Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

250cc Lusk nailed the holeshot in the first eight-lap heat race and was never headed as he raced off wit h a co mfo rtab le win. Bradshaw held down the runnerup spo t initially, but bobbled hard in the whoops an d w ould ev en tua lly fini sh fifth, not good enough for a direct transfer. Emig star ted fifth and battled with Honda of Tr oy /Sinisalo' s Larry Ward and Brian Swink en route to second, but th e fastest rider on the track w as Huffman. After suffering a 14th-place start, Huffman w ent to w ork qui ckly and motored through the field with relati ve ease. Th e gra ce ful Kaw a s a ki r ide r wou ld e n d up third , whil e Swink n abbed th e fourth an d fin al trans fer position. McGrath tim ed the gate perfectly in th e se con d h ea t race, and chances ar e high th at th e rest of the field let ou t a collective groan. As expected, McGrath scor ed an uncontested win. Three-time World Ch amp ion G reg Alb ertyn w as seco n d off th e lin e , but th e South Afr ican wo uld last less than one lap as he lost control of his Suzuki and ju mped off his bike ove r the qu ad jump. Miracu lously, no o ne la nded on or ran over A1bertyn, bu t he was too sha ken to continue. Hughes took over wh er e Albertyn left off and h eld d own second for th e duratio n. Th e hard -chargi ng Kawasaki rider stayed w ithi n 10 bike lengths o f McGra th throughou t the eight -lap race. Steve Lamson was a d istant th ird , th e Honda/l-800-Collect rider turni ng a steady rid e that br ought him hom e two seconds ahead of Suzuki's Mike LaRocco. Brads haw came home the winner in the first six-lap semi afte r passing early leader Ward, who held on to finish second . PJ1/Xtrem e / Atomic 22/Burnsville Ya m ah a r ider Jimm y Button ca m e th rou gh the pack to earn third, while his teammate Shaun Kalos and G reat Western Bank's Phil Lawrence rounded ou t th e top five who would tran sfe r to the ma in . Yamah a' s Doug Henry ran a s high as third , but pulled off with fro nt brake probl ems. H on d a of Troy / Sinisalo ' s Mike Brown turned in a sta rt-to-finish ro m p in the second semi, lead ing Great Western Bank ' s Denny St eph en s on and Buddy Antunez across th e fini sh line. Nichols Su zuki rider Jeff Hedden and BSY Racing' s Gen e N aumec ro u nded ou t the top five. Hedden was mounted aboard a '95 Suzuki RM250. Henry' s mechanic Pete Steinbrecher re med ied hi s front brake problems in time for the LCQ, a n d th e two-t ime 125 cc N ational Champ ion sc o re d an easy win. KTM's Kevin Crine was second, and would score the last ticket to the main event. Lu sk nailed the holesh ot at the start of the main event and led Emi g, Huffman, Hughes and McGrath thr ou gh the first turn. Things got wi ld in the whoop sectio n immediately followin g th e first turn and Lusk dropped to fourth beh ind Emig, McGrath and Hugh es. McGrath w ait ed only a few mor e turns to make his bid for the lead, and squeezed inside Emi g in a le ft -h and e r foll o win g th e quad jump. It was a masterful pass that caugh t Emig by surprise . "I ca me up a little bit short o n th e quad , and Jer e m y took ad va n tage o f th at ," said Emig. "Th a t's what m akes him so good . He know s exactly when to take advantage of you r mistakes." Emig w ou ld not gi v e up e a sil y , th ough, and on the next lap blasted p ast McGra th in th e left-h an d er preceding the whoops. McG rath ret aliated in th e whoops and di ved underneath his rival in the following turn, and the duo flew (Left) A glimmer of hope: Kawasaki teammates Jeff Emig (2) and Ryan Hughes (5) passed Jeremy McGrath (1) early in the main, but would take each other out a few turns later. Here, Hughes stuffs his way past McGrath for second. (Below) With Emlg and Hughes ' dem ise, McGrath went on to score a comfortable win ahead of runne r-up Damon Huffman (10). over th e n e xt triple ju m p s ide by s ide . McGrath looked over at Em ig in mid air, an d th at seemed to lig h t a fire under the Kawasaki ri de r as h e s t uffe d Mc Grath ha rd in the follow ing rig ht-hander an d re took the lead . Wh ile Emig an d M cGrath scrapped for th e le ad, Hughes w as slow ly b ut su rely closing back in on the lead p air and surprised e ve ryo ne b y s tu ffi ng his w ay p ast McGrath in the turn foll owing the whoops on the third la p . Caught off guard by Hugh e s, M cGra th los t h is balance and almo st went down. "I was coming back down from the turn and I saw Hughes coming at m e, " sa id McGrath . "I h ad to straigh ten up real quick and I lost m y b al an ce for a mom ent. It was a good pass, though." But ju st as thin g s were b eginning to look good fo r the Kawasaki team, all hell broke loose . Hughes go t an exceptional dri ve in the secon d set of whoops and di ved for the inside line in the following left-ha nde r, but found Emig already ther e. The two mad e co ntact in a b ig w ay, and Emig was spit off his bike and d own to th e stadiu m floor below . Hu gh es also we nt d own but was able to recover qu ick ly and return to the race in fifth . "Jeff we nt w ide, and I we n t for the ins ide," said Hugh es. "The n he came all the wa y across the tra ck an d cut right in front of me. We touched and both we nt down. Th at' s what I'm sticking to." Emi g was slow to rem ount after his arm-flapping trip off the track: "I think I hit my jaw on something," Emi g sa id . " It' s re all y so re. "I ju st wa sn 't th at stro ng ton ight - I've been sick sin ce the Thursd ay befor e Daytona. We were in a go od position to beat McGr ath toni gh t, but th at ' s not go in g to happen with Ryno doing what he's d oing." Wh en the Kawasaki teammates collid ed, McGrath was forced to swerve wid e in o rde r to a v o id b e in g ta ke n down, an d Lu sk managed to slip into the lead. "I alm ost hit Ryn o's back tire," said McGrath. "When those gu ys took each other out I was like, 'Thank yo u: insid e m y helm et. Th en Yogi got by me, but I'm a lot more comforta ble with him in the lead tha n Emig or Hughes." McGrath waite d only h alf a lap to pass Lu sk befor e bl asting past him in the whoops . Lus k went hig h in the following corner and w as nearly clea ne d off h is m a ch in e by a h a r d -charging Huffman. "I messed up a little in the turn after th e wh oop s, " said Lu s k . " Me a nd Dam on mad e contact pretty good . I' m lucky that I did n't go dow n. That's what I lov e about racing. It was exciting out there, and I had a great sea t for all the action." When Huffm an took ove r second, man y expected a re peat of th e Seattl e McGrat h /Huffman d uel. "Whe n I saw Ryno pass McGr at h I was a ll, ' Yea h!' but th en Emi g ca me across the track and they both cras hed:' sai d Huffman . "When I got int o second I felt okay, but I was mak in g little mi stakes that let Jeremy get away." Huffman 's biggest mistake came on the se ve n t h lap i n t he wh o ops . Although it looked as if he was actu ally faster than McGrath in the whoo p section, Huffman found himself out of control on lap seven and flew off the track momen tarilly. "The tra ck was slipery toni ght , a little glassy," said Huffman. "My lin e in the whoops was on the right, up against the h ay b ales. I almost hit abo u t five h ay bal es before I finally went off the track." Huffman 's mistake allowed McGrath to pull out a three-second ga p, bu t his cushion would not ge t any bigger than th at . H u ffm an m a intained the same pace as McGrath to the end, and crossed the finish line three seconds behind. Hughes m u scled hi s way back into third by the sixth lap, bu t he was un able to ad vance any furt her. At one point he appeared to be closing on Huffman, bu t h is ea rly-race crash took it's toll in th e end. "I just ran ou t of energy," said Hughes . "Whe n Jeff an d I hit, I los t a lot of

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