Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

great - he just had .that nigh t. Man , it was his nig ht! It's great to see a 1-2 for Kawasaki. This is wha t I wanted - I wanted to wa rm in to it (the series). A second at the firs t race is great for me." McGra th, who was making his U.S. s u pe rc ross d eb u t o n th e Chapa rra l Yamah a, filled ou t the podium in third pla ce. Aft er a less-than-stellar fourth place fin ish in his heat rac e, only one rider - Hen ry - beat McGra th to the first turn in th e 21-lap fea tu re. McGrath mad e a fe w unsuccessf ul a tt empts to pass the four-stro ke during the first six laps; th en he bobbled, ca me up s ho rt over a double jump, nearl y crash ed , and gave up his second-p lace position to Emig. After that, McGrath's momentum was lost and he wen t on the defen sive for the rest of the race, un able to mount a serious cha rge on the lead duo. Late in the race, McGrath was passed by Mickael Pichon and Tortelli and at one point w as relegated to fif t h . But McGrat h lu cke d in to t hird when Pic hon and Hen rv cras hed. EV'en thou gh he seeme d to struggle to match the leaders' pace, McGrath was pleased with his ride. "It was an average race - I'm conten t wit h it, and I'm lookin g forward to riding on a d rier track. I' m happy with it. 1t's a good start 10 the season - abou t 12 tim es better tha n last year, " McG ra th said , referri ng to his lfith-place finish of a yea r ago. Finish ing fourth was another rider wh o was mu ch better off tha n a yea r ago. That wa s top-finis hi ng Suzukimoun ted rid er Pichon - w ho suffered a broken femur a t the Co liseum in la st yea r's opener. Th is time, things wen t much better for the two -time East Coast 12Scc Champion as he moved up from a seventh-pla ce start and wa s running as high as th ir d w hen he crashed on the slick track. Ironica lly, Pichon wa s perhaps the only other rider wh o looked as fas t a nd s tr o n g as h is countryman Tortelli before crashing. "I didn't think I'd do tha t good," a happy Picho n said . "My goal was to ge t a top five. I'd be so happy with that an d I d id, and that' s good ." Reg ard ing hi s co ming b ac k to th e same track on which he broke his leg , Pichon said: "1 was a little sca red . I just thought to rid e smooth and stay on tw o wh eels. The weather turned out pr etty good for me, with it be in g rainy - it slowed thi ngs d own a bit, and I like the ruts." .Rounding ou t the top five was Team Yam a h a ' s Kevi n Windham, the ma n w ho is ma king his first full-time attem pt in the 250cc class afte r w inning tw o West Coast 125cc titl es. Wi nd ha m was closely followed across the line by Su zuki' s G reg Alber ty n a nd Larry Ward , Honda of Tr oy' s Mike Craig, Fac tory Connectio n/ Jack In th e Box /Honda ' s Mike LaRocco and, of course, Hen ry . Finishi ng one spot behin d Hen ry was yet another Fren ch ride r - Frederic Bolle y. Boll ey was ri di ng in ju re d St e ve Lamson's factory CR250, and he used it well, d espite be ing ha ndicap ped by a bad sta rt in the main event. Foll owing Bolley across the finis h lin e was Team Kawa saki 's Damon Huffman , who was running fifth early in the ra ce befo re goi ng down after tangling with an oth er rid er . Honda of Tro y' s Mike Brown fin ish ed 14th , foHowed b y Kawasak i' s Ryan H u gh es, Kawasaki of Mexico / T eca te ' s Phi l Lawre nce and Te a m H onda ' s Ezra Lus k, who s u rvived a ha rd cras h a fter ma ki n g con tac t with Windham in m id a ir while ru n ni ng am ong the lead ers . Filling ou t the rest of the field wer e KTM' s Lan ce Smail, Takeshi Koik ed a, (Right) Emlg (1) leads Jeremy McGrath (2) and Greg Albertyn around the halfway point. Emig rode a calcu lated race, finishing second. (Left) Honda's Ezra Lusk was on the move after an early-race crash, but was later knocked out of contention atier a midair co llision with Kevin Windham. over a double, allowing Albertyn to take over fourth . "Albee" quickly reeled in Emig but then ran out of time, making the final finishing order Pich on, Wa rd , Ernig and Albertyn. Chapa rral /Yam aha 's Ji m my Button , and Jeff Dem ent. HEATS Lusk gra bbed the holesh ot in the first eig h t-la p hea l race, a hea d o f Brow n , Cr aig, McGrath, Win dham and Henry, but Windham fou nd tra ction in the mud a nd launched his Yam ah a to the fron t. Windham la tc h ed on to Lu sk' s rear fend er and leaped into the lead befor e the first lap was over. Windham and Lusk began to break away fro m the rest of the pack, while McGr ath settled into th ird , wi th Hen ry fourth . Craig took cont ro l of fifth, followed by Bro wn, Smail, Hu gh es and laRocco. McG rath seemed to have troubl e ad ap ting to the mu ddy an d rutted track a nd was losing sig ht of th e leaders, w hile Hen ry was inching closer to the former champ. He nry eventua lly doubled by McGrath for third , but had no chance of catchi ng of the lon g-gon e lead duo. Wind ham had the muddy track ma stered, but so d id Lusk, who man aged to mat ch Windham's every move. Late in the race, Lus k began cha llengi ng Windham for the lead , and the Honda rid er fina lly di ved to the inside of Windha m in a turn an d snatched the lead away. But Windham reta liated. Wind ham tried taking Lusk wide in a tight right-hand turn, clippi ng Lusk' s fro n t tire in th e proce s s . Windham look ed to have mad e the p ass, b u t he ran ou t o f momentum h igh up in th e berm and tipped over. "It was one of those last-la p, despera te passes, " Windham sa id . "I kin d of fla s h ba ck ed to Japan, w hen he trie d so me of the same things on me. I don 't thi nk it was tha t d irtv (of a move). I was ju st tr yin g to ge t the lead - we' re ou t ther e racing. I went d own. He didn't." Lusk kep t h is H onda upright and rode to vic tory. Windham go t back up in a hurrv , but not until his tea m ma te Henry had a lready ridden by. Henry e n ded up takin g a th ank-y ou-very mu ch sec ond, followed by transferees Windham and McGrath. Finishing one s po t o u t of a tra nsfe r posit ion wa s La Rocco, followed by Brown, Craig, Huffman and Smail. Lawrence and Tortelli battled for the lead early in the second heat race, but they go t a litt le too close and we nt 'down in a heap just two tu rns into the race. Ward in h er it ed th e lead , but Pic ho n wanted it mor e. Picho n matched Ward turn for turn and eve n tua lly passed his teammate at the ha lfw ay point. O nce out in front, Pichon steadily pulled away while Bolley and Emig mixed it up for third . The two riders passed back and forth befo re Bolley lost time when he came up sho rt SEMIS Huffman led every lap o f th e firs t semi, chalking up a start-to-finish wi n. Brown ran close to Hu ffman in the early s tage s before droppin g ba ck, a nd LaRocco eventually flew his Honda past Br own ' s Hond a over a triple ju mp. Wat ching th e act io n in a close fourth was Craig. When the checker ed flag came ou t, the first four posi tions were set, but the race for the final trans fer position was st ilI up for grabs bet w een fifth-plac ed Hu ghes and Smail. Smail simply went for it on the last lap and cau ght Hu ghes d own the last jump-filled straight. In the las t turn, Smail went to the ou tside and cu t in hard on Hugh es, the two riders m a king contact, w it h Hug hes goin g d own. Huffman, Lakocco, Brown, Craig and Smai l all earned trips to the main, while Hu gh es brushed himself off and prepared for the Iast-chan ce qualifier. Bollev nailed the holesho t in the second senti, but spun out in the mud after the first turn. TorteIli fou nd himself in the lead and had an easy tim e of winn ing the race . Yam ah a rid er Robbi e Ska ggs ran second for a while before crashing over a double jump at the bot tom of th e in famous Peristyle. Skaggs' crash gave second to Lawre n ce, wh o soon heard the hea vy foots teps of Bolley coming up behind him. But time was in Law rence's favor , a nd he held on for second, foll owed by Bolley, Yamahamounted Deme nt, an d Koikeda. Finishing one position ou t of a transfer in sixth was Button, who crashed wh ile trying to pass Dem ent on the final lap . LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Kawasaki rid er Jason Th om as took the early lead in the LCQ - where only tw o riders would transfer to the main but h e w as quickly passed by Button a n d H ug hes . Tea m Noleen /Yam a h a rider Tim Ferry se ttled in to third and 7

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