Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS AMA National Championship 125/250cc MX series "I didn't do as well in that moto as the first , but I'm still pretty happy," said Antunez. ·"1 got some sweat in my goggles and I couldn't see very well at all. I kept trying to shake them or wipe them, but I couldn't see, so wit h four laps to go , I just yanked everything all off and sudde nly I could see. Still, I'm really happy with fourth and it feels real good to be the top privateer." 250cc While Yamaha's Doug Henry might have been the first guy to the first turn in the first 250cc moto, McGrath was the first rider to the exit . The number-one Honda rider blas ted inside of Henry .and took an immediate ea r ly lead. Team Xrterne/P]l / Atomic 22's Jimmy Button, Honda of Troy' s Brian Swink, Yamaha 's Damon Bradshaw and Emig were the ne xt few guys in lin e. Albertyn was about eighth but after a few smart moves in first-lap traffic he shot into third by the time they got to the mechanics' area. "When I came out of the gate I got a Rounds 2/2: Hangtown . (Right) Phil Lawrence was the top-finis hing 250cc privateer and took home $500 from the Skoal Racing Pro Privateer Challenge Award. His teammate Buddy Antunez did the same In the 125cc class. (Below) John Dowd (7) reeled In Lamson In the second mota In what was the most exciting race of the day. Dowd finished second on the day with 3-2 mota finishes. "You know me and my starts!" joked McGrath afte rwa rd s w hen ask ed how he was able to ge t away so q u ickly . "Actually, that' s the first good start I've had in a few weeks. After I got myself a pretty good lead, I just cruised and kept an eye on Skip's (Norfolk) pit boa rd to see whe re Emig was . I knew tha t Albee was back there, too, bu t some thing happened to him." When asked how mu ch energy he had left at the end, McGrat h . said, "I could n' t have kept goi ng for a lon g time after tha t. I feel really good tod ay and my bike is again just working great." good jump, but I slid back too far on the seat and wheelied," said Emig. "The start is real important on a track like this, especially when you're racing agains t some guys that can go pretty fast." . While McGrath p ulled away, Henry fell and allowed Albertyn a nd a very aggressive Swink to race by. Henry lost about 10 spo ts before getting back in the race and would complete the moto 10th. A the end of a lap it was McGrath, Swink, Albertyn , Button, Emig, Honda R&D rider Rich Taylor, Honda of Troy' s Larry Ward and Bradshaw foll owing. LaRocco, suffering ano ther terrib le start, was up to 10th. Then Button fell and lost about six spots, reshuffling the ord er. The order was further scrambled when Ward had to make a rollin g adjustm ent to his ou tfit. . ' "Someone hit me in the first tum and \0 0\ my left glove a lmost came off," said 0\ Ward of his Velcro glove coming un fas..-:' tened. " It (the glove) was bun chin g up in my palm and then it almost fell off, so I had to slow d own a nd fix it." Brads haw pa ssed Ward as he drifted but " Big Bir d " w oul d get h im back b y moto'send. Albe rtyn ,;z:a p ped Swi nk af te r five good lap s and set his sights on McGra th, who had left the pack at a rat e of tw o seconds pe r lap . But before Albee could even begin his att ack, his Suzuki cam e to a sudden halt and the eve r-u nlucky South African was left to pu sh the bike back to the pits. "The bike started missing gears really badly and th en it jus t wo uld n' t go anywhere," explained Albertyn, w hose luck just seems to get wo rse and wo rse. . "They took it apart and found that the clutch rod had broken apa rt insi de the transmission. I had just passed everyone and was lookin g ahead to Jeremy. That 's jus t life I gues s." "In 30 years of raci ng I have never seen a clutch break apart like this," said Suzuki team manager Roger DeCoster, . the faulty part in his han d . "I've seen the pa rt wear ou t, but I've neve r seen it br eak. It d oes not ha pp en in testing, it d oes not happen to other bikes, it only happens to Greg. I jus t can't believe the thin gs that happen to tha t guy." Emig was the n ext rid e r to m a ke s tri des through th e fie ld a nd he d isplaced a strong-looking Swink just after the ha lfway mark. But McGrath was jus t too far gone for Emig to get a hook into, and, try as he might , Emig could get no closerthan 10 seconds to the winner. "When I first started I was just back there cruis ing and then I saw that some of those gu ys were getting away and I need ed to sta rt charg ing right away," said Emig. "If I had rode my first four laps as w ell as m y la st I could ha ve won." Swin k was left ill third to fend off a thr ee-wa y dogfight involvin g laRocco, Brad sh a w and Ward . Th e Mi chi ganborn , Florida-based Honda pilot, Swink, did a fine job of defense for a few laps and then actua lly pulled away from the trio for a well-ea m ed third. "I just tried to ride my own race and then, for a lap or so, I started to have a mid -moto bog," said Swink. "I think I had something in my brake, like a banner or something, bu t once that w orked ou t, I worked my way back up and kind of left them . I'm pretty happy with third beca use th o se o ther two guys we re going a little faster than I was, so third was abou t where Iwas su ppose d to finish." "We were trying to catch Swink, but it's jus t toug h to mak e up time on this tra ck," sai d La Rocco . "Eve ryone is d o in g w ha t th ey ca n to ge t goi ng . I wasn't reall y worried ab out the guys behind me becau se the track is so hard to pass on; I was more wo rried abo u t ca tching Swi nk and avo id ing th e lap pers. I just need to get a start in the next moto - start means everything here." . LaRocco ended up fourth wit h Ward pass ing Brad sh aw at the end for fifth. Team No leen 's Kyle Lewis was a quiet seve n t h, whil e Grea t We s tern Bank /CTi2 /Xtreme' s Phil Lawren ce was an ad m irable eighth af ter almost skipping the race with a possible broken finger suffered in the morning pra ctice session. Button and Henry rounded ou t the top 10. "My hand hurts real bad , but I just have to deal wit h th e p a in ," sa id Lawrence of his injury. "There's nothing I can do abou t it bu t try to get as many points as I can . Maybe in the next moto I will be looser and maybe everyone else will get a little tired or something." Lawrence was able to clear his mind long enough for a seco n d -mo to holeshot. " Fa c to ry Phil" broke ou t ahead of Lewis, Swink, McGrath, Bradshaw and Ward. While McGrath moved up towards th e front, Bradshaw was stru ggling with his bik e and the tra ck and slipped back ou t of the top 10. Emig and LaRocco got not-so-g reat sta rts, w hil e Alb ertyn , who had las t pick on the gate, was abo u t 20th after starting from the far inside . H enry su ffere d a mediocre start as well but a first- lap fall left him with a broken clutch perc h that required a pit s top and a new pa rt. Hen ry wa s a lap d own when he go t back in to the race, but th e p opular Yam aha rider never sto pped trying and was rewarded with thr ee champ ionship po ints fo r an ad mirable 18th-place finish. McGrath got the lead within a couple of la ps and then to o k off again . Lawrence threw up a roadblock in front of the other 38 riders on th e track and held th e ru nner-up spot fo r six laps before the hard-charging Albertyn finally made a pass. By tha t tim e McGrath was 15 seconds cl ear an d , try as he might, Albee never threatened him . "I d id all I coul d to ge t by eve ryo ne, bu t I'm just going to ha ve to d o better if I w an t to beat Jeremy," said Albe r ty n, w ho rem ained d isgusted wi th his firstm oto m a lfun cti on . "You kn ow , I' m working as hard - if not harder - than any of these guys, an d I just never get a break. I don't know what more I can do. I know that I'm riding good and working hard - maybe next week it will finally be my tum." "The pack was going pretty slow and I was abl e to foll ow Greg through to third," said Albertyn's teammate LaRocco. "Once we broke through, I stru ggled a little bit with my hand being so tend er and Greg got away . But I feel a lot better on my bike this week, and I think I will be able to turn things a ro u nd pretty soon." As for Lawrence, he fought lik e a cha m p to hold hi s ground - injured hand and all - for as long as po ssible. "My hand hurt, but I just kept going an d tryin g, an d it d idn't turn ou t too bad, did it? I mean , I wasn't even going to ride today!" said Law rence. "Phil and Kyle Lewis we re slowi ng us down a little bit, bu t it' s up to us to get by them," said Ward of the secondmoto traffic. "I've had a problem the last · coupl e o f w eeks ge t ting fru stra ted behind g uys, a nd , e ve n thou gh I'm goin g faster than them, I just can' t seem to get by. I get a littl e pumped up and go backwards. Tod ay, rather than ge t discouraged , I backed off a little bit and t h en wen t back a n d p assed th em. I gu ess fou rth overa ll is better than however I did at Gainesville (13th). I'm hoping to get a little better, but I'm not too disappointed ." Th e o nly o the r r id ers to get past Lawrence we re factory pilots Law rence and Emig, who were forced to fight up from m id pack after th eir so-so s tarts.

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