Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"It's like goi ng back to school," the German rider said . "Last week I'm running up front in a GP, this week I wi ll be a novice." Vo h la n d , very much an A m erican bu t a GP regular, was also not su re what to expect. . "I a lwa ys go g oo d here," he said . "Las t year I won just abo ut every thing, but th ose whoops will knock me ou t I'm not so good on those things." The h ea ts wo uld be run o ver fi ve laps of the nea rly one-mile track. Th e firs t h ea t of th e d ay was - as ex pected - all La rry Ward's; he took home the bacon , winning ahea d of Vohland, Stephane Ron cad a and Beirer. Follo w in g W ard ' s ex a m p le, Mike LaRocco too k his Jack in the Box Honda to a magical w in over Yama ha 's Joh n Dow d, 125cc W or ld cha m p Aless io Chiodi, and Edgar Torronteras , McGrath took a tw o-second win over Hughes in the th ird hea t after a heat ed battle for much of the race. Jim my Button finis he d third, followed b y N ew Zealand ' s Josh Coppins an d former Worl d Champio n Alex Puzar. Despite winning his heat race, Wa rd com plaine d of fork-setu p problems and felt a ge ne ral d issati sfaction for a section of th e track. "I wa n t to ge t the bike workin g for th e se mis ; it (the fork) w as n ot good, and on th ose who ops you need th e bike to be running sm oo th," Ward said. "I d on 't know w hat it is, bu t I cannot get the bike to s tay o n th e to ps of th em . In th e . ~ . ~,tt,.:;~: ;.:",~Wl=<=';=;;~,;;,=;~~~i»lD--- (Above) Larry Ward rode to victory at t he 15th running of the UFO FastCross race In Italy. It was his third win at the even t. (Right) In.h is first major race since suffering a wr ist Inj ury, Jeremy McGrath rode to a crash-Induced eighth. He did, however, win the one-on-one, single-lap Challenge race against Ward. By Geoff Meyer ARSAGO SEPRlO, ITALY SEPT. 20 , 00 0'\ 0'\ ...... . t--.. ~ I-< (]) .g ..... o U 38 uttin g through th e tall tr ees th at lined the Arsago Seprio m otocross track in northern Italy, Team Suzuki's Larry Ward was se tting himself up for a historica l victory, The tall Am en can . was on ly m in utes away fro m wi nning his third conse cutive UFO FastCross. With a no ther thre e-tim e w inner , Ricky Johnson, w atch ing from th e comfort o f th e w in ners' p odium, W a rd cros sed the finis h line ahead of Kaw asaki-mounted Ryan H ughes and Yamaha rider Tallon Vohland. Ward was, onc e aga in, a winner in Europe, and with a wave to the 25,OOO-strong Italian crowd, the sometimes brilliant Ward once aga in s h o w ed why he is r a t e d so hig h ly throughou t the world . ' "I put more pressure on myself here. I wanted to equal Johnson's tally (Joh nson won in 1987, ' 88 and '90)," Ward said . "I always go fast in Europe, and the people here like w ha t I do." This year's FastCross was extra -special, as it was a celebratio n of its 15th year of racing. Johnson came to Italy as a special guest and th e crowd had not forgotten the legend. " It wa s nice - the sp ecta tors re all y 'showed respect," Johnson said . "I loved . racing o n this track; it is one o f th e places I loved most." A s he h as done hi s en ti re career, Ward sa t around unnoticed, waiting for h is mome n t to come . Jer em y M c Gr a th was th e focu s of th e It al i an s ' a t t e n li on agai n , bei ng th at th is was hi s fi r st race back fr o m injury , and the king of supercros s was not about to u se th is ra ce a s a wa r m u p for the upcoming Vegas Supercross, "No way - I'm here to win," McGrath sai d . "I have worked hard while I've been away. I wan t these gu ys to see tha t I can finish up front. Sure, the Vegas Supercross is coming up, and that's on my mind , but winning every time I go out is most important." Light rain had dampened the Arsago Seprio layout, but for a number of European riders, the wet track was the least of their p roblems . Some new whoops had been introduced, a nd , for a tra ck had in the past been half-motocross and half-supercross, it was start ing to look very much as though the track was now for supercross riders only. Pit Beirer, who had on ly a week earlier battled hard wit h Stefan Everts and Sebastien Tortelli, was one of the w orried Euros. w hoo ps, that's the m ost important thing - to keep skimmin g along the top." McGrath, on the other han d , was not . unhappy with his result, although the track was causing him some difficulties. Still, his starti ng technique - one of th e best aro und - ga ve him some luck. "It's dried ou t from this morning in practice, but it's now slick," McGrath said . "It's either too wet, or too slick, but I am not th at unhappy with it, no way. I was able to ge t to the front quickly. A . win's a win , so I am not about to complain." As for heat two, winner laRocco ha d his mind on the winner's purse. "I have been here so many times, I want to win this thing," he said . "I think I have a good chance this year." LaRoc co, like Vohland , ha s made his sha r e of pod iums a t th e It a li a n ev e nt, finishing se co nd to Da mon Brads ha w in 1989 and second to Bader Mannah in 1991. The Ho nda rider also p icked up a th ird place in 1996. . If th e American w er e lau gh in g after th e heats, then the sem ifi nals wou ld prov e e ve n m ore diffi cult for th e locals. Run ov er s ix laps, th e sem ifi na l races o n ce a gain sh o wed the domi nance of the best su percro ss exponents in the world . LaRocco and Hughes this time blitzed to th e wins: Hughes o ver Ward, Button, Vohland and Beirer , and LaRocco o ver Do wd, Roncada, Al e x Belomet ti and McGrath . Hu gh es, w ho will prob-abl y li ve in It al y in 1999, s howed hi s co urage w ith so me fullthrottle action . "Comi ng on to th e main s traig ht, [ just held the throttle on full and ro de righ t up onto th e ba nk in front of the crowd," Hugh es said , " It seemed th e better line." War d was no t too hap py wit h second p lace; he had ba ttl ed hard to kee p H ughes out only to give him the wi n on the second-to-last lap. "I felt good, making some nice lines," W ard sa id . "He (H ug hes ) wa s fa st throug h o n the w hoo ps, and I think tha t w as w here he made m uch of his time. I'll tr y a nd sort them o u t before th e final." LaRocco ' s win w a s all the m ore swe eter as fo rm er Suzu ki teamm ate McGrath finished a d isappointing fifth. "I cras hed early and was about 15th o r so me thi ng," McG r ath ex p lai ne d . "Then [ go t up and crashe d again . By th e tim e I w or ked m y wa y thro ugh to fifth, the race was over." Al so cras hing ou t at th e se mi s tage was Ch iod i. Th e Ital ian had been fighting for sixth pl ace when he fell on one of th e big jumps, sendi ng his hom e crowd in to a frenzy. C h iod i wou ld, howev er , m ake it though the last-chance race. Prior to the fin al, the rider s would lin e up for a crazy one-on-one, sing lelap-dash race. While this was once ag ain a sho w of Ame rican p ow er, Beirer and Chiod i d id the ir best to kee p the European hop es alive with some all-out riding, b oth fig h ti ng th eir way in to the semi fina l stage. In th e end, thou gh , Beirer, w ho had beaten LaRocco and Puzar, los t to Ward and Chiodi, wh o had beaten Mike Jon es. Button finished his semi behind McGrath. In th e final, McGrath s ho wed his fas t-ga ti ng sty le and won eas ily ove r Wa rd . Th e fina l wo uld be run over 15 lap s, and Ward was hopin g he wo u ld have th e ad vantage in the long race. "He (McGrat h) has been out," Ward said . "W it h 15 la p s; hi s conditioning sh ould tell. I hope it' s in m y favo r." The Su zuki rider did n o t to have worry, thou gh, as McGrath wou ld find himself in 15th place after lap one. Ward gated in seco n d and was looking the better of th e tw o. Hughes held the lead for a tim e, bu t Ward, showing his liking fo r the It a li a n tra ck, swep t pa st the Kawasaki rid er o n lap two and was never head ed, winning over H ughes, Vohland, Lakocco, Button, Dowd, Chiodi, McGrath, Beirer and Belornetti, in that order. 1'X 15th ann ual Fast Cross Ars ago Seprlo , Italy Result: September 20, 1998 Fin.al: 1. Larry' Ward (Suz); 2. Ryan Hu ghes (Kaw), 3. Tall on Vohla nd (Yam); 4. Mike LaRocco (Hon): 5. Jimmy Button (Yam); 6. Joh n Dowd {Yam); 7. Alessio Chiodi (Husky); 8. Jeremy McGra th (Yam); 9. Pit Beirer (Han); 10. Alessand ro Bellom etti (Yam); 11. Stepha ne Roncada (Ha n); 12. Alessandro Pu zar (Yam); 13. Chris Ravag ha (Ha n); 14. Peter Iven (Kaw), 15. Bader Mann ah (Yam). 0/

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