Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 10: Houston Astrodome TOYOTA TRUCKS THOR/PARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES Meanwhile, battling to stay in the top 10 was Planet Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy. "I crashed hard titis week and landed on my ribs, and I couldn't breath," Roy said. "1 had a real problem with that tonight. I still have one step to go to be with the top guys. It's coming. I didn't see the halfway point, and I was trying to save my energy. But the race went by fast, because I've been training really hard. I was surprised how short the race felt. 1 really want .to be in the top 10 for sure the next couple races." Roy went on to finish 13th, one spot ahead of ltis tearnma te Craig. Lusk, meanwhile, began to move up the ladder once he got warmed up. First he made his way around the racelong AIbertyn/Ward battle to claim fourth. TIlen he capitalized on one of Lamson's many hardships of the night. While holding down third place, disaster struck Lamson for the second time of the night. "1 got out of the gate good and hung in there pretty good," Lamson said. "Then, halfway through, I crashed right before the finish line. Somebody - 1 think it might have been a lapper, but [ don't know - hit me right when I jumped. They hit my back wheel, and it just cleaned me out. Everyone passed me then." Craig's pivoting motorcycle but still went down, though no contact was made. Voss' fall allowed Lawrence to move into second and Binckley to move into third. "It was not intentional," said Craig of the pass that left Voss on the ground. "The whole tillilg is, the track has a lot of right-hand turns, and that is the side that I broke my femur on, so e'{ery right corner, 1 don't take my foot off the peg. It's always on the peg, so I went up and slid my back end around it. If he were to fall on me, I would have fallen, too, because 1 had no leg." Craig and Lawrence went on to finish one-two. Voss got up in fourth and captured third from Binckley but could not move past the final podium position. Binckley and Doug Stone claimed fourth and fifth, reserving their spots on the gate for the main. After getting the holeshot in the second semi, Jean-Sebas.tien Roy gave way to Lamson and Ward. Elsewhere, Texan Grayson Goodman, Ryan Terlecki and Dustin Nelson slid in and out of each 'other's roost while racing for fourth for most of the opening laps. Lamson eventually pulled clear of Ward and rode on to victory. "The semi was good," Lamson said of his fairly uneventful trip to the main. "1 had good lap times. Jeremy and me were running 58s (lap times) in the heat, and then in the semi I was running 58s the whole time, too. I had a pretty good pace, but 1 still shouldn't have been there (in the semi). I shouldn't have ~ crashed in the heat." s::. Elsewhere, after a bad start, Ferry l:! was supplying plenty of action as he :;: closed in on fifth-placed rider Terlecki. 10 The anticipated late-race dogfight, how- ... Damon Huffman obviouslY did not let the pressure of being the lone Team Kawasaki rider in the main event get to him. He worked his way from a seventh-place start to finish fourth, his best finish this year. ever, never materialized, as Terlecki got out of sha pe and crashed. At the finish, it was Lamson, Ward, Roy, Goodman and a lucky Ferry all going to the main. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Much to the delight of the crowd, Texan Brad Woolsey took his Kawasaki of Carrollton-backed KX to the front of the pack during the LCQ. Terlecki • recovered after crashing in his semi and made Woolsey's lead a short-lived one, as he passed for the lead in the whoops on lap two and went on to win. Woolsey held second until the whiteflag lap, when he crashed, handing Brian Stone the final transfer spot. MAIN The Bridgestone front tire of McGrath's Yamaha was the first thing to leave its tracks on the 1-900-PRO-RACE white holeshot line of the main event. But as the 20 riders exited the second turn, it was Windham-who owned the lead. McGrath filed into second, followed by Lamson, Ward, Albertyn, Lusk, Huffman, Roy and LaRocco. Winciham and McGrath immediately established t!}ernselves as the two leaders in the 20-lap main. By the end of the second lap, they had pulled out a comfortable lead on the rest of the pack, and it wasn't until just before the midway . point that McGrath started seriously pressuring the leader. With Lamson out of the picture, Lusk moved into third and set out to join the Windham/McGrath scuffle, which got really interesting on lap nine. McGrath's first attempt to pass Windham came in the whoop section. The pass was almost a success, but Windham stayed on the gas long enough to take McGrath wide in the next tum. McGrath tried another pass, and then another, but, even though nothing was working for McGra th, it was apparen t that the inevitable was about to happen, and Windham knew it. Halfway through the 10th lap, perhaps still a little frazzled by the earlier pass attempts, Windham mistimed a jump-filled rhythm section and McGrath was right there to pounce, and he shot by Windham as if he had been shot from a cannon. Windham could. only watch as McGrath went by him. "If there was one thing that 1 would change, r would have followed him for the first"10 laps," Windham said of being stalked by McGrath. "Hopefully, it would have been different. Being in front is a lot different than being in second on this track. I just need to learn to handle the pressure and ride consistent. I know I'm in shape. I've been working hard; it just kind of aggravates me that I didn't ride as well as 1wanted to." Meanwhile, LaRocco was having a roller-coaster kind of a race. By the second lap, he had moved his way into seventh, passing Roy and Huffman in the progress. "1 messed up in the start," LaRocco said. '1 felt really good the first couple of laps. Then I made some mistakes on laps four and five. I don't know what I did. 1 kind of stretched or pulled my side, and it was bothering me out there. 1 just didn't feel good after that. 1 just felt real tight. I don't know what happened. I feel all right now, and I reaIly -don't understand wha t ha ppen~d. It' s weird." What Was not weird 'was seeing McGrath out in front, opening up a seven-second lead, and he did so in typical McGrath fashion, conquering all the obstacles with perfect precision and timing. "They put a lot of effort into the track," McGrath said. "It was really wide .,nd didn't force you into one line. There was a lot of passing and everything, and tha t' s good for everyone to see. The starts were the most important things, though, and I ripped two starts tonight, so I'm stoked." . ''I'm happy to be coming into my own," said Windham about his secondplace showing and his recent success. "Hopefully, 1 can leave my mark on the season, and the championship is still . there and anything can happen. r just ;yant to ride this wave of confidence and finish good." . Hopefully for Lusk, his third-place showing was the start of a streak of his own. "The rest of the races, I'm going to try to tum it up and get some more "ictories," Lusk said. "f started. about eighth. 1 got an awesome jump and got the holeshot in the heat. 1 tried to save a little bit of 'energy and be ready for the main, because 1 r.eally haven't felt great this weekend, and 1 just wanted to get through the night." It took him a while, but Huffman managed to get around. Albertyn and. Ward by lap 16 to claim fourth on the night. Sixth-place finisher LaRocco caught Ward but could not find a way around Albertyn, who finished fifth. Ward finished seventh, ahead. of Ferry. Rounding out the top 10 were Lamson and Pichon. "1 got up right in front of 'Pichon," Lamson said of his midrace crash. "1 got by Pichon and. Tortelli after 1 got going again. Ward and those guys were right in front of me. 1 wish I had more laps; I eN could've ran those guys down." Houston Astrodome Houston, Texas Results: March 13, 1999 (Round 10 of 16) 250 HEAT 1 (8 laps; 1-4 transfer to main): 1. Kevin Windham (Hon); 2. Ezra Lusk (1-£00); 3. Mike L:1.Rocco (Hon); 4. Greg Albertyn (Suz); 5. Heath Voss (Hon); 6. Mike Craig (}.-Ion); 7. Pbjl Lawrence (Sw:); S. Brian Stone (K.w); 9. Jelll-lcdden (KTM); 10. Doug Stone (Kaw); 11. Jason Dubin (Suz); 12. Cory Francis (KTM); 13. Erik Andqson (Hon); 14. Brad Woolsey (Kaw); 15. Billy B~nckley (Xam); 16. Kevin Gravett (Suz); 17. Tr

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