Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

On the same lap, Lusk went down, and both Lusk and Albertyn pulled up the rear. "1 landed in a soft spot on the track and crashed so hard that it knocked my gas cap off,"· Lusk said, "so I !lad to pull over and put in back on. I was way back behind the whole pack." Meanwhile, up front and heading into the third lap, both Lewis and McGrath had gotten around Emig, making the top ru nning order Lewis, McGrath, Ernig, Ward, Henry, Windham, Pichon and Craig. LaRocco was back in 10th. Lewis' moment of glory lasted a little over a lap, when McGrath doublejumped by the Suzuki rider and into the lead. McGrath quickly started pulling away from Lewis and a freight train of riders: Emig, Windham, Ward, Henry, Pichon, Craig and LaRocco, who were all within a bike length of each other. By the halfway point, McGrath enjoyed a four-second lead over Lewis, who still had some breathing room over a pair of dueling Yamaha riders - Henry and Windham. These two riders mixed it up for a while until Windham slipped by Henry and started to reel in Lewis. A couple of laps later, Windham caught and passed Lewis, as did Henry; then Henry repassed Windham. From that moment on, Henry had nothing on his mind but to catch McGrath and he went after him. "We were about 15 seconds behind Jeremy," Henry said. "Then we started catching him. Then I got around Kevin, and I think we caught up to about six seconds (on McGrath). 1 was just pushing it; I was going to try to catch him (McGrath), and 1 figured there were a few laps left and felt really strong and good. Then I just went a little too wide in this one turn, the back tire went over the berm, and I fell just a little bit. Windham and LaRocco got by me." By the two-lap sign, McGrath was still in command, but the rider on the move now was LaRocco, who earlier had slipped by Craig, Ward, Pichon, Emig and Lewis. Then both Windham and LaRocco rode around Henry when he bobbled. At this point, LaRocco's next target was Windham and, on the last lap, he made a daring pass on the Yamaha rider down Mount St. Helens to take over second. When the checkered flag came out, it was McGrath with about nine seconds on LaRocco, followed by Windham, Henry, Pichon, Ward, Emig r Lewis, Craig and Dubach. Lusk and Albertyn crossed the finish line in 14th and 15th. "It was just a good, smooth race," McGrath said. "1 thought 1 would start fading back, but when I saw that I wasn't, I put everything 1 had into the one mota," said third-placed Windham. '1 was eighth or ninth off the start," Ward said of his sixth-place ride. "I got by a couple of guys; then I just got hung up, rode a little tentative and followed some guys who weren't taking very good lines. Tha t just slowed my pace down. By the time 1 finally got going, it was too late." "1 felt good being up front," said seventh-placed Emig said. "I was confident, but 1 was just tight. 1 didn't have many • days of riding up to today. The main thing was that my choice of lines was just terrible - unlike last year here, where I could do no wrong." MOTOTWO There was no catching Pichon in the second mota. He roosted his Tony Berlu ti-tuned RM250 into the lead and quickly opened up a comfortable lead over the rest of the pack. Pichon was in total control, leaving behind him a lot of close racing of which he wanted no part. Well into the race, it was clear that Pichon was going to win, barring any crashes or mechanical problems, so his fate for the overall was left in the hands of his teammates Ward and Albertyn, and many of the other top riders. "Henry was behind me," Pichon said, "and 1 know Henry is very fast outdoors. His bike is fast on this kind of track, but 1 was pulling a second a lap a second a lap. [ had some good lines, and after [ gotaway, 1 said to myself, 'Okay now, just ride your own race and try to be smooth.' When you're by yourself like this, you can see the track better, and you can find some good and new lines all the time." Elsewhere, a three-way fight broke out early on for second place, involving Henry, Ward and LaRocco. Further back chased Craig, Albertyn, Lance Smail, McGrath, Emig, Dubach and Lusk. "Larry and I went back and forth a . couple of times," Henry said. "1 wasn't comfortable with my lines. 1 should've moved around a little bit more on the' track, but I had Larry right on me, so I wasn't able to experiment, so that gave .Pichon a chance to get out there. He was riding good. I didn't think he would last as. long as he 'did; I thought he would make some mistakes or something, but he rode good." Henry, Ward and LaRocco continued to fight hard for a number of laps. At one point, Ward and Henry traded places a couple of times, with Henry holding on to number two. Then LaRocco made his move and got around Ward and suddenly found himself in second when Henry went astray. "I went off the track," Henry said. "I hit a kicker going up a hill, just got my back wheel over the side, and I thought 1 was in a lot more trouble. It could've , been a lot worse than it was. I lost four positions there." Just after halfway, Pichon was still out in front by about nine seconds, followed by LaRocco, Ward, Albertyn and McGrath. A little way behind McGrath chased Henry, who had a few bike lengths on Lusk. At this point, LaRocco stood a good chance to win the overall, but a lap later, that would all end as b.oth Ward and Albertyn got by the Honda rider for second and third. ow, Suzuki riders were running 1-2-3. With four laps remaining, Ward, Albertyn, LaRocco and McGrath were locked in a bitter war - if LaRocco passed Albertyn, LaRocco would take the overall, and the same was true for McGrath if he could pass LaRocco. These four riders stayed within inches of each other down to the wire but no one could make that all-important pass. Actually, McGrath did get by LaRocco at one point but couldn't make the pass stick. . "I got him going up the hill," McGrath said of passing LaRocco, "but he banzaied past me back down the hill. I was like, 'Go ahead, if you're going to do that -.' He did say he loved that downhill- it's gnarly." Ward held on to second with no more than about a bike length over Albertyn, followed in close succession by LaRocco and McGrath, and this was enough to give Pichon the overall. "Thank you, Larry," Pichon said. "I didn't get a good start," Ward said, "but all of a sudden I was in third, and I was like, 'Yeah!' I love when you start good in a National. 1 tried every inside, every outside, everything 1 could Jeremy McGrath smoked everyone in the first moto, but an ugly first lap in the second moto effectively cost him the overall. He was still fairly pleased with second overall after going 1·5 on the day. do, but I just could not get by Henry for at least the first 15 to 20 minutes. FmalIy, LaRocco got by me, then 1 said, '1 got to get 'em now, otherwise I'm going to get smoked again.' Then him and LaRocco touched a.little bit, he (Henry) went off the side of the track a little bit and I got by him. A lap later, I got LaRocco back. I rode real hard. I tried not to worry about the guys behind me. 1 kept looking at Mickael • he had a huge lead, but we were catching him big-tin1.e. I never looked back; I didn't even know Albertyn had gotten into third. I assumed it was laRocco because the Honda guys were cheering a t the top of hill, but the last couple of lap, they weren't cheering anymore. I just kept charging forward and kept hoping Mickael would fall down on the last lap. "Honestly, I'm really happy for Suzuki. We've come a long, long way since the begl1ming of the year." "It was good team battle," Albertyn said. "It was actually really, really fun. I enjoyed that very much. Obviously, 1 would've liked to come out on top, but my teammates are riding well." "I was sitting pretty until we got to the top of Mount St. Helens," McGrath said of his miserable first lap. "Ezra fell and pinned me on the hay bales. I was stuck. I couldn't go anywhere until he got up. I fell back to 10th." "1 lost the front wheel," Lusk said. "1 totally fell down and had to re tart the bike." Later that lap, McGrath went down again. "1 swapped a Ii ttle bit in some ruts and hit my helmet; it moved up and [ had no vision," McGrath said. "Me and Albee rode together after that; we had a long way to catch up, and we caught up." Finishing a distant sixth was Henry, who was closely followed across the finish line by Lusk. Nearly a half-lap back in eighth came Craig, then Smail, Dubach, Lewis and Matiasevich. "1 had a good start, but me, Ezra and McGrath came together (on the first lap)," said Windham, who ended up 16th in that mota. "Whenever I hit Ezra, it ripped the bars out of my hand, and there was kind of a sharp pain for a while, so I just rode around in like 40th." Emig did not finish the race. "I blew my start· just lit it up," Emig said. "But when 1 got around some of the guys, it (the motor) started gol11.g." But the man of the hour was Pichon. "1 tried very hard," Pichon said. "My first race, 1 thought I might get tired I've been training really hard - but I didn't get tired at all. Even at the end I was pulling away, except for the last two laps, I was so pumped. Those last two laps, I was just riding around, 1 was so happy." f~ Glen Helen Raceway Park San Bernardino, California May 10, 1998 (Round 1 of 12) 2S0 MOTO 1, 1. Jeremy McGrath (Yam); 2. Mike laRocco (Hon); 3. Kevin Windham (Yam); 4. Doug Henry (Yam); 5. Mickael Pichon (Suz); 6. Larry Ward ( uz): 7. Jeff Ernig O<':lW)i 8. Kyle Lewis (Suz); 9. Mike Craig (Hon); 10. Doug Dub..,ch (Yam); 11. Lance mail (KTM); 12. Shaun Kalas (Yam); 13. Yoshltaka Atsuta (Hon); 14. E,"a Lusk (Hon); 15. Greg A1bertyn (Suz); 16. Jean-Sebastien Roy (Kaw); 17. Donald Upton (Suz); 18. Spud Walters (Yam); 19. Heath Voss (Hon); 20. jeff Mntiasevich (Kaw); 21. PhiJ Lawrence (Kaw); 22. Takeshi Koikeda (Yam); 23. Jason Thomas (Kaw); 24. Tyler Evans (Suz); 25. Tony Amaradio (Vam); 26. Jeff Dement (Yam); 27. Brad I-Iagseth (Yam); 28. Jason. "Frenette (Kaw); 29. Ryan Terlecki (Suz); 30. Ray Somma (Hon); 31. Dan Moore (Suz); 32. Cory Bnuder (Yam); 33. Mike Katin Jr. (Yam): 34. Anthony Pocorobba (Suz); 35. Ray Crumb (Yam); 36. Justin Tiearney (Yam): 37. Tim Beatty (Suz); 38. Tommy Johansson (Kaw); 39. Patrick McMullen (Suz). Time: 37 min., 26.240 sec. 250 MOTO 2: 1. Michael Pichon (Suz); 2. Larry Ward (5uz); 3. Greg Albertyn (Suz); 4. Mike laRocco (Hon): 5. Jeremy McGrath (Yam); 6. Doug Henry (Yam); 7. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 8. Mike Craig CHon): 9. Lance Smail (KTM); 10. Doug Dubaeh (Yam); 11. Kyle Lewis (Suz); 12. Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw); 13. Tyler Evans (Suz); 14. Yoshitaka Atsuta (Hon); 15. Takeshi Koikeda (Yam); 16. Kevin Windham (Yam); 17. Heath Voss (Hon)~ 18. Jeff Dement (Yam); 19. Jason Thomas (Kaw): 20. Tony Amaradio (Yam); 21. Spud Walters (Yam); 22. Ray Sommo (Hon); 23. Brad Hagseth (Yam): 24. Jason Frenette (Kaw): 25. Dan Moore (Suz); 26. Ryan Terlecki (SUz.); 27. Mike Katin (Yam); 28. Tommy Johansson (Kaw); 29. Anthony Pocorobba (Suz); 30. Shaun Kalos (Yam); 31. Jean~Sebastien Roy (Kaw); 32. DonaJd Upton (Suz); 33. Jeff Emig jeff Dement/Spud Walters (3): 24. Jason Thomas (2); 25. Tony Amaradio (1).

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