Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.M T C O S. " OO R S AMA125J250ccN ational C hampionship M otocrossSeries Round 3: Glen Helen Raceway - Lamson pu t a move on Windham earl y in lap six and almost wen t down in the process, but made th e pass st ick sh ortly th ereafter. He would never be headed for the rest of the moto. Windha m kn ew th a t a second-p lace finis h would give him his first overall National victor y, and he rode accordingly. The tw o riders would pull away from the field, putting almost 10 seconds on the rest of the racers by mote's end. Lapped traffic brought th e fie ld a little closer together towards the end, but would no t affect the final results. The rest of the field also fell into a bit of a groo ve, as the riders spread out and began to ride their own races. Dowd held a com fortable margin over fourth-pl ace Revnard, wh o had Pede rson on his heels fo; most of the mot o. The order wou ld stay the same as they cros sed the finish line with Lamson taking the win followed by Windham, Dowd , Reynard, and Johnson. The u sually subdued Windham was understandably all smiles in the winner' s cir cle a fter secu ring the firs t outdoo r Natio nal victory of his young career with 1-2 motos. "I wanted to try to win both motes, but Lam son w as rid ing really go od the se co n d m o to, " conveyed Wind ham . "O nce h e go t by me, I just let him go becau se I knew I had the overall. My Yamaha pulled me to the front of the pack in both motos and that's wh at mattered most" Dowd finis hed in thi rd and secured second overall for the day with his 2-3 mota tally. He was as excited as Windham to be on the podium. "The crowd totally pumped me up in both motos, but I really' heard them cheering me on in the second rnoto," explained Dowd. "It was so hot tha t I thought I was gonna drop, bu t ,th e crowd k ept m e going. Kevin (Windham) and Larnmy got away and I was pushing it in the dust, bu t I couldn ' t see and jus t settled into a comfortable pace." Second-mota winner Lamson was happy to be on the podium after his flat in moto one, with 6-1 finishes for the day . "I carne ou t in fifth or six th on the start," said Lam son . "Then I p layed it sm a rt and se ttled in, becau se I didn't want another flat. I started passing pe0ple an d closed in on Windham. I actually passed him ea rlier, but he go t me back after I swapped and almo st went down. I got him back a few tu rns later, though. I wan ted to win so ba d af ter the first mota . Every p oint counts and I wa nted them!" Fourth place in the mota went to Reynard, fo llowed by Pederson, Lusk, John son, Willoh, Pichon, and Ferry closed out the top 10. (Above) Kawasakl"s Jeff Emlg crashed on the first lap of the first 250cc mota wh ile running thi rd. He went 3·2 for second overall. (Above) Series points leader In the 125cc class Steve Lamson suffered a fla t rear tire In the first mota but st ili finished sixth. He blew everyone away In the seco nd mota. (Lett) Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw went 6·3 for t hird overall. 250cc NATIONAL Team Hond a /l-80o-Collect / Fox Racing's Jeremy McGrath pulled off one of his now-famous hol eshots as th e ga te plummeted to the ground in moto one. Team Suzuki's Albertyn was in tow, followed by Kawasaki 's Jeff Emig, "Factory" Phil Lawrence, Yamaha' s Doug Henry, . Honda of Troy's Larry Ward, and Team Noleen's Kyle Lewis. It was sha ping up to be an epic moto wh en buddi es Lawrence and Emig tangled in one of the first turns and took each other out. The rest of the field blazed off while the two remounted toward the end of the pack. The story of moto one had to be Albertyn's pass on McGrath on lap three wh en McGrath went down at th e top of th e ominous d ow nh ill d ouble. Th e cro w d went absolutely nuts. Alb ertyn would hold the lead for nearly the rest of the race until the same thing happened to h im on one of the hi gh corners - he washed out and gave the lead, and the win, to a quickly closing McGrath. And the crowd went nu ts aga in. "I was a bit ten tative in the first moto because of my knee," explained McGrath. "I just didn't quite know how it would go. About halfway through the moto I realized it wasn ' t both ering me, and I started to haul. " While the crowd was glued to the race for first and second, Team HoTs' Brian Swink was riding a great race and hold- ing down th ird . Behind him, Te am Noleen's Kyle Lewis was having a good battle with Yamaha team ma tes Henry an d Bradshaw. Emig was riding like a man possessed and had worked his way int o th ird place by lap 11 with a sw ift pass on Swink. Team Su zuki's Mik e LaRocco w a s h aving a good race afte r a surprising sixth-place start, until he pulled off the track a number of times with carburetor problem s. He would eventu ally pull off for good on lap three with a p iece of , meta l in his carburetor. "This is just bad luck that Mike had," remarked team manager Roger DeCoster about LaRocco's demise. "F ifty riders pump their gas from the same drum, and he ends up with the metal flake. I don't get it." Team Extreme 1PJ1 1Atomic 221 Yama ha ' s Jimmy But ton also p ut on a good ride despite his back-of-the-pack start , and eventually fought his way up to sixth by moto's end. "I got a crappy start," lamented Button. "I coul d've jus t waited on the line and let everybody go after that start and still see the same dusty track. Whoever gets the holeshot is gone here. I need to get a start in the second mota to make up the points I lost." • McGrath took the win with a large margin of victory followed by a content Albertyn in second place. Emig wou ld put , on a remarkable ride to finish third after hi s d isturbance with Lawrence. Swink held on for fourth place, while Lewis was able to break free from Bradshaw, Henry, and Button to take fifth in the mot o, Bradshaw would finish sixth followed by Button, Henry, Kawasaki of Jap an' s Jeff Matasevi ch, and ano ther super-vet, Doug Dubach. . As the secon d 250cc moto sta ged in the starting area, the crowd was anticip ating a grea t rac e between Albertyn , McG rath and Emig . The overall was still up for grabs. But 250cc National number two started off much like the first one d id , with McGrath squeaking out yet an other lea d to th e always-important first comer. McGrath was shadowed by Hen ry, Emig, Lewis, Button , and the ever-present Dubach. Albertyn would not be so lucky, though. " A fte r the second turn Em ig an d Lawrence got ta ngled in front of me," explained Albertyn. "I think it w as Phil that sho t acros s in fron t of me and took my front wheel out. A bit later a lapped rider sent me off of the track and I caught some banner (snow fen ce ) in my rear wheel, and th a t st u ff is never gonna come out." McGrath immediatel y began to pull out a size ab le lead with Emig in tow . Meanwhile, Lawrence, Lewis, an d Hen ry were in a hea ted ba t tle fo r the th ird through fifth positions, with Bradshaw not too far behi nd the storming pack of riders. On lap six, Bradshaw was able to get into position and pass the trio of riders . He would soo n pull ou t a comfor table mar gin over the trio to se ttle into third . LaRocco had turned things around in this mot o and was fighting b ack fro m about 12th at the start. By lap five he was up to eigh th position an d charging. and would eventua lly fi nish just beh in d Lewis in fifth place. Near the end of the race the top10 posi,tions we re well spread ou t, and it was basically over except for the shouting. McGrath took the win by nearly 20 seconds ahead of second-p lace ride r Emig,

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