Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127959
(Left) Suzuki's Larry Ward wo n the second moto, his first of the year. (Right) Greg Albertyn went 33 fo r sec ond overall. Here he leads Ryan Ter lecki• . pre tty sore from my big crash at M illville," sa id Pich on. "I just go t tired from holding on so tig ht. Th ere w as nothing I cou ld d o excep t try to ho ld on to the lead . Henry got me, and I just tried to hold on to second ." Hughes ended u p fou rth , w ith a latecha r gi n g LaRocco fift h , ah ead o f Lawrence. Ward was a disappo intin g seventh a fte r ba ttling to th e fin ish line ahea d of Canadian hero Jean -Seb astien Roy. The Yamaha-m ounted Koiked a was nint h, and Xtreme/ Wh ite Knuckle /ESE Racing' s Jeff Dement ro u nded out th e top 10. After Henry nearly mi ssed the start of th e second mota as m ech an ic Pete St einbre cher chang ed a h ard -starting eng ine, Henry got anothe r good sta rt , though this tim e Suzu ki's Ward used an outside line to broad slide his way in to the lead a head of Henry, TMR / D u nlop /FMF/ Th ro ttle Jockey-b acked Ryan Terlicki, Pichon, LaRocco and Albertyn. Lakocco qu ickly moved up to ' third, o n ly to be p a s s ed b ack by Pichon. Ahead of th em, Wa rd followed H enry for almost two la ps, ta king a couple of stabs a t th e lead along the way before ma king a su rprise pass stick on the long infield uphill. laRocco seiz ed the oppo rtunity to race past H enry as well, a nd quickly set a fter Ward . Alberty n wa s also o n the move, pas sing Pichon for fo u rt h and sta rting to go after H enry . He would follow the thumper for se ve ral laps before Henry overs ho t the landing on th e big downhill triple and rolled to th e ou tside of the following sweeper. There would be no fu rthe r passes in th e to p five as Ward he ld off a gallant effort by LaRocco to ge t hi s first mota win of th e year. " I had a couple of problems in th e firs t mota , the w orst of w hic h was th e fact that I broke off half of m y foo tp eg," said Ward in the winner's circle. "In th e second mot a , my Suzuki go t me a grea t start and I was a ble to ge t by Dou g and wi n. I knew Doug w ould kind of tire out - not physically but men tall y beca use of th e tit le and all - and he slowed down because of the championship. I just rod e my ha rdest an d got the win." Ward, as well as his teammate Albertyn, was q uick to cong ratulate Hen~n a job well don e. "I w an ted that one pretty bad , but I cou ld n' t find a w ay aro u nd him ," sa id laRocco aft er ano ther narrow defeat. " It wa s a little bit hard to be aggressive, bu t Larry rode a good race. I we nt afte r him a few tim es, but it just d idn't work ou t." Al be rty n never got u p to th e ba ttle for th e lea d, an d Hen ry d ecid ed to enjoy his las t lap to th e title instead of m issing it for the sa ke of o ne m ore positi on . Besides, fourth place in th e mota locked up th e overall w in . "I was ~hasing after Gr eg and then it kind of hit me tha t I've bee n busting my butt all yea r lo ng to get to this point, and I sho ul d enjoy it while it lasted," lau g hed Hen ry later. "I just let Greg go and rode around and loo ked at all of the fans an d waved an d had a blast. " After Henry crossed th e finis h lin e (Left) Mickael Pich on (16) and Mike laRocco (5) mix it up in the second moto. laRocco went 5-2 and Pichon 2-5. (Right) Phil Lawrence was the top pr ivateer , go ing 6-10 for seventh overall. for fourth p lace and the championshi p, he took an impromptu vic tory lap. A t one point, he picked out so me friends and gave them a special salute. " My friends are the bu rn-ou t kings when it comes to motorcycles, and they are always d oing burn-outs, wheth er it's o n the road, in the back of a tru ck, anywhere," he sai d . "They told me that if I w on, they would ta ke all of their clo thes off and run d own the track. I sai d,' 0, don 't do that: and tha t I wou ld d o a . burn -out for th em instead ." So in the mid d le of th e starting area, Henry let loose a full-factory burn-out that turned the general area white with smoke. La ter, in th e winner' s circle, Henry ended hi s inter view with the trackside announcer by calling ou t, "Where 's my wife ? Whe re' s m y wife ?" With that, eight-mon t h-p reg na n t Stacey Henry was bro ug ht to the infi eld in th e Yamaha ca rt, a nd h usband a nd wife s pent severa l minutes in a lo ng em b race in fro n t of a bou t 12,000 of their closest friends. 1";\