Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

race, bu t - I do n't know - there are more races ou t there ." Reynard was cred ited with 15t h in Sund ay' s final bu t still finis hed a respect able fifth overall; taking home $8000 for his effor ts. Finish ing on e spot ahead of Reynard in the overall results was Yama ha's John Dow d , w ho was d ea lt a pair of fives, and he too k $10,000 home to Massachusetts. Factory Con nec tio n/Jack in the Box/Hond a' s Mike LaRocco ro de we ll the opening nig ht, finis hing fou rth, but he was a victim of a seco nd-tu rn cras h in Su nday's final. Unable to make u p m uch gro und on the tight trac k, Lakocco had to settle for 12th in the final for sixth overall. His share of the purse was $7000. Honda of Troy's Stephane Roncada went 12-4 over the weekend to take seventh overall, while Su zuki's Larry Ward we nt 10-8 for eig hth. Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael, ma king his 250cc debut at Las Vegas, was hampered by bad starts bo th nigh ts. Like ma ny, he was u nable to pass on the tight track and ended up going 6-9 for nin th ov erall. Ro unding out the top 10 was FMF Honda's Brock Sellards , who wen t 9-10. Filling ou t the top 15 overa ll positions were Honda of Troy' s Mike Brown (14-8), FMF Ho nda's Jason McCormick (DNQ-7), KTM's Lance Smail (8-DNQ), Arenacross Cham pions Buddy Antunez (DNQ-9) and Nolee n Yama h a's Tim Ferry (DNQ-I0). A sol d-ou t crowd of a pproxi mately 10,000 spectators filled the MGM Grand Garde n Arena both nights. (Above left) Suzuki's Robbie Reynard was unstoppable Saturday night. He led every lap for the win. (Above) Jeremy McGrath got the last word with the main-event win Sunday, but a bad start on Saturday night ended his hopes of winning the overall. (Left) Reynard (21 ) and Ste phane Roncada (18) made contact in Sunday 's final. A possible igni1ion failure ruined Reynard's chances for the overall. Roncada finished s ixth overall. SATURDAY Pr etty much as had been expected, McGrath came out swinging and won the first hea t race that w ould transfer the top three to the fin al, but Reynard and Carmichael made the AMA Supercross cha m p work for it . Reynard led earl y on , while McGrath was forced to make quick work of Ca rmichael befor e settling int o second place. At tha t point, McGra th lat ched on to Reynard 's rear fende r a nd chased the Suz uki rider down . He passed Reynard on th e se cond lap and led from there on out. Reynard an d Ca rm icha el, however, never let u p and closely followed McGrath's Yamaha to the checkered flag. Finis hi ng slightly off the lea d trio' s pace in fourt h was Frenchman David VuilIe min, who finished seco nd in this year 's 125cc Wo rl d Champi on ship Series . VuilIe mi n ran fourth the whole wayan his FMF Racing Yamaha. Wa rd wo rke d his way up thro ugh the pack to finis h a hard-earned fifth, followed by Ho nda of Troy's Casey Lytl e, Yamaha rider Jimmy Bu tton and Ron cada , Hu ffm an w on th e second heat race rat he r easily on hi s An thony Paggiotu ned KX250, lead in g it every in ch of the way. laRocco kept Huffman honest throughou t the mota bu t nev er reall y got close eno u gh to pose a serious threat to the Kawasak i rider. Hu ffman took the ch ecke re d flag w it h a s ma ll cu shion over LaRocco. Fini shi ng a long way back in th ird was Hughes, but he had a tough rid e. He sta rted off in fifth a nd moved up one position befo re lo sing co n trol of h is Kawasaki in the whoops. His han dlebars never quite tou ched the gro und, bu t he lost time and places. Hughes came back and eve ntua lly passed Takesh i Koiked a on the las t lap for thir d p lace . Koiked a ended up fourth, closely foll ow ed by Brown, Dou g Dubac h and Dowd , w ho, along wi th abou t seve n other riders, was invo lved in a first-turn pileu p. The first semi, which qualified the fir" four finis hers for the fina l, wa s won by Lytle, w ho led from start to fini sh. He went unchall eng ed fo r th e w in , build ing up about a five-seco nd lead befor e it was all over. Kawasaki rid er Jeff Matiasevich 'ran second for a while before ge tting mired in a five-rider scrap for seco nd thro ug h sixth. W h en it w as a ll over, Matiasevich came ou t on the sho rt end of the stick, w ith Smail gu iding his KTM in to second, followed by Teca te /Thor / Kawasaki of Mexico's Ph il Lawrence, Roncada, Vu iIlemi n and Matiasevi ch. Sellards pu t his FMF Ho nda into the lead at the start of the second semi, bu t he couldn' t keep it there for long. Before the first lap was over, Sellards had su rrend ered his -s pot to Dowd . The n th e H on d a rid er ran secon d for awhile befo re giving way to Brown. Dowd , m eanw hile, took co n tro l of th e race and mot ored on for th e win, crossing th e finis h li ne with roo m to spa re over Brown. Lat e in the race, the on ly ac tion on the track was between Sellards and Roy, who were d icing for third . Sellards man aged to hold on and he took that spot, just ahead of the Ca nadian. Finis hing a close fifth bu t ou t of a transfer position was Ferry. Koiked a took sixth . Only two positions were up for grabs in the last-chance qua lifier , and among the 16 riders hopin g to finish in th ose two spo ts were so me big nam es, such as Ward , Button, VuilIemin and Ferry : Unfortunately for Bu tto n, his hopes of making th e fina l en ded early when, along w i t h SpIi tF ire /Pro Circu it / Kawasaki's Nathan Ram sey, he jumped the gu n; Bu tton wedged his front wheel in the starting ga te. By the time he got his bike free, the pack had already left him - and Ramsey - behind . Also ge tting bad starts were Ward and VuiIlemin. Getting a grea t ju mp, th ough, w as Ja pa nese rid e r Ko iked a, but h e w a s passe d o n th e secon d la p b y Ferry . Ferry, however, di d n' t fair very we ll, either, as he bobbl ed a nd s u d den ly fou nd himself in th ird behind Koikeda an d Ward, who had quickly worked his way up through the pack. Koikeda opene d u p a mod est lea d, w hile Ferry gave Ward a sca re by passing h im ne ar the ha lf w a y point, b u t Ward got hi m right back. Koikeda , o n his H oll e y Ra ci n g- backed Yamaha, went on to w in, wh ile Ward fought back past Ferry and qualified for the fina l by the skin of his teeth.. Third plac e went to Ferry, who was fol. lowed by Arenacross star Chad Pederson , Button, Vuillemin, Cliff Palm er and Jeff Dem ent. By now, everyone had realized that the st art would play an important ro le in d etermining the ou tco me of the 15lap main event, and , for many, the allimportan t final would, for all inten ts and purposes, be over only a few feet in to the race . Two of thos e riders who saw their hopes for th e $100,000 prize disappear early on wer e pre-r ace fav orites McGra th and Carmich ael. W hen the ga te d rop p ed , Carmichael fail e d t o make qu ick shifts , w hile ·McG ra th spun th e back w heel of his Yama ha on the sta rt pad ; the two ride rs co mpleted the fir st la p in n inth and 10th, respectively. .. "I p retty m uc h s p u n o ff th e li ne :' McGra th said. "1 just h ammer ed th e clu tch too mu ch; I go t roosted." " I s ta r te d w ith two fe e t o n th e ground, and I haven 't started with tw o fee t on t h e grou n d in proba bl y two yea rs:' Carmicha el sai d . "By the time I go t m y foo t on the p eg to sh if t in to th ir d , a ll of th e o th e r guys w ere (alrea dy) in third (gear). The re wen t the s ta rt rig ht there, a n d th e re w en t th e nig ht." . And ther e we n t Reyna rd . The Ok lahoman sho t his Ton y Berlu tti-tuned factory Suzuki into the lead and never lo ok ed back. If h e had , h e wo uld've see n H uffman and Hu ghes in his wake, but neither of th em 'w ou ld ca use Reyn a rd any rea l co ncer n througho u t the race - a race that wo uld see little in the way of passing. Reynard, A B ~

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