Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wit h it, his fifth Na tional win of the 1998 250cc ca mpaign , Steinbreche r was able to bask in the wa rm g low of an extraordi nary season. "You know what?" said the friendly me ch anic, s ha king his head . " I didn ' t know it was go ing to hap pen. Wha tever happened tod ay was going to happen . I kn ew Doug wanted to race this tr ack, and he's never d one terrific he re - he's d on e goo d, but h e' s never w on here. (Prior to Sunday, Henr y had never won a moto at Stee l City.) I thought it might be a litt le bit difficu l t. T hen , wh en Albertyn won the first mota and proved h e wa s a cu t a bo v e o n th is t rac k , I thou ght he was going to be hard to beat. So I wa s co nte nt to tak e w ha tever we could get. And then, holy smo kes! You saw wha t happened . I've a lways sa id tha t Doug is so neat to work for becau se he's so full of su rp rises . He's been like tha t his w hole life. He gives you everything he' s got. "Heh - one last thing," ad ded Steinbrecher while taking the blu e plastic off the mighty fou r-stroke that shoo k the noo n for the two comba tants. An d when the du st se t t le d , it was LaR o cco , throug h a solid 4-3 mot o pe rformance, w ho came ou t the last man stand ing . "1 ha d to beat Pich on today and that happe ned , so tha t w ill g ive me third place in the fina l s tand ings th is yea r," LaRocco said w hile holdi ng his yo ung so n aft er the race. "The thi ngs I wa nted to have h a ppe n tod ay did , so I fe e l . good . I'm not too happy wit h my year, act ua lly . I d idn't really win an y races, and I rea lly wa n ted to do that. I felt good rid ing, but I d idn't get the resu lts that 1 thin k I sho uld have, so I' m kin d o f disappo int ed in that. Bu t I' m rea l happy wit h my team a nd my bikes, so maybe h alf the seas on w as good for me, bu t resu ltswi se I w as kind of disappointed . "We learned a lot this yea r," he continued . "We ' ve co mmi tted to rid in g Hondas with Factory Con necti on next ye ar . Th is w in ter, w e wiII ha ve more time to get everything prepared to create a first-class situation. The things we learned this year we can take into next (Above) Team Suzuki's Greg Albertyn won the first moto and finished ou t the ser ies in second place. (Left) Mike LaRocco (5), Larry Ward (4), Michael Pichon (16) and Albertyn (7) dragrace to t he fi rst tu rn In the second moto. LaRoc co fi ni shed ahead of Pichon to ta ke third in the series . wo rld this sea son . "I wan t to sa y to all my buddies that are still working on the circuit that I'll be thi nking of them every weekend an d every nigh t that they are working late, and I'll be sitt ing on the couch and d rinking a beer for them. " Fini sh in g se co n d o n th e d a y wa s South African expo rt a nd soo n- to-bemarried ma n Greg Alb ert y n. After a n impressive first- mo to victory that at one point saw hi m stretch ou t a lead of as mu ch a s 18 seco n d s , th e th ree-t ime Worl d C ha m pi on beca m e s ick in the Su zuki p its, w hic h w reaked ha voc on his performance in the second m oto, "Well, I'm obvio us ly fru stra ted that I di d n' t win ," sai d a p a le a nd lis tless Albertyn, his feet soa king in a bu cket of ice wa ter. " I jus t kind o f ran o u t of s te a m b etw e en m ot o s . I mu s t ha v e d runk too much, and I ended up throwing up, so that didn't make me feel too good for the second mota. So I thou ght 1 wo uld make a big charge at the sta rt of the second a nd tr y a nd get away an d brea k loose, bu t it just did n' t wo rk ou t." South Bend , Indiana 's Mike LaRocco rod e his Factory Connectio n /)ack in the Bo x/O' ea l H onda to a th ird -pl a ceoverall fini sh , and th at helpe d put the finis hin g tou ches o n a fin e sea s on . Head in g into th e Pe n ns yl va n ia race, LaR occo and Te a m Su z u ki's Micka el Pich on were locked in a tight point s battle for third place in the final 250cc point stand ings, and Stee l City signa led high yea r a nd ma ke the right cha ng es a nd d eci s io ns . I'rn d efinit ely lookin g forwa r d to w h at w e 've go t goi ng ne xt yea r." A ft e r tradin g m ot a s co re s with LaRocco, Team Suzu ki's Larrv Ward ended his 1998 season with four't h place overall at Steel City. " If I wou ld have go tten a better start in the seco nd mota and had a cha nce to win , I th ink I could have d ug deep, but it wa s ha rd to find mot ivation today," clai med Wa rd fro m wit h in the Su zu ki transpor ter. "I was stuck with my new na tion a l number toda y, so I co u ld n ' t move up or move d own tod ay, so I was ki nd o f jus t r id in g a rou nd to day . I wo uld have liked to finish ou t the year on the pod ium, but a 3-4 d ay isn't too bad . I now plan to get ready for the Ll.S. O pe n of Su pe rcross in Las Vegas, an d hopefu lly I can wrap u p my d eal with Suz uki and be there on a 1999 bike ." A batter ed and bru ised Picho n ran fifth on Sun day afternoon. After starting the day off with a har d sh unt in volving a privateer rider during a mornin g practice sess ion, things d idn't ge t a w hole lot bet ter for the nat ive of Le Man s, France. "I pa ssed Henry and was in second in the first mota ," exp lained the personabl e Fre nc hman while s ip pi ng a Die t Co ke. "I then went down hard and go t up and was in a fog . 1 ju st fell too many times today. I had a big head ache d uring the seco nd mot a and didn't ride that goo d . I fe lt bad a n d d idn 't wa nt to crash , and I jus t wa n te d to go home. But, overall, it wa s a good year. I d id n' t get hurt, an d I had very few DN Fs. I won a Nati on a l a nd go t second a t the Vegas Supercross . I' m now going to go ho me and rela x a nd ge t ready for the Mo tocro s s d es Na tio ns a n d t he U.S. O pen. I also signed wit h Honda tod ay for two yea rs, so I' m very excited about nex t yea r." And so it we nt. With the comp letion of the Steel City National, a nd with 493 tot a l po in ts to his credit, Doug Henry wiII e nte r the 1999 AMA Pro Ra cing . Med ia G u ide as th e 1998 AMA 250cc N a tional Champion. Des pite the fa ct tha t he had no overall victo ries, a ve ry consisten t Greg Albe rtyn w ill now go off an d ge t marr ied kn o w in g h e is America's number-two man , w ith 430 point s. LaRocco head s int o the off-seaso n in the show position wit h 390 poin ts. Placing four th, fifth and sixth in the final series standings are Pic hon wit h 384, former champ Jeff Emig wit h 353, a nd Larry Ward wit h 329, respectively . Fou nded by the la te Da ve Coombs, w ho succum bed to leukemia last month, Sunday marked the 10th an niversa ry of the Steel City Nati onal. held on a postca rd li ke ea rly au tum n d a y ben e ath su n ny, blue s kies . Mo re t han 15, 000 spec ta tors, out to take in the last race of the 1998 season, surrounded the immac- ulately pr epared , sweepi ng, high-speed racecourse. A t p r eci s el y 2:05 p .m ., th e ga te d ro p ped on the first mo to a nd the 40man field rocketed up the sta rt hill and in to the tight 180-degree left-hand tu rn. Af te r the requisite ba ngi ng a nd shu ffli ng , it w a s Hen ry s n agg ing t h e holesh ot, with Alberty n, Pichon, Ward , Kam es Spo rts / Pirelli/ Pro Circuit-baked Ohio pri vateer Mike Karin, and Kawasaki ' s Rya n Hu g h es in hi s th u nd e r in g wa ke. As the field ran u p the firs t of the m a n y h ill s pres en t o n the Stee l C it y course, Albertyn found his way past the new Na t ional Cham pio n a nd im med iately pulled two seconds on the pack. A few turns la te r, Hu g h es p u t a q ui ck move on Ka tin an d moved in to fifth. O ne lap later, Hen ry an d Pichon began fighting over the second-place position. Turn after tu rn , Pichon would pull righ t u p on the blue rear fend er o f Henry's Yamaha, only to be denied the spo t by the stu bborn champ. Finally, on la p five, Pichon fou nd da ylight and moved into second. By this time, Albe rty n, all alone ou t fr o nt , h ad o pen ed u p a le a d o f a p p rox ima tely eig h t se co n ds. On th e next la p, La Rocco, who had s tea d ily wor ke d hi s wa y th r oug h th e fi eld , za p ped Hu ghes for fift h. Beh in d th e Kawasa ki rid er , who w ill lea ve Team Kawasa ki this win ter, ran Gr eat Lak es Ai rli nes / Bill 's Pipes / Fa ctory Connection privateer He a th Voss, White Knuc kle Gr ips / ESE-s u p po rte d Te xa n Jeff Demen t and Ty Wa llace. O ne lap la ter, Pichon clipped a fence po st in a fast swi tchback section, which sent him to the di rt and out of contention. As the race near ed the tw o-thirds mark, Ward caught fire and closed in on Hen ry but wasn' t able to mou nt a serious charge. "I pumped u p," ad m itted Ward. "I shou ld have been able to catc h Hen ry , but [ was a little too pumped up to find a line a nd ge t by him, and as the race wore on, it got a little bit slippery, and it

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