SUPERCROSS
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SUPERCROSS SERIES
Yamaha's Travis Preston and R&S Racing/ American Suzuki-backed Ryan Clark
finished eithth and ninth, respectively.
Kawasaki of Mexico/Tecate's Erick
Vallejo joined teammate Gonzalez in the
main by winning the LCQ. Pro Circuit/OCS-sponsored Steve Andrich,
Goodman and SCR/Yamaha-backed
Jeromy Buehl finished fourth and snuck
into the main.
The 12Scc main event was all Windham a5 he holeshot the main event and
ran away. Off the start he was shadowed by Willoh, Lytle, Reynard and
Owens. Reynard was into second within
a half of a lap, but Windham was
already stretching out his lead. Gonzalez was able to move through the pack
and around Willoh for third on lap two.
Johnson put away Owens and Lytle
and began to pressure Gonzalez for
third. V uillemin was fighting forward
from his 10th-place start and was charging in seventh before sliding out and
losing six positions "On lap six. He could
only muster a lOth-place finish after the
setback.
By the midway point, Windham had
the race all but won, and once Reynard
and Gonzalez had control of second and
third, respectively, the race for the podium quickly settled down. At this point,
it was just a matter of waiting for the
checkered flag to come out and when it
did, Windham flicked his Yamaha over
the finish-line jump with his fourth win
of the season.
Reynard _finished a distant second,
followed by Gonzalez. Johnson took
fourth and was chased across the finish
line by Lytle, Willoh, Currie, Brandes,
Vallejo and Vuillemin, in that order. c.~
(lett) Team Primal
ImpulseJHonda's Robbie
Reynard finished second and
moved into second In the
points chase with 109, 19
points behind Windham.
(Above) Team Kawasaki of
Mexico's Pedro Gonzalez took
third and visited the podium
for the first time since Seattle.
Houston Astrodome
Houston, Texas
Results: March 22, 1997 (Round 6 of 7)
125 HEAT! (6 laps, 1-9 tnnsfetto maW: 1. David
Vuillemin (Yam); 2. Robbie Reynard (Hon); 3. Cory
Keeney (Yam); 4. Michael Brandes (Yam); 5. Charles
Bogard (Suz); 6. Trey Owens ill (!n. Craig and Kiedrowski: the gates' looked
110ticeably slimmer for the se'mis and last chance qualifier, The
125cc class. on the other hand, had over 60 fiders vying for a
shot at the 22-rider main.
Team Yamaha's Doug H~nry and' Ezra Lusk have been running the explosive 1994-modei YZ250, - resonator chamber"
oylinders on their works biKes for much of the seaSon. 125cc East
Coast contender John Dowd still runs the '97 cylinder on his
VZ250. nklrig its smoother power delivery. "Henry and Lusk like
the extremely aggressive power delivery that the '94 cylinder produces." .said Yamaha's Bob Oliver. -Most people can't eV.en hold
on to those bike. butthafs what they like."
•
There seems to be a little controversy brewing between the AMA
and Nac Nac Enterprise's Je...my McGr~th. In order to be ~Ii
gible for the 1-900-PRO-RACE Holeshot Award money, a rider
must run the sticker on his front number plate. The problem is that
McGrath has his own 900 number, 1-9QO-680-FAST, and sees it
as a conflict of interest. McGrath doesn't want the holeshot
money, but the AMA wants hiDl to run the sticker. He did not run .
the sticker in Houston.
P.eople may have started to wonder whaf s gollen into Team
Long-time- Honda privateer and factory tester Rich Taylor has
ChaparrallYamaha's Jimmy Button since he's turned things
around tbis season with a third in Minneapolis ,last weeK and· a
left Honda and showed up at Houston with a new F&S-backed
Suzuki. "I'm through with Honda this year: Taylor'explained,
fourth in Houston. -I've spent the last couple of weeks over at
-They. didn't cqme through with $Ome promises and j wasn't mak- Jeremy McGrath's house training and riding:'Button divulged.
ing. enough money: especially Without cqntingency money any"I'm going' to .do the same this week. and ifs helping me Qut quite
main event.
. . .
more (Honda dropped its contingency program for'97). I've really
a bit. Jeremy is a real positive p.erson and he knows what it takes
got to thank F&S for heiping me oul on such late notice and' now j
to go 'out there and get the job done, Being arolJnd someon'e like
Team Honda/Foxs Steve .Lamson decided not to ride aher can make some, valuable cOhtingency money with ~uzukl. I really. that: all it does is just rub off on you end .make you a better rider.
inj,uring his right th~mb in a. practice crash on f;riday, Laf(1son had
love 'the eike ugh, 'and I,just feO <:>ver io a corn'er. My right thumb got
Pro Circuit among others. T-ayl,?r r"de'a complet.e.ly" stock..
coupl!,' s first child. a. son, Ryan joseph, on 'Sunday, M~rch 23. at .,
caught on the thro.ltle <:>r something" I ·tried to ride around 'in prac- ,motora.9 RM.250. except for.a Pro Circuit pipe and silencer. with a
6,10 a:m. in -Massachuselts. bowd did' not 'ride his 250 in last
tice today (Saturday) and I fust c'ould~'t hoid on.·1 really h"pe'l'(Tl
Factory Connecfion-modified suspensjon. The Ketchum, .Idaho
week's Minn'eapolis round' or :ihe Houston round (both of y-mich .
ready fQr next weekend (Orlando; Florjda) - if ifs, not.better I cen't
native looked good on the bike. but. a h.eat-race crash in tbe
are t25cc Wesl rounds)'in preparation for the ,birth; Dowd GUrafford to ~rag any of these injuries' along through the seasons."
",hoops left him with an injured: knee and 'he re.tirl!d for the
rently leads· the 125cc Eastern Region i;)uperoross sedes, which'
Lamson's thumb-was markedly sv;ollen and cut:.
.
evening.
resume~.next weekend- in Orlando.- Florida.
Suzuki privateer and 125cc West Region rider Steve Andricli
, had his gear .bag stolen from hili vehicle pn Friday night -and was
leh without any gear to compete in. A mad scramble to locate and
borrow gear on Saturday netted the Lake Elsinore. California. resident the necessary equipment: Andrich finished 19th in the t25cc
