Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Above) Mud s pec ialist John Dowd (9) stole the holeshot in the 250cc main after EzraLusk (3) ran over Doug Henry (under Lusk's bike) when he went down with the lead. Dowd finis hed 11th while Henry took 15th. . (Left) Team Yamaha's Kevin Windham g,ota good start and finished third at the checkers. kick ass and win th e race . Th er e were guys cr as hi ng everywhere , and I just d idn't wa nt to blow my points lead with a bike crash or by getting stuck or somethin g." Su ffer ing throu g h a nother p oor s howing in n inth was th e enigmatic Emig . A n accom p lis hed mud r id er , Emig was so out of sy nc in the Tamp a slop th at he was nearly lap ped at the end of the race by Ward. Emig also suffe red the ind ig nity of havin g hi s bike become stuck stra ight up and down in a deep ru t in h is hea t race . There are all kinds of th eories as to w ha t's wrong wit h the defend in g series cha mpio n (see Briefly...), but Emig vows to ca rryon and sor t it out soo n. " If I kne w wh at was wrong, I wo uld fix it," su mma rized the Kawasak i rider. "I am try ing as hard as I can, bu t I just can' t ge t it toget her. I have never .had any thing like this happen to me in m y whole career. It's like las t year was the best yea r of my career, and th is one is starting ou t as the wo rst. I will just keep m y head d own an d keep wo rking hard like I've always don e." Rounding ou tthe top 10 overall was Honda of Troy's Mike Brown . The Tampa victory wa s an upset of sor ts for the 27-y ea r-old Ward , who seemed to ha ve se ttled into a bri desmaid role in supe rcross. Soon after. scorin g h is firs t w in eig ht yea rs ago with Suzu ki, Wa rd seeme d to s lip into the s ha do ws as new h e r o e s' suc h as McGra th and Emig eme rged. After leaving Suz u ki following the 1993 season, War d pu t in tw o solid but winless seasons wi th No leen Yamah a before join ing the H ond a of Troy tea m in 1996, bu t Ward s till co u ldn't find his way back into th e w i nne r ' s ci rcle . W hen h e returned to Suz uki this year, it mar ked the first tim e tha t a fac to ry rid er h ad been d ropped a n d then rehired a fter suc h a long period of tim e . An d even th o u gh Wa rd ' s w iriI n Tam p a a lso marked the longest period between any s u perc ro ss ri d er ' s fi rs t a n d s eco n d career wi ns, the Washington-br ed Sou th Caro lina resident says he never stop ped dou bti ng that it wo uld happen. "It just felt like it w as my race to win to night," said Ward. "You always hope to have a nig ht like' this, w here eve rythi ng ju st goes righ t. I go t a good start , I go t a good lead , the bike was fant astic and I was there at the end . You kno w , I have n o com p lai nts abo u t m y career. I've spen t eight or ni ne years right at the to p of the 250 class, I finished second in th e se ries once, and th e only d re am I haven' t fu lfilled is tha t I ha ven 't won that championship . If second is as close as I ever come in the standings, I wo n' t look back in d isappointment. I love this spo rt and I'm go ing to kee p rid ing for as long as I can. That's why John Dowd is m y h ero , because eve ry year he keep s coming ou t fas t. I fig ure that means I have five or six more years to keep racing! I'm only 27, so I'm jus t a spring chicken!" Th e po in ts ba tt le d id n o t cha nge much in th e Ta m p a so u p, th ou gh McGra th's massive lead is now down to less th an two full races . Th e fou r-time series cha mpio n wen t into the Flo rida swi ng with a 53-point lead after seven straight podium finishes an d now travels to Daytona this weekend with a 46poi n t cushion on Windham, 177-131. Wit h t he w in , Ward m ov ed up fr om fifth to thir d, with 127. The Tam p a ro u nd of the series was back on the supercross sched ulefor the fir st li m e in tw o years . The eve nt's replacem ent of the tra di tio na l opening rou nd of the AMA Na tional Mo tocross Se ries a t G a torback Cycle Park in Ga inesvi lle, Florida, initia lly created so me co ntroversy, but tha t seemed to p a ss in the weeks leading up to th e event. However, th e EI Nino-driven ra in stor m s di d no t p a s s over a nd ins tea d dump ed water h a p ha z a rd ly ove r the area throughou t the week. The resu lt was one of the mu dd iest races in recent yea rs, with deep, slo t-car-like ruts lining jus t abo u t eve ry jump an d corne r. Th e Rick Winkler-led Di rt Wurx crew fough t the mud and ruts as if they were battling a forest fire. However, w he n the skies opened u p again wit h five laps to go , there was nothing anyone could do bu t sit back, ge t we t and wa tch War d try to hold off Lusk for the win. "I like th e tr ack ," said Ward , w ho migh t not have been the most objective person toask, consi dering the fact that he wo n. "I like the deeper, thicker mu d li ke we h ad ton ig ht better th a n th e greasy mud." HEATS Windham took th e hol esh ot in the fi rs t 250cc hea t race, rig h t in fr ont of H on d a of Troy ' s Mike Cra ig a nd the Ya mah a o f very a ggressive p ri vateer M ik e Ka lin . Ju st b e hind the m ca me Su zuki ' s Albertyn and Ca na d ia n s ta r [ ean -Seba s tien Ro y. Towa rd th e ba ck ro de suc h big names as Jim my Button , LaRocco, Team Hond a' s Steve Lamson and Honda of Troy's Mike Brown, all of whom fell in the sloppy cond itions . Win d ham was never head ed in the race, and the Yamaha rider looked comfortable throughou t the race, even in the deteriora ting cond itions . "I wanted to get out fro nt and ride my own race ," Windham sai d , "beca use with a track like thi s, you really have to focus on yourself and not wha t the other guys are doin g. In the ma in eve nt, get ting that same start will go a long way . towards winning ." Katin fell off the pace while Lamso n recovered long eno ugh to move int o a qu al if yi ng pos itio n befo re fa lli n g ' off aga in . He surrendered h is positio n to Wa r d, w ho had s ta rted m id pa ck and was soon coming u p o n the Craig / Albertyn ba ttle for. second. O nce Al be r ty n go t around Cra ig , his team- m a te Ward followed su it. Cra ig, who won the only AMA 250cc su percross of h is career here back in 1994, hel d on to the fou rth and final transfer spot. Tha t mean t Butt on , La Ro cco. Lamso n, Kawasaki's Rya n Hughes a nd Brown would be going to a semi. Due to the close na ture of the points battle b etw e e n ev e ryone b ehi n d Mc Gra th , the seco n d h e at r a ce was packed wit h big na mes: McGrath, Emig, Lusk, Doug Henry, H u ffman, Pichon and Dowd , to name a few . W hen the gate d rop ped, the boo ming four-stroke of Dou g Henry could be heard abo ve all w hen th e p a ck lit .in to th e tigh t, left han d ed fir st tu rn . But McGrat h ma de sho rt wor k of the thu mper and slipped int o the lead ahea d of He nry, Kawasaki / Teca te' s Phil Law rence, Dow d and Emig . Em ig w as th e firs t big name to fall ba ck , th ou g h he didn 't act u a lly fa ll down. Instead , Emig's bik e got stuck in a d eep in side berm th a t s topp ed him cold in his tracks. Emig tried to free the bike w ith th e th ro ttle but in s tea d jus t dug a deep er ho le. He finally had to lift the bike ou t of the ho le one wh eel at a time , an d then he rode off into the semi. O u t fr o n t, Mc G r a t h wa s rid ing smooth and smart, and he ended up taking the wi n ahea d of Dowd, Henry and Lawre nce . Lusk and Kawasaki' s H uffman wo u ld be joining Emig in the semi round . "My Cha parral Yam aha put me ou t fron t off the s ta r t a n d I jus t kept it there," McGrat h said from the podium. "The tra ck is d eteri ora tin g with every lap, but my feet we re hard ly coming off the pegs. I felt really good out there, but it' s hard to tell what the track is go ing to b e li ke b y th e tim e th e m a in e ve n t sta rts ." SEMIS H ugh es gr abbed the holeshot in the first 250cc semi and rod e fairly un contested to the wi n. The red- hot Button gave chase early b u t ended u p fa lli ng a nd d ropping out of a qu alifying position all toge ther. La Rocco took up the chase and finished second, while fellow red riders Lamso n and Brown cam e through next. ' Ma ryl a nd Kawa saki pri va te er Kevin Crine rounded out the list of qualifiers. "It's been a toug h season, but I'm trying really h ard to p u t it to get h e r ," Hu gh es said . "It's going to take a good star t and some sma rt rid ing to wi n this th in g ton ig ht , and I really wa n t to be there when it's ove r. It's been raining a lot in California, so I'm kind of used to th e slick conditions . It's rea lly not tha t mu ch d iffere nt, excep t the ru ts are d eep' er . The la s t co u p le of weeks ha ven't bee n that grea t, a nd I've been making s tu p id mistakes like p umping u p and fallin g over. Maybe to nigh t I can turn it around ." As the fog started rolling in, Pichon pu t his Suzuki ou t front to start the second 250cc semi, but the Ho nda of Lusk came by b efore the ra ce was too fa r gone. However, Pichon quickly squirted back p as t Lu sk a nd the two enjoyed some close racing all the way to the finish . The Fre nchman ended u p with the w in, w h ile Huffman rode behind th e lead ing duo. In w ha t is beginning to be less of a shoc ke r tha n it o nce was, Kawasaki p rivateer Keith Johnson actually passed Emig for the fourth transfer spot, leaving Emig to fend off the attack of fea rless KTM rider Lance Sm ail fo r the final tra ns fer posifion. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER In th e las t-cha nce qualifier, Bu tto n rode a smart race to bet ter Roy for the w in . Roy ' s fellow Ca nadia n , M a rco Du be, pu t in a good ride for third , but on ly tw o rid ers transferred to the ma in event. MAIN Wh en th e 250cc main event fina lly w ent off, th e thi ck mist in th e air was turnin g into a fu ll-blo wn rai n shower, an d world -re nowned mudd er Dowd Yam ah a's 125cc West Region con tender - was insp ired eno ugh by the weather to punch ou t th e holeshot over McGrath, Ward, Windham and Craig. But before Do w d cou ld ev en ge t comforta ble up front, Ward slas hed by both Dowd and McGrath to take a lead he wo u ld never relinquish. Windham also went by, leaving the o rd er as W ard , Win d h a m , Dowd, McGrath and Craig after a lap. "I asked Suzuki for just a little more power on the start, and they gave that to me," Ward s ai d. "I go t a third -place start and wen t by McGrath and Dow d , and then I just started hitting some lines r ea l g ood . I wa sn ' t burn in g up m y clutc h, I wa sn' t pu mp ing up, and I felt really good . The Suzuki cou ld not have worked any bett er." After a first-turn cras h tha t took ou t sev era l to p guys, Henry, th e unlu cky Picho n, Albertyn and LaRocco we re all at the back of the p ack : They wou ld be joined there on lap two by Emig, whose bad night continued when he fell early. "Henry just got a little overexci ted a n d w en t in to th e fir s t turn a little

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