Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Henry did not disappoint and rode to a strong 10th; combined with his second-moto seventh, the defending 250cc National Motocross Champion ended up seventh on the day. Team Kawasaki's Damon Huffman (7-10) finished in eighth, followed by the, round-two winner, Team Honda's Kevin Windham (5-12). Huffman's teammate Jeff Emig rounded out the top 10 overall with a score of 9-9. MOTOONE The start of mota one !neant very good things for some and really bad things for others, but by the end of the moto, every rider on the track would be affected by the sudden rainstorm that rolled in about the fifth lap of the 18-lap affair. Lusk led up the sandy uphill start, but it was Dowd who exited the first tum in the lead. "1 squared the first turn off and got out of the first tum first," said Dowd. "1 felt pretty good for a while, but 1 tensed up after a while. I knew somebody was onme." That somebody was Windham, and the two riders pulled away from the otherwise troubled field. "I got off the ga te pretty well and 1 was next to Button, and we kind of touched, and 1 ended up coming out of the first tum around 25th," said Albertyn. The run-in was not the only one that Button had on the first lap, but his teammate Henry had a larger problem: Just moments after the race started, Henry went down and took some people with him. This forced some of the usual front-runners to play catch-up for the entire moto. "1 got an okay start," Suzuki's Ward said, "and then, going up that first hill back there, Doug Henry wrecked and [ got caught up on his bike. 1 had to go up around it on the hill. A bunch of guys got around me on the right side." Certain riders had already started far enough back that the Henry-caused jam was not a problem when they got to it. Emig tried a new starting technique that did not quite work for him, but things were worse for Tortelli and Button, who almost completed an entire lap among a tightly knit pack before they ran into problems. "1 spun a little bit on the concrete," said Tortelli, who has yet to master nondirt starting gates. "1 was 11th or so, and then 1 passed Jimmy (Button) on the inside and 1 don't know what happened. We crashed into each other. I didn't even see him. His bike was stuck on mine, so I just threw away his bike and got back on mine and tried to get back." Tortelli had nowhere to go but forward, and he did so rather quickly despite being squished in the back of the pack. "I had to work my way up through the pack again," said Emig of his bad start. "1 can say riding back in the pack was tough to do, but Tortelli came by me while 1 was in the pack." As Tortelli was working his way up from 30th on the second lap to 15th on the fifth lap, Dowd was beginning to fade. "I got some arm pump about halfway through," said Dowd. "Things started to get a little shaky from there. I hit one of those bumps in the straightaway and 1 did a gnarly swap. 1 thought 1 was going down. 1 was way out of whack, and he (Lusk) just went cruising by me. 1 was tying to get it back together, but 1 couldn't shake my arms out." Dowd was not the only rider suffering problems, as the rough track started to take its toll. "I crashed pretty good on the second lap," said Mazda/Chaparral-Yamahasponsored Tim Ferry. '1 was pretty far back after that, because I had to stop in the mechanics' area and straighten out tlle front end on my bike. 1 crashed com- ing out of this sweeping tum. 1 started to swap and 1 figured if 1 left the gas on, I'd be all right: It didn't work out. It ended up spitting me off the track." Ferry's teammate Steve Lamson had problems early in the moto, not long after Ferry's crash. "I had a great start and was running fourth for a long time," said Lamson. "Then 1 hit this one section. I went way right on the track where 1 usually don't go, and there were some big breakers in the corner and 1 dove into them really hard and I just dropped the front end. 1 was pinned under my bike because 1 was on that off-camber. My leg was stuck. Then it wouldn't start right away. 1 was trying to get it going forever. 1 screwed up. It took me a little while to get going after that." Not long after Lusk got around Dowd, it began to rain, and for those who were already struggling, things got even worse. "1 was riding good until about halfway and I fell down, and then it started raining and I took my goggles off and that was a big mistake," said Planet Honda's Jean-Sebastien Roy. "I went from sixth to 12th. 1 fell twice because 1 couldn't see anything." Roy was just one of several riders to suffer problems due to the rain. Except (Opposite page) Shredding through the Massachusetts sand with the greatest of ease, Team Honda's Ezra Lusk won both 250cc motos and . moved into the points lead as well. Lusk is the fourth winner in four rounds of racing. (Right) Mike laRocco was ready to capitalize on a LuskJDowd mistake in both motos. Better-thanaverage starts put LaRocco in the hunt for the Overall, but in the end he settled for third. 7

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