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/127977
smooth enough. At the end, I was trying to go by David (Vuillemin), and after the whoop I went to the outside and then he screwed up and I had to slow down, and then Mike (LaRocco) went by both of u at once." .HEATS World Supercros Champion Reynard and his factory Suzuki dived into the first corner with the holeshot in the first heat race. Rubbing his rear tire in second was Team Kawasaki superstar Ricky Carmichael, while Yamaha-mounted riders Jimmy Button and (Left) Defending champ Jeremy McGrath found his way onto the podium with a second-place finish. (Below) David Vuillemin (934), here dicing with McGrath and Lusk, was an early contender. He finished a strong fourth. Factory Connection/Jack in the Box/O'Neal-supported Honda to a third-place score. After blasting out of the hole with another one of his nowlegendary mediocre starts, LaRocco set sail from a midpack position to rail through the field. La Rocco passed one rider after another before finally whizzing past both Mickael Pichon and David Vuillemin on the very last lap to snake the last position on the podium. "Well, I'm obviously very happy to be on the podium, but I was a bit stiff from the era h I had in the heat race," he said. "During the first few laps of the race, I felt really stiff, but as time went on, I broke a sweat and began to loosen up. I saw the guys in front of me were getting tired, so I kept charging." Although he missed the podium by one place, talented young Frenchman David Vuillemin raised a number of eyebrows on Saturday night by leading the 250cc main well past the halfway mark. Stylish and smooth, the FMF/Yamaha-backed Vuillemin fought off the determined advances of Suzuki's Robbie Reynard and Lusk lap after lap before finally losing the point position on lap 13. From there, he ultimately dropped back to fourth. '1 feel good," Vuillemin said. "I got a good start and I was dueling with Reynard, but we lost a little bit of time at the beginning of the race because he went inside and I would go after him to stop McGrath rode in third and fourth. Reynard held the point up through lap three before R.c. sailed by him over a triple. On lap four, McGrath, who had found his way around Button, also raced around Reynard and set out after CarmichaeL Eventually the two rider circulated the track in close formation. Carmichael, however, rode with confidence and took the checkered flag to mark his first AMA 250cc Supercross heat win. McGrath placed second, Button third, and Reynard fourth. Lusk took the holeshot in the econd heat, followed by Dowd, Honda's Kevin Windham, and Suzuki' Greg Albertyn. On lap two, things heated up when Windham pulled into second place behind his teammate Lusk, and Albertyn jumped his Suzuki up to third. Lusk and Windham immediately went at it, with Windham taking his turn at the front on lap tluee. Lusk kept his cool and by lap five had displaced his red riding comrade to second when he outgunned Windham through the whoop section. The rest of the heat race was a proces ional affair, as Lusk sailed over the finish line with the win. Windham was a few seconds back in second. Albertyn held his position in third, and Dowd claimed the transfer spot with a steady fourth-place ride. Pichon found himself on the bubble po ition in fifth and was sent back idling to the pits in order to prepare for the erni. him, so we were losing time to everyone like that. Then Ezra caught up, and I was a little bit tight; then Jeremy passed me, and I was in an easy third. I was there and riding good with only four or five laps left, but then on the last lap, T made a mistake when my rear wheel got caught up in one of the ruts a nd I had to hit the gas to straighten up. I went into a slide and LaRocco passed me. I made one mistake and I lost the podium, and I'm a little disappointed about that, bu t I did a good race and I proved that I can be up front." Pichon rode his factory Honda to a credible and conservative fifth. He protected his fourth-place position up until the last lap, when LaRocco sen t him back to fifth. Nonetheless, Pichon was happy with his point tally. "I felt pretty good the whole moto, but I got arm pump again," Pichon said. "I was very tight, and I'm not riding like I should be riding right now. I'm very tight and very nervous. I'm making a lot of mistakes and not being ,.: N ~ ca :J C ca .., 7