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MOTOCROSS AMA 12M5Occ NAnONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MOTOCROSS SERIES 55. Budds Creek Motocross Park By Davey Coombs Photos by Karl Ockert BUDDS CREEK, MD, JUNE 15 eam Yamaha's Ezra Lusk and Pro Circuit / Spli tFire / Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael each claimed wins at the fifth round of the 1997 AMA 125/250cc National Championship Motocross Series at Budds Creek Motocross Park in Maryland. For the 21year-old Lusk, the 250cc class winner, it marked his first AMA Pro National win; for the fresliman Carmichael, it was his fourth 125cc National win in five attempts this year. "1 was going to give it my best the whole season, but I didn't really expect to get an outdoor ational win this early in the series," said Lusk, who is in his sixth year of professional motocross. '1 didn't really feel too good in practiceI was one or two seconds off the pace. But once the motos came, I was ready to go. I've never really been an outdoor rider, but all of the guys at Yamaha have been a great help in getting me to the top step of the podium." Lusk placed his Steve Butler-tuned YZ250 at the front of the pack five laps into the first moto and rode off to a basically uncontested win over Suzuki's rejuvenated Mike LaRocco and Suzuki's Jeremy McGrath. It marked the first 250cc National moto. win of Lusk's career, and prompted him to a great start in the second moto, though defending 250cc National MX Champion Jeff Emig (a crash-induced fifth in the first moto) would get the better of him. The 26-year-old Emig was second on the day with a 5-1 tally, while former 250cc outdoor champ McGrath put in his best showing (3-4) since the opening round of the series back in March for third overall. Brand-new father Mike LaRocco rode to an inspired 2-6 score to celebrate his first official Father's Day race, while Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes was a solid 4-5 for fifth overall. Throughout both motos of 250cc racing, the action was very close ~nd intense among the top four or five riders, but that was nowhere near the case in the 125cc class. The 17-year-old Carmichael con tinued to devastate the competition, winning his sixth and seventh moto wins out of 10 attempts this year. '1 guess I was just on it today," said Carmichael, who is competing in his first full year of pro-level motocross. "The track was great, I've been working really hard with Jolmny O'Mara to get in shape, and I really wanted to come back strong after what happened at the last race. (Carmichael talked a big game after his lousy 13th overall at the muddy T Team Yamaha's Ezra Lusk posted the first National win of his career after logging 1-2 mota finishes at Budds Creek.