Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 9: Daytona International Speedway TOYOTA TRUCKSffHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES this year than last year. There were a few sections out here that if you didn't do them right, you could lose two or three seconds a lap. One of them was that step-up thing. I think this year's track was probably more difficult than last year's." Windham was there in second until he got winded. "He was fast," Windham said. "I couldn't hang with him today. We all have those weekends where we're just on top of our game. Last weekend (in Dallas), I thought I was, and this weekend I just didn't have it. McGrath rode a great race. I was right with him at first but he got out in front of me, then maintained his lead. We've all had our turns up here. I had my turn last. This is a tough one. [f you can make it through this one, you'll be all right anywhere." Still, Windham never had any serious competition for the runner-up spot. Third was where the fight was. LaRocco owned the spot at the start, with Albertyn hanging with him, the two never far apart. LaRocco lost the spot to Albertyn.when he went down on (Left) Ricky Carmichael rode a strong race, finishing fourth. (Below. left to . right) laRocco, McGrath and Windham celebrate on the Daytona podium. - doing all night, and Stone did it two and one. After that, the drama was over. Bumpsticks' Tom Welch took fifth, all alone, as was Kawasaki of Missouri's Brian Stone. Moto XXX's Phil Lawrence and Noleen Motorsport's Tim Ferry controlled the second semi, with Lawrence holding the upper hand until Ferry passed him just before the tri-oval triple. The top four were well away, with Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss and Planet Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy close on the leaders for a few laps, anyhow. Then Ferry pulled away, lapping up to seventh place. Lawrence was second, with Voss keeping him honest, the two of them days in front of Roy. Jeremy Shuttleworth took fifth, with Cities Edge Sports' Lee Theis sixth. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER The four-lap sprint, with the top three to going to the main, gave the lastchance qualifier its usual sense of urgency. More than ever, the start was everything, with Broward Motor Sports' Charles Duffy IT! in control by the first waving of the green flag atop the finishline tabletop. In line behind him were Southern California's Kenny Yoho and Miller's Yamaha's Chad Sanner, and that's how they finished. The top two were close enough that a race could ha ve been made of it, but Sanner was weI! back, though safe from the fourth-placed bike. MAIN '" '" '" ...... 14 All day long, the riders had said how rough the track was and how important the start was. The layout - the longest of the year - took riders about one minute and 30 seconds to' complete a lap, well above the usual 50-second lap found in the stadium layouts. Twenty laps around this track, laid out in the tri-oval between the front straight and the pit lane at Daytona, was hard work. But not for McGrath. "I don't think I charged in the heat race right from the beginning, and I put a lot of pressure on myself to get the holeshot," McGrath said. "And I mean I came flying out of the gate, and when I got out front, I just wanted to race the dear track as best as I could. I had some good lines out there. I picked up some good lines and had a good.llow going." Gone from the start, McGrath took Windham - and only Windham - with him, and even then, not for long. McGrath wore the younger rider down and pulled away quickly. The gap was more than three seconds on the fifth lap, nine on the eighth, and 13 halfway in. It continued to grow until McGrath slowed at the end to win by more than 10 Seconds. It was McGrath's 55th career win, and his third at Daytona. '1 think from 1993, '94, '95, I didn't really want to win Daytona," McGrath said. "My goal was to just kind of get through it and not lose too many points to the other guys and continue my success in the indoor stuff. But then, come 1995, when I won the Nationals, and then 1996, I think I won my first Daytona, and it's more like an outdoor track. 1 was just concentrating on setting up my bike and really working hard for it. "The whole track was really rough," the reigning supercross king added. "It wasn't real easy. After the heat races, we made some changes to my bike. My bike was kind of riding really high in the heat race in the back end, and I couldn't really control it that good, and we made some changes and it worked really well. 1was able to control it a little better." As for the circuit, McGra th said: "I think the track was a lot more difficult .the eighth lap, but he took it back on the 13th when Albertyn faltered. "It happened relatively early so I had to find some ways to make up some time," LaRocco said. "I was losing a bit a every lap, so I was trying to find a way to get a bit faster and I made a mistake and I just tried to recover from it. It was the whoops section before you come back on the starting line. I washed out going into that stuff. I lost two but I got one back right away and I caught Albee a few laps later." Albertyn was the next to go down, the track having worn him down late in the race. He described the track as a combination of an outdoor and supercross track. "But the worst of both," he qualified, "because you've got to do all the jumps, yet you've got these big holes everywhere that you've got to be wheeIeying and jumping over." On the 16th lap, Albertyn lost fourth to Carmichael. "I saw him - that's why I'm not too ha ppy tha t he passed me," Albertyn said. ':1 really should have finished ahead of him. 1 was struggling through the whoops the whole race. I really didn't feel very comfortable at all, and that's where he got next t.o me." By using the whoop section before the triples, Carmichael was able to get both Albertyn and Tortelli over the bumps. 'They were messing up on that little pit jump after the whoops and I did it right behind them and got by them," Carmichael said. "I don't know why I didn't pass him when I caught up to him. I was so worried about staying up and finishing. It was really rough. I think if I couId'v.e got a good start, I would've been okay." . Emig would finish seventh after chasing and then passing Lamson on the ninth lap. A few laps later, Emig left Lamson behind and set out after TortelIi, whom he'd get on the 16th la p. "There was only Tortelli, and Albertyn was up there, and I really wanted to make a charge on the 'last lap," Emig said. "I made a big mistake, almost threw it away. I was just really mentally frustrated with myself because I just could not find my rhythm today. I couldn't get it done." Tortelli said much the same thing. "The track was pretty tough," the Frenchman said. "I think it's worse than outdoors. Ricky (Carmichael) passed me and I stayed with him a little bit and after, until the time I was not tired, I was keeping with him, and like the five last laps I just got a little bit tired and so he pulled away and Emig passed me, too. But after that I was, yeah, almost all the time alone and just riding my race and just do my own race." Lamson's race was in seventh and eighth from.the third lap on, and he was by himself once Emig split. '1 actually was running fourth for the first lap or so, but then I kind of made a few errors where I messed up on the track," Lamson said. "I was running a little bit tight and my arms kind of pumped up, so I kind of backed it down a little bit and settled into the eighth there and just kind of rode a smooth pace, but definitely off the pace up front, so I've got to pick that up." Damon Huffman's race. was similar to Lamson's, though he started much further back. By the time he got into ninth, on the 10th lap, the others were too far away for him to make a substantial move. "I think I started maybe midpack; 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. I don't know, I wish I would've had a better start." CII Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Results: March 6, 1999 (Round 9 of 16) 250 HEAT] (8 laps, 1·5 tr;rnsfu to main): 1. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 2. jeff Emig (Kaw); 3. Larry Ward (Suz); 4. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 5. Ryan Terlecki (Suz); 6. Jason Frenette (Yam); 7. Grayson Goodman (Hon); 8. Olarles Duffy (Suz); 9. jarret Tipping (Suz); 10. Tom Welch (Suz); 11. Chad Sanner (Yam); 12. Chuck Shirley (Yam); 13. Paul Letendre (Yam); 14. James Joiner (Yam); 15. Derrick januszyk (KTM); 16. Kirk Layfield (Yam); 17. Mark Cyphers (Yam); 18. Gary Harvin (Suz); 19. Ross Johnston (Yam); 20. Brian McBride (Yam); 21. Brian Stone (Kaw); 22. Rudy Waller (Yam). Time: 12 min., 4.240 sec. 250 HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-5 transfer to main): 1. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 2. Michel Pichon (Hon); 3. Steve Lamson (Yam); 4. Damon Huffma.n (Kaw); 5. Ricky Carmichael (Kaw); 6. Tyler Evans (Suz); 7. JeanSebastien Roy (Hon); 8. Doug Stone (Kaw); 9. James Evans (Kaw); 10. Richard Rogers (Kaw); 11. Erik Anderson (Hon); 12. Justin Blake (Hon); 13. Lee Theis .(Kaw); 14. Kenny Yoho (Kaw); 15. Nathan Juergens (Suz); 16. Brandon Cunningham (Knw); 17. Tim Caruso (Suz); 18. Samuel Allen (Yam); 19. Chris Gavlak O

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