Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS Round 6: Red Bud Track and Trail AAMA/MAZDA TRUCK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 250cc MXSERIES f',-- By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones BUCHANAN, MI, JULY 5 CCOrd ing to the homem ade ba nners aro und th e race tr ack, "Red Bud loves Jeff Em ig." On Sunday afternoon, Emig sho w ed some love back. The d e fendin g 250 cc AMA Na ti o na l M X Series Cham pion broke ou t of his yearlong slump in a big way wi th a solid 1-1 wi n in fro nt of more th an 21,312 su ndre n ch ed fans. It was the s trugg ling Ka w asaki pilot's firs t rac e w in of th e 1998 season, as well as his fifth Red Bud Nationa l-class wi n in seven years. ~ /j .8 - - - - -- "This place is d efinitely on the list as on e of my all -time favo rit es," said the em battled Emig, w ho had no t w on an AMA race since lat e Au gust of las t year. " It feels really good to be back o n th e pod iu m , le t alone on top of it ! I was reall y relaxed coming in and I wa s rea lly agg ress ive with th e tra ck - ev e n a ttack ing th e track, as th ey say. Since '91, I've won at least a mot o here every yea r, and the overall five times, so I was really looking forward to coming her e. My m echanic, Jeremy Alb rech t, and I wor ked wi th ev eryone at Kawasa ki last week to ge t this bi ke worki ng the be st for me, and as you could see, th ey d id a great job . It' s always rea lly exciting to - - - - - - - - -- And Jeff Emlg loves Red Bud after he grabbed his first win of the 1998 season with a 1-1. co me her e because it's Fourth of July an d a ll a nd I'm always a rn ped about Red Bud ." By w in n ing Red Bud , Em ig a lso en d ed the brief tw o-race wi nning streak of Yama ha YZ 400- mo u n ted Do u g Henry, th e cu rren t se ries poin ts leade r. However, Henry di d man age to bolster his points lead s ligh tly by ad ding s ix m ore points to his cushion ove r Suzuki's Greg Albertyn (243 to 209). Henry fin - - - - - - -- - - ----:- ished 2-3 in the moto s, ed gin g ou t the 42 of Mick ael Pich on , who co ntin u es to impress on his RM250. One o f t h e m ore m em ora ble moments for Hen ry may have been his last-la p co llision w ith A lbe rtyn in the fi rs t mota . H enry cli p ped the So uth Afri can while attem pting an aggressive ou tside pass, causing both rid ers to go down. H enry remounted firs t, sp un a d ou ghnut, an d got out in fro nt of Albertyn to complete the unorthod ox pass. " I felt really good a ll d ay but Red Bud has never really been o ne of my better tra cks, so I'm pretty happy with second," sum ma riz ed Henry of his day. "Jeff alwa ys does we ll here and he rode w ell, but I think it was a good d ay for me, too . I had a lot of fun out ther e." " I fe lt v ery fa s t and ve ry s tro ng today, especially in the sec o nd mo to," sai d Pi ch o n , wh o al so fini shed thi rd overall a t th e previ ou s ro und in Maryland . "I w as staying right with Emig the w hole wa y, and I think tha t I w ill only ge t stro nger as the year goes on. I w ould li ke to w in ag ai n ." (P ic ho n w on th e series ' opening round in California back in May). Albertyn was fourth overall with a 35 sco re . Finishi n g a mi ra culou s fif th overall was Team H on d a' s Ezra Lusk , w ho competed at Red Bud just 14 days after breaking his left arm. With a plat an d six screws hold ing the limb together, Lusk actua llv took the ho leshot and led the second moto brief! v, '1 jus t decided tha t in' order to have any sho t a t the championship, I needed t o b e h e re to d a y , " sai d Lusk, wh o wrap ped the fres h break w ith adhesive ta pe an d Ace bandages. "I decid ed not to ju m p th e b ig tr ipl e (affectiona tely referred to as Lalcocco's Lea p) becam e [ don 't th ink my ar m cou ld take that, but otherwise I was oka v." True to his word: Lusk was forced to g iv e up th e lead in the se co n d m oto when he passed on attem pting the massive leap. Henry ' s sho r t lea p forward in th e po ints was by no means enough for him or his team to sta rt play ing it safe, as if the eve r-co m p et it ive ve teran w ould ever consid er such a premature strateg y . For th e record , H enry ca rr ies 243 tot al po ints in to th e second half of th e series, foll owed by Alberty n' s 209 and Pich on 's 208. Hard-lu cked Mike laRocco, who twned in a trouble-pl agued 106 on a day man y tho ug ht might be his bre akthroug h race, is fourth with 196 points. Lusk is next with 189, foll owed by Kev in Windham' s 18.6 a nd Emig's 169. Th e Gen e Ritchie-d esigned Red Bud course w as a fas t mix of jumps, hil ls and off-camber ed co rners . A ma ssive rains to r m o n Frid a y n ight left the tra ck under a sh eet of mud, so much so that Satu rd ay afternoon's pr actice and qu alifyi ng sess ion s w ent o ff o n a mucha bbreviated course. However, when Su nday dawned warm and su nny, th e tr ack cr ews went to work and pu sh ed the wors t of the mud off to ensu re a good 'track for raci ng . Deep berms lined the co rners a nd the a p proaches w ere riddled wi th d eep braking bumps . The u su al asso rt men t of crow d -pleasing ju m p s kept the Red Bud crowd en ter taine d th ro u gho u t . a ll fou r m ote s, tho ug h no o ne in th e 125cc class eve n . tried to clear the not orious 140-foot -Ion g LaRocco's Leap .triple jump. MOTOONE When the firs t mot a blasted from the ga te into the d eep, loamy fi rst turn, Henry led the way aboa rd th e big blue b o mbe r, fo llowed closely b y Emig ,

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