Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

reason, I was running a little nervous all day. It makes me a little tired. Kind of toward the main event I was a little tired, because when your nerves are up, your heart rate's up and you wear yourself out all day long." He may have worn himself out, but he al 0 wore out the competition. LaRocco was the only rider who could tick with McGrath, and he did, closing down in the final laps before getting held up by the same backmarker who'd slowed McGrath, and put him within striking range. In the end, LaRocco came up. officially 4.001 seconds short, though he slowed dramatically at the end and at race pace was much closer. '1 wa trying to make a late-race deal like I always do," LaRocco said. "I hung with him pretty good and on the last lap I actually thought I had a good chance, and then I hooked up with (Heath) Voss. Actually, he gave me a really good chance (by earlier slowing McGrath) and then he took it away from me. It worked out, I guess." American Honda's Mickael Pichon held off the persistent Kawasaki of Damon Huffman to take the final podium spot. "Huffman was tough at the end," the Frenchman said. '1 got a little tired. I've been ill this week and I didn't feel so good. Actually, I'm very happy with third. The whole night went good. I got fourth last week, third this weekend. I'm very close to the podium, but I'm still looking for that win." Pichon had extra incentive. "Larry (Ward) and me are kind of battling for the championship, and I didn't want to give up that position." Suzuki's Ward and Pichon tangled early in the race, with Ward remounting to take eighth. The end result was that they're tied for third in the point standings with 184. McGrath holds a commanding lead, 266 to 216, the equivalent of two race wins, over LaRocco with five races remaining. Huffman, as mentioned earlier, was fourth. The Kawasaki rider battled with Suzuki's Robbie Reynard and Pichon, dropping Reynard but unable to take Pichon. . "When I got behind him, I was trying different lines, I was trying not to follow him," Huffman said. '1 was trying new stuff, but it just wasn't working. He had good lines and they didn't work for my bike. He was in the main fast line and I was moving all around." Honda's Ezra Lusk, one of the two heat-race winners, took fifth. The Georgian flubbed the tart, which meant he would have to cut through traffic, something of a problem on the short course. '1 tried to go a bit too soon and hesitated, and when I went out and tried to make up for it by shifting too quick it bogged down," Lusk said. "And I just couldn't come through the pack as quick as I wanted. The track being such an arenacross - the way it's been the last couple of weeks - it's kind of hard to pass." Huffman's teammate Ricky Carmichael chased Lusk for half the race before dropping off the pace. '1 was solid for about 12, 13 laps and then kind of fell off the pace," Carmichael said. "I was behind Ezra for quite some time. I think maybe I was holding my breath behind him and stuff and just got a little tired. I think some of it has to do with not racing and on putting in 20 race laps and not putting in enough work at home. I know that finishing races will help a lot." Carmichael fini hed the race by himself, as did seventh-place finisher and first Suzuki rider Robbie Reynard. The Oklahoman had run as high as third midrace, hard in a quartet contesting the spot, before fading. Eighth, in his first race since an injury at the Dallas Supercross, was Yamaha's Jimmy Button. Button never recovered &om a sub-par start in the main, working his way to eighth on the eighth lap. "1 rode good the first 10, 11 laps, then just got a little bit tired from not racing for four weeks," Button said. "One race at a time." Suzuki's Ward was ninth after colliding with Pichon on the second lap.-The pair were in the sand section, just before the left leading to the finish jumps, when they came together, with Ward getting the worse of the encounter. "He (Pichon) came up the inside and clipped me a little bit and 1 caught my radiator shroud on the Tuff Blox and it ripped my radiator off, and it flipped me, and I got up in 18th and caught up to ninth," Ward said. "But I couldn't turn left very good because my triple clamp kept hitting my radiator, it was so busted." American Honda's Sebastien Tortelli finished 10th. HEATS From the center of the start line, Lusk jetted to the front of the first eight-lap heat race, never to be headed. As he made his way around the open track on the first lap, it was clear he had it covered like no one else. In the stadium's north-end jumps, Lusk was able to clear the triple consistently, which no one else really did, opting for a double, then a single. On the fourth lap, he had nearly four seconds and cruised to the win, though he took an extra lap, just to make sure. "I seen the guy, he almost gave me a checkered flag, but it wasn't really until after me," Lusk said. "I thought, 'Man, I better do another lap.' I made that mistake in amateurs before and lost a few positions. The track is pretty coarse. It's really tight, lap times are really tight, compared to all the other guys during practice and stuff. I just knew I hati to put my head down and race every lap and every comer, every obstacle. That's wha t 1 tried to do." There was plenty happening behind Lusk, especially at the start. Huffman crashed hard in turn one, with Yamaha's Jimmy Button, Moto XXX's Phil' Lawrence, and The Edge Racing's Travis Trieb getting tangled up as well. Suzuki's Greg Albertyn was an early econd, LaRocco third, then Ward and Reynard. Reynard made his way by Ward in the right-hand hairpin leading to the sand section, with Albertyn and LaRocco going at it. Halfway in, it was Albertyn, LaRocco and Reynard, with Ward seeming to fade a bit, only to come on strong on the next lap. The sixth lap brought a change in the order, with LaRocco getting Albertyn in the north-end right and Reynard taking third from Albertyn in the ensuing jumps. The numbers of the rider read 4-317-8-7 with a lap to go, then the 17 bike of Reynard made his move on the 3 bike of LaRocco, pulling alongside him in the north-end jumps and the right heading down the east side of the stadium. Reynard took the lead in the east-side jumps, holding off LaRocco at the end. Albertyn wa fourth, followed by Ward. The second heat would be the faster of the two and it would go to McGrath. Out front at the start, McGrath didn't go flag to flag bu t had to take the lead back from Pichon after the pair swapped a time or two in the opening two laps. After that it was all McGrath, though hi lead was never much more than a second right down to the end. "The track's pretty tough tonight," McGrath said. "There's a lot of guys using the corners, and the inside's the faste t line, so it's kind of hard to lose. some guys. T made a few mistakes. I've got to clean it up a bit for the finals." McGrath and Pichon had led a quintet that left the rest of the 20-rider field behind. The top two were secure early on, 'with third contested by Tortelli and Pro Circuit's Nathan Ramsey, until Ramsey went down in the and on the second lap. laRocco (3), here in front of McGrath (1), Pichon (5) and Larry Ward (7), led much of the race before McGrath got him. He still finished a close second. • That left Tortelli to hold off Noleen Motorsport's Tim Ferry, which he did for a few laps, until Ferry went inside of him in the right-hand hairpin leading to the sand pit. Tortelli struck back a few laps later, then made it permanent with a strong move to the finish. Ferry was fourth, with Carmichael fifth and closing hard after a mostly nonaggressive race. SEMIS The top five would go to the main and Ward wanted to make sure he was first among them. Gone from the start, this was his semi entirely. He had over 3.5 seconds on the second lap and the cushion held up, even when Huffman made a late run at him. '1t's a little bit rutly and groovy, and it's a lot slicker than it wa early in the day," Ward said. "Last week I had to ride the semi, and Trode the semi, and I came away with second in the main. So hopefully that works." Huffman took second after breaking out of a trio that included Button and Mazda/Chaparral/Yamaha' Steve Lamson. Button finished third and Lamson fourth. The final rider to advance straight to the main was Boulder Yamaha's Isaiah Johnson. Johnson had to repass Big.Valley Honda's Heath Voss on the finaI lap to get the spot. Carmichael was the only factory rider in the second heat, and it howed. He didn't get the holeshot, bu t he had the lead shortly thereafter and to the end, never in danger. It wa a far cry from his heat-race ride. "That was a lot better," Carmichael said. HI rode a little more aggressive. I kind of let (Tim) Ferry in the heat race get in front of me and ride too aggressive. I rode like a girl. I do need to slow down to go faster. In the heat race, I slowed down to go faster and it wasn't working." 7

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