Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" &?;,!:::"~~ i;!:':;- ~oi',f:~ ~ »,,~ .... , ,~ "'~'~'.... ~ ~- .- (Left) Team SuzukV1-S00-collect's Greg Albertyn survived the mud to finish second. (Below) Team Honda of Troy's Mike Craig (15) finished third in the 250cc feature. Here he battles through the first turn during a heat race. Antunez, McGrath, and Husaberg/ UFO's Guy Cooper. LaRocco got stuck in the gate and started last. Cooper surprised many by passing McGrath in the first, slick whoop section to take over third, but by the end of the lap McGrath held the position behind Craig with Cooper fourth. McGrath hopped into second when Craig cased the finish-line jump on the beginning of lap two, while Antunez and Lusk went by Cooper in the following section of whoops. As Craig and Antunez were scrapping over third, Lusk moved up on the duo and passed them both at the beginning of the sixth lap. Up front, McGrath finally passed Hughes in a corner with the two making contact. "I just slid into Ryno and there was nothing I could do," McGrath explained. "[ was ju t trying to stay on two wheels and have fun." At the finish it was McGrath taking the win followed by Hughes, with Lusk and Antunez hanging on to the final transfer spots. Going to the semi was fifth-placed LaRocco, Craig in sixth, Moto xxx/a' eal/HSKS of Ocala's Brian Swink in seventh and Kawasaki's Damon HuffIDan in eighth. Cooper finished 11th after stalling the big fourstroke late in the race. Kiedrowski and Emig went in to the first turn of the second heat side by side, with Button, Ward, Holland and Lawrence in tow. Emig and Kiedrowski went back and forth for the first lap with Emig finally securing the lead over the finish-line jump. Emig ran off with the win from there, while Kiedrowski held a close s'econd until a trip into the hay bales dropped him to sixth. Ward assumed second, where he would finish, and Lawrence held third. Albertyn had a good charge coming on from the middle of the pack to ultimately pass Lawrence for third over the finish-line jump. Lawrence's luck got worse as he fell in the whoops, giving Kiedrowski the fourth and final transfer to the main. Lawrence ended up fifth, with Button, Ryan Huffman, Holland, and F&S Suzuki/Barr's Competition's Cliff Palmer in ninth. Cooper looked to have the holeshot in the first semi but slid wide and crashed, handing the lead spot to a dueling Huffman and Craig. Swink, Pocorobba and GFI/Wiseco's Yoshitaka Atsuta were also ~ the hunt off the gate. Craig made a pass stick on Huffman for the lead on lap two and Huffman hung dose to take second at the checkers. Pocorbba maintained third to the finish but behind him, LaRocco was on the move and battled with Swink before taking over fourth for good on lap two. Swink finished fifth to transfer, and just missing out were Goodman and Cooper in sixth and seventh, respectively. Button put his YZ into the lead in the second semi, followed by a ba ttling Palmer and Swink, Bradshaw, Lawrence and Holland. Ryan Huffman moved into second on the first lap but a crash in the rhythm section saw him drop to seventh. Lawrence moved into second and hung on, fini hing behind his teammate Button. Bradshaw worked his way past Kame's Sports/Xtreme's Mike Katin Jr. and Palmer to take third by the finish. Palmer went to the main in fourth and Holland barely held off a charging Ryan· Huffman at the finish to earn the final, fifth-place ticket out of the semi to the main event. Goodman, Ryan Huffman and Cooper waged war for the finaI two transfer positions in the last chance qualifier. Goodman and Ryan Huffman stuffed each other a few times which gave Cooper some opportunity to catch up, but the two finished one-two respectively, denying Cooper and his- Husaberg four-stroke a trip to the main (see Briefly...). The track was becoming more and more ridable as the night wore on, and was actually starting to get a little tackier by the 250cc main event - except for the start straight and first comer which was slicker than ever. Emig jumped out to a runaway holeshot in the main event with Huffman, Hughes, McGrath, Kiedrowski and Antunez following righ t behind. As the pack slid up and into the first turn, McGrath was involved in a pileup that included Antunez, LaRocco and Palmer, among other , and Huffman went down in a separate incident while trying to stay with Emig. Huffman injured his wrist and retired for 'the eyening. McGra th struggled to get his bike untangled from the pile and resumed in 14th. Suprisingly, Emig's teammate Hughes began to pressure him for the lead right away. Kiedrowski was third, followed by Button, Bradshaw, Craig, Holland and Albertyn. On the fourth lap Emig pulled off the unthinkable and completed the first triple jump of the night on the front section, and Hughes followed suit - except Hughes came up short, but somehow held on to the second spot. "1 knew that triple could be done," Emig said. "1 had just started jumping the double before it out of the comer from the inside and I just had so much speed, it made sense to jump it. It was interesting for the crowd and it wa probably a little faster." Hughes slid out and crashed near the front triples on lap nine, handing Kiedrowski second. Button ran in third, followed by the now-upright Hughes, Craig, Albertyn, Bradshaw, a charging McGrath, LaRocco and Ward in 10th. Hughes got by Button and then Kiedrowski to regain second 'place on lap 12, but another crash, on lap 15 while trailing leader Emig by 30 seconds, would -drop him to 10th by the finish. Albertyn and Craig were on the move and assumed second and third, respectively, as Hughes played in the mud. Emig continued to triple the front section of jumps and the crowd was loving every minute of it, but he nearly flew off the track on the landing ramp on lap 17. A misty rain that started late in the race made the track slicker and riders were tossing goggles at every turn. McGrath moved past Kiedrowski in the rhythm section on lap 18 to secure the fourth position, but that's as far a the four-time defending champ could get as time ran out. Emig lapped the field up to eighth place to take the win, with Albertyn, Craig, McGrath and Button closing out the top five at the finish. Kiedrowski finished in sixth, LaRocco was seventh and Bradshaw eighth. Lusk had an uneventful ride to finish ninth and Hughes took 10th. t'" Texas Stadium Dallas, Texas Results: April 26, 1997 (Round 14 of 15) 1SOcc HEAT 1 (8 laps, top 4 transfer, 20 riders): 1. Jeremy McGrath (Suz); 2. Ryan Hughes (1(aw); 3. Ezra Lusk (Yam); 4. Buddy Antunez (Hon); 5. Mike laRocco ($uz); 6. Michael crug (Hon); 7. Brian Swink (Kaw); 8Damon Huflman (Kaw); 9. Joe Benyak (Hon); 10. Yoshita" Atsuta (Han); 11. Guy Cooper (Hbol; 12. Pat Foster (Suz); 13. MIke Jones (Kaw); 14. JefT Dement (1(aw); IS. Paul Lindsey (Kaw); 16. Cory Keeney (Yam); 17. Grayson Goodman (Yam); 18. Anthony Pocorobba Jr. (Suz); 19. Joseph Oehlhof (Kaw); 20. Kenny Bartram (Suz). Time: 10 min., 46.300 sec. 2SOcc HE.A T 2. (8 laps, top 4 tr.,nsftr, 20 riders): 1. Jeff ErrUg (1(aw); 2. lMry Ward (Han); 3. Greg A1bertyn (Suz); 4. Mike Kiedrowski (Hon); 5. Phil Lawrence (Yam); 6. Jimmy Button (Yam); 7. Ryan Huffman (Kaw); B. Rusty Holland (1(aw); 9. Oiff Palmer (Suz); 10. James Eckel (Kaw); 11. Travis Hodges (Yam); 12. Tomohiro Shibayama (Suz); 13. Damon Bradshaw (Hon); 14. Jason Frenette (Kaw); 15. Brad Woolsey (J(aw); 16. Tommy Johansson (Suz); 17. Jody North (Suz); lB. Mike Ulrich (Hon); 19. Ty Kady (Suu; 20. Mike Kalin Jr. (Yam). Time: 10 min., 27.850 sec. 250c( SEMI 1 (6 laps, top 5 transfer, 16 riders); 1. Mike Craig (Hon); 2. Damon HuHman (Kaw); 3. Anthony Pocorobba Jr. (Suz); 4. Mike LaRocco (Suz); 5. Brian Swink (Kaw); 6. Grayson Goodman (Yam); 7. Cuy Cooper (Hbg); 8. Yoshitaka Atsuta (Hon); 9. Joseph OchLhof (Kaw); 10. Mike Jones (Kaw); 11. Joe Benyak (Hon); 12. Cory Keeney (Yam); 13 Pat Foster (502); 14. Kenny Bartram (Suz); 15. Paul Lindsey (Kaw); 16. Jcff Dement (K.1W). Time: 7 min., 29.620 sec. 250cc SEMI 2 (6 laps, top 5 transfer, 16 riders): 1. Jimmy Button (Yam); 2. Phil Lawrence (Yam); 3. Dolman Bradshaw (Hon); 4. Cliff Palmer ($uz); 5. Rusty Holland (Kaw); 6. Ryan Huffman (Kaw); 7. Mike Katin Jr. (Yam); 8. Brad Woolsey (Kaw); 9. Jason Frenette (Kaw); 10. James EickeJ (Kaw); 11. Tomohiro hibayama (Suz); 12Mike Ulrich (Hon); 13. Jody North (Suz); 14. Tommy Johansson (Suz); 15. Ty Kady (Suz); 16. Travis Hodges (Kaw). Tune: 7 min.• 17.900 sec. 2S0cc LCQ (4 100pS. top 2 tnnsfC!T, 22 ridC!rs): 1 Grayson Goodman (Yam); 2. Ryan Huffman (K.... w); 3. Guy Cooper (Hbg); 4. Mike Jones (Kaw); 5. M;ke Kalin Jr. (Yam); 6. Pat Foster (Suz); 7. Joseph Oehlhof (Kaw); 8. Yoshitaka Atsuta (Hon); 9. Jason Frenette (Kaw); 10 Cory Keeney (Yaml; 11. Travis Hodges (Kaw); 12. Jeff Dement (Kaw); 13. Joe Benyak (Hon); 14. Tommy Johansson (SU2); 1-. james Eckel O

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