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/127798
Lamson has clinched the points title but second and third are still really close. Dowd is in second with 367, Windham is third with 355, Ferry sits in fourth with 271 and Craig rounds out the top five with 247. While the 125cc class had the exdtement of Lamson winning his second straight title, the 250cc class was where all of the great radng action took place. With Team Honda's Jeremy McGrath riding injured (see Briefly ...) from Millville and a number of riders beginning to feel confident with their bikes and a contract-time-induced determination to produce, the class was riddled with riders aching to win. Former National champ Mike LaRocco had the belly-ache the worst, though, and took the overall win with the same score (2-2) that his teammate Greg Albertyn accrued at Unadilla a few weeks earlier when he took his first overall win in America. LaRocco was pleased. "It's been a long year," commented LaRocco. "I really wish we would have started the season here (laughing). Hopefully I can have a week like this next week in New York. It'll be my second year of a two-year contract next year and I hope everything goes much better." Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig was looking to get closer to McGrath in the points standings at this race and was well on his way after winning the first moto. In the second moto, things went a little differently as the pack of leaders led by Doug Henry, LaRocco and Larry Ward were moving at a blistering pace and Emig went down while shadowing the pack - assassinating his chances at another overall victory. He still finished second overall with a 1-4, and wrestled the points lead away from McGrath by eight points. ''I'm happy to get the points lead," explained Emig. "But I just can't get too wrapped up in it. McGrath is an explosive rider and, with two races left, I'm just going to concentrate on winning (Opposite page) Team Honda's Steve Lamson has been in a class of his own this season. He won his ninth national of the year at Washougal wrapping up his second consecutive AMA 125cc National Motocross Championship. (Right) Team Suzuki's Mike laRocco won his first AMA 250cc National of the year at Unadilla with a 2-2. (Below) The start of the first 250cc mota saw Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig (2) steal away another holeshot from Jeremy McGrath (1), Rich Taylor (48), Damon Bradshaw (28), Ryan Hughes (5), and Mike Young (273). Emlg and Bradshaw got second and third overall, respectively. motos. I'm actually more worried about the fact that I didn't win the second moto. I really wanted to win today. We'll just see how things work out after Steel City." Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw got third overall with a 3-5 and looked pretty strong all day. He knows it's contract time, and this may be just what he needed to stay onboard with Yamaha. "I've been coming here a long time and I've never been on the podium, but I did it this time," Bradshaw said. This really helps my confidence. When you have a bad weekend it's really hard to go home and train. It really helps my confidence to finish like this and have the fans cheering me on like they did. They had me thinking I was from Washington." Henry earned fourth overall after taking a dismal 11th in the first moto, but he came back like a man possessed in the second moto and fough t off a charging LaRocco and company to take his first moto win of the year. He was definitely pleased. "This feels great," Henry beamed. "I've been working really hard and nothing's been happening. I do good and then I crash and have to start all over again. This feels great, though. It was definitely fun with all of the people here." The ever-improving Ward got fifth overall with a 7-3 and seems to be coming to terms with his Honda now, espedally in the second m9tos. Great Western Bank / Xtreme / CTi2-backed Phil Lawrence got sixth with a 5-8 and gladly took Skoal's privateer money again. Albertyn took seventh with an 8-7 after crashing in both motos, Team Noleen's Kyle Lewis got eighth with a 10-6, Tony Amaradio turned in a 12-11 for ninth and PJ1/Xtreme/Burnsville Yamaha's Jimmy Button finished in 10th with a 159. And for the second National in a row - where did McGrath finish? - you must be wondering. McGrath was running as high as second in the first molo, faded, fell over, and eventually finished ninth. In the second moto, McGrath was looking strong and got to fifth place behind the Henry/LaRocco/Ward/Emig duel and was closing in when he crashed on the same double-jump that Albertyn crashed on in moto one. He would then pull off, looking like he was shaken up pretty badly. He was. McGrath wasn't around for comments after the race, but Team Manager Wess McCoy was. "He (McGrath) went over the bars and the bike landed on him," explained McCoy. "He (McGrath) scuffed his helmet up pretty good and hurt his left hand, arm, shoulder and hip. When he pulled off, I wasn't going to question him - he could barely lift his arm up to grab the bent clutch lever. Things didn't go well for Jeremy today." No, they didn't. And only a few will know before next week at Binghamton the extent of his injuries. McGrath only picked up 12 points on the day for his ninth in moto one and Emig has taken the points lead by eight points, 472-464. LaRocco sits in a distant third with 361, Albertyn holds down fourth with 333, and Ward controls the fifth position in the standings with 285. The crowd was estimated to be at about the 16,500 mark and that keeps up nicely with the growing numbers of fans that have been turning out for this year's Nationals. Track conditions were excellent as a low cloud cover kept the track at just about the right consistency, .and the temperature hovered around the 7D-degree mark. The track was spectacular, roUing through the hillsides like a true outdoor circuit, and it contained a fair amount of SX-style obstacles that kept the fans entertained. 125cc NATIONAL The start of the first 125cc moto was a Lamson affair as he ran off with another holeshot, followed by Team Splitfire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Chad Pederson, and AP Graphics / Twin Air/Alpinestar's Tom Clowers was in