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Round 8: Texas Stadium
TOYOTA TRUCKSnHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES
Running second early in the main, John
Dowd turned in a strong ride, finishing
fifth when it was all over.
LaRocco and Dowd, who claimed the
fmaltwo transfer spots.
Ferry got out front fast at the start of
the second semi, with Reynard right on
his rear wheel. Huffman, Roy and
hometown hero Grayson Goodman battled to hold on to a transfer spot as
Yamaha-mounted Billy Binckley pressured hard from the sixth-place position.
Up front, Reynard and Huffman
pressured Ferry but the leader held
tough all the way to the finish as Huffman and Reynard battled for second.
When the checkered flag came ou t,' Reynard barely edged Huffman for the runner-up spot. Roy crossed the finish line
all alone in fourth. Meanwhile, Goodman rode by the seat of his pants, trying
to hold off Binckley for a trip to the
main. The two went back and forth for
much of the race. Goodman, with the
Texas crowd behind him, prevailed, finishing fifth.
LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER
La wrence got the holeshot in the
LCQ followed by Gonzalez, Amaradio
and Terlecki. Lawrence got pres ure
from Gonzales early on, but before the
. race was half over, Lawrence had
enough of a lead to breathe easy. While
running in third, Amaradio was passed
by Terlecki, who moved into third and
set his sights on econd-placed Gonzalez. Gonzales lost hi fender for the second time this year, but it did not slow
him down any as he held off Terlecki to
garner a trip to the main.
MAIN
When the gate dropped for the start
of the 20-lap main, the birthday boy
earned the 1-900-PRO-RACE Holeshot
Award. Dowd, Carmichael, Pichon,
Ferry, Voss, Ward and Albertyn were
among the riders in the lead pack.
McGrath, Lusk, Lamson and LaRocco all
got cut off drifting into the first turn and
brought up the rear of the pack. Emig
was even less fortunate, picking himself
up off the ground before even making it
to the second tum.
"Lamson and [ got together on the
start straight and k~d of crossed up,"
McGrath said about his start. "A bunch
of guys got together on the start. I was
happy to stay up."
McGrath made the start seem fairly
mellow, compared to Lamson's account.
"Jeremy and I, in the first turn once
you go over the hump, slammed into
each other," Lamson said. "Somebody
hit me and I drilled him, and we almost
both went down."
Lamson and McGrath were n t the
only teammates to run into on another
during the light racing of the first lap.
"The first few laps are just a nightmare," Albertyn said of his start. "I hit
Larry (Ward), my own teammate, pretty
darn hard twice in one lap, and then I
hit Voss. It's suicide out there in the fir t
few laps."
Ward came out of the opening lap
unscathed in fifth place and began pressuring fourth-placed Carmichael early
on. With Ward all over his rear fender,
Carmichael crashed and fell back to
15th. On the ensuing lap, the 250cc rook. ie crashed again, alarming the crowd
when he was slow to get up. After
Carmichael finally made it to his feet, he
started his bike and called it a night,
heading back to the pits.
By the end of the sixth lap, Windham
had a lO:second lead. As he motored
around the track with great ease,
McGrath himself was rapidly picking
his way through the pack and moving
up to fifth, behind second-placed
Pichon, third-placed Dowd and fourthplaced Ward. Ferry was having an
impressive run as the top privateer in
sixth, but Albertyn was heavily pre suring him.
Victims of poor starts, Lusk and
LaRocco were slowly working their way
through the pack. The duo completed
the first lap well out of the top 10, and
by lap eight they were still running no
better than 10th and 11 tho Before ei ther
rider could make anything happen,
Lusk got horizontal on a step-up jump,
which sent his body flying well on the
other side of his bike. Following closely
and unable to avoid the incident, LaRocco ran into Lusk's bike and was passed
by Reynard and Huffman before he
could get going again. Huffman himself
almost did not avoid Lusk' crash.
"When his (Lusk's) bike flipped, I
thought I was done," Huffman aid. "I
• actually landed on his bike. How I
didn't crash, I don't know."
Lu k remounted and headed back to
the pits with a badly bruised body and a
mangled bike.
By lap 15, second-placed Pichon was
starting to show signs of fatigue. Both
Ward and McGrath had made their way
around Dowd earlier, claiming third
and fourth, and the two were gaining
ground on Pichon with every lap. But
before ei ther one could pass Pichon,
McGrath and Ward had a little battle of
their own for third-place honors. They
went bar to bar for over a lap, and, just
as it appeared that McGrath was going
to take over third from Ward, Pichon
slowed enough to make it a three-way
battle for second place.
At the end of the 18th lap, Ward shot
by Pichon and left him, .McGrath and
Dowd in a three-way battle for third. A
lap later, just before taking the white
£lag, McGrath pulled alongside Pichon
in a whoop section and went wide to
make the pass in a dry, slick corner.
Before McGrath could get on the gas
and exit the corner, Pichon took him
even wider, making contact. In the next
tum, just before the finish-l ine jump, the
same scenario occurred. As the white
flag came ou t, Pichon rode on the
ragged edge, barely holding on to the
final podium spot.
Due to (he fast-paced battle behind
Windham, his lead actually shrunk by a
few seconds. Still, he wa never in danger of giving up the win, as he crossed .
the finish line seven seconds ahead of
the next rider.
"I got a good gate position for the
main," Windham said of his easy win.
"That's one of the things that made it so
good in the main, was to get a good gate
pick to avoid all that banging around
that was going on out there. That wa
really the key to the race, wa to get that
good start and just open up a big lead
and stay away from the rest of the pack.
This is one of those tracks tha t if you get
out there and race with someone, it can
actually slow you down because you get
too much into each other."
Ward managed to separate himself
from the third-place battle to take second place. A tired Pichon cro ed the
finish line in third, with fourth-placed
McGrath still on his tail. Pichon was
relieved, but McGrath was visibly angry
at the Frenchman's actions on the track.
"That's racing," Pichon said about
the run-in that he and McGrath had had
during the heat and in the main. "I'm
happy. I'm happy for Kevin (Windham)
and I'm happy for Honda, too, because
a one-three finish is good. It would have
been better with one-two, but two bikes
on the podium is good."
"It was a rough night, especially
because I didn't get the start that I wanted," a confident McGrath aid. "There
was some banging going on out there.
We'll see how tough they are next week
in Daytona."
Dowd crossed the finish line in fifth,
followed by Albertyn, who was able to
get around Ferry at the midway point of
the race. Ferry hung tough, though,
right behind Albertyn, who was almost
content with his sixth-place showing.
"It was just some really do e racing'
out there," AIbertyn said. "In the main,
I was happy with the way I was riding.
Sixth isn't where I want to be, but it
was a solid ride, 0 I was happy with
that. I'm ready to get a win or a podium."
Lamson finished eighth, haring the
same attitude about his ride as Albertyn.
"Eighth's not the greatest, but it's the
best I've ridden," Lamson said. "I rode
strong the whole time. I had people
behind me pressuring me, but I didn't
let it bother me. [ can't wait until Daytona."
Tortelli finished ninth, and Reynard
came back from a 19th-place start to finish 10th. Finishing in 11th and realizing
the value of Windham' holeshot was
Huffman.
"The start is what you really need,
and I didn't have it," Huffman sajd.
"J ust· battling back there in the pack
won't get you anywhere. I made a lot of
mistakes that probably wouldn't have.
happened if 1 was up front."
t:III
Texas Stadium
Irving, Texas
Results: February 27, 1999 (Round 8 of 16)
250 HEAT 1 (8 Laps, 1-4 tr:;msfer to main): 1. Kevin
Windham (Hon); 2. Sebastien TorteHi CHon); 3. Greg
Albertyn (Suz); 4. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 5. Steve Lamson
(Vam); 6. Jeff Emig (l(aw); 7. John Dowd (Vam); 8.
Heath Voss (Hon); 9. Phil Lawrence (Suz); 10. Mike
LaRocco (Hon); 11. Ryan Terlecki (Suz); 12. Tyson Kady
(Yam); 13. Brad Woolsey (Kaw); 14. Trilvis Cage (Suz);
15. Shay Manney (Yam); lb. Mark Weeks (Kaw); 17.
Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw); 18. Dcvin Banks (Kaw); 19.
Brian Stone (Kaw); 20. Josh Blued: (Yam); 21. Doug
Stone (Kaw); 22. James PovoLny (Yam).
Time: 7 min., 50.970 sec.
250 HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 transfer to main): 1.
Michel Pichon (Hon); 2. Jeremy McGrath (Yam); 3.
Ricky Cannkhael (Kaw); 4. Larry Ward (Suz); 5. Damon
Huffman (Kaw); 6. Robbie Reynard (5U2); 7. JeanSebastien Roy (Han): 8. Tim Ferry (Yam); 9. Billy
BinckJey (Yam); 10. Grayson Goodman (Han); 11. Jason
Frenette (Yam); 12. Cory Francis (KTM); ]3. Jon
Hedden (K'TM); 14. Travis Trieb (Yam); 15. Chad Rhine
(KTM); 16. Chris Shellenberger (Han); 17. Che
Botramble (Yam); 18. Ctad Harris (Kaw); 19. Anthony
Amaradio (Yam); 20. Jeff Hedden (KTM); 21. Grayson
Goodman (Han); 22. Stan Chomer (Han).
Time": 7 min., 41. 560 sec.
250 SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1-5 transfer to m~in): 1. Steve
Lamson (Yam); 2. Jeff Emig CKaw); 3. Heath Voss (Hon);
4. Mike LaRocco (Han); 5. John Oowd (Yam); 6. Pedro
Gonzalez (Kaw); 7. Phil Lawrence (Suz); 8. Ryan
Terlecki (Suz); 9. Brian Stone (l(aw); 10. Brad Woolsey
CKaw); 11. Tyson Kady (Yam); 12. Travis Gage (Suz); 13.
Devin B..lnks (KOlW); 14. Shay M..'lnncy (YOlm); 15. Ma.rk
Weeks (l