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/127796
be fully healed and ready to go at the next race at Washougal." Team oleen's Kyle Lewis got seventh overall with a 13-6, F&S Suzuki/ Bieffe / FMF-backed Cliff Palmer took eight with a 10-9, Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw salvaged ninth with an 8-12, and Smith/Thor/Pro-Circuitbacked Rich Taylor rounding out the top ten with a 12-19It would have been bad for McGrath had he not stayed within the top 20 because Emig would have moved ahead in the point standings by three points had it gone that way. By riding to a commendable sixth overall, McGrath only lost 24 points to the hard-charging Emig, who is now just 23 points behind McGrath, 452-429. Suzuki's Mike laRocco still hangs on to third with 317, while . teammate Greg Albertyn does the same in fourth with 306. Swink swapped positions with his teammate, Larry Ward, moving from sixth to fifth with 261. The 125cc National went about the same as last week in Troy, Ohio, with Team Honda's Steve Lamson running off with his sixth consecutive AMA National victory and his eighth on the year. He did it with a 1-3 tally, flat-out running away from the field in moto one and getting to within striking distance of the win before time ran out in moto two. Lamson is definitely on a roll that is starting to rival McGrath's feats. Lamson could possibly wrap up his sec(Right) Emlg was In a class of his own as he holeshot both motos and won both In convincing style for the win. It was his third NatIonal MX victory of the year. (Below) Team Honda's Steve Lamson Is well on his way to winning his second consecutive AMA 125cc National MX title. . His 1-3 at Spring Creek gave him his eighth Natlonel victory In 10 tries this year. ond consecutive AMA 125cc National Championship at Washougal, Washington, in two weeks. ''I'm really happy with how. I rode," said Lamson. "I feel·like I've got a curse going with my second-moto starts, though - just like last week - but I reeled 'em on in again. I gained some more points and I'm very happy to win it. Hopefully, with some good results, I can wrap up the championship next week." Team Yamaha's John Dowd earned second overall with a 6-2 after an internal clutch part broke during the first moto and hampered his progress. It was his fourth second-place finish of the year to go along with two thirds, as welJ. Supervet Dowd looked good all day and definitely had the fans on his side again. He nearly caught American Honda/Primal Impulse/Fox-backed Robbie Reynard, who looked to be running away with the second moto early on. "Robbie put in some really fast lap times early and I was making a few mistakes," explained Dowd. "In the second half of the race, I got back on him again and we hit in a fum. There was a tree there and I couldn't really go for it and we ended up in the same rut. I ended up getting stuck on his bike. I think I could have caught him, but then Lamson started coming up on me and I had to start riding defensively. I'm surprised I got second overall after my first moto, but I'm happy." Third overall went to Team Honda of Troy's Mike Craig who put in a good day's worth of work with a 2-7, after getting pretty tired in the second moto. "In the first moto I ran strong,." explained Craig, "and I knew Lamson was running a really strong pace. I was getting tired and I just stayed consistent to take second. In the second moto, my mechanic kept telling me where I needed to be to get third overall, because I was getting really tired. I think I missed second overall by a point, though." Last year's 125cc winner Reynard missed Craig's podium position by a point as well, and finished fourth overall with an 11-1. He pulJed his best Lamson/Windham imitation in the second moto, after a dismal first moto, and ran away from the field for most of the moto to take first. He is so on-again / off-again that you never really know when he is going to be a threat - but when he feels good and gets a good start, he's usually unstoppable. Team Honda of Troy's Mike Brown pulled a fifth overall with a consistent 54, Splitfire / Pro-Circui t / Kawasaki's Chad Pederson got sixth with a 9-5, Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk took seventh with an 8-6, and Team Great Western/Xtreme/CTi2's Buddy Antunez eam.ed eighth with a 7-9. Team Yamaha's Kevin Windham finished ninth with a 3-18, after getting a flat tire early in the second moto where he was running as high as fourth. Team Chaparral rider Brian Deegan's 12-8 gave him tenth overall. With three rounds left in the series, Lamson leads the 125cc point standings with 448. He is 118 points ahead of his nearest competitor and needs only to keep a 101-point cushion to wrap up the title next week. He could then sit out the rest of the series if he was so inclined to do so - but don't even think he would be inclined. Dowd sits in second with 330, Windham has 318, Team Suzuki's Tim Ferry is in fourth with 271 and Antunez occupies the fifth position with 231. Promoter John Martin estimated the crowd to be at about the 14,000 mark, and maybe even more. This number is