Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS ;, Round 8: Houlihan's Stadium . TOYOTA TRUCKSITHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES [7-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- (Left) Greg Albertyn cou ldn't avoid the first-turn pileup, but came from the back of the pack to finish fourth in front of Damon Huffman (not sho wn). (Right) Series points lea der Jeremy M cGrath ran as high as fourth before dropping to eighth . The four-time cha mp was salvag ing points, an d only lost seven on the evening. He now leads Windham 1n-131 , while Ward moved into third with 127. crazy," Albertyn sa id. "He came in a little hot and his fro nt wheel washed ou t and he fell rig ht in fron t of me. Ther e was now her e I could go except down." "I go t a prett y goo d ju m p and I felt like I wa s fine, but Henry got a little bit better ju m p and he had u s a ll," Lu sk said. "Un for tu n a te ly, h e fe ll rig h t in fro n t of me! I d idn't w ant to ru n over him beca use it wa s Doug, so I slowed dow n to miss him." War d loo ked steady up front, as did th e p u rs ui ng Wi ndh am in seco nd . Wi nd h am go t close to Ward seve ra l tim es on ly to back off d ue to th e fact tha t he was unable to see. "I go t off to a good start and I was riding strong - findi ng my lines and everythi ng - but I ju st couldn 't pass h im because of the roost," Windham said later. "I actually caught him at one point, but I had to single a section because of a yellow flag and he didn ' t ha ve to, but it wa s harder to be right behind him because as soon as I wou ld get roosted, I would have to pull a tearoff, Pretty soon I couldn't see anything and I started pumping up, so I had to back her down a notch." It wa s u nfortu na te fo r Wi ndham, becau se Ward had already lost his goggles to the eleme n ts. "Wind ha m is a 'fast, fast guy in the m u d , and he was on me for a while," War d sa id lat er . "Having lost my goggles, it was really important to keep him behind me. Thi s is th e u ltima te w ors t condi tion s for your goggles becau se the h umidity is so thick and the sw ea t is there becau se it was so ho t, too. I saw li ttle Ricky (Carmichael) ta ke his goggles off in the 125cc race and I said, 'Uh oh !' I knew I was goi ng to have to toug h it ou t and lose my goggles, but if I had to do tha t to win , so be it. My dad only has one eye, so, shoo t! - I'd have given one eye to win ton igh t!" Lus k had s ta r ted sixth on the first lap, an d by the time another lap was in th e book s h e was up to th ir d . Still, it took the Honda rider 15 laps to move up on Wi n d ham , w ho in turn had lo s t Wa rd in traffic. Lusk rode past Windha m in to seco nd and decided to put one last push on to go after Ward just as the skies opened up a nd the ra in fe ll straig ht down in thick drops. Working in Lus k's favo r w as the fact tha t Em ig was not obeyi ng the blue flag as Ward came u p to lap him, and for the last two laps the leader could not lap the cha mp . "I don' t wa nt to men tion any lappers - Emig and Hughes - but I think I could have won a lot easier than I di d ," Ward joked . "Ezra definitely made it interesting. Maybe Emig di dn't know the blue flags from the yellow ones, wit h all the rain and mud, bu t it rea lly doesn' t ma tter. I made it across the finish line first!" In the end, Lusk ra n ou t of time , and an ecs tatic Wa rd d rop ped his bike after th e finis h to co ngra tu la te his eq ually excited mechanic, Lee McCullou gh . "I hu gged him so hard I gave him a blood y nose!" lau gh ed Ward later. Lusk crossed the line just a few bike lengths beh ind but felt tha t things might have been d ifferen t had he only gotten closer to Ward mo re quickly. "He d id n' t have any gogg les, so all I w ould hav e had to d o w as roo st him and tha t wo uld have been it," Lusk said . Lusk was followed at a sho rt dis tance by Windham in thir d . Albertyn completed a remarkable comebac k to fo u r th after h is first- tu rn crash a nd felt great abou t his per fonnan ce. "I was very happy with fourt h an d I would have taken tha t resul t any wa y, bu t coming from al most last made me pre tty stoked," said Albertyn of his best finish of the year. "It's about time I rod e well. I felt like I was on fire tonight. I feel like I have my confidence back and that's what I'v e been 'Iacking the wh ole se ason. I'm a lso really stoked for m y teammat e Larry . We d id so me testing this week on developing a new cylinder and you can see what happened. We all go t great starts! We should have done this a few years back." The cyli nder development Albertyn was talking abou t was said to offer more top end. Hu ffman snared fift h afte r fend ing off furious a ttac ks fro m LaRocco, who was the victim of crashes all nigh t long. "After I go t a little messed up on the start wit h Henry and everyo ne, I had to work my wa y thr ou gh everyone," Huffman said . "I tried to rem ember all my lin es and keep goi ng fo rwa rd, so I' m pr etty hap p y th at I ended u p in fif th, co ns ide ri ng th e co nditions and a ll. I kept it up on tw o w heels th e w hole time , and that' s abou t the bes t you can d o on a night like this." Next rode Pic ho n and McGrath in sevent h and eig h th, and rou nd ing ou t the top 10 we re Emig and Brown. Way in the back in 18t h came Button, who fried the clutch on his Yamaha and saw his ho t streak tu rn cold all at once. "My clu tch was smoked, but it' s just on e of those things that happen," Button reason ed . "It sucks to be rid ing so well and then have some thing ou t of your control happen like that. " l~ - - - - - - - - - --1 • Norton; 8. Fran ce sca Marullo; 9. Al ec Ehr ha rdt ; 10. Dav id McAndles s : 11 . Dust in So lo v i tch ; 12. Brad Joh nson; 13. Tony Ret y: 14. Co lby Meserve: 15. Brian Rupp. Upcoming Rounds: _ ch Round 9 - Daytona Beach, Florida, Mar 7 Round 10 - New Orleans, Louisiana , March 14 Toyota TrucksfThorlParts U nlimited A MA Easte Regional125ccS rn upercross Series Round 3: H oulihan'sS diu ta m Ibnee in a 250 SEM I 1 (6 la ps, 1 ~5 tra nsfer to m a in ): 1. Ryan H ug hes (Kaw): 2. Mike Lakocco (Hen): 3. Steve Lamson (He n): 4. Mike Bro wn (Hen): 5. Kevin Cri ne (Kaw): 6. ]immy Button (Yam ); 7. Iea n-Sebastie n Roy (K,lW ); 8 . Marco Du be (Suz) : 9. Ryan Ter lecki (Suz) : 10. Mike Katin (Yam); 11. Iaso n Fren ette (Kaw) : 12. Kenn y Yoho (Ka w ): 13. Billy Binckley (Yam); 14. Chad San ne r (Ka w ): 15. Ryan Ga uld (Yam ); 16. Jason Th omas (Ka w). T im e: 6 m in ., 3 1.890 sec . 250 SEM I 2 (6 laps , 1-5 tran sf er to ma in) : 1. Micka el Pichon (Suz): 2. Ezra Lusk (Hen): 3. Damon Huffma n (Kaw): 4. Keit h Jo h nson (Kaw): 5. Jeff Emig (Kaw): 6. Lan ce Sma il (KTh O; 7. Cory Bau de r (Yam ); 8. To mmy Io hansson ( K.1W); 9 . Brian Ston e (Ka w): 10. Tom welch (5oz); 11. Chris Po m eroy (Han); 12. G ra n t Ca rter (Kaw): 13. To n v Ama rad io (Ya m); 14. Ben Asaff (Ka w): 15. Tim Ferry Nam); 16. BatTYCa rst en (Suz ). Ti me: 6 m in., 27.940 St.'C. 250 LCQ (6 la p s, 1-2 tra nsfer to m a in ): 1. Jimmy Butto n (Ya m ); 2. jea n-Seba stie n Ro y (Kaw): 3. Marco Dube (Suz) : 4. La nce Sm a il (KTM) ; 5. Ryan Terleck i (Suz); 6. ]a!'>4.10 Fre net te (Kaw): 7. Cory Bau d er (Yam): 8. Billy Bin ckley

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