Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS AltA SUPERCROSS SERIES (Left) Four-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGI1Ith finished third· a vast improvement over his 15th in round one. Here he battles Damon Huffman, who rode his Kawasaki to a fourth-place finish. (Below) Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig and Team Suzuki's Mike laRocco got together a number of times during the 250cc main, ending any hope of a good finish for either rider. Emlg and laRocco finished 14th and 15th, respectively. 8 and Craig worked his way back up to ninth. Albertyn grabbed first-eorner dirt in heat two with teammate Mike laRocco, Lusk, Lamson, Chaparral's Jimmy Button, and HoT's Mike Kiedrowski in pursuit. Lusk soon got LaRocco when he bobbled, and then charged forward to 'pass Albertyn for first in the whoops on lap four. Lusk took the win from there with Albertyn in second, but the third through lOth raced on. LaRocco let Lamson by for third when he ran off the track in the whoops' on lap five and tangled with Button shortly thereafter. LaRocco remounted to keep his position in fourth, but Button wasn't sp fortunate and finished seventh. Kiedrowski and Bradshaw were able to pounce on the fifth and sixth positions in the confusion. Team Moto XXX/O'Neal/Epitaph's Brian Swink got eighth and Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes worked his way up to ninth after starting dead last. Craig grabbed another holes hot to lead Lewis, Ward, Lawrence, Ward, and Tortelli into semifinal number one. Ward pushed Lewis for a few laps before Dowd moved up through the pack to pass Ward one lap from the finish. Craig got the win followed by Lewis, Dowd and Ward, with Tortelli taking the final ticket to the main-event gate. Lawrence just missed the spot and went to the LCQ with the rest. Chesterfield Yamaha's Mike Brown took the lead in the second 250cc semi and held off the hea vy charges of Kiedrowski to win the race. Anaheim Suzuki's Mike Chamberlain and Brothers Honda-Yamaha-backed Jason McCormick ran in the top five for a while with Kiedrowski, John Matasiavich, Swink and Ryan Hughes. Button got down hard and went to the LCQ, while Kiedrowski finished second, Matasiavich third, Swink fourth and Hughes fifth. Bradshaw started about 10th and couid only work up to sixth. Chamberlain had his Suzuki up front again for the start of the 250cc Last Chance Qualifier, but was soon passed by the hard-charging Button and Bradshaw. Button and Brashaw stayed put and were pleased to squeak by with the final two. positions on the main event starting grid. Lance Smail's factory KTM 550 four-stroke got caught up in the gate and he started last, but Smail rode around and entertained the crowd that loved to hear his valves floating. He was a hit all night long. Lusk took home the posted $1000 holeshot money after squirting to the lead in the 250cc main event, followed closely by Henry, McGrath, Lamson, Hughes, Ward and Albertyn. Ward hopped into first coming down the Peristyle jump, leaving the order behind him Henry, Lusk, McGrath, Lamson, Craig and LaRocco. Emig was ninth. Lewis ran 10th, bu t soon retired with mechanical troubles. Henry and Lusk moved past Ward, taking his line away at the bottom of the Peristyle jump to leave him in third at the end of lap three. McGrath moved quickly and passed Ward in a set of successive doubles to take third soon after. LaRocco and Ernig tangled while battling for eighth on lap four, with Emig getting the raw end of the bargain, and hitting the ground. The two both went down again in a heap in the rotted corner after the finish line, squabbling for 12th and 13th. Emig got up mad and gave laRocco a slight nudge. "LaRocco took me down the first time," Emig said. "So 1 passed him back and rammed him back in the same spot toward the end and then he just launched his bike into me. But, you know, it happens. Him and I get together and we can't ever work it out so I wanted to almost fight him right there. We were in last place and now, thank you, neither of us are going to score points. Of course it isn't the right thing to do, but your instincts take over and I was really frustrated_ "1 still feel like I was riding better than last week and 1 can ride better," Emig commented about his eventual 14th-place finish. "Basically, if I want to get back in this points race, I'm going to have to win some races and I have no problem with that. It's something that I can do." Lamson and Huffman got around Ward to take over fourth and fifth, respectively, on lap seven. Button endoed badly while trying to pass Huffman on lap 10 and finished 18th. McGrath moved up to challenge Lusk for second on lap 13, but' a small brakecheck stalled the offensive. Huffman continued to hound Lamson and made the pass for fourth on lap 18 of the 20-lap race, when Lamson and his works CR250 flailed off the finishline jump and crashed. Henry held off a last-lap effort by teammate Lusk to take his well-deserved win. McGrath rode to a comfortable third over Huffman, Ward and Craig, who passed Tortelli on the last lap to steal sixth place. Albertyn rode to eighth after starting nearly last, Kiedrowski worked up from 14th to finish in ninth and Lamson got back to 10th. 125cc Pro Circuit/SplitFire Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael blazed right to the front of the pack to holeshot heat one and take a relatively easy win. Teammates Pingree and Johnson came next with Reynard in tow. Johnson bobbled and went down in the whoop section, and could only get back to 10th - not a transfer spot. Reynard took over third and passed Pingree for second on lap two. Honda of Troy's Casey Lytle and Deegan got close near the finish and ended up fourth and fifth, respectively. Perolio finished sixth, Stiffie/Sunstar's Cory Keeney was seventh, Kawasaki of Mexico/Tecate's Pedro Gonzalez took eighth and Chaparral/Yamaha-backed Travis Preston got the final transfer position. Windham screamed to one of his patented holeshots in the second 125cc heat and raged to a 10-second lead by the finish. Scott's Kawasaki-backed Travis Hodges, Ramsey, Roncada, Vuillemin, Pit Pro/Suzuki's Chris Wheeler and Lex Malan raced in tow. On lap three, Chaparral/Yamaha's Michael Brandes, Decker, and FMF's Spud Walters piled up together in the whoops. Ramsey got to second and stayed there to the finish, while Vuillemin and Roncada held a large gap over Pit Pro/Suzuki's Chris Wheeler in fifth at the end. Hodges got sixth, Malan seventh, Yoko/Ceet's Scott Davis eighth, and SMP's Tom Oowers took ninth on the bubble for the main. Noleen/Pro-Flex-backed Tony Amaradio broke out with the holeshot in the 125cc LCQ, but Spanish freestyle sensation Edgar Torrnteras wanted to qualify for the show this weekend and was on tbe gas. "E.T." led for a lap before the determined Johnson made his move for the lead and got his ticket to the mam Torronteras took some heat from Noleen/Pro-Flex's Jeff Willoh near the finish but held on, and Decker finished fourth to take the final transfer. The 125cc main event started with a pile 0'£ bikes and fleeing riders tha t claimed any chance of a good start for Johnson, Pingree, Hodges and a slew of others. Carmichael, who wasn't raCing for points, waited for everyone to take off. Reynard had the lead by the end of the first lap for the second time in two weeks, with Deegan, Vuillemin, Roncada, Ramsey, Willoh and Windham all squeaking by to the left of the start crash and racing up front. Windham crashed on his own in the whoops on lap three, remounting in sixth. Reynard had six seconds on Deegan in second place by lap six, Vuillemin was third, with Roncada, Windham, Decker 'and Ramsey a few seconds back. Reynard started to fade with arm pump on lap 12, handing the lead to Deegan. Vuillemin moved into second a lap later, and Ramsey moved into third around Reynard in the whoops soon after. The top four were set and still holding a good, tight pace. Windham was in fifth on the last lap and went over the bars trying to catch up to Reynard. Decker worked up from his nightmare start to finish fifth, with Roncada, Johnson, Windham, Preston, and Perotio capping the top 10 for the evening. L~

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