Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Hughes turned in another strong performance, putting to rest .: at least for the time being - hi s reputation as an erratic rider. Instead, Hughes has shown consistency with another top-five finish , this time nabbing fourth. Rounding out the top five was Honda of Troy /Sinisalo's Larry Ward, wh o is returning to the Larrv Ward of old: the same form that carri~d him to second place in the series last year. At the previous round in Dal las, Ward finished second. . Finishing 11th with a sore wrist was Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, who now sees his second place in the series standings threatened by a closing Emig . West Coast 12Scc Series poi nts leader Ke v in Wind ham m a d e hi s se con d appearance in the 2S0cc class and finished a respectable sixth, w hile Butt on had his best ride of the season, finishing seve nth . Great Western Bank's Ph il La w r e n ce clai med eight h , a hea d of Honda of Troy /Sinisalo's Bria n Swink and Su zuki's Greg Albertyn, who crashed on the first lap . The East Coast 12Scc main event was a snoozer, as defending champ Mickael Pichon, on his Team SplitFire/Pro Circuit / Kawasaki KXl25 breezed to victory over Suzuki's Tim Ferry, who spent his 15 laps making amends for a back-of-the pack start. And, appearing on the podium for the first time in his career was Team Chaparral's Brian Deegan, who started off in 10th place: The shocker of the night, though, was Team Yamaha's John Dowd's inability to qualify for the 12Scc main event. Dowd, who went into the race with a one-point lead over Pichon in the series point standings, came 11 few inches short of transferring in the 12Scc LCQ after crashing in his earlier heat race . By not qualifying , Dowd scored no points on the night, and with Pichon winning, has for all intents and purposes seen his title h op es go u p in smoke. Pichon lea d s Dowd by 24 points with four rounds left in the series. . The In dy track was one of th e m ore technically dema nding tra cks of the season, m uch of which had to do with the soft , (though not muddy) and extremely tacky soil. " You don 't even n e e d brakes," said Windham. "Just let off on the gas and you nearl y stop." This was quite the contrast from last week's hardp acked, dry a nd blue-grooved co nd itions at Dalla s. Despite constant grooming with bulldozers, grooves and ruts would form in the turns, takeoff ramps and in between the jumps all night long, making line selection of the highest importance. 250cc Emig shot out of the gate in the first 2S0cc heat race and proceeded to romp to victory, while Button and Huffman disputed second. Sutton held his ground lap after lap, while Huffman poked and prodded the Yamaha no!!r from beh ind . Finally, just as they approached the white flag, Hu ffman saw an opening and made his move, taking over second and rel e ga tin g Bu tton to th ir d . Fini shing fou rth was Windham, w ho came fro m . behind, w hile Swink finish ed fifth, one spot out of the trans fers. N on -qu alifier s inc lu ded suc h n otab le s a s Su z uk i' s M ik e La Roc co .and G re at Weste rn Ban k team mates' Ph il Lawren ce and Denny Stephenso n . All three w er e involved in an u gly p ileu p when di r t jammed Law re n ce 's rear brake pedal caus ing the b rake to sud d e nl y lock up, and Ste p h e n son and -Lak o plowed into the back of him. . McGr ath w on the second h ea t race, but Bradshaw gave h im something to thi n k abo u t. The tw o riders b roke free (Opposite page) Jeremy McGrath recorded his 10th straight victory, at the RCA Dome In Ind ianapolis, thus keeping his perleet rec ord intact. Here, McGrath leads Suzuki's Ezra Lusk late in the race. (Above) The moment of truth: Kawasaki's Jeff Emig was leading near the halfway po int when his front whee l skipped out on him in a tum and fell. Here, Emig looks up to see McGrath and Lusk motor by him. (Right) Team SplitFlrelP ro Circuit/Kawasaki's Mlckael Pichon recorded his fourth East Coast 125cc main-event win . He took over th e series points lead fr om Yamaha's John Dowd , who failed to qual ify for the main 'event from Hughes and Henry, but McGrath couldn't shake Bradshaw, who matched the Honda rider's everv move. Bradshaw hung with McGrath for six laps before missing a sh ift and letting him get away. After passing Henry early on , Hughes began pressuring Bradshaw late in the race but could never make a pass. Lusk finished one spot out of the transfers in fifth, just ahead of Ward . "The track is re a ll y tough," sai d McGrath . "You have to be patien t. It' s going to be hard to have a mistake-free ni ght. Yo u' re go ing t o h a v e t o be smoo th for 20 lap s." Swin k w on an ex ci ti ng first se m i ra ce, bu t h e d idn ' t ha v e m u ch to do with any of it. Instead, a battle raged for seco n d invo lv in g Stephenson , Te am Noleen's Kyle Lew is, BT Racing's Mike Jon es, Lawren ce an d LaRocco. At one p o int , team mates Stephens o n a n d Law ren ce bumped in midair over a long double. Lawren ce go t the short end of the stick when he landed ou t of sh ape and blew th rough the next tu m and off the track. Lew is mana ged to break free from the melee at the end to finish sec- ond, ahead of LaRocco, Stephenson and Jones. Lawrence finished sixth, having to go to the LCQ. Ward scored a rather uneventful wire-to-wire win in the second semi but did have Lusk, who had passed teammate Albertyn early on, to contend with for a couple of laps. Lusk was content with second, while Albertyn finished third . Hond a of Tr oy ' s M ike Bro w n , who ha d cr a sh ed in h is h e at ra ce, earned a trip to the main w ith a fou rth, as did fifth- place finisher Antunez. De Hoop w on the LCQ, whil e La wre nce m ad e a d esperate la st-l ap pass on Su zu ki rider Barr y Carsten to gra b the last transfer ticket of the night. Team Yamaha's Dou g Henry had the lar ge crowd on its feet at the start of the 2S0cc featu re as h e p ow ered h is Pete Steinbreche r-tu ne YZ2S0 into th e lea d, jus t ahead of Emig, Lus k and the eve rimproving Jimmy Butt on on th e black and ye llow Pll / Ato mic 22 / Xtrem e Yama ha . And whe re was McGrath, the holeshot king? Back in seventh, right behind Hugh es. "I got shut off on the (sta rt) straight," said McGrath. "Then I mes sed up in the whoops." On such a technically d emanding track, thanks to the tacky soil and rutted takeoffs and turns, seventh wasn' t where the three-time champ wanted to be . "My first thought was that I had to get in second as soon as I could but not make any m istakes," he said. "Jeff is my . biggest concern, and I had to get to the fron t. But this isn' t the kind of track you can just can just pin it; there is no 'room for m istakes. You ha ve to con cen tra te and tak e yo ur time." Henry. led for tw o laps befo re Em ig snaked hi m on the inside an d quickly dista nced h im s e lf fr om th e Yama h a rid er. Lusk soon got by Henry, as well. Henry. ran am on g the lea ders for over h alf th e rac e before fa di ng bac k a n d eve ntu ally pulling out of the race w ith ' fork problem s. A blown for k sea l was to blame. McGrath mad e quick work of H ughes, th e n w a s te d litt le ti me getti ng aro u n d Button. H is n ext obstacle w as ~ra dsh a w, who gave McGrath a h ard A 8 ~

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