Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

track. If you lost it, it was hard getting it back." Roun d in g ou t th e top five ove ra ll was Team Suzuki's Greg Alber tyn , w ho was hoping to pick up so me gro und on Henry -In the series poi n ts chase bu t inste ad lost 10 poin ts. But things cou ld have been w orse. "I injured my shoulder last week (at Sou thwick) and h a ve n ' t been ab le to r id e all week," sai d th e thre e-tim e World Champion. "I ha d to have a cortiso ne injection on Thursda y because I cou ld n ' t even m ove it , so I'm p re tt y .' happy just to have go tte n point s today and maintain my second place." Albertyn we nt 5-7 on the day. A pai r of eights gave Ca nad ian Jean Sebastien Roy , o n ·h is Two Whe e lsbacked Kawasaki, top-priva teer ' honors in s ixt h o vera ll. He . was fo llow ed by Kawasaki of Me xi co /Tecate's Ph il Lawrence a nd lo cal favo r ite Kevin Crine , fro m n e a r b y M ec h a nicsv ille. Cr ine rode his Gau lding's Kawasaki / RRP-backed KX250 to a pai r of 10th place finishes . Th e Budds Creek Na tio na l was ye t ano ther disas ter for Tea m Ho nda. After lo s in g 125cc rid er Ste ve La mso n at Sout hwic k after he reinjured his broken collarbo ne, the tea m los t its remaining rider Ezra Lusk for an und etermin ed am ount of time after he suffe red a broke n arm in a seco nd -mo ta , firs t-turn crash (see Briefly...). Lusk was still cred ited w it h nin th overa ll via h is fourthplace ride in the firs t mo ta . He d id not finish the second moto, Co mpleting th e top 10 overa ll w as Heath Voss on his Great Lakes Aviation Honda. Voss we nt 13-12 on the day. . The Budds Cr eek Natio na l was n ' t p a rt icu la rl y k in d to e i th e r Team Kawasaki's Jeff Em ig or Team Suzuki 's Larry Ward, with both riders car d ing a DNF in the first mota. Emig had his bike lock up while ru nning sixth on the 10th . lap, and Ward was forced to reti re after hav ing someone's foo tpeg sheer off a bunch of h is front wh eel ' s s p o ke s through the first tum. Emig and Ward retu rn ed to do battl e in the seco nd mo to, with Emig.finishing fifth and Ward sixth. With five roun d s now com pleted in ·the 12-ro u nd series, Hen ry has opened u p a 28-point lead ov er Alb er tyn, 201173, an d he is also the firs t double winner of the se ries, hi s firs t wi n comin g jus t one week ea rl ie r a t So u thwick . A close third is LaRocco w ith 170 po in ts, and closin g in fourth is Picho n wi th 168. MOTOONE With te mpera tu res hovering in the low 90s, maki ng ihis the firs t sig nifican tly ho t race of the yea r , W indh am grabbed what would end up being for h im th e first of tw o holesho ts on th e day. Settling in righ t behind him was his teammat e Henry and anothe r Yam aha being rid den by Japanese rider Tak esh i Koiked a, w ho wo u ld quickl y d rop off the lead pace an d eventually finish 16th. Pichon had his Suzuki running in third by the second lap, followed by Kawasaki of Mexico' s Ped ro Go nza lez, Albe rtyn, Emig, Kawasak i ride r James Evans and Lusk. Buried way back in the pack were suc h notables a s La wren ce a nd Ward, who wou ld eve n tua lly pull out of the race at the halfway point. "In the first turn, so mebod y came in on the insid e a nd my fro n t w hee l got ca ug ht in his foot peg a nd ripped ha lf m y spo kes ou t," Ward said . "There's a lot of d rop-offs here, and eve ry lap it (the fro n t wheel) was w obbling more and more and more, I was scared . The sp okes were d a ngling . I was afrai d it (Above) Kevin Windha m led every lap of thO first 250cc mota and the first half of e the second mota before dropp ing to fourth in the hot and humid conditions at Budds Creek. He still finis hed second overa ll. (Right) Team Suzuki's Mickael Pichon was neve r pressured all day long. Instead, Pichon kept the press ure on both Henry and Windham for third overall. (the w heel) was go ing to coll a pse off one of the downhills. I stopped and my mecha nic told me not to go anymore." Up front, Windham had opened up a modest lead over Henry, w hile Pichon staye d close in third . Al b e r ty n go t a rou nd Go nza lez for fourth, bu t was too far back to mount an y kind of a serious challeng e to the leadin g trio. By the h a lf w a y p oi nt , Henry had closed u p the gap on Wl'ndham but no t close enough th a t he co ul d a ttempt a pass. Lap after lap, Henry chased Windham bu t no progress coul d be ma de, as Wind ham held on for the wi n. "I tri ed to ca tch up to hi m," He nry said, "I caug ht up but started to make mistakes, I just had to settle for second . I knew I wasn' t go ing to be able to get him unless he mad e a mis take, bu t he jus t wasn' t doing it." Late in th e r a ce , Pic hon b eg a n to d rop back slightly but still had plenty of roo m to spare over Albertyn, w ho started heari ng heavy foo tsteps by Lusk late in the race. Lusk caug ht Albertyn wi th abo ut five laps to go, but slight bobbles her e and th er e by th e Ho nd a rid er p re v ented . Lusk from -trying a serious pass attemp t and had to settle for fifth. After his poor start, LaRocco slip ped into sixth on the eight h la p, bu t had no real chance of catching the dici ng Albertyn and Lusk. After ro undi ng the first lap in 18th, Ho n d a of Troy' s Mi ke Craig hurtl ed h imself up to a d istant seven th by the time it was a ll over, and Roy n ipped Gonza lez on the last lap to take eighth. Finis hing 10th after ru nni ng as high as seven th was Crine. Alrea dy restin g in th e pits and ge ttin g re ad y for th e secon d m oto w a s Emig, whos e bike came to a screech ing halt on lap eight. "We lost the bottom-end again, " said Emig's tun er Jeremy Albrecht. "We lost a bottom-end a t Gl en Helen, too, bu t I don't think for the same reason . At Glen He len, it slow ly went awa y - here it definitely stopped. I haven't been able to take it apa rt yet to find ou t what happened ." Albrech t repl aced engines bet w een motos. MOTO TWO Th e s ta rt of the second m o ta was nea rly a carbo n co py of the firs t, with Windham ' s Ya ma h a ju m ping ou t in front of Henry's boomi ng fou r-s troke, but th is time La Rocco p ut his H on d a into third ahea d of Pichon's Suz uki. Amo ng th ose left behind in a firs t- turn pil e-up were Lusk and Craig. Both the Ho nda riders, and the other five or s ix riders invol ved , re m ou n ted , bu t Lusk wo uld pull out of the race a cou ple of laps later wit h a bro ken left arm . And things d id n't get any bett er for Craig, eit her. Less th an a lap lat er, he crashed over a ju mp and was carried off t he t rack with a brok en le g (s ee Briefly...). Meanwhile, up fro nt, Wind ham continued to lead the way, but he could n't pu t an y real d istan ce between h imself and Hen ry as he had don e in the previ- 7

• Cover