Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

thi s place, but I felt okay here today. I feel like my strength is coming back, little by little, and it' s good to have an other top finish." Hu ffman suffered a so -so start, bu t za pped his way toward s the front of the p ack qu ickly . The two-ti me Western Regional 125cc Champion actuall y took ove r second from Brad sh aw in the midd le p art of th e race; bu t an off -track excursion dropped him back to third for good. " I was ri d ing kind of tigh t in th e m iddle of th e ra ce," sa id Huffman. "I flew off th e tr ack in the whoops and Damon go t by me. After that I loosen ed up and started to close back in on him, but I was ne ver able to m a ke a pass stick." Fourt h went to Team Honda/l -800Collec t/ Fox's Steve Lam son . After suffer in g a 12th- place sta rt, th e rei gn in g 125cc National Champion method ically worked his way through the field until he found himself right behind the Bradshaw /Huffman battle. A serious bobble in the pit-side whoops section saw Lamson nearly part company with his bike, and from that point on he rode relativelyalone. "I got right up to Huffman, but I almost went over the bars in the whoops," said Lamson. " After that I didn't really have anyone to race with. He and Bradshaw were battling it out pretty good, that helped them to keep a good pace." Kawasaki's Jeff Emig rounded out the top five finishers at a distance, the Californian never really finding his usual fluid form. "I was just never on it today," said Emig, obviously disappointed with his finish. "My concentration wasn't there today. I felt like a differentrider," Huffman's third-place finish allowed him to retain second in the series point standings with 124, some 51 points behind McGrath, while Emig holds down third with 111. Lamson is fourth with 106, while Bradshaw sits in sixth wit h 103. Suzuki's Mike LaRocco - ninth at Daytona - is fifth with 104. Like McGrath in the 250cc division, Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Mickael Pichon finally scored his firstever Daytona win in the Eastern Region- (Right) Damon Bradshaw (28)and Damon Huffman (partially hidden) ran this close throughout the main event and finished second and third, respectively. Here, they lap Cliff Palmer (27)and Jeff Curry (46). (Below) Great Western Bank's Phil Lawrence turned in a sixth-place finish and was the first privateer to cros s the finish line. al 125 cc ma in event. The defend in g series champion started within the top five and had little trouble motoring into the lead. On ce ou t front, the smoo th and stylish Frenchman easily dropped th e rest. Pich on ' s lead stretched to 20 seconds at one point before he slowed in the closing laps. "I had some trouble at the start until I found a good line," said Pichon . "On ce I got the rhythm I was okay. I was not tired , but I was ca reful in the end because it is easy to crash on this track." Yamaha's John Dowd was a strong second, th e 3D-year-old running down several of his younger rivals en route to the runner-up position. Dowd maintains the series point lead with 87. Pichon has 74. Suzuki's Timmy Ferry was a distant third. The Floridian ran strong during the first half of the race, but slo w ed drastically near the end. Ferry si ts in third with 73. 250cc A three-heat, two-semi, LCQ format was used to thin the huge 250cc-cla ss fie ld down to a 30-rider main event, with the top five riders from each heat race earning a direct transfer. Six riders made the cut from each semi, while the LCQ offered two final tickets to the main. Emig was the fastest off the line in the opening eight-lap heat race, but the former 125cc Nat ion al Ch am pion was visibly tigh t and failed to find his familiar fast pace. Th ou gh he cont rolled the lead for over half of the race, he could do little to fend off the charges of Yamaha 's Doug Henry in the second half. In w ha t was only his second su pe rcross back after suffering a broken back late in '95, Hen ry looked like his old self as he sli ced through th e pack after a sixthplace start. The two-time 125cc National ' Champion ran Emig down with relative ease and made the popular pass for the w in on lap five. Once into the point position, H enry pulled ou t a com fortable margin of victory. Emig, m eanwh ile, continued to fad e and was also passed b y Great We stern Bank' s phil Lawrence. The hard-charging privateer even began to close in on Henry, but time ran out and he was forced to settle for second. Ernig held on to third, ahead of LaRocco, Team PJ1/Xtreme /Atomic 22/Bumsville Yamaha rider Jimm y Button. The se cond heat race w in went to Kaw asaki's Ryan Hughes, wh o battled towa rds the front of the pack after starting fourth. Larry Ward was th e early leader, but the Honda of Troy /Sinisalo ride r continued to battle with arm pump and faded to an eventual fourth. Brian Swink was th e next rider to lead the field, but cras hed back to an even tual third on the third lap. The tw o-time Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Champion looked impressive before his fall. Hughes and his teammate Huffman took over the top two positions following Swink's spill, and the pair went on to battle until the very end. Hughes held o n for the win with Huffman close behind, while Swink, Ward and Chaparral's Larry Brooks rounded out the top five at a distance. Heat three featured an intense battle between Honda teammates McGrath and Lamson, the pair easily outdistancing third-place finisher Bradshaw. As a m att er of fact, Brad shaw and the rest' were over 20 seco nds beh ind at th e wave of th e checke red flag. Tho ugh McGrath g rab be d the h o lesh ot ; he didn 't pu ll away fro m Lamson like man y e xp ect ed h im to . The 125cc National Champion d ogged hi s teammate from the get-go, and used a su perfast line on the front straightaway set of jumps to race past McGrath and into the lead . Lamson w heelied into a step- u p tabl etop while McGrath jumped it in normal fashi on, and that alone proved to be th e d iffe ren ce. In te r estingl y enough, Lamson was th e only rider to do so in the heat races, bu t every rider in the main event ado pted his technique. Lamson went on to a popular win over McGrath, while Brad shaw, threetime World MX Champion Greg Albertyn and former All Japan MX ational Champ ion Ronnie Tichenor rounded out the top five d irect transferers. Oregon' s Ryan Huffman scored the win in the first semi and led KTM factory rider Kevin Crine, Honda R&D's Rich Taylor, Cli ff Palmer , Jeff Curry a nd Great Western Bank's Buddy Antu nez into the main event. Honda of Houston / Reclaim rider Jeff Dement wa s th e ru naw ay w inner in . sem i two, be atin g o u t H onda o f Troy / Si n isa lo' s Mike Brown, Great Western Bank's Denny Stephenson, Beach Sp ortcycl e Yamah a' s Dou g Dubach, Gene Naumec and Mike Jones. All six wou ld compete in the final. Jeff Hedd en a nd Kawa sak i Team Green' s Keith Johnson finished 1-2 in the LCQ and would round out the 30rider main event. Emig was the fastest off the line at the start of the m ain e ve n t and led McGrath, Bradshaw, Tichenor, Henry and Huffman through the tricky fir st tum and onto the brutally rough track. It didn't take long, however, for McGrath to cut under his rival and steal the lead for good. As he had in the heat race, Emig was riding tight.

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