Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Team Kawasaki's Damon Huffman hunkered down and took third in the main. (Below) Team Honda's Ezra Lusk (3) took the holeshot over Windham 1n their heat race, but Windham set the tone for the evening by passing him and pulling away to victory. (Right) Mike laRocco (5) rode very well after another bad start and finished fourth. "I've got fifth a few times this year but neyer on the podium, and it feels great," a smiling Huffman said. '1 had a good gate in the main and got a really good start. I rode strong the whole time and a couple of guys moved back, so it worked out. Pichon started holding me up and I was like, 'I need to get by him: Then Ward was in front of me and he went down and I got third. Everyone at Kawasaki has been like, 'What's wrong? Come on, come on.' I don't know. It really hasn't been my physical mndition; I've been really healthy all year. For me, I think it all boils down to getting a good start. Coming from behind just doesn't cut it:' Mike LaRocco rode his Team Factory Connection/Jack in the Box/a' eal Honda to fourth overall after coming around the scoring tower in 14th at the end of the fir t lap, and he knows good starts are all that he needs to run up front. "Huffman got a really good start by accident," LaRocco explained. "He lurched one time and then he pulled back. and lurched again right when the gate fell and ju t nailed it and kind of moved over on me right away. rt seems -like it's always something, but I ended up in the back again. Then Yogi slid out in the second turn and I ended up running into him, so I started way back and I just climbed like I've been forced to do most of the season. "Lately, these la t three weeks, I've been feeling really good about my riding - I think my speed is coming back to where it was in '94 and '95," LaRocco continued. "I almo t had Huffman at the end, but I had a lull in the middle of the race after I got by Henry. Everything is working good, the bike and the team. We're there; I just need to get across that starting gate and into a better position:' Team Yamaha rider Doug Henry finished fifth, which was by far his best ride since his third-place finish in Seattle nearly two months ago. Other than that, Henry's best finish has been a ninth this seasOll. '1 didn't really get off to that good of a tart, probably midpack or so," Henry said. "I just kind of worked my way through. I knew this track was going to be tough, so I just tried to stay consistent the whole time. I was pretty happy because my lap times were consistent from beginning to end, so it was a good night. I can work with a top-five finish:' Henry's teammate John Dowd turned in his best 250cc Supercross performance this year, taking sixth aIlead of Team Suzuki's Larry Ward, who had a solid hold on third for most of the race until tipping over in a corner with two laps to go. Team Suzuki's Mickael Pichon raced to eighth, Team Honda of Troy's Mike Craig finished ninth, and Team Honda's Ezra Lusk rounded out SEMIS the top 10 after a slew of mishaps and crashes in the main event. Defending series champ Jeff Emig rode his factory Kawasaki to 11th overall after a erie~ of mishaps before the main event even started. Emig was forced to race in the last-ehance qualifier after tangling with Henry in his heat and going over the handlebars in a violent crash in his semi while trying to qualify. Emig wo~ the LCQ but by then his wrists and back had taken too much of a beating from the crashes and rough track. Team Honda's Steve Lamson finished 12th, followed by Team Honda of Troy's Mike Brown, Tecate/Thor / Kawasaki of Mexico's Phil Lawrence, Two Wheel Kawasaki/MSR/Pirellibacked Jean-Sebastien Roy, Kawasaki's Ryan Hughes, Tom Morgan Racing/ Dunlop/JT-backed Ryan Terlecki, Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada, Airdrie Motor ports/FMF/Smith-sponso red Jason Frenette and Kames Sports/One/Sinisalo's Mike Katin Jr. As for the points battle, McGrath still has a very comfortable 56-point lead over Windham, 224-168. Lusk dropped from second to third in the standings and now has 157, trailed by Emig (146) and LaRocco (144). HEATS Lusk took the holeshot in the first 250cc heat race over Windham, Craig, Lawrence, Hughes and LaRocco. By the middle of the first lap, Windham had stolen the lead and was trying to pull away. Lusk fought valiantly as the two battled nearly side by side at times during the first half of the race, often banging bars, but Windham eventually eased away to win with a comfortable margin over Lusk. "Ezra has run me into the ground a couple of times this year and I was determined not to let it happen at this race," Windham said. "The adrenaline was incredible and it pulled me through for sure. [f I want a win, I sure want it here." Craig held down third for much of the race until team Suzuki's Greg Albertyn and LaRocco moved up in tandem to challenge him for the position. After Albertyn went down big-time while battling LaRocco, LaRocco moved forward and took third from Craig with a blockpass. Huffman was very close to this duo throughout the race but could not get by Craig to steal away the fourth and final transfer position. Also going with Huffman to the senu was Lawrence (who placed sixth) and Hughes, who endoed in the whoops on the first lap and could only get back up to eighth. McGrath snatched the holeshot in the second heat race, with Emig, Ward, Henry, Brown, Pichon, Katin and Dowd in close pursuit. During the first-lap shuffle, McGrath swapped in a rhythm section, handing the lead to Ward, and Henry and Emig ran into each other, with both riders hitting the ground. Henry recovered quickly wi thou t stalling his bike, while Emig became mired in the back of the pack. Up front, McGrath took Ward wide in a comer to take the lead on the third lap, but gave it back a few laps later when he clipped a hay bale at the end of the whoop section and went down. From there on out, Ward cruised to the checkers over the recovered McGrath. "Too bad that wa n't the main," Ward said. "Jeremy rides very well, and anytime you can finish in front of llim, it is quite a privilege:' Roncada, Lamson and Brown all ran toward the front of the field for a few laps until Pichon, Henry and Dowd began their surge toward the final two qualifying positions. Henry made a swooping pass on both Dowd and Roncada to move into sixth, and a lap later Pichon, feeling Henry's hea t, made a sweet pass on both Lamson and Brown to take third for good. Henry ended up climbing a few more notches to take fourth, while Dowd, Brown, Lamson, Roy, Emig and the rest went to a semi. The first semi was all about Huffman. He nailed the hole hot over his teammate Hughes and another Kawasaki manned by Lawrence, and then Huffman rode to the win. '1 need a start like tha t in the main so I can just cruise," Huffman said. '1 need to get mean and I'm mad right now." . Albertyn crashed in the first turn, caught back up, and hounded the lead trio in fourth until he again went over the bars in a big way in the whoops and retired to the LCQ. Lawrence' had moved around Hughes on the first lap and then the two kept in tight formation a few seconds behind Huffman to take second and third a few seconds behind Huffman. Terlecki and Frenette both got nice starts, held a good pace and took the final two transfers in fourth and fifth, respectively. Emig had the early lead in the second semi over Brown, Dirt Squirt/Race Tech/Motorex's Anthony Amaradio, Dowd and Lamson, but Brown was on the move and took over the lead very early on the first lap. Lamson deposed "Emig to take second on the second la p and began to quibble with Brown for the lead, while Dowd and Roncada began tQ pressure Emig. In a horrific crash, Emig was flung over the bars in the whoops and got up holding his wrist. He would return to ride in the LCQ. Lamson took Brown's line away by the mechanics' area to steal the lead and race off to the semi win. Dowd and Roncada ran third and fourth for a while, until Dowd closed up the gap and wheelied by Brown in the whoops with just a lap to go. Dowd ended up finishing second. Brown maintained third, Roncada finished fourth, and Roy took the final transfer with a few seconds to spare over Amaradio. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Emig was on the far outside and Albertyn was on the extreme inside, making a factory sandwich out of the rest of the racers. Emig swooped over from the outside to snare the holeshot, clipping the front wheels of Katin and Edge Racing/JT /Wiseco-backed Brian Stone. Albertyn got a bad start and immediately pulled off. "I'm just hurting too bad to be out tllere," Albertyn said. "I took some 'time to see how my neck and back felt, but we'll just have to give it another try next week:' Emig took the easy win, but it was obvious that he was feeling the effects of his over-the-bars-excurs-ion from his semi. ''I'm all right," Emig said after the LCQ win. "I'm in a little bit of pain, but it's mostly in my head, especially with the way things have been going lately. We'll see how good of a starter I am from the outSide in the main now:'

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