Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 15: RCA Dome TOYOTA TRUCKSiTHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES lost the front end while putting a move on fourth-placed Koikeda and then went down. Reynard inherited Emig's spot and sneaked into the main. LAST-CHANCE QUALIFIER Emig was expected to win the LCQ, but he was one of at least nine riders to hit the deck in the tight, 180-degree first turn. The former Supercross champ was slow to his feet - though uninjured - and his night was all but over. "I.got a clean start," Emig said, "Then Jones pushed into me and 1 high-sided." Free State Cycle's Kevin Crine emerged from the mayhem with a huge lead, one he· would have no problem maintaining over Goodman, who puIled away from eventual third-place finisher James Evans. MAIN EVENT It didn't take long for things to go ... 1;' ~ 30 haywire in the main event, as many riders went down in the first turn, including Wallace, Ward, LaRocco, Goodman and McGrath, among others. . "I was kind of a little late on the start," McGrath said. "Ward and those guys were fighting for positions. I was leaning all over Larry - he was driving in - and I just got tood up. The same thing happened to Button and LaRocco last week. There was nothing I could do." Of the group that went down, only McGrath and LaRocco were able to mount a serious comeback. Ward tried but would again crash. Meanwhile, Huffman came out with the holeshot, but both Lusk and Pichon got by him on the second lap. From there, the race was all red - as in Honda red - with Lusk gradually pulling away from his teammate and clicking off consistent 56-sec.ond lap times, though he did post a few 54s. At one point late in the race, Lusk built up about a six-second lead before letting it shrink back down to about five seconds. Lusk then backed it way off on the last lap, making the official winning margin 4.005 seconds. "It was one of those nights that when the main event came around, 1 knew I had to be super-aggressive," Lusk said. "I knew only a half a second (in lap times) split me and Jeremy, so I knew I had to be perfect. I came out of the gate really good. I was riding really, really aggressi.ve early on, which 1 haven't done i.n a long time." Once out in front, Lusk paced himself and played it smart. "I'm the· kind of guy that, if I'm pulling away from somebody or see I'm keeping the same distance every lap, I won't go any faster," Lusk said. 'Til just stay that same speed. I feel there just is no reason for me to push it if I don't have to, and that's whaH did. For a long time there, I never looked back. 1 didn't want to know who it was - especially if it was Jeremy, because 1 knew he was going good tonight." Lusk contributed much of his win to being in good physical shape. "I think right now my strength is just amazing," Lusk added. "I don't think my heart rate got above 160 to 165. I just felt awesome. I think it would've been a great race between me and Jeremy." Pichon made it a 1-2 Honda sweep when he crossed the finish line a few seconds back. "I was trying to stay with Ezra," said Pichon, who is still looking for his first 250cc SX win. "I couldn't really go faster than him, but he made a couple of mistakes and almost went. down, but' the track was pretty hard to make up time. Maybe he could make a mistake, maybe I could pass him. But he was strong the whole race. I was trying and trying." Despite finishing on the podium for the first time since St. Louis and saying he was happy, you could still hear disappointment in Pichon's voice. "I'm happy to get back on the podium, but I haven't got that win yet," he said. "My goal was to get in the top three (in the series). I'm not going to make it, but I'll be close." After getting passed by the two Honda riders, Huffman settled into third and finally shook off a pesky Ferry. By the halfway point, Huffman was pretty much all alone and had third place all but wrapped. Then, suddenly, he crashed. "My start was awesome - best all year," Huffman said. "But I lost the front end, jumped into the whoops and went over the bars. I'm. real disappointed. I tried real hard; I guess I tried too hard." Huffman's loss was certainly Ferry's gain. . "I heard his (Huffman's) bike rev up from the other straightaway, so I knew he went down," Ferry said. "1 knew I was in fourth and wanted to play it cool. Last week, I was run,ning fifth and fell with two laps to go - I didn't want to do that again, because third is a big step from fifth. r felt really strong. I started getting a little bit pumped up because I've never ran fourth in the main before, but when Huffman fell, it set me up for a good podium finish." Meanwhile, both McGrath and LaRocco started cutting their way up through the pack, but McGrath's drive was momentarily stalled when he tangled with Albertyn on the fifth lap. '1 probably would've finished second - for sure, third - if I didn't fall the second time," McGrath said. "Albee slipped out in front of me. I ran right into him as he took off and hit my wheel." One of the riders who passed McGrath was LaRocco, but McGrath gQt him back and charged to the front, nearly catching Ferry. "I was making some good moves," McGrath said. "I was happy with the way I rode. I was in the zone - I could've rode another 20 laps. I had a lot of laps in the 54s." Ramsey ran as high as fourth after Huffman crashed and Button stalled his thumper, but the Kawasaki rider was Yamaha of Troy's Ernesto Fonseca (100) took control of the lead on the first lap of the 125cc main and held it there for all 15 laps. He finished out the East Coast series with his sixth win. dropped back one spot by McGrath before it was all over. "I didn'treally feel that comfortable," Ramsey said. "I haven't had much time on the 250. r got a pretty decent start, just kind of stopped making an those little bobbles that 1 had been making (in the heat races)." Ramsey, however, nearly lost another spot to LaRocco, who pressured the 12Sec champ the last six laps. After rounding the first lap in 18th, LaRocco charged hard to salvage sixth and protect his second place in the series point standings. With one race to go, LaRocco has a 13-point cushion over third-placed Lusk. Carmichael finished the race in seventh after a ninth-place start, and Voss ended up a resp'ectable eighth after starting off in fifth. I Reynard went from 14th to ninth at the finish, while Lamson went from 10th to ninth, back to 11 th, and then back to ninth before finishing where he started -. in 10th. CIII RCA Dome Indianapolis, Indiana Results: April 24, 1999 (Round 15 of 16) I 2SO MEAT 1 (8 laps, 14 transf~ to main): I. Ezra Lusk (Hon); 2. Mike LaRocco (Hon); 3. Ricky Cannichael CJ

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