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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127869
(Left) Tall, lanky Damon Hullman was unable to put his height to good use on the muddy,
rutted co urse. The Kawasaki rider was fourth.
(Below) Kevin Windham looked exceptio nall y fa st at the start of race one , but nerves got
Ihe besl 01 him and he ended up filth overall.
" I got out front and put m y h ead
d own and cranked ou t five or six hard
laps ," said Lusk. "The next thing I kn ew,
I looked up at my mechanic (Mik e Cosselaar) and he held up a sign that sa id
'Plus 12 seconds.' At that point, I set it
o n cruise control and start ed si nglejumping some of the gna rly obstacles."
Ward was the next to zip past Wind ham and, along with Lusk, wa s one of
th e o nly riders who looked smo o th on
th e brutal course.
" I had a couple of areas where I was
making my passes," Ward sa id with a
smile, "bu t I can't tell you abo u t th em
until after the second moto.'
Dow d rode an un even tful race to finish fourth, ahead of Ferry and McGrath.'
McGra th was as high as fourth after sufferi ng another m isera ble start, but was
cleane d off his machi ne when Pichon
looped out in the whoops in front of him.
" I w a s go in g good , b ut ' Pe ca n'
flipped in the whoops and 1 hit his bike,"
sa id McGrat h. " I got u p and go t going
good aga in - back up to fourth - but then
I fell agai n in a corner."
Perhaps the American w ho hit the
mat the hard est, however, was Lamson.
The two-time 125cc Na tional Cha mpion
ran fourth through most of the race, but
landed on a helme t-sized rock and was
spit violentl y off his machine.
"I just lay there for a whil e, it hurt so
bad ," sa id La mso n, w ho event ua lly
s tood up and hesitantly checked ins ide
h is lea thers for damage. " I d idn't even
expect to crash, it happened so quick. 1
had a stomachache afterwar d and I had
to pull off."
Takesh i Koikeda was the to p Japa nesc rider, round ing ou t the top 10.
FINAL TWO
Huffman grabbed the holeshot in the
second final a nd looked s tro n g as he
pulled ou t a slight lead over the rest of
the field . Like Windham in the first race,
h owever , Hu ffman began to pump u p
and eventua lly fad ed to third.
"I felt good at first, bu t the track was
so bad that it caused me to tigh ten up,"
said H uffman. "The ruts were bad, and
the trac k surface was rea lly uneven and
unpredi ctable. The dirt is really soft and
it eats up your mom entum."
Thi s time, it was McGrath' s tum to
step off his machin e in the early go ing ,
a nd th e p opular American did so in
grand fashio n.
"I was right inside of Huffman at the
start; 1was stoked," he said . "I cut insid e
him in the first cou ple of turns and hit
th at st ep-up pr etty fast . My back en d
spun ou t under me and I did a doughnut
in the air and high-sided when I landed.
After that, I crashed two more times. The
track wa s g narly!"
Just as he had in final one, Lusk sliced
throug h th e fie ld a nd in to the lea d
before the race was half over. Once out
front, he set sail and cruised to another
convincing win . Likewise for Ward, who
ran down everyone but the fas t-d isappearing Lusk.
" I felt like a hero o u t th ere," sai d
Ward, "but if I was a hero, what would
you call Lusk? But you kno w what? You
can' t jud ge any th ing from this race. The
track was messed up."
Huffma n held o n to t hi r d , w h ile
Picho n and Dowd crossed the finish line
side by side. They were so close, it took
severa l ho urs to officially decide w ho
had scored fourth. It was Picho n.
"T he track was very d ifficu lt," sa id
Picho n. "It was impossible to ma ke even
one lap wit hou t a mis take. I had a bad
crash in the first race, bu t I felt better in
race two."
Em ig came home s ix th, a head of
Lamson, McGra th and Windham.
" I started in th e middle of th e pack
and I jus t stayed there," said Emig, w ho
seemed disgusted with his evening . "I
just wasn' t on tonight."
"I was up abo ut fourth, but I cras hed
a nd lost motivation" admi tted Win d ham. "The track made it really hard to
get excited abo ut ridi ng ."
Ferry had a close encounter with a
Japanese lapper and ended up 10th.
" I w as battling with Pichon and I
landed on a lapper," said Ferry. "It was
pretty hairy, but neit her of
go t hurt."
Works Honda rid er Yusuke Sasa ki
was 11th, and earned top Japanese honors wi th his 10th ove rall ranking.
n
us
Chiba Marlne Stadium
Tokyo,Japan
Results : November 23,1997 (Round 6 of 8)
HEAT 1 (6 1"p"- 18 ridt!B, top 9 tnnsferl: 1. Jeff £mig
Ezra LWo"- (Hun); 3. MicIYd Pichon (Suz); 4.
Kevin Windh.lm (YAm ); 5, Tim Ft"J'T)' (Y.o'Im); 6. Takeshi
Koikeda (Ya m ); 7 . Ak iTa Narita (H o n ): 8. Yui chiro
Kawa~himi'l (Yam); 9. His..l.'1hi Ta jima (Ya m); 10. Ta kateru
Abuta <
Sw:); 11. Tatsuhide Katahira ( Ka w); 12. Shin Ouchi
(Yam ); 13. Kcnid'l.i Sh ll'Ob (Ka w ); 14. Okilsugu Ukcgawa
(KawJ; 15. Kcnji Kokuryu (Ka w ); 16. Kenta Shimoi (Suz);
17. KiyO!:>hi Saai (Hon ); 18. Shun ku Takarni (}(aw).
(Ka w ); 2.
Time: 4 min, 48.02sec.
HEAT 2 te laps, 18 riders, top 9 tu n!i.fer): 1. Steve
Lam so n (Hon ): 2 . Jo h n Do wd (Ya m ); 3. Da mo n
H u ff m a n ( Ka w}: 4 . Larry W a rd (Hen ): 5 . Je re m y
McGrath (Ya m ); 6. Craig Andersen (Ya m ); 7. Yoshitaka
At suta (Hon); 8 . Hiroshi N a kAY md (H on); 9. Yusuke
d
5.l<;(lki (Hon); 10. Tadakazu O htsuta (Su z ); 11. Tai chi
Kugimun (Yam); 12. 5 h in o b u Idehare (5 u z ); 13. lk ki
Mcrua (Suz); 14, Nao ki Serizaw a (H an ); 15. Ryuc hiro
Takabama (H a n) ; 16. Ken ji Su z u ki (Yam ); 17, Ken jiro
T!lup ( Ka w ); HI. Tomohiro Shlbaya ma (Suz).
T im e: 5 nun., 1.25 sec.
FINAL 1 U8 I~p!l, 21 riden): 1. Ezra Lusk (Hoo); 2.
Larry Ward (5 u z ); 3. Kev in Windham (Yam); -I. John
Do w d (Yam); S. Tim Ferry (Yam ); 6. Jeremy Mt:Grath
(Yam) ; 7. Mick. l Nc hon (Suz) ; 8. Damon Huffman
w
(Ka w ); 9 , Jeff Emig Ouw); 10. T<1k.,...hi Ko iked<1 (Yam) ;
11. Yusukt>5d!>dli (H o n ); 12_ Ryuchiro Takahama (Hon);
13. Craig Andt."r.'oOn (Ya m) ; 14. Kenji Suzu ki (ya m) ; 15.
Akira Na rita (Hon); 16. Yosh ita k.1 Atsuta (Ha n ); 17.
Hir oshi N a kayama (Han); 18. Yuic h iro Ka wa shima
(Suz ); 19. Hisa shi Tap ma (Yam); 20. Takateru Atsuta
(Suz); 21. Steve Lamson (Hon).
Ti me: 14 min., 58.63sec.
ANAL 2 (21 rid rn, 18 laps): 1. Ezra Lus k (Hon): 2.
l.oury Ward (Suz); 3. Damon Huffm.ln (J(aw); 4_M ickael
Pichon (Suz ); S. John Oowd (yam); 6. Jeff Emig ( Ka w); 7.
Stt."\1P La mson (H a n); 8 . Jl'T\.'II1Y McGrath (Yam); q. Kevin
·
Windham (YAm); 10. Tim M-ry (Yam); 11.Yusuke S;a..-.;tki
( Hen ): 12. CrAig Anderson ( Ya m ); 13 . Akira ~ ari ta
(Ho n ); 14 Ry uc h ir o Td la h"mol (H a n ); 15 . Yoshitak e
ANJta (Hon); 16. Hi......hi T" jima (Yam); 17. Kenji Suzuki
( V. m ) ; 18. T ak r sh i Koi ke da (Ya m) ; 19. H iro sh i
Nak.1ya ma CHon); 20. Yuic hiro Ka wash ima (5 uz); 21.
Takateru A~uta