Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• MOTOCROSS AMA 1M50 NAOONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MOTOCROSS SERIES large downhill on lap five and began closing on his third-placed teamma te, McGrath. McGrath, perhaps sensing the pressure from his teammate, started to turn the heat up on Henry for second. But Albertyn waited in the wings as the two scrapped, and zapped both of them on the infield section of the course to take over second. Emig, meanwhile, was long gone so Albertyn settled into a pace that would carry him across the line some 10 seconds behind at the finish. McGrath pressured Henry through the back section (called Bud's Creek) and made his move to take over third in the infield section of the course on lap 10. Dowd and Lusk worked past Bradshaw on lap eight, and soon after, Lusk began to show teammate Dowd his fender in an attempt to take over the fourth spot. Meanwhile, Team Suzuki/MSR's Mike LaRocco was running consistently fast lap times and also worked his way around Bradshaw into sev~nth. Quite a distance behind Bradshaw came the battling trio of Ward, Kiokeda and Hughes. At the finish it was Emig taking the win, with Albertyn and McGrath closing out the top three. Henry finished fourth, Dowd fifth, Lusk sixth, LaRocco seventh, Bradshaw eighth, Ward ninth-and Kiokeda 10th. Hughes took 11th, Brothers Honda-Yamaha/UFO's Jason McCormick ran well and finished 12th, Antunez got 13th and' Yamaha Testing/O' eal's Doug pubach finished 14th. Antunez shot his '97 CR250 into the lead at the start of the second 250cc moto. Emig followed in second, with Team Noleen/Pro-Flex's Anthony Amaradio, McGrath, Albertyn and Dowd in tow. Bradshaw was slowed by a firstturn mishap that sent many riders off the track, including Henry. Emig wasted no time in getting to the fron t as he quickly passed Antunez in the back section of the course to take over the lead. McGrath and Albertyn followed suit and were running second and third, respectively. Albertyn had his sights set on McGrath and made his pass in a sandy bowl turn, but things quickly went wrong for the South African. After making the pass, Albertyn swapped hard and suffered a violent highside, eventually tumbling to a stop. Miraculously, Albertyn hopped up and jumped onto his bent Suzuki, resuming the race in 16th place. Dowd assumed third after the carnage, narrowly avoiding the tumbling Albertyn. LaRocco ran fourth, followed by Antunez, Lusk, Amaradio, Ward and then further back came Honda R&D/FMF's Ray Sommo, F&S Suzuki/RPM's Cliff Palmer, and Button. Button's teammate Lawrence caught some track banners in his rear wheel and ran in 17th at the end of the second lap. Dowd hounded McGrath and made his move for second on lap three. Then he moved up and started to challenge Emig for the lead. Emig fought off the advances of Dowd, until the New Englander went down in the horseshoe turn t'-.. before the finish line, dropping back to 0\ fifth. Meanwhile, Lusk worked on 0\ McGrath for third and made his move in ...... the same corner, dropping the defending Supercross Champion to fourth. Dowd and LaRocco ran within a few feet of each other in fourth and fifth on lap six and made their move past McGrath within a lap of each other. Meanwhile, Albertyn was blitzing the track with his usual reckless abandon 313: Glen Helen Raceway (Above) Pro CircuitlSplitFirel Kawasaki's Casey Johnson turned in his best ever AMA 125cc National Motocross finish in second overall with a 3-4. (Right) Emig (1) had to work hard to get around Doug Henry's (14) works YZM400F fourstroke, after he holeshot the first 250Cc mota. A bad start in mota two relegated Henry to sixth overall with a 6-12. and trailed Dowd and LaRocco by quite a distance in sixth. LaRocco moved around Dowd to take over third just before the series of hills on lap eight, but mechanical troubles sent him to the mechanics' area. LaRocco resumed the race and finished 30th. Emig led Lusk by nine seconds on lap 10 while Dowd held a comfortable lead over McGrath. Albertyn, however, wasn't done yet. The three-time World Champion moved up and blitzed past McGra th again, but this time on the huge downhill. Henry was on the move and was up to 12th by the end of the 10th lap, closing in on Bradshaw. Emig crossed the finish line with a six-second lead after slowing on the final lap. Lusk finished second with Albertyn, Dowd and McGrath rounding out the top five. Ward hounded Antunez for most of the moto over sixth place, but Antunez held on for the position. Hughes finished eighth, Button worked up to ninth, followed by teammate Lawrence. Bradshaw ended up 11th with Henry 12th, Dubach 13th, Sommo 14th and Palmer 15th. 125cc NATIONAL Just moments after the sun burned through the cool, gray overcast that shrouded the Glen Helen facility, the gate dropped for moto one of the 125cc division. Leading the pack into the tricky, switchback, first turn Was Windham. As the field nipped at his rear fender, Windham led the shrieking Kawasakis of Huffman, Craig, Pro Circuit's DecKer and Johnson - and 36 other competitors - up the steep and formidable, power-robbing start hill. By lap two, Windham and his Alley Semar-tuned YZ had already managed to churn out to a five-second lead over Johnson and Carmichael, who had managed to get around Decker on the back side of the start hill. But it would all go wrong for Windham on the third lap, the Louisianan slowing drastically after having his exhi\ust pipe smashed by one of the many rocks present on the ominously steep, stone-strewn "Mt. St. Helen" uphill. For Windham, who had built up an impressive 12-second lead, it was all for naught. '1 went out and did what I've been thinking about doing," Windham said. '1 was on a roll, and on la p three, I just hit a big rock and totally smashed my pipe flat. 1 pulled in and did a quick pit stop where the guys changed it for me, but it still didn't feel that good because 1 think the rock may have messed up the piston, as well. The bike just wasn't pulling like it should after the stop, but we'll fix it for the second moto and go out and get a great start." Carmichael, the only 125cc rider clearing a massive double jump in the infield section, immediately put a move on Johnson and found himself in the lead. Concurrently, a slow-starting Sheak had caught fire and was moving through the field quickly, passing Pingree on the same lap. As the race neared the halfway point, Carmichael began to pull away from Johnson, who had five seconds in hand over Sheak and, a few seconds back, a close-knit pack consisting of Decker, Team Suzuki's Mickael Pichon and Team Primal Impulse/Honda/Fox rider Robbie Reynard. Just past the halfway mark, Sheak found a way around Johnson in the sandy, multi-line back section of the circuit and began to look for a fast-disa~ pearing Carmichael. "The concrete starting pad was hard to get off of," Sheak said. "Once I got going and in the top 10, 1 knew I would do all right. 1 paced myself and started getting the riders one by one, and sooner or later, 1 was able to get up there and see Ricky. I was happy with that." By lap nine, many of the riders had settled into a pattern as Carmichael continued to lead comfortably, with Sheak second, Johnson third, Decker fourth and a hard-charging Michael Brandes, of the Chaparral/Yamaha team, fifth. Meanwhile, Team Honda of Troy's Michael Craig and Team Suzuki's Tim Ferry began to heat up the proceedings and mount late-race charges in order to pick off positions. Meanwhile, Windham had found his way out on to the circuit after having his pipe, and subsequent tweaks, made to his bike. On the next lap, Craig wailed by Brandes while Ferry closed in on Roncada and made the pass in the back section of the circuit. Ferry would then make a move on Brandes, again in the back section, the very next lap to move into sixth. On the white-flag lap, Carmichael held the point with Sheak some 13 seconds adrift, followed by Johnson, Craig, Ferry, who pa sed Decker in the infield carousel section, Decker, Brandes and Roncada. They would finish in that order and head back to the pits to prepare for moto number two. Welcomed cool and cloudy conditions greeted the com petitors as they staged for moto two. As the pack emerged from the first turn, it was Carmichael pulling Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, Team Green rider Brock Sellards, Decker and Sheak, who had gotten off the concrete starting pad much better this time. Windl)am was way back, mired in the middle of the pack. At the start of lap two, Carmichael was already beginning to put daylight between himself and the field, as Huffman held second. Meanwhile, Sheak got out of shape over a jump in the stadium section, thus sending him off the track and to the back of the pack. "1 got into second on the second lap, and 1 just hit this double that had a lip in it, and it sent me off the track into the hay bales and the banners," Sheak said. "They wrapped right around me and

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