Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127846
(Lell) John Dowd returned t o his old stomping grounds at MX 338 and smoked everyone. He laid them away in both 250cc Nat ional motos. (Abo ve) Ricky Carm ichael won yet another 125cc National; however,thls tim e he di d no t w in both motos . The series leader went 2ยท 1 for his fifth win of the year. (Above right) Robbie Reynard passed carm ichael and rode to victory In the lirst 125cc moto. A seven th-place finish in the second netted him second overa ll. (Right) Sories 250ce leade r Jeff Em lg posted 6-2 mota fi ni shes l or second ove rall. the first rnoto, but in the second rnoto, I rod e my own race, pulled a nice lead, and got the win ." A slo w- s ta r ti n g Reynard finished seventh in the second 125cc moto, but was still awarded second overall, based on his 1-7 tally. Team Yamaha', Windham d id not have his best stuff in the sand, and seemed d isp leased wit h his 34 showi ng for third overall . French man Pichon (6-2) a nd Carmichael's fellow Floridian Ferry (5-3) rounded out the top five overall. Carmichael's win was again parlayed into a massive points boost after one of his principle rivals suffered a zeropoints tally in a moto. This time, it was Team Honda's Scott Sheak who took the biggest hi t, going 4-35 after a secondmota crash and falling from 45 points to 74 down - almost three motos behiod the points leader. Still, Sheak maintains second in the standings behind Carmichael (258-184), w hile Windham inched hi, wa y into third with 173 points. Honda of Troy' s Mike Craig dropped to fourth with a 27-5 tally and a 171-point total, while Primal ' Impulse/Fox Honda rid er Reynard is ranked fifth with 159. "We have seven more races and anything can happen," Ca rmichael sa id of his poi nts lead . "We could have another m udfest (like High Point - Carmichael's only loss of the yea r) or something else. I'm just going to go home, kee p training, and hope the best is yet to come." In th e 250cc cla ss, Emig d oes not enjoy quite as massive a lead as his teenage counterpart Ca rm ichael does, bu t the defending class cham p ts nearly two rnotos ahead of new runner-up Dowd, with a 44-point advantage (256-212) as th e series nears th e halfway mark . McGrath slipped back to third with 209 points, followed by Ward (171) and Lusk (167). Southwick', MX 338 is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and Dowd 's emotional win will no doubt be considered the pinn acle of the silve r an niversary. The loamy, da rk -sa nd track was its us ual gnarly self, wit h deep, loose berms and countless w hoops to test the riders. A couple of small double jumps were added for the Nationa l, but the tr a ck retained much of its old-school flavo r. The overwhelming consensus among the riders in the pits was that the track wa s in excellent shape for Sunday', race, though rain wreaked havoc on the 250 cla ss in both motos . In between showers , the jampacked facility felt like a sauna . Lap times averaged abou t two minutes all day long . 250cc NATIONAL Dowd led Hughes, Team Chaparral's Phil Lawrence, Moto XXX's Brian Swink, and Yamaha teammate Lusk into the first turn in the middle of a cloudburst. The Suzukis of McGrath, laRocco and Albertyn were all mid pack. " I do n 't k now what that was all about," a surprised Dowd said of his first -mota holeshot off the paved starting grid . "It was raining and all, and I could tell that the race was going to be di rty and nas ty if I didn't get out front early. So I was really conce ntrating on the start, and I gu ess I had a little luck or something ." 9