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/127851
Pingree was a season-high fourth overall with a 4-8 showing, while Brian Deega n o f th e Moto XXX and th e Metal Militia was fifth overall with a 5-10 tally. Carmichael again rebounded nicely in the points standings after giving some grou nd at previou s races -After struggling slightly at Unadilla a week ago, the 17-year-old rookie padded his lead to a season-high 87 points with his runnerup finis h on Su nday aft er title rivals Kevin Windham and Scott Sheak again both suffered inconsistent results. Yamaha's Windham twisted his ankle in one of countless deep ru ts in the first moto and scored a 15th-place finish as a result. He scrambled for third-place points in the follow-up race, but the damage was don e as far as his recent momentum goes. As for Sheak, the amicable New Yorker had a day he might like to forget in the Ohio heat. After posting a solid third in the first race, Sheak wilted in the second mo to, as d id so many other top riders. Fueled by pride alone, he so mehow finished the race, but his ou t-of-thepoints 23rd -p lace finish meant that the only reward he got for his effor t will have to come from w ithin. Carmichae l carries 381 tota l points with four races to g o, w hile Wi nd ha m reta ined second with a 294-point tally, and Sheak carries 254 . Rounding o u t th e top five are steadily rising Mickael Pichon (229) and Team Honda /Primal Impulse/Fox Racing's Robbie Reynard. As for the 250cc standings, Emig is in co mple te co ntro l aft er his seco nd st raight two-moto sweep . With fo u r race wins under his belt - twice as many as anyone else - Emig is well on his way toward winni ng the fourth major title of his ca reer. Th e 26-year-old hold s 397 total points - 61 mor e than his nearest competitor John Dowd, who ran 6-4 for sixth overall. McGrat h is still third with 309 points to his credit, followed by Yamaha' s Ezra Lus k (269) a nd Ward (250). The jump-i nfested Kenworthy' s track is a difficult one und er the bes t of circums tances , bu t Sund ay's epic wea ther mad e the pl ayin g field eve n tougher. With a heat index as advertised above at 115 degr ees and the regular temp pu shing 100 without the humidity, the race may have gone beyond being a "s u rvival of the fittest." (CNN rep orted that it w as s o hot just d own the road in Cincinnati - wit h a tem pera tu re of 152 down on the artificia l turf - tha t the clea ts on the shoes of Cincinnati Red s baseb all players were melting.) Instead ; it wa s a matter of some pe ople being physicall y abl e to deal with the heat, while others were not . As for the track it s elf, a tailor -mad e ra in pattern throughout th e week left th e g ro u nd damp and tacky. The usual Kenworthy's menu of jump after jump after jump saw some added spice in all of the lines, ruts and braking bumps that emerged on the long, ot herwise flat track. The swe ltering we ather did little to d ampen the large crowd that came out in the sun to cheer the riders o n. Attendance w as esti- mated at more than 14,000. 250cc NATIONAL Da mon Brad shaw g ra b bed the holeshot ahead of McGrath to start the first mote and seemed to be on the gas as the pa ck sta rted bounding around the Kenworthy' s track. However, Bradsha w suffered cramping early and got sick, forcing him to pull off before the halfway point due to the heat. McGrath was in the lead by the end of the first lap, but by tha t time Emig , had d isp laced Lusk for third a nd the n made quick work of Bradshaw for sec- For the first 20 minutes of the race , Ward was all over Emig , but the Honda rider just couldn't make a pass. "Larry Ward surp rised me for sure," Emig said of Ward' s second -race attack. "I didn't want to ride any faster than I had to a nd Larry was really charging. He alm ost made a move on me a couple of times and I really had to work to sta y ahead of him . To be honest with you, I kind of wanted to back off. [ was thinking, 'Com e o n, m an , le t' s ju st get through th is d ay: It was just a reall y tough day to be out there racing motorcycles." Ward fina lly let go toward the end a nd se ttled for a hard-fought second and seco nd overall. "I won the first 250cc Na tional mot o of my career here and I reall y like this track ," th e South Carolina transplant said . "I was trying ali I could to get Jeff because I really wanted the moto win, but he just d id n't make any mistakes:' McGrath ro de in third for several laps before the heat star ted to ge t to h im . H e was o ve r ta ke n by Hugh es, Dowd and an ot he rwise quie t Mike laRocco as the laps counted down. (Left) Emlg 's teammate Damon Huffman made It a Kawasaki sweep at Troy. Huffman also won both 125cc motos, giving him his first National win in over a year . (Below ) Honda of Troy's Larry Ward gave the loca ls something to cheer about, as he fini shed a strong seco nd overa ll I" the 250cc class. ond. It appea red th a t th e fa ns wo u ld have a great Emig/McGrath battle on their hands, bu t afte r on ly a few laps Emi g was pa st the st ruggli ng Su zuki rider and well on his way to the win. " I had to ge t past a cou p le of the Yamaha guys, w hi le Jere my got ou t front," said Emig of his longtime rival. " I fel t kin d o f threatened right th en because this is pretty mu ch a su percross track and it suits him we ll. l just went after him and the heat seemed to get to him befo re it got to me." "It's not even fun to rid e out there," McGrath sa id . "The heat index is like 115 or someth ing, and you can't even breathe. There's nothing you can do to co ol d o w n but drink a nd drink and drink, but wh en it comes down to it , you just have to suffer." Wh en asked about th e race itse lf, McGrath seemed pleased to be back up near the front after last weekend's horrib le Unadilla ou ting. "My confid ence level has been really low , so being up th e re with Jeff fo r a little wh ile wa s pretty good, " McGrath said . Albertyn rose through the pack from about a 10th-place sta rt and score d third-place points ahead of Lusk and a p o or-sta rtin g Larry Wa rd . Dowd -s recent hot streak seemed to end on the jumpy Kenworthy's tra ck, and he rolled across the line sixth, ahead of Honda of Troy' S Mike Kiedrow sk i a n d e a rly crasher Hughes. " It was bad. I was actually having do uble vision," a spent Albertyn said as he lay down in the winner's circle. "It was .so hot that it was hard to eve n think out there. I de hydra ted badly." Emig stole the "holeshot from Larry Ward on the inside of the first tum in the second moto, while Lusk, Dowd, Hu gh es, McG rat h and Kawasakimou n ted Brad Hagseth gave chase.