Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS Round 5: Qua/comm Stadium TOYOTA! TRUCKSITHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERJES,F!'--j. - - - - - - - - - -- (Left) Yamaha's dream night started when John Dowd (9) won the 125cc feature after a close battle with three-t ime winner David VuiIlemin (934), Stephane Roncada (18) and Nathan Ramsey (not pictured). Vuillemin finished second, Ramsey charged to third and Roncada held on to fourth after a late-race crash. (Above) Dowd (9) withstood the pressure of Pro Circuit's Ramsey (35) during the ir heat race, where the two finished third and fourth, respectively. 8 when he encou n tered a frea k problem while closely hound ing Windham and Hen ry. "Well, I just started to pu t so me pressure on Kevin and Dou g. and I was riding a little close on Kevin's rear whee l. and he clipped a hay bale: ' Lusk said. "I ran it over and the cover go t caught in my fron t wheel. The wheel sta rted locking up little by little a nd th en it shu t down. A flagger jum ped in and rip ped it out." Lusk resu med the race in about 18th place and began his long ride to the finish. Button was on the mov e and made a spec tacu lar pa ss by both Windham and Henry to take over seco nd in an amazing cha rge through th e whoops. Th e ne xt tw o laps sa w Henry encounter problems that put him ou t of contention. "I was running fourth and I went off the tra ck in the whoops, " Henry said . " It really slowed me down because I got too excited to get back on the track and I started pushing hard and making mistakes. I really wore myself out, and then I went off the tra ck after the triple wh en I land ed on a bale. It was just one of those races where I cou ld n' t relax and ge t in th e g ro ove . If I ca n jus t ca l m m ys elf d own, I'll be fine . Th e bike is wo rki ng really good and I'm not go ing to try a nd force it - jus t let it come to me." As McGra th cruised ou t fron t, Button had a comforta ble hold on second place afte r an inspired rid e. "The s ta rt sucked, " But ton said. " I just d idn't get a good sta rt, bu t I wo rked m y way u p a nd h ad good lap tim es going. Brian (Kinney, his mecha nic) was givi ng me my lap times, and they were awesome. So I kept going, kept going and picki ng guys off easy. I had a good race lin e going out th ere th at I d on't think some of the other guys had going. They were kind of struggling a little bit. The bike was wo rking aweso me." Win dham was firml y p lanted in third and easily held it to the checkered flag. Behind him, Hu ghes, Ward, laRocco and Pichon were trading paint over fourth through seven th. LaRocco stuffed his wa y pa st Ward and then displaced Hug hes in a rh yt hm section to take ove r the posit ion for go od with five lap s to go. "The night started off pretty bad for me - I rode pretty tight," laRocco said about his evening. " We mad e some changes for the semi and things were a little bette r, but I went down on the start (in the mai n). I came th ro ugh and got fou rth on the last lap. I had a rea lly bad pick on the start, on the ou tside, and I flinched and cam e ou t of the corner in abou t 18th or so . We mad e it through pretty good the first lap. We mad e some cha nges to the bike for the main and it was fas t a nd handle d r ea l good. I' m happy with m y rid e, but ba si cally it took me the whole race to ge t u p there." Ward, Hu ghes and Picho n conti nued to d ice, with Ward takin g fift h over Pichon . Hu gh es cras hed , allowing Huffma n to take se ven th after a spiri te d cha rge. Emig worked h is w ay up' a nd eventually passed Hen ry late in the race to s tea l eighth p lace. Brown was 10t h and Lusk worked ba ck up to 11th in fro nt of Ferry, Hughes, Albertyn, Craig, Lamson, Roy, Tortelli, Reynard , a n d 11\ Lawrence. Qualcomm Stadium San Diego, California Results : February 7,1998 (Round 5 of 16) 250 HEAT 1 (8 laps, 1.04 tran sfer to main): 1. Doug Henry (Yam); 2 Ezra Lus k IHon): 3. 1e ff Emi g (Kaw) : 4. Mike C raig (Hen): 5. Mike Brown (Hen ): 6. Mtcka c! Pichon (SU2.); 7. Seba sti en To rtel li (Ka w): 8. Damon Huffman (Ka w); 9. Iean-Sebasoen Roy (Kaw); 10. Heath Voss (Hon); 11. Lance Smail U:1. MicL1 Cl Pichon (Suz); 2. Mike Brown (Ho n): 3. Da mon Hu ffman (Ka w ): 4. Sebasti e n Tortelli (Ka w ): 5. Robbie Reyn ard (5uz); 6. Iean -Sebas tien Roy (Kaw); 7. Heath Voss (Hen): 8. Shaun Kalas (Ya m); 9. Ty Birdwell (K.lw ); 10. Jason Frenett e (Kaw ): 11. Ca rey Hart (Kaw): 12. Dou g Dehaan (H en) : 13. Jam es Cha mbe rlain (Kaw): 14. Lance Sma il ( K1"M); 15. Ryan Terlecki (Suz) : 16. Kris Rourke ( J(TM). T ime: 5 min., .830 sec. 250 SEM I 2 (6 laps, 1~5 tran s fer to m.loin): 1. Jimm y Button (Yam); 2. Larry Ward (Suz); 3. Tim Ferry (Yam); 4. Steve La m son (Ho n); 5. Mik e laRoc co (H an ); 6. Take hi Koikeda (Yam): 7. Phil Lawrence (Ka w ): 8. Cnry s Kee ney (Ya m); 9. Yos hi taka Ats uta (He n): 10. Akira Na r ita (H u n); 11. Steve Andri ch (Ya m ); 12. Tr a vis Hodges (Kaw): 13. Naoki Seri zaw a (H an); 14. Ja mes Povolny (KTM); 15. Austin Squires (Ho n): 16. Pat Fost er (Ka w ). T ime: 5 min ., 60.033 sec. 250 leQ (6 lap s, 1· 2 t ran sf er to main ): 1. Phil Lawrence (Kaw ): 2. jean-Sebastien Roy (Kaw); 3. Hea th V(N; (Hon) ; 4. Yoshitaka Atsuta (Ha n); 5. Sha un Kates

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