Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS THOIWARTS UNUMITED AltA SUPERCROSS SERIES Albertyn came up and stuffed the Yamaha rider in a tight turn for second. At the same time, Lamson was left behind, lying face down in a tricky, whooped section of the track. He was slow in getting up and eventually walked off the track and back to the Honda pits. '1 just came up over the wh~ps, and 1 just endoed," Lamson said. "I hit so hard I didn't know what happened. I hit my chest and I couldn't breathe. I went back to the pits and started coughing up blood." Lamson went to the hospital and was told he had bruised a lung in the crash but was otherwise all right. Meanwhile, out in front, McGrath held a bou t a two-second lead over Albertyn, who had gained a few bike lengths over Button. A little ways back, Emig was on the chase but had his hands full with Ward. As the lead pack began encountering lapped traffic on the relatively short track (approximately 48c second lap times), Emig started getting the upper hand on the Honda rider, but Henry was coming on strong. The Yamaha rider eventually pulled up right behind Ward and stalked the Honda rider for a number of laps before getting around him. By this time, Emig, Henry and Ward had closed the gap on the third-placed Button but, somehow, Button then managed to pullout a few bike lengths on Emig again. As the race reached the late stages, McGrath had built up a five-second lead over Albertyn, who was running all alone in second. In third, also all alone, was Button, but Emig had plenty of company in fourth, namely Henry, Ward, LaRocco and Craig. With just a few laps to go, Emig and Henry were fully engaged in a serious dogfight that at one time saw Henry jump over the back of Emig's Kawasaki. Henry eventually outgunned Emig through a section of whoops and took over fourth for good. At the finish, it was McGrath taking the win with a little more than five seconds to spare over his teammate Albertyn, who had some breathing room over Button. A little ways back, Henry finished just ahead of Emig, Ward, LaRocco, Craig, Lusk and Lawrence. "I was just trying to hit my lines, be smooth and stay consistent," McGrath said. "The hardest part was the whoops after the finish line, and I wanted to be smooth through there. The rest of the track was easy. Believe it or not, that was the easiest race of the year for me. When everything is flowing - it's £lowing." "I got a horrible start," Henry said. "Thli first tum was like a wave going through, just get in there and go with the flow. I'm real happy with the way I rode tonight. The last couple of weeks I haven't been happy with the way I've been riding. I've got this championship dialed now, I know what I need to do and I have the right mind-set." Putting in one of his strongest showing ever was Oregon's Ryan Huffman, who started off the race in 11 th and finished there too. Huffman finished just ahead of Brian Swink, who slipped backward a bit after starting the race in sixth. Palmer went from 16th to 13th at the finish, while Rich Taylor, Jason Frenette, Doug DeHaan, Brian Stone, Heath Voss, Mike Katin and Lamson rounded out the field. l:N Melrodome IIInnNpoIIs, IIm.-oca Rnults: II8n:h 16, 1997 (Round 8 of 15) 250 HEAT 1 (I Iapo; :10 rid.... top 4 _.d, 1. Jeremy McGrath (Suz); 2. Doug Henry (Yam); 3. Ezra (Right) Frenchrilan David Vulliemin returned to ArMrlca to finish out the West Coast 125cc Series. He ended up second and climbed into second place in the series S18ndings. (Below) Team Yamaha's Kevin Windham blew everyone away in the 125cc Western Regional main event to exte~serlespoints lead. At one point Tn the race, he led by 12 seconds. AMA Western Regional125cc SUpercr05S Series Round 5: Metrodome Windham smokts'tm By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones MINNEAPOUS, MN, MAR. 15 eam Yamaha's Kevin Windham had to wait exactly four weeks to make up for his rocky performance at the previous 125cc West Coast Series round at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he crashed twice and did not even make the podium. At the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Windham more than made up for his Indy blunders with a resounding win in the 15lap, 125cc main event. Windham was siIDply in a class all his own at Minneapolis, as he led from start to finish, barely working up a sweat. The defending series champ jun1ped out to an early lead and, at one point, enjoyed a 12-second advantage over the second-place rider before turning down the volume late in the race. "The last race really didn't go the way I wanted it to," Windham said after smoking the field. "I haven't been very consistent, making a few mistakes, so it was real important for me to not only get the holeshot but to go ou t there and ride to as close of a flawle race as I could, and I felt like I didn't make any mistakes the whole 15 laps. That's probably the most important thing out of the whole weekend, 'cause !bat's how you win championships - consistency." Finishing second was Frenchman David VuiUemin, who spent the first half of the race in fourth place before making his move. By the time the FMF/Yamaha rider got to second, Vuillemin had no realistic chance of catching the long-since-gone Windham, but he did close the gap on the factorysupported Yamaha rider to five seconds. by the finish. Third place went to Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki rider Casey Johnson, who spent much of the race dicing back and forth with teammate Craig Decker, the fourth-place finisher. Noleen Racing/Pro Flex rider Jeff Willoh rode a strong race in second for seven laps before dropping back to fifth at the finish. Vuillemin came from behind to win the first 12Scc heat race. He rounded the second tum in sixth place and clawed and scratched his way to the front. Yamaha rider Cory Keeney was the early leader, and he battled fiercely with Pit Pro/Suzuki's Chris Wheeler. At one point, the two riders passed each other bad and forth four times in one lap. And, on that same lap, Keeney ana T Lusk (Yam); 4. Mike Craig (Hon); S. Phil Lawrence (Yam); 6. aiff Palmer (Suz); 7. Jason Frenette (!(aw); 8. Greg A1bertyn (Suz); 9. Brian Stone (!

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