Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.MOTOCROSS Cham .onshi AMA 1251250cc National Motocross Round 12: Broome-Tioga Sports Center (Left) Team Honda of Troy's Mike Craig holeshot the second 125cc mota and held off Windham for four laps. He finished with a 4·5 for fifth overall. (Below) Suzuki's Greg Albertyn rode strong, especially In the second mota where he held second place until the last lap. He finished on the podium In third with a 4·3. 16 Windham Rat out ran away from the pack and had a four-second cushion over Lamson at times, which grew to about 13 seconds when Lamson'5 brake pedal started sticking about lap seven. Lamson would close the distance back up to six seconds at the end of the race, but to no avail - Windham had enough time to pull three heel clickers on the last lap. Oddly enough, the heel clicker seems to be both Lamson and Windham's trademark jump. Huffman got around Craig on lap . five to take over third after hounding him for a couple of laps, and they would stay in that order until the ·checkers. Dowd had to work his way up from about a 10th-place start and eventually battled his way around the likes of Gonzalez, Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk and the hard-charging Antunez for the fifth position. Lusk would crash on his own on lap six and would later pull off. At the checkered Rag it was Windham, Lamson, Huffman, Craig, Dowd, Antunez, Reynard, Brown, Gonzalez and Team Spitfire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Chad Pederson battled up to 10th after being as far back as 18th on lap two. Team Honda of Troy's Phil Alderton (owner) and Erik Kehoe (manager) must have been doing cartwheels when Brown and Craig led the rest of the field out of the first comer at the start of the second 125cc mota. By midlap, the leaders were sorted out and it was Brown, Craig, Windham, Dowd, Pederson, .Antunez, Lamson, Pingree, Manchester Honda / Sinisalo's Scott Carter and Lusk closing out the top 10. lt would take Windham about four laps to get around Craig on one of the hills on the course, but once Windham got out in front he was gone again. Craig and Brown held second and third, respectively, until Dowd was able to reel in Brown for third on lap five and Craig for second on lap seven. He was moving. Lamson fell while pressuring Brown early on and fought valiantly from as far back as 14th to finish an incredible third. Huffman was in about 13th on lap two after a mediocre start, but was charging through the pack and got up to third on lap 12 before Lamson made him a casualty and put him in fourth a few laps from the finish. Reynard moved through the pack pretty briskly after a start just inside the top 20, to sixth by lap i2. . Windham had as much as a nine-second lead, but at the finish Dowd had cut that to about four - hoping for that mistake that could end the heel-elickorama. Huffman came across in fourth, followed by Craig, Reynard, Antunez, Brown and Team Chaparral's Michael Brandes. 250cc. NATIONAL The anticipation for the start of the first 250cc moto was extremely high throughout the Sports Center. Could McGrath be competitive Or was the number-one plate already sitting on Emig's mantle? Emig received some encouragement from a wild kid with a fro and got a good laugh out of it before the gate fell. lt helped Emig to a good start, but not the one he wanted. McGrath pulled a gangbuster holeshot, followed closely by Emig. After the first turn it was McGrath, Emig, Albertyn, Ward, Henry, laRocco, Palmer, Hughes, Smith/ Thor / Pro Circuit-backed Rich Taylor and REP / Answer-sponsored Eric Reily in the top 10. Team Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw ended up nearly dead last. McGrath tried to run away with the race, but Emig kept the gap anywhere from two to five seconds apart throughout the mota. ear the end of the mota, Emig put on a charge while he and McGrath were fighting lappers, but he could not make it happen and finished just two seconds behind McGrath. The paints gap between the two went from eight to five, still in Emig's favor, after the mota finish. Meanwhile, Albertyn, Ward, LaRocco, Hughes and Henry would wage an intense battle about six seconds behind Emig. They fought tooth and nail before LaRocco eventually got into third and put some distance on Albertyn in fourth. Hughes and Ward went back and forth on laps 12 and 13, but Ward held off Hughes to the finish. When the checkers waved, it was McGrath, followed by Emig, LaRocco, Albertyn, Ward, Hughes, Henry, Button, Palmer and Team Honda of Troy's Brian Swink at the finish. When the riders in the second 250cc. mota rounded the first comer, McGrath clutched out again and had his second holeshot of the day. Albertyn came next with Lewis, Yamaha's Doug Dubach, Scott/ Axo-backed Ryan Huffman, Bradshaw, LaRocco, Palmer, Ward and Emig in chase. Emig looked to have a great start in the works but got pinched off from the outside and pushed back before the first turn. lt would be a long haul to the front for him. Taylor, Button and Hughes all started from way back in the pack. . McGrath was off and running his own race, but Albertyn was only about two seconds back. LaRocco was running third behind teammate Albertyn when he crashed into a hay bale, leaving the SX portion of the course, and would remount in 16th. He would eventually get back up to eighth by the finish. McGrath and Albertyn, running first and second, put about 15 seconds on Ward in third place by lap nine. Ward was being pressured heavily by Lewis, Emig and Bradshaw, who all were riding very aggressively - not giving an inch to anyone. Emig eventually pushed Warp onto the heels of Albertyn in second, and got by Ward to take third on lap 13. U they would have finished this way, Emig and McGrath would be tied in points going into the Steel City National. But it wasn't to be. Emig closed in on Albertyn.and made the pass on him with half of a lap to go, thereby retaining a two-point lead in the standings. Albertyn rode valiantly and tried his best, but he was exhausted from riding at McGrath's heated pace for so long. McGrath crossed the finish line with about six 'seconds to spare over Emig's inspired ride to retain the points lead. Albertyn took third, followed by Ward, Lewis, Bradshaw, Hughes, LaRocco, Henry and Palmer. fN Broome-TIoga Sports Center Binghamton, New York Results: August 25, 1996 (Round 12 of 13) 125 MOTO 1: 1. Kevin Windham (Yam); 2. Steve Lamson (Hon); 3. Damon Huffman (Kaw); 4. Mike Craig (Hon); 5. John Dowd (Yam); 6. Buddy Antunez (Kaw); 7. Robbie Reynnrd (Han); 8. Mike Brown (Hon); 9. Pedro Gonzalez (Hon); 10. Chad Pederson (Kaw); ll. Todd DeHoop (Suz); 12. Brian Deegan (Hon); 13. D.avid Pingree (Kaw); 14. Tony Lorusso (Han); 15. James Dobb (Suz); 16. Kim Ashkenazi (Hon); 17. Barry Carsten (Sut); 18. David Kratz (Suz); 19. Nathan Ramsey (Suz); 20. Paul Currie (Kaw); 21. Scott Sheak (Suz); 22. Shaun PeroUo (Kaw); 23. Shane O'Connor (Han); 24. Jason McCormick (Hon); 25. Scott Carter (Hon); 26. Casey Johnson (Kaw); 27. Tom Clowers (Suz); 28. Gerardo Gandara (Suz); 29. Anthony Pocorobba (Suz); 30. Michael Brandes (Suz); 31. Tom Welch (Yam); 32. James Mellvaine (Hon); 33. Chad Sanner (Kaw); 3'4. RonaJd Faisst (Suz); 35. Keith Troccoli (Suz); 36. Patrick Waitt (Yam); 37. 8iJ1

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