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/127831
SUPERCROSS THORA'ARTS UNUMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES the main event, though this was the standard 250. In the Last Chance Qualifier, Suzuki privateers Mike Treadwell (from Maine) and Barry Carsten (New Jersey) bettered Japanese import Yoshitaka Atsuta, though all three made the main event due to Daytona's unique 30-man format. When the qualifying was all over with and the main event kicked off from left to righ t across the infield, it was Emig with yet another holeshot to collect the 1-900-PRQ-RACE Holeshot Award. "I've always been a good starter throughout my career, but this year I've been really working on my starts and my Kawasaki motor and Bridgestone tires are getting me off the gate quick," Emig said. Right behind the leader Emig rode L.usk, Bradshaw, Henry, Ward, Albertyn, privateer Ryan Huffman and Lamson. At the far end of the pack with horrible starts were the Suzukis of LaRocco and McGrath. "On the start Jeremy and I hooked up," Craig said. "Normally I holeshot everything but I came off the gate bad, we hooked bars and both of us were medium pack." "I got tangled up with Lamson and Craig off the gate and started last," said McGrath. "I just backed off quick and tried to cut inside of everyone, but that didn't really work out, either, so I just started passing people right away. I just set a goal for myself to pass as many people as I could and no matter what place I got, that kind of effort would be good enough." McGrath definitely had his work cut out for him, rounding the second tum in 23rd place. While Emig settled into a fast pace up front, Henry charged past Lusk on the second lap and appeared ready to mount a charge. Unfortunately for the friendly Henry, he just didn't have his best stuff at Daytona and it started to show on the fifth lap when he began a slow drop through the pack that would land him in 10th at the finish. "I just had some problems out there, some of it a holdover from a crash I had at Gainesville," Henry said. '1t just kind of screwed me up because it messed my' arm up a bit - my right arm is not working so good. I got hay-bale cover in my back wheel but I was already gone before. I was riding tight and that will be gone next week." As for losing the points lead, Henry said it didn't bother him much at all. "It's still early and there's a long way to go. It's not like I had that huge of a points lead anyway. I just wasn't riding well today." When Henry started to fade, the first man to make a move was Albertyn, who was riding extremely smoothly on the terribly rough track. Albertyn dispatched Henry on the sixth lap to take over second.ยท "I thought about going aiter Jeff (Emig) right away but he sure was riding good," Albertyn said. "The track is so rough and it's so difficult to just keep riding smoothly every single lap. I'd close up a little bit on him then I'd make a mistake and it would open up and then I'd close it again." Unfortunately for fans of bar-banging action, the race for the win was effectively over as soon as Emig exited the first turn with the lead. The streaking Kawasaki rider put together a superb 20lap effort that only saw him challenged briefly after 12 or 13 laps when Albertyn started to push his five-second comfort zone. "He was pretty close the whole time, catching up then slowing down," Emig said of Albertyn. "He kept me going the (Left) Threetime MX World Champion Greg Albertyn found the long and extraordinarily tough Daytona Supercross track to his liking; he finished a well-eamed second. (Below) Jeremy McGrath came from way back to finish a respectable third. in the lead with Team Green/Kawasaki of Carrollton/Xtreme-backed Jeff Dement and Ferry following. Dowd rode fourth ahead of Jim's MC Sales/Hammerhead/Ballzee-backed Jim eese and Sheak. For one half of the nearly 25-minutelong race, Pingree led as Ferry scooted along behind him in second. Sheak moved up to third at one point but then the veteran Dowd started charging past everyone after five laps. Before he could get to Pingree, Ferry did. a pass for the lead of his own, much to the delight of the partisan' crowd. But the fatigued Ferry's time up front would be shortlived as Dowd carved his way right on by with a classic ou tside-in move through an 5-turn. The race for the win appeared to be over until Dowd made a mistake. While bounding through the softest set of whoops, Dowd got a little sideways and took a right tum off the track. . "I'm not sure what happened that time but believe me it wasn't the only time I nearly crashed," the eventual winner said. "The bike shot out to the right AXO team. The difference between Carmichael's winning time and Roncada's was 23 seconds. The chances for Carmichael or Roncada to win the main event disappeared in a sandy dust-up in the first tum when Team Chaparral's Michael Brandes appeared to overcharge the first lefthanded corner and dropped the two heat-race winners in one big heap. '''I'm not sure what Brandes was thinking but he about killed all of us," a disgruntled Carmichael said later. "I don't know what he was doing but it was pretty stupid. That's the way it goes sometimes." Carmichael would suffer bent handlebars in the crash and would spend about 15 seconds getting them raised back up off his tank before re-entering the race. On the other end of the track, Montana-born Pingree was setting the pace and I went through banners off the track. Fl!iT}' got by me but I managed to stay on the bike, so that was good, I just cut back in behind Tim and had plenty of time to make another pass." Dowd didn't wait long. Going through the stadium whoops in front of the grandstands with two laps to go, Dowd just plain outmuscled the Suzuki pilot by plowing through the whoops at a faster clip. "I just got a better drive out of the comer because I went to the outside and hit the whoops straight," Dowd said. '1 was past him (Ferry) before we got to the comer, so there was no contact or any of that stuff." Dowd rode off to the finish line with the victory. In the process he took back the 125cc East Region points lead on Ferry. '1 lost the points lead again but I'll whole time and kept me moving forward, so I couldn't really slack off any at all." Emig didn't slack off. He finished five seconds clear of the Suzuki pilot. McGrath would finish a long way back in third with Lusk winning a close battle with LaRocco and Lamson for fourth. Then came Craig, Ward, Button and Henry. The flu-addled Bradshaw fell all the way back to 15th. '1 got a little tired but not as tired as I thought I would," Lusk said. "I rode hard the whole time and I think Jeremy and I put on a hell of a battle there for the fans. He was pressuring me and I thought maybe I'd just let him by and see what kind of lines he's got. I did and I stuck with him. But no excuses - he beat me." "Things just didn't go my way today," said LaRocco, who nonetheless took control of fourth in the points standings. '1 didn't get a great start, and then I started making mistakes when I was coming up through. My ankle is bothering me, too, and I didn't quite have 100 percent of my strength. I'm hoping to get it all together here real soon." . 125cc Pro Circuit/SplitFire's Carmichael completely dominated the first 12Scc heat race, leading American Honda's Sheak and Yamaha's Dowd by a comfortable margin. Dowd had fallen in the first turn and came from dead last to third, along the way learning some new passing lines that would come in handy in the main event. Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada . won the second race over Florida's own Ferry and Georgia-based Robbie Skaggs of the Manchester Honda Racing/