things," Albertyn said. "This is my third
podium finish in a row, and my confidence is high. That second moto went
really smooth and I was comfortable.
This is the closest feeling I've had to my
European days (on the GP circuit)."
Third overall in the 250cc cli3,sS went
to a very happy Larry Ward of the
Honda of Troy team. Ward kept Emig in
'sight for most of the first moto until
Albertyn zapped him toward the end
for third, and a seventh-place ride in the
second moto was still good enough to
give the Honda rider a well-deserved
spot on the podium.
If there was one rider at Hangtown
who captured the hearts of the large
· crowd, it.was Henry who muscled his
I works YZM400F four-stroke Yamaha to
a fourth overall finish after running'
• among the leaders all day, and he certainly proved to those in attendance that
the factory Yamaha is not lacking in the
horsepower department. He was second
off the line to Eniig in the first 250cc
moto and kept him honest throughout
much of the race, but as one Team
Yamaha member said, "There's plenty
of power there, but it just takes a little
more work." Henry, who hasn't raced
since the St. Louis Supercross on April 5
after injuring his hand, just couldn't
maintain Ernig's pace at the end, and the
fatigued rider dropped to ninth before it
was all over. Henry reportedly nearly
collapsed from exhaustion after the first
moto, only to come out in the second
race and pull the holeshot and run second for. a long time before getting
passed by Emig. Henry managed to
hold on and finish third, giving him
fourth overall, one spot ahead of Team
Suzuki/1-BOO-Collect/Suzuki of Troy's
Jeremy McGrath.
McGrath just couldn't get the starts
he wanted. In the first moto, he rounded
the first turn in ninth, climbed to seventh, crashed, pattled fiercely with
Henry at the end and finished eighth. In
the second mot<>, McGrath got an even
worse start aJld climbed up to fourth on .
the fast and hilly Hangtown track.
Sixth on the day went to McGrath's
teammate Mike LaRocco, who went 4-8,
while seventh went to Honda of Troy's
Mike Kiedrowski 00-6). Rounding out
the top 10 overall were Yamaha's John
Dowd (5-12) and Chaparral/Yamaha's
Jimmy Button 02-9) and Phil Lawrence
04-10).
Other notable finishers were Yamaha's Ezra Lusk, who crashed out of the
first moto and took fifth in the second
moto for 12th overall, and Manchester
Honda's Damon Bradshaw, who posted
10-14 moto finishes for 14th overall.
No one even came close to Ricky
Carmichael in either 125cc ational
moto. The Kawasaki rider simply blew
away his competitors in seemingly easy
fashion. Carmichael holeshot both
motos and ran away to a pair of uncontested wins for his second overall victory of the two-race-old series.
The only rider who even remotely
stayed close to Carmichael all day was
Primal Impulse/Honda's Robbie Reynard, who maintained a six-second
deficit on the Kawasaki rider for much
of the first moto. That distance would
stretch to about nine seconds before it
was all over with Reynard taking sec- .
ond oyer Honda's Scott Sheak and
Honda of Troy's Mike Craig.
In the second moto, Carmichael, on
his Chad Watts-tuned id starts, rooe my own
race, put in some good laps,"
Carmichael· said. "The track is kind of
like Gainesville (his home track) and my
bike is running gO<>d, and I'm ready. It
feels gooo. I can't believe I'm doing it
(winning ationals), actually. I don't
know, I'd like to thank the whole team,
my mechanic Chad Watts, and Johnny
O'Mara for getting me trained for this.
I'm comfortable with my bike but I just
have to keep it up."
Sheak, in what was his best performance since joining Team Honda, took
runner-up honors with a 3-2 showing,
and Reynard ended up third' with a 2-6
performance. Craig rode. up front all
day long and ended up fourth ove'rall
for his efforts with a pair of fours. Fifth
overall went to Pro Circuit/SplitFire/
Kawasaki's Casey Johnson (5-5), followed by Suzuki's Mickael Pichon (6-7)
in what was 'his first ride back since
breaking his leg at the supercross opener in Los Angeles. After Pichon came
another Pro Circuit/SplitFire/Kawasaki
rider Craig Decker (8-9), followed by
Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada 038), Primal Impulse/Honda Shaun Perolio (11-10) and Chaparral/Yamaha's
Michael Brandes. Finishing lIth overall
was Yamaha's Kevin Windham whose
bike broke on the starting line and was
unable to start lhe first moto (see
Briefly...). Windham did come back to
post a third-place finish in the second
moto.
Defending 125cc National Champion
Steve Lamson of Team Honda was not
among the top-10 finishers at Hangtown. Lamson was making his comeback at Hangtown following a thumb
injury sustained earlier in the year, but
just two laps into the first moto while
running in the top three, Lamson reinjured the thumb and will now again
have to sit out a number of races. Lam.son finished out that first moto in seventh pla.ce but did not start the second
moto (see Briefly:.. ).
250cc f>lAllONAl
The first 250cc National moto saw
£mig power his Jeremy Albrecht-tuned
KX250 into the lead, followed by Henry,
Thor /Primal Impulse/Bill's Pipes'
Buddy Antuez and Ward, who had con-
trol of third before the first lap was over.
Emig, Henry and Ward soon broke
loose from the rest of the pack, with
Antunez hanging on to fourth place
over Dowd, Albertyn, Lusk, McGrath,
Hughes and LaRocco.
For a while, Henry pressured Emig
and even made a couple of pass
attempts but could not make any of
those attempts stick. At times, Henry's
thumper would produce a puff of blue
smoke, something Henry's mechanic,
Pete Steinbrec1ler, said is "normal with
this bike," as result of a crankcase
breathing system that sometimes. allows
crankcase oil into the exhuast.
Emig found it difficult to concentrate
with Henry's thumper so close behind.
"It's hard to hear your bike with that
damn four-stroke behind you," Emig
said. "It really is, it's kind of armoying,
but Doug is showing some really good
speed on it, and that's encouraging."
It wasn't until.about 10 minutes into
the 30-minute-plus-two-Iap race that
Emig started to break away from Henry,
and Ward, and it was also about this
time when Lusk crashed and rooe back
to the pits with'a broken clutch lever.
Moments later, Kiedrowski, while running ninth, ran into the back of LaRocco
and went down. He got back up and
joined the race a distant 10th.
By the halfway point, Emig had
opened up,a semi-mmfortable lead, and
Ward had gotten by Henry for second,
but that wasn't easy.'
,
'1t sucks," Ward said of dicing with
Henry and his four-stroke. "Because he
goes slow in the comers, so I get alongside of him, but then his bike is faster
dbwl\ the straightaways: But I knew he
wouldn't last, I knew he would go back-'
wards. I was hoping Emig wouldn't, get
too far away."
But he did. .
Hughes and Albertyn, meanwhile,
were involved in a heated battle that
would carry them right past Henry.
LaRoc'co moved up to seventh after
McGrath crashed, and Antunez held
down eighth. Bradshaw ran ninth, while
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