Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 14: Louisiana Superdome (Above) Damon Huffman (31), Jimmy Button (10), Mike laRocco (3) and Steve Lamson (24) pick up the pieces of what turned out to be a horrible first-tum pileup at the start of the main event. laRocco fared best out of the group, salvaging a seventh-place finish from disaster. (Right) McGrath celebrates his sixth championship. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Yamaha-mounted Takeshi Koikeda got the holeshot in the LCQ, ahead of Lawrence, Jones, Denny Stephenson and Grayson Goodman. Koikeda and Lawrence took off, leaving the rest of the field in the dust. Lawrence gained ground on Koikeda at times, but second was all that was needed to make the program, so Lawrence settled for the runner-up spot as the lead two headed to the main event. All others took to the stadium to spectateo MAIN "I !!iii iii II I!II ~ :ii Q • ~ ;:: ... C'I ~ Q. C 8 The holeshot belonged to Ward in the main event, even though it was almost too dose to call between Ward and Lusk. Both riders crossed the white line ~eck and neck, but Ward had a hair on Lusk and even more on Reynard, Carmichael, McGrath and Voss, who made up the lead pack going into the first turn. Button, LaRocco, Lamson, A1bertyn and Huffman were all missing as the 2D-rider field, led by Lusk, raced into the second turn. "It would've been great if the first turn turned to the right," said Huffman about his involvement in the first-turn pileup. '1 had a good start, but guys on the inside were coming in fast and we stacked up. I was piled up with LaRocco and Lamson. My front wheel was stuck behind Lammy' front wheel and fender. Then my leg was kind of stuck between my bike and his bike." It took Huffman and company a while to get separated and back on the track. Bubtlton was th~ only. rhider wfirho was una e to get gomg Wlt out st losing a few laps. "It sucked, straight up," said a disgusted Button. "I got back on the bike five laps down. It (the pileup) ripped the dutch assembly right off the bike. Right now I don't even care. I'll be back next week." Button put together 15 laps to finish 18th. Tortelli made it past the first turn, but he only recorded 11 laps in the 20lap main event. Already battered and bruised from an earlier practice crash, Tortelli hit the ground hard on the secand lap while running in 11th place. He picked up the bike, resumed the race in 18th, and rode until lap 13, when he pulled out, too damaged and too far behind to make a difference. Up front, Lusk completed lap after lap, shadowed by Ward, Carmichael and McGrath. But even the lead pack was feeling the effects of the brutal track. "I think that track was hard to pass on tonight," said McGrath. "If you didn't get a start, it was tough. [ was kind of lazy on the starts tonight. I don't know what happened." Lusk and Ward each got a good start and still found it equally as challenging in the main. "There were a lot of holes," said Ward. "It was hard day and tough, so you had to hang on real tight. A lot of the faces on the jumps weren't quite big enough, so we had to pull up real hard to get over them and that made it tiring." "I didn't really feel comfortable all day," Lusk concurred. "The track was pretty tough. It had a lot of little stutters and little bumps, and it was hard-pack, and it really made me struggle." While running in fourth on the sixth lap, McGrath found his way around third-placed Carmichael. From there, McGrath set his sights on Ward, and it was not long before he would take away the runner-up spot as well. But that was as far as McGrath would - or needed to progress. "I worked my way to the front and passed Larry (Ward)," said McGrath. "Ezra (tusk) is really hard to pass, and he rides fast. He rode a grea trace. Towards the end, I just backed off, too. I was thinking championship." Lusk was also well aware of that. "1 saw Jeremy coming up and getting dose to me, but 1 knew if I could get past the first 15 laps that it wouldn't be tough," said Lusk. "It would be pretty easy, because Jeremy wouldn't hang it out because of the championship and everything, so [ just put my head down and stayed consistent and didn't let him. get to me." Running in third, Carmichael appeared to be well on his way to his first 250cc podium finish when disaster struck. On lap 13, he went over the bars and dropped back to 12th. 'Tm a little bummed out," explained Carmichael about his mishap. "1 think I rode a little bit better this weekend than I've been riding. I just need to put 20 laps together. I was pretty dose, but it was not enough. My bike was running good. It was handling good. I just need to put that 20 together. r want to be on that podium before the year ends." Before Carmichael had gone down, Reynard passed Ward, and both Suzuki riders were more than happy to advance a spot past the downed Kawasaki pilot. Then, running in the fourth position, Ward got a second wind and almost regained the advantage over Reynard, which would have spoiled his teamrnate's second conseculive podium finish. "I made some stupid mistakes halfway through, and a couple of guys got by me," said Ward. "I got a little frustrated and calmed down and almost caught back up to Robbie (Reynard) at the end." Lusk ·completed 20 laps in just over 19 minutes - seven seconds faster than McGrath. Finishing fifth, behind Reynard and Ward and still on the lead lap, was Ferry. "This was my best finish this season and my best finish ever," said Ferry, who, once again, finished as lead privateer. 'Tm pretty excited." Pichon turned in· a sixth-place finish after gating seventh. Much more impressive was LaRocco's seventh-place finish, after he completed the first lap in 17th place due to the first-turn pileup. A1bertyn, Huffman and Voss rounded out the top 10. "This afternoon, r didn't think the nerves would get to me, but tonight they did," said McGrath about the pressure of locking down championship number six while at New Orleans. "Even after all this time, 1 still got kind of nervous." eM Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, Louisiana Results: April 17 (Round 14 01.16) 250 HEAT 1 (8 laps, l~ transfer 10 main): 1. Jimmy Button (Yam); 2. Steve Lamson (Yam); 3. Damon Huffman (KJw); 4. Ezra .Lusk (Hon); 5. Mike laRocco (Hon); 6. JeiUl-Seoostien Roy (Hon); 7. Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw); 8. Denny Stephenson (Hon); 9. Ryan Terlecki (Suz); 10. Ted Campbell (Suz); 11. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 12. Charles Duffy ill (Knw); 13. Buddy Antunez (Su.); 14. Brian Stone (Knw); 15. Joseph Oehlhof ()(TM); 16. Brian Mason (Kaw); 17. Kevin enne (5uz); 18. Jim eese (Yam); 19. Doug Dehaan (Kaw); 20. Jimmy Wilson (Yam). Time: 7 min., 37.970 sec. 250 HEAT 2 (8 laps, 1-4 lr.uufer to main): 1. Jeremy McGrath (Yam); 2. Larry Ward (Suz); 3. Ricky Cannichacl (Knw); 4. Mickael Pichon (Hon); 5. RobI»e Reynard (Suz); 6. Sebastien Tortelli (Hon); 7. Heath Vass (Han); 8. Tim Ferry (Yam); 9. Phil Lawrence (Suz); 10. Greg Albertyn (5uz); 11. Jason Frenette (Yam); 12. Grayson Goodman (Hon); 13. Doug Stone (Kaw); 14. Brad Woolsey (Kaw); 15. Takeshi Koikeda (Yam); 16. Michael Peacock (Hon); 17. Mike Jones (Kaw); 18. Travis Trieb (Yam); 19. Forrest Butler (Kaw); 20, Barry Carsten (Suz). Time: 7 min., 31.930 sec. 250 SEMI 1 (6 laps, 1·5 transfer to main): 1. Mike laRocco (Hon); 2. Pedro Gonzalez (Kaw); 3. Buddy Antunez (Suz); 4. Jean·Sebastien Roy (Hon); 5. Ryan Terlecki (Suz); 6. Denny Stephenson (Hon); 7. Brian Stone (](aw); 8. .Kevin Crine (Suz); 9. Zeb Armstrong (Yam); 10. Charles Duffy m (Kaw); 11. Jimmy Wilson (Yam); 12. Ted Campbell (Suz); 13. Brian Mason (Knw); 14. Joseph Oehlho( (KTM); 15. Jim Neese (Yam); 16. Doug Dehaan (J

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