Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Th e two Yama has of Windham and Dowd seeme d to h it a slow gear just after the halfway po int an d bo th Pichon and Lamso n got pas t the both of them. Windham faded as far back as sixt h bu t got it back together after a couple of lap s and actually passed Lamso n back for fourth after a fierce battle broke out for third between Pichon, Windham and Lamson. Picho n would emerge victorious with Windham next, then Lamson. Reynard mad e it up to si xth, while Dowd uncharacteristically faded to seventh. "I've never felt like that at the end of a moto," said a puzzled Dowd later. "I usually get a litt le forearm pump early and then can work it ou t or at least dea l with it late r. But th is time tigh t a t the end of the race my forea rms went away and it was all I could do to even hol d on . Man, it,was weird ." Rounding ou t the top 10 overall wer e Grea t Wes te rn Ban k / CTi2/ Xtr em e' s Buddy Antu nez, SplitFire/Pro Circui t's Chad Ped er son an d Suzuki rider Tim Ferry, w ho won his first-ever Na tional at H igh Point last yea r. Lamson holes ho tthe second m ot o followed by Fer ry, SplitFire / Pro Circu it's Casey Johnson , Deegan, Sheak, Windham, Craig and Dowd . In the early juggle for position Windham was able to race up to fou rth, while Dowd cruised up to fifth. On the second lap, Lamso n lost several spots when he tip ped over on the inside of a corner. "I was trying to save some time by cu tting one of the corners real close and my front wheel just went away," said Lamson. O n th e th ir d la p, so me thi ng hap pened that wo uld affect the outcome of the r ace: Lamson jumped th e u p hill trip le ju mp behind the sta rting gate. He was the only rid er in the class to try it, and for five laps, the ju mp was a timesave r. The sixth time he tried it Lamson came up sho rt - real short - an d paid for it wi th a jammed thumb. Ferry was u p fron t with Sheak follow in g, b ut Windham was on the gas and pulled past both of the Suzukis. At that moment, with Picho n a poo r-starting 10th and Craig jus t as far back, Sheak was in prime position to win the overa ll. However, his Suzu ki just didn' t hav e the same pu nch as the factory bikes he was up agai nst and the New Yorker started comi ng up short on the first uphill triple out of the woods that many other 125cc contenders could clear with ease. "I don't want to blame m y bike, so may be it was jus t a bad line," said Sheak later o f the b ack-ja rrin g jump tha t wou ld pro ve to be h is weak s pot. "Maybe I d idn't test my sus pe nsion or my motor eno ug h this weekend, bu t I should've been able to find a way over that thing." As Sheak slipped back to seven th, Windham kept on the gas an d star te d to p ull away from Ferry . As Dow d moved u p to third , Wi nd ha m moved int o the overa ll wi nner's chair and kep t himself upright. He beat Ferry by about 10 seconds, while his teammate Dowd , 12 years his senior, scored third , w hile Suzuki's Ezra Lusk pl aced fourth in the moto. After another horrible s ta r t Re y nard was fift h, a nd the inju re d Lamson six t h a head of Lusk . Round ing ou t the top 10 were Antunez, again eighth, Pichon and Craig . "I just d id n't have the right rh ythm in the first moto, and I pum ped up and le t them pu ll away fro m m e," sa id Ferry, "but in the second race it all came together. The track was a little roug her, but I thi nk I ha d so me grea t lines and that helped me. I was hoping it would rain ev en more because all these guys from California don't d o so well and us For the firs t 25 m in utes, Alb er ty n rod e strong u p front, just like he did at Glen Helen a fortnight ago . But rather than fad e in the closing stages, Alber tyn was a ble to fi nd m ore s ta mina a n d speed, pos sibl y ou t o f necess ity. A ra pi d ly cha rg ing La Ro cco d is p laced McGrath an d caug ht his Suzu ki tea mmate Albe rty n, which gave team man ager Roger DeCoster a nervous fit for the last five laps of the moto. "Those two guys have been wo rking so hard an d so many bad things have hap pened to them tha t I was just wai ting for the m to take each other out," sai d DeCoster later. A yellow collision di dn't ha p pe n, and Albertyn hel d his gro u nd all the way to the finish line for the firs t win of his American experience after a yea r and a half of fru stration. "I've been wa iting and thinking an d d rea mi ng abo u t this for so long - yo u don' t even kn ow how re lieved] am," said Albertyn, who was able to rattle off his sponsor list withou t too mu ch trou ble. When as ked by the announce r how a guy w ho hasn't wo n in a lmos t tw o yea rs ca n be so go od a t hi s vi ctory ' speec h, Albee joked , "Because I've ha d two years to prep are: ' McGrath was havi ng his wo rs t ride of the year and finally allowed a lot of frus tra ted factory riders to get a chance to pass him. After LaRocco moved on him, so did Henry. And then continuing (Above) Mike laRocco missed tak ing the overa ll win by one pos itio n. Instead, he went 2·3 for seco nd overall. Emlg took the win with a 3-2. (Right) Series po ints leader in the t 25cc class Steve Lamson had an off day. He went 5-6 for eighth overall. East Coas t guys can really go." 250cc NATIONAL The factory Suz u kis of Greg Albertyn a nd Mik e La Rocco a n d th e BT Racing /Barr's Compo privateer RM250 of Mike Jones blasted into the first tu rn ahead of everyone else as the first 250cc moto went off u nd er still-t hreatening skies . McGrath charged around the ou tside of the first turn to almost take the lead , but then Albertyn and Jones did th e sa me o n the o u tside of the next berm ed-up corner to hold first and second , resp ectively. After the third tu rn , the orde r set tled in like this: Albertyn, Jones, McGrath, H onda of Troy's Brian Swink, LaRocco, Yamah a's Dou g Henry, Xtreme /PP I Atomic 22-backed Jimmy Bu t to n, a n d H ond a priva teer Tony Ama radio. Bringing u p the back of the pack was Emig. "I was riding real nervous and tentative an d people were going around me that I d id n' t even know ," said Emig of his early struggle. "I was thinking, 'Oh, this is great, I'll p rob ably get six th or something: " While Albertyn settled in to the lead p o si ti on, H enry was o n th e move, putting in so me very fast laps on the track he last wo n on when he scored the '95 250cc-class win here, one race before his legendar y Bud d s Creek crash. The Yam aha rider looked like his old self as he motored arou nd the roug h hills. "I watched myself in a video of my last two wins here ('95 in the 250cc class and '94 in the 125cc class), and sa w that I used to let the bike d o all of the work, whil e I" ju st sort of ro de loo se ," explained Henry. "I worked really hard on Friday at press-day practice just letting the bik e bounce around. I think it was a co nfidence thi ng and wa tching the vid eos just so rt of remi nd ed me of how ] used to ride." Henry was d efinitely pu tting in his best ride since this race last yea r, the pinnacle of w hic h might have been later in the moto w he n he passed McGra th straight up and pulled a wa y fo r a w ell-earned (a nd well received by his loya l legio ns of Mount Morris fans) fourt h in the mota. a charge from wa y back was Emig, w ho pu t in five bad early laps before collecting himself and starting fo r wa r d through the field. . He tou ched McG rat h on th e inside when he passed him a nd then went straight after Henry. "We wen t down a hill an d I was on the ou tside and he kept pus hing me ou t and pu sh ing me out," Emig said of his las t-lap du el with Henr y. "He tried to s top and tak e th e insid e on me, and ] jus t went 'w ham!' and hit him becau se I 17

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