Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS AMA l251250cc National Championship MOtocross Series By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones . DELMONT,PA,SEPT.1 or the second time in the 1996 racing season Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig put up a brick wall against the onslaught of Team Honda/1-S00Collect/Fox Racing's Jeremy McGrath. In April, Emig stopped McGrath's perfect supercross season in St. Louis, leaving McGrath 14-1. . On Sunday afternoon at Steel City Raceway, Emig did an even bigger number on McGrath, this time beating him straight up in both motos of the final round of the series. The win clinched the 250cc Championship for Emig and left McGratIi with a second, bigger empty space on his trophy shelf. Ohly two r points ahead going into the final two motos, Emig put in two perfect motos to cap a remarkable comeback - he was 46 points behind McGrath when the month of August started. "I krtew that it was all or nothing and I was ready:' Emig said. "Jeremy' is so good on this track and I knew he was going to be 100 percent and ready after last weekend (when McGrath won both motos at Broome-Tioga). So I had to be smart and fast all day and not let the pressure get to me." "What can I say? Jeff was just a little better than me today," answered McGrath, who was obviously disappointed in losing the championship but at the same time a gracious loser. ''I'm upset that I lost but I can't be too bad off, right? r mean, I've had one of the greatest seasons ever and I've got a lot of time (in this sport) ahead of me. r lost the race today and the championship went with it. That's just the way it goes. I congratulate Jeff - when I opened the door with my injury he was there to take advantage." McGrath was speaking about the ,practice crash at the 10th-round race at Millville, Minnesota, that left him with a severely sprained ankle. When asked how thing might have been different ~ without the injury, McGrath said, "Heck 0\ yeah, it would've been different. I had a M race lead (46 points) before that and things would've been totally different. I won the last three Nationals last year, and I was going 'even faster this year, The title would've been over last week if I hadn't been hurt. But I did learn a valuable lesson from that crash, and r won't be making mistakeS like that again." Unlike his upset will in St. Louis in April, where Emig rode stiff all the way across the finish line, "Jeffro" was cool 6 Fin~l. ro.unds: Steel City Raceway Who would have thought that, at the beginning of August when Jeff Emlg was 46 points down to Jeremy McGrath, that the Team Kawassld fider would be the 1996 250cc National MX Champion? Emlg neYer gave up , hope. as ice and completely on top of his game at the Steel City National. After being passed by McGrath for the lead on the second lap of the first moto, Emig aggressively took the lead back just two turns later by outjumping McGrath on a downhill ski jump, an allor-nothing move similar to the pass he made on Suzuki's Greg Albertyn in the waning moments of Broome-Tioga to hold on to his slim points lead. McGrath tucke m behind Emig and, although he was never more than five bike lengths behind his rival, he never made another pass attempt. For the last 30 minutes of the race, it looked like Emig and McGrath were dancing, so evenly matched and fluid were they on the rather fast Steel Gty track. After a half-hour of mistake-free racing by both partners, McGrath's only hope for a break came with the lapped riders who Emig was approaching, but nobody got in the Kawasaki rider's way long enough to give McGrath another shot. So Emig crossed the finish line with three seconds of lead time and three huge points added to his points lead. That meant that not only did McGrath need to win the second moto, he needed someone else to get between him and Emig for a tie in the final points and the advantage for what would have been his sixth career AMA National Championship. But with the nearest rider - American Suzuki's Mike LaRocco - about 45 seconds behind in the first moto, it was obvious that help would be hard to find. As it turned out, LaRocco's teammate Greg Albertyn had the speed to finish second in the final 250cc moto, only about five seconds behind the leader. The only problem for McGrath was the fact that it was Emig again out front, leading from the first tum to the last to claim the second AMA National title of his career. (Emig was the 1992 125cc National Champion). "I wanted to throw a spanner (wrench) in the works there and I guess I did, but I wanted to be there in both motos, not just the last:' said Albertyn, who was involved in a first-turn crash that left Team Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes with a broken ankle. (And might possibly have solved the Motocross des ations question once and for all - see Briefly...) "I like both Jeff and Jeremy, but I wanted to win for myself!" Albertyn ended up fourth overall via his 11-2 tally. When asked how he would have felt about playing the spoiler, third o~erall Mike LaRocco (3-7) said, "Well, I think Jeremy's won too much this year, but at the same time I don't really like Emig, so I just wanted to win for me and my team." Rounding out the top five overall on the day in the 250cc class was Honda of Troy's Lar,ry Ward, who rode to a quiet but fast 5-6 score. The 250cc race at Steel City was hugely important and the close racing gave the fans their money's worth. However, the 125cc National battle for pride only between Yamaha's lS-yearold Kevin Windham and American Honda / l-~OO-Collect / Fox Racing's Steve Lamson - already crowned the champion a fortnight ago - offered even more close racing. • For every lap of each moto, the 125cc favorites battled up and down every hill, through the corners and through the air - they spent 70 minutes practically sharing the same berm. It was the first day of the entire series that Lamson and Windham started out front together in both motos and it was too close to call in both motos until Windham rounded the last corner first. His 1-1 score marked his fourth ational win of the season (and his career) and assured that the super-exclusive '96 125 National wInner's club kept its membership of two; Lamson won the other nine races. "You know how I love this track:' Windham said in the winner's cirde. "Steve's such a great rider and I knew that I had to have a great race to beat him. He was riding perfect, so I guess you could say I was just a little more perfect this time. It was a good race." "Kevin was just a little bit'better than me today," said Lamson after two very close second-place finishes. When asked if the defeat took any of the luster off his dominating and successful defense of his 125cc National Championship, Lamson said, "No way! I've- had a great season and I'm really proud 01 how I rode all year long, including today. It was a great race and I'm really glad that I was part of it, even though I definitely would have preferred the overall win. Even though I already have the champi-

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