Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 10: Spring Creek Motocross Park and tried to get by Reynard in a comer, but to no avail as the riders collided, with Dowd nearly going down. "Dowd and I hit in one of the back corners," said Reynard. "We were going for the same line but I had the ad vantage and the next thing I felt was his front tire sliding up over my rear fender and off (pointing to the tire marks on his left side panel and across the rear fenderr' Dowd's little incident with Reynard let Lamson close in even more and the end of the mota looked to be shaping up into quite a battle. It was close, but there just weren't enough laps left. Reynard held on for first by two seconds with Dowd finishing in front of Lamson by about the same margin. It would have really been exciting had there been one or two laps left. Brown finished fourth, Pederson came in fifth with Lusk, Craig, Deegan, Antunez and Brandes closing out the top 10 for the mota. 250cc NATIONAL (Above) Suzuki's Greg Albertyn lind Honda's Jeremy McGrath b8ttle In the sand whoops In mota two. Albertyn got a' flat In the first mota but came back with a fourth place In mota two for 12th overall. McGrath turned In a 9-7 for sixth overall '" some serious pain. (Left) Last year's 125cc winner, Rabble Reynard, was about to run away with the second mota until John Dowd got wind of It. Dowd earned second overall with a 6-2 while Reynard'S 11-1 netted him fourth overall. up from last year's total, which was about 12,000. Growing fan counts seem to be the trend on the outdoor and indoor circuits tJ;tis year, and that's the way we like it. The weather was cooperative for the event, luckily, as most locals predicted that rain was on the way, as did the local weathermen. Ooud-cover kept the temperature in the 80s and kept the well-prepped track from drying out too much. The sun never even got a chance to rear its head and made for a good day of riding and spectating. The track layout was similar to last year's design with multiple uphills and downhills, table-tops, and a few double-jumps. The sand-wash whoop section was used and was a challenging set of obstacles, to say the least, and most of the passing went on here due to all of the different lines that could be taken. 125cc NATlONA"L Antunez had the lead at the end of the start-chute in 125cc National mota number one, but perhaps was not used to the idea and shut down a little early letting Craig, Lamson, Windham and PJl's Cory Keeney get up into the mix of things. When things had settled down at the end of lap one it was Lamson leading followed by Craig, Windham, Antunez, Brown, Ferry, Team Suzuki Sports/ProCircuit/ Answer's Scott Sheak, Dowd, Keeney and Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk at the tail-end of the top 10. On lap two, Windham got around Craig and the battle that the motocrosS' community has been waiting for - Lamson vs. Windham in a head-to-head duel - was in the works. But it just wasn't to be, as Lamson slowly began to pull out a blazing pace and an eight-second lead by lap eight. Windham finished himself off when he got tangled with a lapped rider in the back section and let Craig get by to take second. "When I looked back and saw him (Windham) there I thought, come on let's see what will happen here," said Lamson of his ensuing duel with Windham. "But he fell and J never saw him again." The order on lap nine was Lamson, Craig, Windham, Ferry, Brown, Dowd, Antunez, and distantly came Team Chaparral's Michael Brandes, Lusk and Pederson in 10th. The order was almost set for the finish as Lamson began to stretch his lead out immensely. Dowd and Brown battled for a while before Brown was able to make his pass for fifth place stick on lap 13, and Lusk and Pederson were able to get around Brandes on laps 13 and 14, respectively. By the checkered flag, Lamson had put nearly 20 seconds on the field, having plenty of time to pull a heel-clicker over the last jump to whoa the crowd. Craig held on for second, followed by Windham, Ferry, Brown, Dowd, Antunez, Lusk, Pederson, and Brandes was able to hold off an attacking Reynard for 10th. The start of the second 125cc National mota saw Dowd, Pederson, Reynard,' Lusk, Craig and Brandes again scrapping for the lead. By midlap the order began to take shape aI\d it was Reynard pulling out a two-second lead over a closely grouped Dowd, Pederson, Lusk, Windham, Brown, Brandes, Craig, Lamson and Sports on Tap's Jason McCormick was in 10th. Lamson was in the back but moving up pretty fast, and Reynard was looking to run away with the mota. Lamson got by Brown on lap three, and battled with Lusk in the tricky sand wash before passing him on lap five. On lap six Lamson pulled off two passes - he got Windham and Pederson but something was wrong with Windham's machine. Windham kept dropping positions, and it was soon apparent that he was fighting a rear flat tire. The Lamson/Windham duel was not going to take place in this mota either. . Reynard had five seconds. over Dowd on lap nine and things were starting to look boring, but Dowd picked up the pace as Lamson closed in on him.. On about lap 14, Dowd had closed the gap Emig blasted off of the 250cc starting line in mota one with a slim lead. His Jeremy Albrecht-tuned KX250 was on the move followed by Suzuki's Greg Albertyn, KTM's Kevin Crine, Yamaha's Doug Henry, Button, Lewis and the rest of the tightly grouped field. Henry was all over the backside of Emig for a while but settled down to take third behind Hughes at the end of the first lap. Albertyn was in fourth shadowed by Lewis, Button, Taylor, Lawrence, Crine and Team HoT's Larry Ward. McGrath got about a 15th-place start and looked to be feeling things out. Hughes actually pulled up alongside of Emig in the sandwash at the beginning of lap two, but could not complete the pass as the comer approached that sent them back into the whoops. Emig, sensing the pressure, immediately turned it up a notch to put a couple of seconds on Hughes, who was doing the same to Henry. Albertyn was in fourth as the top four began to spread out a bit, but bad luck struck as the likeable South African pulled off with a rear flat. Button assumed the fourth position and got by Henry in the sand whoops to take over third on lap five. Henry went down in that section, flying off into the trees on lap six, making Lewis swerve and do nearly the same thing. Meanwhile, LaRocco had gotten things rolling after his customary start and was mov-. ing up on Button in a distant fourth. Lawrence was in fifth with a rotating order of battling riders that included Ward, Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, Swink, Palmer, Taylor and McGrath was in 11th. LaRocco got around Button and into third on lap 11, but Emig and Hughes were long gone by this time, having put nearly 20 seconds on the rest of the field. Emig had about eight seconds on Hughes. McGrath moved around Taylor and into 10th place a lap later and worked on Palmer for a bit before taking the ninth position on lap 15. The order was decided and Emig took the win on lap 16 over Hughes and a spread-out field that was led by LaRocco, Button, Lawrence, Swink, Ward, Bradshaw, McGrath and Palmer. This is becoming a bit redundant, but Emig blazed off of the line in the second 250cc mota with the holeshot again, which makes it something like nine National motos in a row. Button got a good start again, as did Hemy, Lawrence; Albertyn and Lewis. McGrath was in the hunt this time, as well. When the riders came around after the first lap the order was Emig, Henry,

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