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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127848
As for Dowd 's Yamaha tea m ma te, Windha m, the 1997 outdoor seaso n has been one lon g se ries of disappo intments - until Sunday, where he finally got on th e lead erboard wit h an overa ll w in. After defen di ng class cha m pion Steve Lamson went down with a thumb injury early in the season, man y picked Windham to do mina te the rest of the series: However, a ruthless streak of bad luck and th e sud d en arrival of 17-yea r-o ld Ricky Ca r mi chael on th e scene co m bined to keep Wind ham from winning even a mo to u ntil Sunday . Bu t a fte r grabbing the first-moto holesh ot, Windham seem ed to find his old speed, and wen t o n to w in the ra ce h a n d ily over Honda teamm ates Scott Sheak an d so n. Windham didn' t ge t th e sa me great start in the seco nd moto and wa s forced to work hi s way fro m 11th to third in order to wrap up the overall win. Ahead of him rode the long -gone Carmichael and Kawasaki's Da mon Huffman, w ho recovered from a d isastrous 22nd in the firs t moto to post his best outdoor sco re of the year. "I've been on the wa y to a win several times this yea r, but th e list goes o n when it co mes to why I d idn't win," said Wind ham, who won four 125cc Nationals las t yea r on his wa y to th e v ice champions hip . "W it h th e field being as stacked as it is now, the re are too many fast g uys to make m istakes. Today, 1 really didn't ma ke any, and I hope that's all behind me now . I'm glad I coul d keep things going all day long this time. ,I d efinitely feel better about myself. Th ere really hasn't been anything th a t I've done wrong - it 's just been a bad -luck deal until now:' Carmichael, himself the victim of a mediocre start in the first moto, finished 4-1 fo r seco nd overa ll to Wind ha m , w h ite the r eturn ed La mson was a n imp ressive thi rd o v e rall wit h a 3-4 showing . Bu t even tho ugh he finished . seco n d to Windha m in th e r e su lt s, Ca rm ichae l saw his poi nt s lead g ro w from 74 to 83 on the rest of the pack in th e chase fo r t he 1997 AMA 125cc Nationa l Cha mpionshi p, as Sheak, his closest competitor in the points go ing into Red Bud , cras hed out of the secon d m ot o wh ile battling fo r the lead . Carmichael no w leads Wi ndha m 301 218, while Sheak d ropped back to third with 206 points. Rou ndi ng ou t the to p fi ve in the p o ints a r e Primal Impulse /Fox Racing's Robbie Reynard (187) and Honda o f Tro y' s St ephane Roncad a (179). In the 250cc class, Emig con tinues to lead th e series, just as he 's d one s ince the first moto of the yea r back in March. The defending class cha mpion holds 297 points to Dowd's 259. McGrath is th ird w ith 247, follo wed by Honda of Troy's La r ry Ward a nd Lusk (20 4 p oi n ts apiece). The course - desig ned and groomed by promoter Gen e Ritchie's crew for the 24th annual Red Bud Na tionals - was a long, fast affair with several spectacu lar jump sections that held the attention of the record cro wd of mo re than 20,000 s pectator s. Th e demanding track was also d otted by deep ru ts a nd braking bumps that tested the rid ers' stamina in Defending 250cc champ Jelt Emig was 8 fa vorite to win at Red Bud and he did just that in the fi rst mote, bu t a first-lap get-olt relegated him to ftfth In the sec ond moto and second ove rall on the day. Lam- weather that varied from s5-degree heat to a cool sprinkle o f ra in before th e opening moto, then back to the hot stuff. The skies threatened to open up all day long on the biggest outdoor cro w d of the seaso n, but real rain never came . Track time s on the dust-free tra ck hovered around the 2:45 mar k all da y long. 250CC NATI ONAL Emig sco red th e ho leshot when the first 250cc-c1ass moto blasted arou nd Red Bud 's fast left-h and sweeper , and pre tt y m u ch checked o u t fro m there . Lusk and Dowd ran second and third, followed by Kawasaki's Ryan Hug he s . an d McGrath. Hu gh es' rece nt string of good finishes w ould end before the firs t la p was over w hen he jumped off the side of a tab leto p and cras hed on to th e infield . Ryno was no t too badly hurt, but the triple clamp on his Kawasaki snapped, send ing him back to the pits early. Emig wa s cu tting a sharp line around the Red Bud track and d id not let up for th e entire ra ce . By th e time the moto ended, he w as well o u t in fr ont and cruising all alone. "I just reall y get pumped up .to race her e, from th e moment I pull into th e track in th e morning until the very last lap," said Ernig, whos e Fro fan cl ubs w ere o u t in fo rce. "The crow d is just great her e, and it makes it really easy to push th e whole way because yo u ca n hear them the who le time:' Whil e Emig wa s guid ed by the voices , Dowd was mi xing it up wit h Lu sk a nd McG rath for the runner-up spot. Near the halfway ma rk, Lusk had a bad lap and le t both r id ers arou n d h im . Then Dowd see med to momen taril y wil t und e r th e pre ssure of McGrath a nd relinquished seco nd place. " I was getting a little tight o nce I realized he wa s right on me and push ing me," Dowd said of the chase. "I wa s boun cing off things a nd no t really rid - ing sm ooth. I was starting to get a little anm pump, but once he got by I relaxed a nd s ta r ted looking a ro u nd for so m e better lines . On ce I re laxed and recuperated, 1 was able to make another cha rge and get around him." As for Emig, Do wd ne ver got d ose enough to chec k him out. "jeff wa s rid ing really well," Dowd sa id , "a nd I neve r rea lly go t close enoug h to see where he was ma king his tim e up at, if he had some kind of fancy line or somethin g - he was just on it: ' Lu s k fell la te in the r a ce , givi ng fou rth and fifth, respectivel y, to Larry Ward and Mike laRocco. Lus k finished six th, fo llowed b y HoT' s Mike Kiedrowski , Tea m Chaparral' s jimmy Bu tton , No leen's Tony Ama ra d io and Moto XXX's Brian Swink, a Michigan native. Failing to fi nis h a long w ith Hughes were cras h vic ti m s Da mo n Brads haw, w ho would ha ve fi nish ed fourth if not fOT a late-race crash, and Greg Albertyn. Th e blue Yamaha s o f Lusk and Dowd blasted into the first tum together ahead of. everyone to s ta r t the second moto, Lusk earned the ho leshot honors, but Dowd had the lead by the tim e they reached the first downhill ski jum p on th e track. Em ig was a clo se th ird and w ould a lso p a ss Lu sk qu ick ly , but befo re the first lap was comp lete, the clima ctic moment of the race took place: Emig tried an outside line around Dowd in a ti ght corner where tw o berms con verged into one. "jeff tried to rail around the o utside of me bu t the lines end ed up coming together ," Dowd ex pla ine d . "O n thi s track , there's a lot o f d eep berms out there where o nce you' re in it, you can ' t ge t out. I was goi ng to the same pla ce he was and we bo th knew it, and we each tr ied to ge t o n th e gas . We knew we were going to hit, bu t lu ckil y fo r me I wa s the on e who stayed up ." In the carn age that resulted, several riders went down with Emig, including the hard-lu ck Albertyn, who ha s been s truggling since he fin ish ed second at th e San Berna rd in o N ational back in mi d -M a y . Emi g w ould r eco ver from J7th to-fifth , marking the fourth straight Na tional wh ere he's cra shed on the first lap of a mot o and been forced to work throu gh the pack. "What can I say? I just love to pass," . Emig la ter jok ed. "A ctually, I've been having some really bad luck on the first lap s of these races, but I'm pretty ha ppy with the way I've recovered each time. After all that, I still have the poin ts lead , which is good, but I reall y wa nted th e ove ra ll here at Red Bud tod ay ." Dow d would lead the res t of th e race while Lusk and McGrath battled for second , until McGrat h fell in a slow, rou gh berm a nd s ur rend ered his position to Suzuk i tea m mate La Ro cco. La Rocco would in tum get into a duel wi th Lusk for second, but Yogi did a masterfu l job of holding o n to the runner-up spot. . "Mike was right there at the end, but I wa s able to hold him off," sa id Lusk, who finished sixth in the first m ot o, "We were catching john and all, and I knew tha t he would s till win the ove ra ll if I passed him, so I actu ally tried to go after him a little - but he was jus t riding really well." ."I didn' t ge t away from th ose gu ys too far, and towards the en d I was getti ng a little bit nervous," sa id Dowd , who wou ld lead the rest of the race from that po in t on . "jeff's fa llin g obvious ly helped me ou t a little beca use he wo uld ha ve been tou gh to beat in th e second moto. Tha t' s just racin g, I guess, because I've been down a few times like that this year, bu t th is time it went my way." 125cc NATI ONAL After a bri ef delay to cha nge a spa rk . plu g o n Bri an Dee g a n ' s M oto-XXX Suzu ki, the 125cc class blasted from the start with Wind ham in cha rge - his third 17