Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

F h ~ -~ SUPERCROSS Round 6: Chiba MarineStadium F1M WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSX SER S IE , ~I . gue» I got the job done: ' said Dowd, who wa s also competing in his first race since the Steel City 'ationa l finale. " I got pretty pumped up out there. As a matter of fact, I was pumped up from the first lap!" Pumped up or not, Dowd managed to avoid the bad luck and inopportune crashes t hat haunted the rest of th e American stars . Defending U.s. an d Wo rld SX Champion Jeff Em ig hit the ground severa l times and struggled wi th an ill machin e en route to an un cha ract er ist ic nint hplace finish . Jeremy McGrath, meanwhi le, di splayed excellent speed, but pa rted compa ny w ith his Chaparral Yama ha no less tha n five times . The four- time SX Cha mp was seventh overall. O ther riders w ho sampled the Japanese soil in cl ud ed Ke vin Wind h am , Da m o n H uffma n, Steve Lamson and Tim Ferry. After SUffe ri ng a mise rable start, McGrath sliced his wa y past at least nine other rid ers and took over the lead in a mere 2 1/2 laps. Once in front, McGrath looked like the Showtime of old as he extended his lead over former teammate Lamson. Disaster stru ck with only a few co r ner s to go, howeve r, as McGrath clip ped a huge rock in a rut and lost his front end . The champ hit th e ground hard, but picked it up in lime to sal vage fift h and a direct transfer to th e main. Lamson was more than happy to inherit the lead and su bseq uent win, whil e Hu ffman and Ward followed at a di stance. " I fell great ou t there," said McGrath . "Then all of a sudden, ' Boo m!' I hit a rock and got spit off. The track is pretty gnarly; the ruts are gonna ge t deep and there is still so me mud in th e lan d ing areas." "I was happy with second, but 1 came arou nd a comer an d jere my was sitting there o n his head : ' sa id Lamson . "I 'Il take it." Wild man Ryu chiro Takahama scored the LCQ wi n o ver Kenji S uz u ki and Takateru Ats u ta. FINAL ONE Two six-lap heat races would transfer the top nine riders from each division d irectly to the main event. The remaining ride rs would compete in a last- Windham storm ed in to the lead early in th e firs t IS-lap fina l, and led Dowd , Lus k and Wa rd . Emig found himself on the ground and in last place after a runin w ith Do wd over th e firs t s tep- up obs tacle. '1 was about third or so, and 1 hit the first jump on the right side of Dowd y," said Emig. who was visibly shaken afterward. "John jumped right OYer into my chance qualifier that offe red only 'three fina l tickets to the main. All of the Americans made it on their first try. Emig dominated the first heat race, grabbing the holeshot and never looking back as he raced off with a seemingly easy win. Lusk suffered a med iocre sta rt and dillydallied around in third before moving into second and closing the gap on Emig in th e dosing stages. Frenchman Mickael Pich on was a so lid th ird, ahead of a poor-starting Wind ha m a nd Noleen's Tim Ferrv. "I was a littletight a t firs t, b ut th e track was n' t as bad as 1 thoug h t it might be," said Emig. "Still, yo u have to stay on you r toes, or it will bite'you . 1go t out front and eased up a little; that' s w hy Yogi caug ht u p at the end." line and 1 ended up o n my head. He didn' t do it on purpose ; that was just racing. 1 hit my hea d pretty ha rd and 1 was dazed for a while. The front of my hel met was all tweaked," Battered a nd b eaten down, Emig could only catch back up to ninth, Windham looked strong as he led the 21-rid er field, but his arms failed him as the laps wo re down. "This was my firs t race of the off-seaso n, and 1 just felt tigh t from the start," he said . "I couldn' t get in to a rhythm and 1 pumped u p bad." Windham and his infla ted for earms wou ld even tua lly end up th ir d . Lusk was the first to strike, and once int o the lead, the Honda rider extended his lead with each passin g lap . . HEATS By Donn MaedaJMXracer Magazine rosro,JAPAN, NOV. 23. r-, 0"0"r-' a ... r-' (l) ..0 E (l) u (l) o 8 zra Lusk might haw sat out the first five ro u nd s o f the FIM World Championship SX Series, but wh en th e q u iet Geo'1';ia n finally decided to show his face, it wa s a vi ctorious affai r for the new Team Honda rider. Before the sixth round of the off -season to u r, rumors o f Lu sk's exceptional speed aboa rd his new rid e circulated through the mo tocross industry . Needless to say, Lusk lived up to all of the high expecta tio ns placed upon him , "T h is wa s m y firs t big ra ce o n a Honda," said Lusk, after easily winning both IS-lap main eve n ts. "I wa s a little nervous, but at the same time I was anxious to see how I would stack u p against the other gu ys." Lusk's d ominant performances came at the expense o f South Carolina's Larry Ward , w ho, coi nciden tally, was a lso m akin g h is debut ri de ab o ard a new machine. Ha vin g spent the last few seasons (as well as the firs t four rounds of the World SX Series) aboard a Hond a of Troy CR250R, Ward showed u p aboard a bra nd-new factory Suzuki RM250 and turned in a pair of ru nner-up finishes on the unfamiliar machine. "Before toni ght, I ha d only rid den the new Suzuki a handfu l o f times," sa id Ward , "a nd all o f those times were at the Suzuki test track, wh ich is d ry and hardpacked . I didn ' t re all y kn ow wha t to ex pect o ver he re, but s o far it lo oks g ood ." . Ward 's refe rence to the dry Su zuki test track was to emp hasize the unfavor - (Above) Team Honda's Ezra Lusk debuted his new ride In winning style at the Tokyo SX. The former Eastern Region 125cc SX champion had his way In both 18--lap main events. (Right) In his lirst appearance 01 the year as a Team Suzuki member, Larry Ward posted two strong runner-up finishes. Making Ward's ri des even more Impressive was the fact that he had fewer than 10 rides on the new bike. ab le track condi tions that greeted the racers in Tokyo. Steady rains in the days preced ing the event transformed the Dirt Wurx-built course intu a quagmire. The course was so muddy, all of the Americans elected to pass on Saturday'S free practice sessions. Surprisingly, the skies cleared for Sunday's event and, with the help of 60 tons of cement mix, the track was whi pped into raceable cond ition. St ill , d eep ru ts and an un predicta ble trac k surface prese n ted a challenge to all wh o parti cipa ted . Rounding ou t the top three was the "king" of adverse conditions: Yamaha's John Dowd . The "old man" of American motocross turned in stea dy 4-5 moto finishes to nab the final podium position . "I wasn 't spectacular ou t th ere, but 1

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