MOTOCROSS
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Round 10: Spring Creek Motocross Park
By Davey Coombs
Photos by Karl Oc ke rt
MILLVILLE, MN, AUG. 4
or the second straight hot, midwest
weekend, a pair of Kawasaki riders
secured the top posi tio ns in th e
1997 AMA 125/250cc National Championship Motocross Series, this time at
Sp ri ng Creek Motocross Pa rk in
Mi llville, Minnesota . .The 125cc race
wi nner was l7-year-o ld Ricky
Carmichael, whose sixth win in eleven
races to date now has him on the verge
of claiming the series title as early as the
next round . And just as he was last
weekend in Ohio, defending class champion Jeff Emig was at the fron t of the
250cc pack again, na rrowly edging out
Team Yamaha 's John Dowd for the win
in another frantic second-mote battle.
"If th ere is one lap to 'go and John
Dowd can still see you, he will give it all
he's got to try to pass you," said Ernig,
who felt that he had the win in hand at
the white flag, only to ha ve the hardcha rgi ng Dowd ge t to w ithin a w heel
length of flying pas t h1m at the checkered "flag. "The guy never sto ps trying,
so you can never let up wh en you're in
fro nt of him. It was jus t like Unadilla,
may be even close r. " Do w ds effor ts
no twit h s ta n d ing, th e red -h ot Em ig
snagged his fifth and sixth moto wins in
a row at Spring Creek and edged ano the r eig h t poi nt s closer to his second
major title of the year. Dowd, w ho turns
32 next Sunday, ran 3-2 for second overall, w hile Suzuki's Mike Lakocco put in
his best ou tdoo r performance in recent
memo ry for a 2-3 third overall. Suzuk i's
Greg Albertyn ran 5-4 for fourth, while
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