Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I didn't get the good start that I wanted," Carmichael said. '1t was kind of chaos out there the first laps. People were going everywhere. 1 just let that all settle down and got up to fourth." Albertyn had ceded the spot when he "ran out of steam" late in the race and crashed, allowing LaRocco to get back around him. The track had taken its toll after he'd spent the entire day struggling. '1t was unfortunate, because that late in the race 1 was in a pretty good rhythm and [ kind of lost a lot of steam wh n 1 crashed there," Albertyn said. "LaRocco was right on me and actually, instead of going wide in that turn, [ decided to take a new line, and there was quite a bit of loose sand right there and 1 wasn't ready for it and the front wheel washed out. That's what happened." Then came Emig, the Kawasaki rider not gating well and paying for it. "The start - it's like more than 50 percent of the race, because there's so many guys that ride good and ride fast that, really, you get out front and you save yourself a lot of problems," he said after his ixth-place finish. "1 really felt like I just fought it all day, just really could not - I wasn't gelling with my motorcycle. We weren't working as one. It was wanting to do something and 1 was wanting to do the other - kind of like trying to break a horse." American Honda's Sebastien Tortelli, who started fourth, dropped to fifth and then sixth before ending up seventh. Tortelli said that he was worn down in the final laps, which ga ve Emig the opening he needed to take over sixth. After Tortelli came Yamaha's Steve Lamson. Lamson said that he rode too tight, which caused his arms to pump up and stymied his drive. "Yeah, it was a long race," Lamson began. "The track was rough and I kind of was holding on a little bit too tight at the beginning, which made my arms start pumping up, so it's kind of hard to regroup after that, but overall, I'll take it." In ninth place, and the third Kawasaki in the top 10, was Damon Huffman. Away 13th, Huffman worked his way Vp to ninth before the roughness of the track took its toll. "I worked up to ninth, but it's a long, grueling race," Huffman Said. "It's real long. My lower back - just holes and holes and you're just yanking and yanking to get the front end up - the lower back took a beating. I'm sure I slowed down some." Finishing out the top 10 was oleen Motor port's Tim Ferry, the Floridian chasing Huffman to the flag. American Honda's Ezra Lusk and Yamaha's John Dowd were the most prominent nonfinishers. Lusk and Dowd landed together after a jump early in the second lap, with both going down. Lusk was temporarily motionless, forcing the riders, who came around about a minute and a half later, to avoid the calamity in the middle of the track. He was up oon after, but suffered a slight concussion. Dowd wa n't as lucky. He went down hard and suffered a broken bone in his arm. (See "Briefly...") "It looked like Ezra got a little sideways in this jump over there and we just came together," Dowd said after the race, his left arm in a sling inside his shirt. "Sort of took my wheels out from under me, so I went <;lown kind of like on a high-side or whatever." HEATS For a track as big, wide and long as Daytona, there was remarkably little passing or racing in the heats. (Left) Windham took runner-up honors. (Below) laRocco found his way back onto the podium with a third-place showing. He's currently second in points. Tortelli led the first heat ahead of Lusk and Emig, but he dropped back on the second lap as Lusk took command and took off. Emig made his way by Tortelli in a jump on the east end of the course and set out after Lusk, but with no success. At the midpoint of the race, Lusk had about a 6.5- econd lead, and his win was never in doubt. Neither was Emig's second. He'd finish about 14 seconds in front of the third-place finisher, which would turn out to be Suzuki's Larry Ward. Ward had gotten away about fourth and he pushed hard to join the front. He was up on Tortelli with about two laps to go, and on the seventh lap Tortelli fal-' te.red, tipping over just after the finishline jump. Ward went by and into third, leaving Tortelli fourth. The final transfer pot went to Insane Terrain Racing's Suzuki-mounted Ryan Terlecki. Carmichael got the jump in the second heat, taking LaRocco with him. The rest of the 22-rider pack clustered behind, but not for long. The pack began to string out on the second lap, with Carmichael in front of LaRocco, Huffman, American Honda's Mickael Pichon, and LamsoR. Carmichael's reign wouldn't last long. He cartwheeled in the whoops along the front straight, dropping to 11th place, with LaRocco now in control ahead of Pichon, Lamson and Huffman. Now LaRocco and Pichon went at it. Pichon took the lead at the far east end of the track on the third lap; LaRocco quickly took it back. Then Pichon retook it again on the fourth with some momentum. H seemed like he was leaving LaRocco behind until LaRocco found his second wind on the sixth lap and started to close. His move was on the inside of a 180-degree left at the end of the sixth lap. Carrying the speed he brought into the move, LaRocco powered away, the two well' clear of the fight for third, in which Lamson held the upper hand for most of the race. Damon Huffman pressed, getting into third on the seventh lap; Lamson dropped him almost instantly and finished about seven seconds behind Pichon. Huffman was next, with Carmichael recovering to take the final direct transfer out of this heat. Heat three belonged to Windham from the start. He was in control, even though McGrath was in second and Albertyn was third. Four laps into the eight-lap race, he had nearly six seconds, losing about a second in the next two laps before disaster hit. With less than two laps to go, a rock got stuck in his rear-brake lever, forcing him to stop to remove it. McGrath pounced, sweeping into the lead and taking the win, and riding the fastest heat of the day by nearly five seconds. Albertyn was second, about seven seconds back, with about the same gap back to Windham. Yamaha's John Dowd and Doug Henry, who took their spots on the second lap, held them to the finish, moving straight to the main. SEMIS Suzuki Sports' Tyler Evans made it through the 25-rider serum at the start of the first semi to take command. By the second lap, he was well out front and on his way to success, one pf the six riders from the six-lap race to go straight into the main. Mountain Ridge Motorsports' Jason Frenette was an early third, then fourth, then third again. On the fifth lap, he dropped Plan Honda's Grayson Goodman to third, leaving him in the clutches of Kawasaki of Mis59uri'S Greg Stone. Stone was closing as the race wound down until Goodman cleared the frontstraight triples, as most riders had been I Iii I! III ~ ~ llIII Q 13

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