Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Racing/Bridgestone's Takeshi Koikeda, and McGrath picked up the one point awarded to 20th. McGrath's seemingly insurmountable points lead has dwindled slightly, but he still leads Windham in the standings, 268-237, with three races remaining. Lusk is still lurking in third with 224. "There is still no points battle," McGrath said after the race. "I'm 31 points ahead now from 53 before this race, but it's no big deal. I made a little mistake and I'm still a race and six points ahead. I'm not really worried about it. It's good we've got a vacation coming so I can regroup, but I'm riding fine." HEATS Pichon edged out Windham for the holeshot in the first heat, with Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, Lusk, Hughes, Brown and a host of others in tow. While Windham pre sured Pichon for the lead during the first two laps, racing behind the duo was a close pack consisting of Huffman, Hughes, Button and then Lusk. Disaster struck, though, when Huffman went over the bars hard while jumping the finish-line jump in the midst of the group. He did not get up on his own and was eventually taken off the track on a stretcher with what was later diagnosed as a broken right femur (see Briefly... section). Windham got by Pichon exiting the whoop section during the third lap and raced off to the win. "My heat went great," Windham said. "Me and Pichon were up there, battling. It was a good ride because tl1e track's a little hard to pass on. I worked on hin1 for a few laps and finally got it. I actually ended up with the fastest quaJifier, which has been happening quite often lately, so I'm excited about that. The track was tough and he was going a good pace. I mean, I was behind him for half of the race and our qualifier was still faster. That's a sure sign that both of us were going fast and I'm excited about that." Pichon stayed close to finish second while"Hughes maintained third over ~ squabbling Lusk and then Button. Going to the semi with Button were Roy, Palmer and Roncada in sixth through eighth, along with Brown and Team Kawasaki of Mexico/Thor/Tecate fiJJ-in Jeff Matiasevich, who cra§hed together on the first lap. . The second heat saw Bro.mley Suzuki/MSR/Dunlop-backed veteran Barry Carsten take the holeshot, with McGrath, Craig, Ward, Lamson and Dowd in close pursuit. Craig was on the move and tripled by Carsten before passing McGrath for the lead when the Chaparral/Yamaha rider bobbled in the same spot where he would later break his bike in the main. Once he composed himself, McGrath took the lead back and took off to the win in front of Craig. '1 got a little tight in the heat race," McGrath explained. "On the first lap, I kind of cased the Jurop .before the finish and Craig went around me. After that, I got back by him and just tried to calm down. I was making little mistakes and wanted to stretch it out." Henry moved through the pack after a mediocre start and got into a battle witl1 Lamson and then Ward while trymg to get into third place. Henry flew lower over a triple jump to finally steal third away from Ward, who took the final transfer in fourth feeling some heat from the charging laRocco. Lamson settled for sixth ahead of Dowd, and the two went to the semi with the rest. (Left) Doug Henry rode his factory-backed Yamaha to third in the main after running as high as second. (Above) Team Suzuki's Larry Ward returned to the front of the pack and finished fourth, and nearly caught Henry at the end. SEMIS Button wanted into the main and shot to the lead of the first semi wi th Terlecki, Roy, Airdrie Motor ports/ FMF /Smith-backed Jason Frenette, Brown and Palmer in tow. From that point, Butt?n took off and hid, winning the serru WIth a comfortable margin over Roy, Brown, Palmer and Terlecki, who held on to take the fifth and final transfer to the main. Matiasevich just missed the transfer in a distant sixth, along with Roncada. The French 125cc Western Region contender ran as high as fourth until he flew over a berm near the finish. Dowd also wanted to be in the show and took the lead in the second semi followed by DeHoop, Koikeda, LaRocc~ and Lamson. Lamson in1mediately leapfrogged his way into second and LaRocco -did. the same rather quickly to get mto third, and the two finished behind Dowd. Voss came ur through the pack to take fourth, and DeHoop held off KOlkeda and Kames Sports/Pirelli/Pro Circuit-backed Mike Katin Jr. to take fiftl1. The rest went to the LCQ. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER . Katin had the edge going into the fust turn of the LCQ, with Roncada Koikeda and the rest of the field in tow: Katin had a good lead for a lap until he threw it away in a rhythm section. From there, Roncada ran off to the win, while Matiasevich did his best to move through the pack for the final tran fer. Matiasevich got dose on the fifth lap, but a few mistakes sent him to the pits for the night. MAIN The holeshot in the main event went to McGrath; he was followed by Lusk, Dowd, Pichon, Ward, Windham and Henry. McGrath pulled out to a promismg two-second lead by the end of the first lap, as the rest of the group shuffled itself. In fact, Windham was forced off of the track and almost into the stands as the lead pack raced up the loop that went into the grandstands, but he recovered without losing too much ground. By the middle of the first lap, McGrath had a good lead, trailed by Lusk, Ward, Henry, Pichon, Button and then Windham. Just as McGrath was about to finish his second lap, his race was ended when he came up short in a rhythm section, swapped, and crashed directly into the oncoming turn. The force of the crash broke the damps that secure th.e bars, and as McGrath struggled to fmd a place to lift his bike, he and Ward made contact. "When Jeremy went down and tood back up, I think he was in a little bit of a daz~," Ward explained. "He stood up and looked at his bike and stoo'd up agam and kind of lost his feet, and my shoulder and his shoulder just nailed each other and I knocked him down so hard. But I didn't mean to do it." From there on out, it was Lusk's race to lose, and he didn't have a problem with that, as he raged off to victory. The win was so far in the bag that many of the fans were booking for the exi ts by the 15th lap. "I got beside Jeremy out of the starting gate and we came out really good, ~erfe~t," said Lusk about his winning nde. 'We went 1I1to the first turn side by SIde, and he came out just a little bit ahead of me. I followed Jeremy for a few laps - 1 knew he was going to hammer doWl1 - and I just wanted to watch and try to pick some good lines. 1think 1had closed in on him when he fell. I sa whim hitting the ground, and I did that in the same exact place in practice yesterday, and it doesn't feel good. After 1 got the lead, I just went as hard as I could and tried to pull away. Halfway through, I got a little tense and didn't really go as good as I should have, but it was good enough to still win the race." The top running order remained the same for much of the race, but it was Windham who wanted more as he came through the pack. He got Button early on, and then passed Pichon and then Ward near the finish about midway through - which left only his teammate Henry in the way. It took Windham (Right) McGrath (2) had the lead in the main and was pulling away until he crashed and . broke his triple clamps, rendering the handlebars useless. about three laps to reel in his teammate before he moved by nicely on lap 15. "I made a nice inside pass on him (Henry) and didn't get too physical," Wmdham explained. "He rode a good race and I'm pumped to see him up there. That's an improvement and hopefuJJy he can keep it going - keep putting those Yamahas on the podium." Lusk had a la-second lead by the time Windham got to second and that was as far as he would climb. He eventually finished five seconds behind Lusk a t the finish and was pleased with his ride, although not fully satisfied. . "It was iw;;t one of those things. My b1ke 1S working awesome," Windham said after the race. "I ju t had a little bit of brain fade and had a slow reaction and got boxed off into the first turn. I was inside the top 10, maybe sixth, but whenever there are six guys in front of you, it looks like you're way back. Passing through the pack went pretty good. It took a little while, but we've got a long time - 20 laps is a long main event." Henry held on to fourth, although not without feeling some big pressure from Ward on the last lap. "I got an okay start - m'aybe in the top five somewhere - and just had to work past a couple of guys," Henry explained. "A couple guys went clown in front of me, so 1pretty much just rode my own race. I saw that shot at the podium, so I was really working towards that. I had to get by Pichon in the beginning when 1 jumped lower than him on a triple jump, and then Ward made a mistake and I got by him. It was a good night for the team and me."

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