Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) A first-mota fifth all but ruined Jeff Emig's chance for his fourth straight win; instead, he settled for a second-mota win and third overall. (Below) Honda' s Ezra Lus k put together another solid performance , going 2-2 for second overa ll. scores to lea pfrog past Suzu ki teammate Mickael Pich on a nd sna tch the seco nd position in the AMA 250cc point stand in gs. See mi ngly a t home on the European -like Wash ou gal circuit, Albertyn somewhat ou t of so rts with his fourthp lace fini sh and w it h the track its elf will have to look ahead to Millville to chop away at Henry's point lead . "1 feel swea ty and stinky, and I got fou r th overa ll, a nd I'm no t to o sa tisfied ," Albert yn sa id . "The seco nd mota wasn' t as goo d as I'd hoped, because I go t a cra p py start. I think I used all my energy in the first moto, and I was kind of s truggling in the second. Th e track w a s k ind of torn up - li ke a ll of the Na tiona l tra ck s. I th ink they need to have us before they have th e ama teur ' d ays, because it ten ds to 'ru in the track and make it all ha rd a nd slick und ernea th. Even though they prep it, it's still not as fres h as it could be." While a ninth-place score in the first mo ta cas t a s ha dow of d oubt o ve r Pich on ' s 1998 titl e cha rge, th e G le n Helen at ional winner bou nced back to take a hard-earned fou rth in the second mot a, thus genera ting eno ugh points to earn fifth on the day. The rid ers in the logjam a t th e s h a rp end of th e 250cc point stand ings - Albertyn, Lusk, Pichon a n d Em ig - a re a ll n o w w it h in five po in ts of o ne a no ther, a nd Pich on in parti cul ar w a s no t pl ea sed w it h th e events of the da y. "I' m no t ve ry happy," Pichon sa id . " I' m p retty h app y w i t h th e se co n d mota, because I had a' pretty good shot, and I tried hard to get by Henry - but I could n' t do it. But I'm very disappointed with my first mo ta . I had a very bad start; I was like 25th . But after the start, I .s ta rted coming back pretty good and was like fifth wi th onl y three laps to go, but then I went down. That was too bad , beca use I cha rged pret ty hard the w hole m ot a , a n d th en I fell a nd t he guys be h in d me w ere pre tt y close , and I ended up ni nth and lost a lot of poin ts and maybe a pod ium fin ish . Now I'm fourth in the point s." Shaking off the effects of a n inju ryra vaged seas on, Team Kawasak i rid er Ryan Hug hes rolled to an enco u raging p air o f 6-6 scores for si xth overa ll a t Washou gal. "I feel better, and it see ms like each race is ge tting bett er and bet ter for me," sa id Hu g h es . " Ev ery ra ce I wi ll ge t stronger and stro nger, and I'm loo king forward to the rest of the series." ine races in to the 12-ro und series, Henry now has 361 poi nts to his name , and wh ile he has his sig h ts set on his first 250cc title, He nry refuses to tem pt fate and upset the racing gods by looking too far ahead . "I think abo u t how nea t it would be to wi n this title, bu t then I say to myself n ot to ge t too ca ug ht up in a ll t ha t , because it's too earlv ." Resting seco nd in the poi nts tab le as theseries hits the hom estretch is Albe rtyn with 308. Meanwh ile, Lu sk a nd a d eadlock ed Pichon a nd Emig a re a ll br eathing d own his back wit h 306 and 303 points, respect ively . Fac to ry Co nnection /jack i n the Box/ O' Neal/Scott / Bell rid er Mike LaRocco hold s down the fifth position wit h 278. Th e a lw ays-po p u la r Wa sh ou g a l Na tio na l attra cted mor e . than 20,000 specta tors. At 2:10 p.m., the starting ga te clanked onto the di rt and the first 250cc mota was on . Find ing hi s wa y to th e fro nt - and leavin g the field just ou tside his thundering wak e - was Wh ite Brothers / Yamaha/ MSR/ Ga torz-backed fourstroke rider Spud Waiters. How ever, his lead would not last long, as his fellow valve-and-cam com rad e, Hen ry, imme- "diately fou nd his way to the fron t, soo n to be followed by Lusk, Yama ha rider Takeshi Koiked a, Albertyn a nd Ward, who was su rp rised by the im p ressive starting speed of the four-bangers . "I d idn't ge t the best sta rt, and it was kin d of like a four-stro ke Na tiona l out there," Ward said. "The start line was so sli p pery tha t the four-strokes jus t had better traction than us." Three laps in, Henry had opened up a three-second lead on Lusk, who had , in tum, less than a bike length on Albe rtyn. Approximately eight secon ds back , Koik eda continued to ho ld down fourth, while Wa rd was now in fifth and Husaberg's Lance Sma il and Doug Dubach, both on four-stro kes, we re in sixth and seventh, resp ectively. Chargin g through the field after poor starts, Emig an d Hug hes soo n mov ed in o n the b o om in g fou r-st rok es . Soo n, Sma il w ou ld break and Emig wo u ld hit th e dirt af te r wash ing o ut in a slowspeed hairpin. As the race near ed the halfway point. Henry continued to lead Lusk by thr ee seconds, while Albertyn, jus t a few bike leng ths back, con tinue d to stalk Lusk. Ward, six seconds be hind th e lead in g tr io , at te mpted to make a mid ra ce charge, but it was all for naught. "I got u p into fourt h, an d I saw Albe rtyn and Lusk and pushed really . hard and caught u p a few seconds on them," Ward said. "But then I made a couple mistakes. and I don't wa nt to say I "settled " - because I hate to settle - but I settled for fourth . Those gu ys (Lusk and Albertyn) got a sm ell of Henry, and they go t on it pretty good, and I was back 00 0\ 0\ ....... ('.J' ....... ..... r.Jl ;:l eo . ;:l -< 7

• Cover