Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES Emig seemed to lose his momentum as Bradshaw began hounding the Kawasaki rider. Moments later, Bradshaw passed Emig, who immediately came back and stuffed him in the next turn. That move seemed to only fire up Bradshaw even IIlOre, and he came back a few turns la ter to repass Emig for good. Henry's lead at this point seemed insurmountable, but Bradshaw, showing signs of the Bradshaw of old, began closing up the gap. Time would run out though, and Henry ended up winning the first 250cc heat of the year. Bradshaw surprised everyone with . his strong second-place finish while Emig surprised e~eryone by falling back to third after leading. Craig finished right on Emig's tail, gladly accepting the went off the track and his night was done. . And then there was former factory Yamaha rider Damon Bradshaw, now a "privateer" riding under the Manchester Honda Racing (MHR) banner. A much more relaxed and easy-going Bradshaw, who like everyone else had not raced aJ the Coliseum since that fateful afternoon when he lost the SX title to Jeff Stanton in 1992, came out and nearly won the first heat race, but a first-lap crash relegated him to ninth in the main. While the 250cc program featured surprises aplenty, the outcome of the Western Regional 125cc feature was entirely predictable. And it will be a long season for the West Coast competitors who have to compete against Team Yamah~'s Kevin Windham. The Louisianan simply dominated the evening's proceedings in the 125cc class, winning both his heat race and the 15lap feature with seemingly relative ease. But Team Primal Impulse/Honda's Robbie Reynard did give Windham a run early on. ln fact, Reynard passed Windham on the first lap and would lead him around . the track for two laps before Windham got him back. From then on, it was all Windham, while Reynard dropped back to a distant second with major arm pump. "He came in with forearms like iron," said Team Honda's manager WessMcCoy. After getting stuck in the gate, Team Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki's Casey Johnson turned in a spectacular ride. Starting dead last, Johnson had control of fourth by the third lap and would fini~h third, despite a late-race challenge by teammate Craig Decker, who is obviously fully healed from the serious back injury he sustained in 1995. There was one particular incident during the 125cc feature that had many talking afterward. It was an on-track brawl between Rusty Holland and Michael Brandes that lasted for several t'-. seconds. Who knows how long it would 0'\ have lasted had it not been for an AMA ;::: official who had to jump in and break up the fight. It began when the two riders, who were dicing over third early in the race, tangled and went down. With their. bikes piled' on top of each other, it appeared as though Holland grabbed Brandes and threw him back into the middle of the track as the rest of the pack was still racing past. Brandes was struck by at least one bike and it was after that the fighting began. Neither of 8 (Above) Team Yamaha's Doug Henry proved to everyone that he'll be a serious contender for the 250cc title. He finished second in both his heat race and the feature. (Right) Team Primal ImpulseIHonda's Robbie Reynard gave Windham something to think about early In the 125cc main. Reynard led for a while, but would eventually finish second with major arm pump. the pair was allowed to continue and both were directed back to the pits by AMA officials. Both riders were reportedly disqualified for the night and put on one-year probation. No fines were levied. As mentioned earlier, this was the first time since 1992 that the LA Coliseum had hosted an AMA Supercross race, and it was also the first time that the track utilized nearly all of the stadium's infield, resulting in the longest and perhaps best Coliseum track ever. The Dirt Werx-built track also featured the famous Peristyle uphill/downhill section. 250cc The first 250cc heat race of the '97 season got under way with Emig jumping into the early lead, followed by Henry, Honda of Troy's Mike Craig and Bradshaw. Emig set the pace for the first couple of laps, but was caught off guard when Henry and his factory Yamaha pulled alongside in the only long whoop section of the track and dived underneath the leader in the following turn. Moments later, Bradshaw swooped by Craig for third. On the next lap, Henry' cased it over a jump, giving the lead back to Emig. .But it wouldn't last for long. Henry obviously felt good in the whoop section and zapped Emig again in the exact same spot as the previous lap. This time, however, Henry wasn't about to give up the lead again and he simply pulled away. last non-stop ticket to the main event. Fifth went to Yamaha's John Dowd while sixth fell to Kiedrowski in his first race back in over a year. LaRocco was next across the line, followed by Yamaha's Lusk, Swink and Albertyn, who had crashed early in the heat. McGrath's first official race on his Suzuki was what everyone was waiting for in the second 250cc heat race. Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes led the pack into the first turn while McGrath got pinched off in the middle of the pack. The defending champion came out of the right-hand, first turn in good shape, however, after making a couple quick passes, and was soon up to second. Lamson settled into third, followed by A!lstralian Lee Hogan. Before the lap was through, McGrath had already passed Hughes, who was suffering with a stomach ailment and was in a familiar position on his unfamiliar mount. McGrath looked his usual self as he gradually pulled away from Hughes, who had his hands full with Lamson. Hughes and Lamson squabbled for second for a few moments before Lamson took control. By this point, McGrath had worked out a fairly comfortable lead, but Lamson wanted nothing more than to ca tch his former teammate and make a statement. And he did just that. Lamson closed the gap on McGrath 8Jld started pushing the four-time champ. The two diced down to the last lap, where McGrath tried a quick pivot turn but bobbled. Lamson railed the outside and shot into the lead. With only a half-lap left, McGrath just didn't have the time to retaliate. In fact, he was lucky to hold on to second as Craig was right there ready to pounce. "Lamson rode good," McGrath said. "I was pretty nervous, but l'm always nervous in the first heat race of the year. 1I "I felt real good, didn't make any mistakes," Lamson said. "I followed Jeremy for a while; he made a little mistake on the last lap and I snuck by him there. Lamson, McGrath, Craig and Chaparral Yamaha's Jimmy Button, who battled past a sick Hughes late in the race, all transferred directly to the -feature. Finishing one spot out of the money was Suzuki-mounted Kyle Lewis while Hughes dropped all the way back to sixth. Hogan finished seventh, followed by Team Next Moto's Kawasaki-mounted Ray Crumb, Chaparral's Phil Lawrence and Suzuki rider Mike Chamberlain. J'n the first 250cc semi, where the top five riders transfer to the main, Lusk, AlbertyIl, Dowd and LaRocco took up the first four positions, while Kiedrowski and Swink began mixing it up for the last transfer. Lusk led for a couple of laps before Albertyn made his move, but Lusk, answered back irnmedia tely. Bu t so did Albertyn. The Suzuki rider blew by the Y8!Daha for good down the whoops, but Lusk kept him honest the rest of the way. Dowd, who will compete in the 250cc class when he's npt riding a 125 in th East Coast events, rode a steady race, keeping laRocco at bay the whole way. Kiedrowski and Swink, meanwhile, went down in a heap when, after getting passed by Swink, Kiedrowski tried to get him back by stuffing him in a tum! A little overzealous, perhaps, Kiedrowski slammed into Swink and both riders hit the deck. Benefiting the most from the duo's gektogether was Yamaha rider Mike Brown, who suddenly found himself all alone in fifth - and in the main event. The second semi saw Hughes score a rather uneventful wire-to-wire victory while Ward maintain.ed the pace in second the whole way. Lewis did the same in third while Lawrence passed Hogan late in the race for fourth. Hogan, a newcomer to the series, made the main event in his first try with a solid fifth. Suzuki rider Mike Chamberlain, Georgia's Matt Shue, Swink and Washington's Ryan Huffman all battled back and forth for the final two transfer positions of the night in the LCQ. Shue was leading the way in the early going only to come up short over a double and nearly take out Swink in the proces . Swink found himself out in front ahead of Chamberlain and Huffman, but his off-track excursion cost him a trip to the main. Huffman ended up getting~ around Chamberlain for the win. A multi-rider crash in the first turn left Kiedrowski high and dry, so h,e packed it in e.arly and headed to the pits. McGrath got tlle jump in the 20-lap feature, but any plans he had of scoring a start-to-finish win were erased when he was tagged from behind by Lamson. "I had an awesome start," McGrath said. "Lamson got caught on my rear wheel, and I couldn't go. But that was no real problem; I got up behind everyone, took off, then I kind of tipped over. Got up behind everyone again, then [ passed Lamson. Il

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