wi th Lusk on the fou rth . lap and was for ced to carryon with a d ama ged m achin e. While th e broken radi ator shroud was obvious to those on the sidelines, Sheak's biggest setback was a snap ped-off clutch lever. . "I went to reach for it and it wasn' t th ere a nd I tho ug h t, ' Oh bo y: " said Sh ea k. "I just s ta rted downshifti ng a whole lot an d rod e as fast as I coul d . I had some trouble with the real deep ruts wh ere you lose your balance , but I was surprised at how fast 1was able to go." Shea k wo rked throu gh the pack and passed riders, including Lusk and Ferry, . en route to third in the moto and second overall. Yama ha 's Joh n Dowd cro ssed th e fin ish line fou rt h after scra p pi ng tooth and nail With Huffman and Deegan throughou t the race. At one point; Dowd crashed and lost contact wit h .the other two, but the tou gh Massachus etts rider gritted his teeth, caught back up, and repassed them both. "I rode a lot better in the second half of the race," said Dowd . "I had my head up my butt in the first few laps . When I fell I figured that I had nothing to lose, so I let it han g ou t." Huffman was fifth across the line, and he nursed an ailing machine for the second ha lf of the race. "Jus t before th e halfway poin t, I smashed the pipe in a deep ru t," said Huffman. "I was going pre tty good, but then I felt the bike catch on something and it got real slow all of sudden. I was worried that it was going to seize, becau se I did n't know what had happened . I tipped the bike ove r in the air over the big plateau and saw the pipe. It was almost totally pinched off. I was in second gear.wide open going up the finish-line jump." 250cc NATIONAL All eyes were on McGrath at the start . ~ of the first 250cc. moto,and ~he champ did n't di sappoint -as he ripped th e holeshot and led Emig, Albertyn, Honda of Troy / Sinisa lo's Larry Ward , Hughes \0 and Yamaha's Doug Henry through the 0\ first turn. Albertyn was the first ma jor ~ .player to ad vance wh en he jumped past , Cf") over, actually - Emig on the Elevator. ....... "I was tryin g to cut u nd er McGrath and tak e his lin eaway so he couldn't jump it, " said Emig. "He has a tendency to do that to me, so I figured I'd try to do it to him . I d idn 't get the d rive to get him, and I wasn't going fast enoug h to d o the jump."

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