Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

As mentioned, Ward finished a strong fourth, while his teammate Robbie Reynard rounded out the top five following an impressive come-frombehind (18th-to-fifth) charge - not bad for someone who qualified for the main through the last-ehance qualifier (and in the last position, at that). Suzuki's Greg Albertyn landed sixth, capping off the night's best team performance. Kawa aki's Damon Huffman finished seventh after a 10th-place getaway, and he was followed by Tim Ferry on the Team Noleen-backed Yamaha. Mazda/Chaparral/Yamaha's Steve Lamson took ninth, followed by Team Yamaha's Doug Henry, who was competing in what could very well be his last supercross race. (See "Briefly...") ''I'm real happy," said Henry, who hadn't ridden a supercross since Daytona and who was competing with a special splint on his broken pinkie finger. "Not riding in so long, my biggest goal was to ride loose, and 1 feel like 1 accom plished it tonight. It'll set me up good for the Nationals." Eleventh place went to Team Honda's Mickael Pichon, who was followed by Yamaha's Jimmy Button, who was running near the top five before running off the track. Heath Voss put his Big Valley Honda/Great Lake Aviation's CR250 into 13th, ahead of Kawasaki of Mexico's Pedro Gonzalez, .Kawasaki rider Mike Craig and Moto XXX's Phil Lawrence. Mike LaRocco, on the Factory Connection/Jack in the Box Honda, was looking pretty good for a second-place finish in the eries until crashing on the eighth lap while running ninth. LaRocco was unable to recover, finishing out the race in 17th place. As a result, LaRocco relinquished second in the series - where he had been stationed for much of the series - to Lusk by six points. Placing third, a disappointed LaRocco was unavailable for comment after the race. Neither Arenacross Champion Buddy Antunez nor Team Kawasaki's Ricky Carmichael were able to finish on the night but they were credited with 18th and 19th places, respectively. Tyler Evans, who qualified for the 250cc main, did not start after having just finished second in the 125cc main. Carmichael had set himself up nicely for a possible podium finish before crashing in the whoops and getting dipped by Albertyn's passing Suzuki while trying to remount his bike. The Kawasaki rider was bounceo violently off the track and was slow to his feet. He would retire for the night. Carmichael was also unavailable for comment after the race, but his team manager, Bruce Stjernstrom, said, "He's okay, just pissed; he has a nick on his shoulder but he should be okay." In the final standings, McGra th finished out the series with 356 points and eight wins, followed by Lusk with 273 points and five wins. LaRocco ended up third with 267 points and no wins. Ferry earned top privateer honors in eighth overall. (Above) Team Honda's Ezra Lusk (4) nabbed the holeshot ahead of Jeff Emig (11), Larry Ward (7), Doug Henry (2) and McGrath (1). Lusk went on to finish second, which moved him up to second in the series final standings. Suzuki's Greg Albertyn (8) runs Yamaha's Doug Henry (2) up high in a berm while passing him for the lead in a semi. HEATS The 250cc side of the night's program exploded with excitement when obvious crowd favorite Henry put his thumper into the lead just ahead of Lusk, but Lusk fought back and the two factory riders circulated nearly the entire first lap side by side. "It was good," Henery said. "Ezra was looking over at me, but 1 wasn't comfortable enough to look back over at him. 1 think he asked somebody, 'How come Doug didn't look over?' 1 told someone to give him the message that 1 was focused on what 1 needed to do right then and there." Henry finally took control of the lead heading into the second lap, with Lusk settling into second, Huffman into third and Button into fourth. "1 got a good start," Henry said. "The one thing 1 wanted to do was to get out in front as soon as I could. Actually, Ez~a got the holeshot, but 1 passed him. I felt pretty comfortable." Henry and Lusk continued their dogfight, Henry seemingly getting the better drive out of the slick, dry turns and Lusk having the better move in the long whoop section. At one point, Lusk pulled alongside Henry in the whoops, only to have Henry cut him off at the end of the section. The two touched but the intense battle continued. Their scrap seemed to excite both Huffman and Button, who were soon sucked into the dice for the lead as well. Eventually, the four riders jumped into the whoops in a bunch, but things got too dose for Button, who suddenly went down. Huffman, however, pulled out the stops and his momentum carried him right past both Henry and Lusk and into the lead. Lusk also got by Henry through the whoops, and now Lusk was trying ev:erything he could do to get around Huffman. With two laps left, Lusk, who had the whoops dialed, motored past Huffman and finally had the lead to himself. Lusk went on to win the race, ,!"ith Huffman taking second. Meanwhile, Henry had dropped off the pace. '1 felt pretty comfortable when they were behind me," Henry said. "Then they snuck by and 1 ended up riding a little bit tight. I didn't want to ride over head; 1 don't want to get hurt before next weekend (the opening round of the National series)." Meanwhile, a fired-up Carmichael, who had ga ted well back in the field, was on the move. He eventually put his Kawasaki into third and reeled in Huffman, only to see the checkered flag come out before he could attempt a pass. LaRocco slipped by Henry late in the race to finish fourth, sending the fourstroke rider to the semis. Sixth went to Reynard, followed by Albertyn. Compared to the first heat race, the second heat race was a sleeper - unless you are a Jeremy McGrath fan. McGrath put his Yamaha into the lead at the drop of the gate and pulled away from everyone in what-would be a preview of what my was to come in the main. Before it was all over, McGrath was so far out in front that while he was on the south side of the stadium, everyone else was still on the north side. He would go on to score an easy win. Ward ran second for a while before Ferry ran him doWn and passed him in the whoops a few laps from the finish. Pichon got dose to Ward at the end, but that was about it. . Finishing fifth, one spot out of a transfer, was Lamson, who held second for a while early in the race before dropping back. Emig finished well back of Lamson, and was followed by Voss. SEMIS Once again, Henry found himself in a dose dice for the lead in the first semi, but this time it was with former 250cc World MX Champion Albertyn. Henry got the jump, but Albertyn got around him before the first la p was over. The two riders batUe

• Cover