Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127778
Darrion Huffman, who is struggling with a wrist injury. "Last week in Dallas I had so m u ch tape I couldn't move it (the wrist)," he said. "This time I had less tape but didn't have enough support:' Thirteenth went to Stephenson, followed by Del-loop, Jones and Bradshaw. Kyle Lewis finished 17th after crashing spectacularly while running mid pack. Antunez recorded 19th, followed by Henry and Brown, who crashed early in the race . (Above) Barry Carsten (31) grabbed the holeshot in the 125cc main over Tony Lorusso (42), Jeff Yentzer (82), Scott Sheak (26) and Pichon (1). After getting passed by Pichon on the first lap, Carsten ran second for much of the race before finishing s ixth. (Left) Suzuki's Greg Albertyn (16) and Yamaha's Kevin Windham (38) got . together early In the 250cc main. (Opposite page) Yamaha's Doug Henry (15) led the tlrst three laps of the 250cc main. Here, he battles with McGrath. Henry would later retire with suspension problems. time. McGrath eventually shoved Bradshaw out of the w ay; the tw o rubbed elbows and McGrath simply d ro ve the Yamaha rider out wide in a tum. Henry was McGrath~ s next vic tim, and once into third, five seconds separated him from leader Emig, but still standing between Emig and McGrath was Lusk. Lusk proved to be a big problem for McGrath as the Suzuki rider did not give up without a fight . It took McGrath a full four laps before he could get around Lusk . As the raced neared the halfway mark, Emig was still in control and was hoping to make a repeat performance of his flat -out victory over McGrath in a heat race earlier in the season. "I felt fast; I was doing everything right," Emig said. "I was riding with precision." Until... . Looking as tho ugh he jus t might put an end to McGrath's streak, the Kawasaki rider sud denly went down. He jus t fell over in a tu m wh en his front whee l \0 washed ou t. As he remounted , McGra th and Lus k scoo ted by . rl "T he first thing th at w ent th ro u gh 0- my mind was to ge t up and pass him rl back," said Emig. "Even afte r I got u p I :-;:: thought I could still w in. 1 had to kee p ~ the faith . The same thing cou ld happen to him . I just ke pt charging and never ...... . gave up." Even th ou gh Mc G ra th was in his more customary position, his 10th win G . ~ g:; .7 14 _ wasn' t in the bag ยท- not quite yet. Lusk su rp rised m any by hanging with the cham p for several laps, threatening. "I felt rea l good," Lusk said, "bu t I kept thinking, ' Wh at I'm I doing here with McGrath and Emig . What is this?'" Wh ile many thought McGrath's lead was in danger thanks to Lusk, McGrath thought differently. "I was in control," McGrath said. "I didn't want to push it an y more than I had to at the end:' Lusk began to tire the last couple of laps and just couldn 't hold back the pressuring Emig any longer. Two laps from the end, Emig passed the Suzuki rider, making the top three McGrath, Emig and Lusk . McGrath t ook the checkered flag just three seconds ahead of Emig. "After the start I knew it was going to be a close race," said a calm and relaxed McGrath afterward. "Jeff had to pin it; he had to go, and with the track being so tough, 1 pushed him into a mis take." Elsewhere, Bradshaw wa s having one of his best rides of the year, running a strong fourth ahead of Hughes late in the race befor e su ffering a ha rd ge t-off wh en he came up short over a particularl y di fficu lt tripl e jump. He slammed in to the face of the third jump and was ultim ately pitched over the handlebars, as well as the third jump. He landed on his back - on top of his bike. Amazingly, Bradshaw go t back on his bike, a lbeit slowly, and salvaged 16th. "I feel like so meone beat me w ith a stick," Bra dshaw said. "My foot peg hung up in a r u t. It m igh t' v e eve n pulled my leg off the peg, too. My leg, chest hurt: ' Still, Bradshaw was pleased wit h his performance up to that point. "Yeah, I rod e okay," he said. "I'm jus t trying to stay in there." Hughes avoided the sprawling Bradshaw to take over fourth, where he would finish. Ward came from eighth to finish sixth, just ahead of Button. "Things are coming together," said Button. "I'm getting stronger and the bikes . are getting better." Eighth went to Lawrence, who gated near the back of the pack. Swink topped out in ninth, followed by Albertyn. "I'm riding okay, but I just have to stop crashing," said th ree-time world champ Albertyn. "I was diving to the inside of Windham on the first lap when he cut in on me at the last second." The crash also took ou t teammat e Mike LaRocco, who ran in to Albertyn. Lalcocco, the hom etown favori te, had a m ise ra ble d ay . He struggled through p ractice dia ling in his bike earl ier in the day , crashe d in his heat race, had to rid e the semi, then cras hed in the main an d could never make up for it. LaRocco finished 12th, and su mmed up his d ay by saying: "It's been like th is fo r a few weeks. I've got to cha nge that. If I knew what the problem was, I'd fix it." LaRocco fin ish o ne spo t b ehind 125c c An anticipated duel between Mickael Pichon and Tim Ferry never reall y materialized in th e first 125cc hea t race despite the fact they finished 1-2. Pichon gr abbed the holeshot and pulled away , w hi le Ferry chased Pi ch on b u t co u ld nev er make a serious attem pt to pass. Jam es Eickel, from Grove City, Oh io, scored his first-ever heat-race win in the next 12Scc race after a hard-fough t battle. The Pro Source / Pro Ci rcuit-spo nsored Honda rider took the wi n ahead o f Tennessee's Nathan Ramsey. Tea m Ya maha's John Dowd was heav ily favo red to win the heat race bu t clipped a stepup jump wi th his front wheel and crashed h ard , with F&S Suzuki rider Davey Yezek slamming int o him. Dowd wo uld have to ride the LCQ, as would Yezek. In the LCQ, Dowd got a mid pack start in the short six-lap race. Dowd was having obvious ha rd time passing on the rutted track, and on the last lap was running sixth but needed to finish fourth or better to transfer. Stuck in the m iddle of a heated five-way battle for th e fina l transfer position, Dowd was e dged ou t by a coup le of inches b y fourth-place finisher Mike Katin. North Carolina's Jim Neese scored the 'Yin ' ahead of Jeff Baker, Yezek and Katin. The main eve nt w as all but over after t he fi r st turn, a s Sp litFi re / Pro Circuit /Kawasaki rider Picho n jumped o u t to th e e a rly le a d a fte r p assin g h ol esho tt er Barry Ca rs te n, w h ile his most seriou s rival Ferry was mired back in the p ack. . Pich on opened up a huge lead an d w oul d go on to sco re a see ming ly easy w in. "It was easy," said Pichon. "This was definitely the easiest of the year. Rut ted tracks are my kind of tracks. My hom e in France, I have to ride in the mud and ruts all the time . I'm used to that kind of stuff. "I was kind of surprised about that," said Pichon of Dowd not making the m ain . "Those 25 points (he gained on Dowd) couldn't have been any easier. Th ere' s no pressu re n ow, I can make mistakes. Still, I'm going to try to win every race ." Dowd was unavailable for comment. Ferry was never a ' factor for Pichon afte r his back-of-the-pack start. "I got a bad jump, everyone got ahead of me off the gate," said Ferry. "I actually lost a couple of places on the first lap. At that point, 1 knew that first place wo u ld be a lon g shot so second place was my goal." Ferry reached his goa l after passing Team Suzuki Sports' Scott Shea k ju st before taking the white flag. After having jus t passed Brian Deegan for second, then getting past by Ferry, Sheak came u p shor t over a tri p le and ca me to a complete stop, sta lli ng hi s engine. By the time he got going aga in, Deegan had already roos ted by, making the final finishing or der Pichon , Ferry, Deegan and Sheak. "I went into banzai mode on e last lap," said Deegan . "I sprained my ank le a cou ple of weeks ago and I'm ge tting my strength back." an