Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

was his stro ngest ride of th e se ason proving to many that he is returning to th e " Ryn o" o f o ld , following a kne e inju ry. A 19th-place star t inthe seco nd m ota , however, ru ine d any chance he had of a repea t performance, bu t he did cha rge ba ck up to s ixth, which netted him a spo t on the rostrum in third p lace. "Eac h race, I'm ge tt ing bet ter and better," Hughes said . '1 can' t complain I'm a ctua lly doing bette r th an wh a t some peop le expected ." A pair of fourth-place finishes earn ed Mike LaRo cco, on the Factory Co nne cti on / Ja ck in th e Bo x H o n d a, fo urth o vera ll , w h il e Te a m Su z u k i' s G re g A1bertyn rounded ou t the top five with a 6-3 tally , Sixth overall went to Albertyn' s teamma te, a vali ant Larry Wa rd , who ad mitted he came to Spring Cree k "jus t to salvage some points." Ward was s till sore fro m h is terrible cras h a t th e Was hou gal Nation al in Washington two weeks earlier. He stru ggled to a pain ful 10th in th e fi rst m ota but w as qu ite p leased with his second -mo to fifth. "I d id pretty good considering I rode maybe 15 minutes on Thu rsd ay just to m ake s u re I cou ld co me he re," s aid Ward , 'w h o is still ex periencing p a in between his sho u lder a nd upper back, an d p ain in his mi d s ection from tw o cracked ribs. Team Ho nda 's Ezra Lusk, who had his broken arm opera ted on ag ain following th e Wa shouga l Na tio na l tw o ' weeks ago, rode to a fifth-place finis h in th e first mo ta a nd was d ici ng for th e lea d in th e secon d mo ta w hen he suffere d a h a rd get-o ff. The fa ll le ft h is already tender arm eve n more sore, and he wo ul d fin ish ou t the mot a in 14th, giving the Ho nd a rid er seventh over all for the day. H onda rider Heath Voss (13-7) piloted his Grea t Lak es Airl in e's CR250 to eigh th overall and top privateer honors, w hile Jeff Dem en t (12-9), on the White Knu ckle Grips Yama ha YZ250, and [iri Dos ta l (15-8 ), on the' Primal Impuls e Su zuki RM250, com p lete d the to p 10 overa ll. Af ter fin is hing seve n th in th e fir st mo ta , Tea m Su zuki' s Micka el Picho n gave eve ryone a big sca re wh en he we nt (Above) Kawasaki 's Ryan Hughes tu rn ed up the boost in the first 250cc moto, passing Henry late in the rac e and finish ing second. (Right) Heath Voss was t he top pr ivateer in the 250cc class. He fin ished eighth overall. over th e bars upon la nd ing fr om th e track' s new mammoth d ownhill d ou bled ouble jump while runnin g third three laps from the end of the seco nd moto. A bruised and batter ed but otherwise okay Pich on w alked off th e track and was credited wi th 28th, w hich gave hi m 11th ov erall. KTM ' s Lance Sm a il (8-22) fin ished 12th ov erall, a hea d of Donal d Upton (20-I 0), Cliff Palmer (9-21), and Takeshi Koiked a (19-12). As men tioned , Hen ry lea ds new secon d -p lace hol d e r Em ig b y 50 p o ints (whic h is equi valent to tw o mo tos - 25 poin ts a wi n per mot a ), 403-353. Albertyn has slipped back to th ird w ith 343, foll owed b y. Lu sk w it h 329 . Fif t h is Pich on w it h 317, a nd six th is LaRocco wit h 314. MOTOONE Under ideal racing cond itio ns, Henry launched hi s Pe te Steinb re che r- tu ne d YZ400F off the line and int o the lead at th e s ta r t of th e fi rst 250cc mo ta , but Emig was a li tt le bit q uicke r through Spring Creek 's notoriou sly brutal sandy w hoo ps section. By the end of the first lap, Emig was in control of the lead . " I was ge tti ng th rough th e w hoop sectio n really good," Emig sa id, "It was the only real place to pass (on the track). I ended up d oi ng most of m y passing there." Henry sett led int o second, followed b y H u gh es, Picho n , Lu s k, LaR occo . Yama ha ri d er Mike Ka tin, Ka wa sak imou nted Cliff Palmer, and Albertyn. Em ig led a freigh t train of riders for the first half of the race befor e break ing loose of second -p laced Henry a nd th e res t of th e pack. Hughes con tinu ed to ho ld d own thi rd and had so me breat hing ro om over Pich on, Lus k. LaRocco and Albertyn. Emig even tually bu ilt up a four-second lead on Hen ry, while Hughes continued to chase in third, but Picho n was beginning to show signs of slowing in fou r th . Th e former 125cc Su p ercross cha mp, Pichon, soon had Lus k kn ocking on his back door, and righ t behind Lus k w ere La Rocco a nd Alb erty n . Neari ng th e h alfway p o in t, b oth Lu sk and La Rocco ro de arou n d Pic h on, as d id Albertyn (who cut un derneath his team mate in a turn and ou tdragged him up a hill) a lap later. Hen ry, m ea nwhil e , seeme d to b e gaining slig htly on Emig un til suddenl y comi ng aro und abou t 10 seco nds beh ind Emig and with Hug hes hot on his tail. "I tried to rid e behin d Jeff," Henry said. "I felt like I was goi ng as fast - or faste r - than him at the beginning. I tried to pu t on a charge bu t ended up having a bad lap, If you jum p too far (off the downhill jumps), you land in the br aking bum ps, and tha t happened to me on both dow nh ills in o ne la p, a nd t ha t threw my rh yth m. I jus t tried to regroup from there." Em ig had st re tched out his lead to mor e tha n 10 seco nds over Hen ry, who now had a rejuven ated Hugh es to worry abou t. Four laps from the end, Hug hes made h is move and slip ped by Henry for second bu t had no cha nce of catchin g h is tea mma te Em ig, w ho h a d increased his lead to 12 seconds, LaRocco, who h ad been foll owing Lusk all race long, made a surprise pass on Lusk, and Alberty n was th reatening to do the same . With two laps to go, Emig was long gone, but the battl e for seco nd thro ugh fi ft h h ad tighte n ed u p. H e nry h ad caug ht back up to Hu ghes, and LaRocco and Lusk were lookin g to make moves on each o ther, as well. After Emig had taken the checkered flag, Hug hes led a sprin t race of riders acro ss th e finish lin e in second pl ace . Finishing a close third was H en ry, followed by LaRocco, Lus k and Albertyn. Falling wa y off the pace was Pichon in seventh, , The next rid er across the fin ish line, nearl y ha lf a lap d own on Emi g , w as KTM' s Lan ce Smail , w ho battled w it h Palmer early in the race before br eaking away from him . Pa lmer finished a d istant eig hth. , Bu t perhaps the happiest rider of all was Hughes. "I fina lly got a goo d start," Hu ghes sai d o f hi s firs t-mo ta r id e . " I rea ll y didn't kn ow I was goi ng to be able to ride becau se' I go t ru n over earlie r in my qualifier and hurt my butt, my back an d my sho uld er. Bu t once I go t ou t there, I forgot abo ut it and was rid ing and rid ing, staying up with those guys. I kind of lost so me tim e abo u t ha lfway, but I fou nd so me good lin es, p icked it back u p an d go t b y H enr y . I fe lt p r etty g2,od." " I ac tua lly ha d a lot of p res su re ," wi nner Emig said . "Ryno (Hug hes) and those guys w er e a ll ba tt ling and th a t kep t the lap times high. This didn't give me' a chance to slack off. I had to keep charging the who le way." "I di dn' t feel like I could charge the downhills," said fifth-p laced Lusk after: ward . "I was los ing tim e th ere . Th e whole track was hard on me." "I had an atrocious start," Alber ty n said, "and the wh ole moto we were battling with jetting. Ou r bikes were very d ifferent (je tting) fro m p ractice . We could n' t believe how d iffer en t; we we re strugg ling out there." Pichon a ttrib u te d the w ro ng bike setu p for his backward slid e. "I d id n' t choose the rig ht things for the bike - tires, something in the motor ,"

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