Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Mickael Pichon was the second Team Honda rider to finish, earning sixth, one spot ahead of LaRocco. Team Suzuki's Greg Albertyn, Huffman and Hondamounted Heath Voss rounded out the top 10. HEATS Fre h from his third consecutive Arenacross championsltip, Shift/Primal Impulse/Bill's Pipes/Suzuki-mounted Buddy Antunez grabbed the holeshot in the first heat race. Behind Itim was Lamson, Planet Honda/Pro Grip/FMF's Jean-Sebastien Roy, KX rider Brian Stone, Button and Huffman. Even further behind after being hung up in the first turn was a group of riders that included LaRocco and Lusk. "In the heat, there were a few people that went down with me in the first turn," said Lusk, "Ryan Terlecki and a couple more. I hit Jinuny Button's rear tire. It was real marbley going into that first turn, so it was hard for him (Button) to stop that big four-stroke. We both went in wide and I hit his rear wheel." Luckily for Bu tton, he managed to stay up, and by the third lap he was challenging Antunez and Lamson for the lead. On his booming YZ400, Button put on the pressure, and Lamson reacted well by passing Antunez to take over the point. Button passed Antunez as well and before long Huffman and the hard-charging pair of Lusk and LaRocco threatened Antunez's qualifying position; then the Suzuki rider hit tlle ground as a result of a crash. Antunez picked up his bike to fWsh 13th. Just before the final lap of the eightlap heat, Button passed Lamson for the lead and went on to take the win. lamson held on to second and Huffman took third. Lusk grabbed the final transfer spot, sending fifth-placed LaRocco to a serm. Ward has been blessed with good starts all year, and the second heat race was no exception. Ward's teammate Greg Albertyn, on the other hand, was not as'fortunate. While Ward was holding off the likes of McGrath, Carrmchael and Pichon, Albertyn was picking Itimself off the ground. Albertyn got up rather quickly, but it was too late to make a bid for a transfer position and the Suzukj pilot finished 10th when the heat was done. McGrath gated third and passed Pichon right away, and then took his time to pass Ward. "I got the holeshot and led six laps, and then Jeremy got by me:' said Ward about his successful start. '1 stayed pretty close behind Itim. He made some mistakes after he passed me, so I stayed pretty close." Behind McGrath and Ward was the battle between Pichon and Carmichael for third place, which Carrmchael gladly took over on the fifth lap. Pichon held fourth, transferring to the main as a slow-starting Reynard, Tortelli and the rest of the field headed to a serm. SEMIS Trying to gain a top-five spot to head into the main, Antunez garnered yet another holeshot, tltis time at the start of the first semi. Once again, the lead would not last long, as Kawasaki of Mexico's Pedro Gonzalez passed Antunez before the completion of the first lap. LaRocco was tltird to the first turn and he too went around Antunez and then Gonzalez as well to take the lead. Now in third, Antunez was feeling the pressure of Roy, who had followed LaRocco around for most of the first two (Left) Ezra Lusk came within a hair of garnering the holeshot from Team Suzuki's Larry Ward. In the end, it didn't matter, however, as Lusk went on to win hill fourth main event of the series. (Below) For the second consecutive week in row, Team Suzuki's Robbie Reynard finished third. laps. Ryan Terlecki held fifth, behind Roy, but he was no threat to the battle for third. LaRocco went on to take' the easy win in the six-lap affair, with Gonzalez finishing second and Antunez holding off Roy to finish third. Terlecki fell in behind Roy in fifth place, earning a trip to the main. The second serm was stacked with some heavy hitters, including Reynard, Ferry, Albertyn, Tortelli, Heath Voss and Phil Lawrence. When the gate dropped, Ferry had his YZ out front, with Reynard second and Voss in third. Arenacross regular Mike Jones put his Kawasaki in fifth, one spot ahead of Albertyn. Lawrence's Moto XXX Suzukj was back in seventh, two positions out of a transfer spot. Albertyn made good of ltis poor start and passed Jones and Voss to take third by lap four. Tortelli was next to follow in Albertyn's.footsteps as he moved into fourth. Both 250cc World Champions Tortelli and Albertyn - held on to their spots to transfer to the big show. Voss stayed in fifth, avoiding the upcormng last-chance qualifier. Meanwhile, Ferry was enjoying a comfortable lead, one that he kept through the remainder of the race. Reynard settled for second. m C7> cO N ;: Co c( 7

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