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/127794
earned a reputation as a crasher here in the states, so I backed it off in the second moto, laid back a little, and took it easy to take the overall. I'm just going to keep pushing on." Second overall went to McGrath, who turned in a 4-1 for the day after a mediocre start and a crash in the first moto. His win in the second moto was a tough one after another uncharacteristically average start and subsequent battle to the lead, where Albertyn was almost able to catch the defending champ. Emig earned a hard-fought third overall for the day with a 1-8. He pulled one of his nownormal holeshots in moto one, battled shortly with Kawasaki teammate Ryan Hughes, and took the win with about seven seconds to spare. Moto two looked like it was going to be a carbon copy of moto one as Emig blazed off with another lead to the first corner, but a crash on the freshly watered, slick, track had him racing towards the front after remounting near the back of the pack. Hughes ran consistently strong all day, and had the lead in the first moto before eventually finishing third. A fifth in moto two gave him fourth overall in the National. Team Suzuki's Mike LaRocco, who had won the 250cc class at Unadilla in '94 and '95, could not match his stellar performances from the past and rounded out the top five with a 5-4. He did actually get pretty good starts, though. McGrath still enjoys a fairly comfortable points lead in the standings over Emig, 379-334. LaRocco still hangs on to third over Albertyn· in fourth but only by 14 points, 266-252. Team Honda of Troy's Brian Swink still maintains his fifth-place position in the standings with 208 after finishing eighth overall with an 11-6. Team Honda's Steve Lamson won his fourth 125cc National in a row and his sixth of the year with another outstanding performance at Unadilla. Lamson flat-out ran away from the field in the first moto and won by nearly 20 seconds, which seemed like an eternity. In moto two Lamson used his head and (Above) Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emlg holeshot both motos again, but settled for third overall after a crash In the second moto. He went 1-7. (Right) Larry Ward (6), Ryan Hu~es (5), and Jeremy McGrath (1) jump out of the Gravity Cavity early In moto two. played it smart to finish second to Yamaha's Kevin Windham, and had enough points to secure the overall win. "The first moto went great," explained Lamson. "I got a great start and rode my own race. In the second moto, Kevin (Windham) got way out in front - but that's racing. I knew I had the overall iJ 1 could just finish second. I played it smart and took the win." Windham gated poorly in the first moto and worked his way up to fourth by the end, but the second moto was. a different story. He snagged the holeshot and never even thought of looking back to take the win by over 18 seconds almost identical to Lamson's win in race one. It was a glimmer of the brilliance Windham has shown in his young career in winning the other two Nationals Lamson hasn't this year. He finished second overall. Third overall went to Team Yamaha's John Dowd, who rode well and scored a 3-4, taking him to the podium after just missing it with a fourth at Red Bud. Fourth overall went to Team Suzuki's Tim Ferry with a 2-5, who hopped off of the podium this week after a third at Red Bud. Rounding out the top five for the day was Team Honda of Troy's Mike Brown, who tallied up an 8-3. Lamson leads the 125cc points standings over Dowd by a seemingly insurmountable 89 points, 358-269. Windham and Ferry still hold on to third and fourth with 252 and 223, respectively. Team SplitFire/Pro-Circuit/Kawasaki's Mikael Pichon moved up into fifth in the point standings after his ninth overall, with a distant 198 points. Promoter Ward Robinson sold all of the BOOO tickets he had printed up by 11 a.m., and was forced to break out some nostalgic leftover tickets from a past motocross GP. Media guru Frank Gerace estimated the crowd to be at about 11,000 strong come race time, and they were quite pleased with the turn-out considering they had done away with overnight camping and alcohol con-' sumption on the grounds. They're look-. ing to bring the family atmosphere back to Unadilla, and they seem to have done just that without killing the attendance numbers. Nearly three inches of rain fell onto the track on the Friday before the race and had Robinson and crew a bit worried about Sunday's conditions, but two days of amateur competition and brisk winds had the track nearly perfect come race day. Sunny skies greeted the racerS on Sunday and the temperatures hovered in the mid-70s, making a rider's physical conditioning a little less important than it is at the hotter venues. Most of the riders liked the track, but commented that through the years of use it has changed from a loamy averagespeed track into a high-speed, hardpack, rock-strewn circuit. Time takes its crazy toU, as always. 15