Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 4: Motocross 338 MAZDA TRUCKSIAMA 250cc NA TlONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MX SERIES Although John Dowd only races at Southwick once a year now, the Massachusetts native is still brutally fast on the sandy circuit. Early on, Dowd led both motos before succumbing to Lusk. The only other man to beat Dowd all day was Mike laRocco, during the first moto. Still, Dowd's 3-2 performance was good enough for second overall, much to the approval of the crowd. for the front-runners, the second half of the moto looked like a totally different event. ot only did riders have to contest with the rough track, they now had the element of Mother Nature to deal with. "It started raining and my goggles fogged up, so I stopped to get another pair," said Team Suzuki's Robbie Reynard, who was riding a 250 at Southwick for the first time. "I couldn't get started, and when I did, 1 was so mad 1 made a stupid mistakes in the back and crashed pretty hard. I had a little bit of :i trouble getting used to the 250 here. .. With the 125, you just pin it and hang !!Iii on. The 250, you have to use a little bit iii more finesse." III Even the most seasoned veterans ~ were having goggle problems. Despite V having vision problems of his own, :iii third-placed LaRocco started to catch Q Dowd just before the midway point. "1 caught up a little bit and that rain '" came and my goggles fogged up," aid g: LaRocco. "I tossed those, and it was a ~ M nightmare after that." c.;: As it turned out, the nightmare was § not all bad, because LaRocco passed ..., Dowd to take over a distant second. S Meanwhile, undaunted by the rain, I Lusk sliced through the wet sand to take the moto win: LaRocco followed wt to finish second, ahead of Dowd and Windham. Tortelli, who yet again made an amazing come-from-behind charge through the pack, finished ixth, behind Windham. A fatigued Huffman crossed the finish line to take seventh. "The track is so gnarly," said Huffman. "1 had to hold on like an animal, so 1 got orne arm pump. 1 didn't fall - 1 stayed up. 1 know my pace slowed down quite a bit, but that was 0 I wouldn't crash. I tend to do better in the econd moto, so we'll see what happens." Finishing behind Huffman was Ward, who reported a sand-eaked front brake that slowed him down toward the end of the moto. Emig finished ninth and Henry rounded out the top] O. Lamson, Roy, Ferry, Button and Suzuki-mounted Austin Squires all put themselves in the top 15, in that order. Most riders finished without goggles, but all riders - even Lusk - fini hed covered in mud. MOTOTWO It looked like a brand-new day a -little over an hour later, as Dowd grabbed the second-moto holeshot under sunny skies. Lusk, Lamson, Yamaha-mounted Takeshi Koikeda, A1bertyn and Henry were close in tow. To no one's surprise, Tortelli was stuck in the back of the pack, behind Ward, LaRocco and Huffman, who all got mediocre starts. Stuck in the middle of 39 other riders, Huffman ran into problems on the first lap that warranted a game of catch-up for the remainder of the moto. "On the first lap, I was dropping down into the frog pond," explained Huffman. "I was right next to laRocco· and I thought he was going to go to the outside rut, and, at the last second, he cut over. 1 couldn't go any further right from there. There's a big pole and a tire on the right, so I got .pinched off right there and I dropped down it. I just coUldn't hold myself up. I fell and it's on a downhill, so it was hard to get up. Everybody went by me. [ just rode my hardest from there." Meanwhile, things were changing rapidly. Lusk worked his way around Dowd to take over the lead, much to the dismay of the crowd. LaRocco and Tortelli were also on a rampage of their own, picking up positions left and right, but Dowd would have to go down for the duo to catch him. Larry Ward latched on to Tortelli during his quest for a better finish. "1 spun all the way across the concrete," said Ward about his start. "1 don't know what 1 did. I got a terrible start. 1 think 1 was like 25th at the end of the first lap. 1 saw Tortelli not too far in front of me and just paced off of him and kept going and kept going and moved up to fifth, so 1 was really tired, but 1 knew everybody was tired, so 1 just kept riding as fast as 1 could." While running in the top 10, Lamson had to retire, but it wasn't from fatigue. Somehow his YZ250 managed to find one of the few rocks on the sandy circuit, which meant disaster. "A rock hit the cases and split it in half," said Lamson. "I was about sixth, behind Ward, and it happened about halfway through. 1 heard some screeching and I thought, 'What in the world ... ?' [ thought my spokes were coming ouf or something, but 1 just kept going. Then 1 heard the engine making some weird noises. I made it almost all the way to the end, but 1 crashed because it finally locked up. It locked up in a corner and 1 picked the bike up and 1 kicked it and it wouldn't kick. 1 jammed the gears down and something broke loose, so I kicked it and it started, but it wouldn't really run. It's just something else. One thing after another. That's the best moto I've had all year, and I was riding pretty strong. I'm pissed." By the eighth lap, LaRocco and Tortelli were running a distant third and fourth, and even though Tortelli was moving at a superfast pace, so was LaRocco. Slowly, Tortelli began to reel in laRocco, and it appeared that in the final few laps the race would be for third place. "1 didn't get as good a start," said LaRocco. "The track wa rough and 1 had a hard time getting around Henry, and by the time I did, 1 was worn out. It was not enough to make a difference. 1 normally do pretty decent here. I've won here in the past, btl! it's been a while. 'They smoothed ou t. a couple areas, and that was the difference between day and night." laRocco obviously took advantage of the smoothed-out sections, as he held off Tortelli to the very end to finish third in the moto, third overall for the day. Tortelli's effort on the last lap sent him to the ground, yet he wa still able to finish fourth in moto two as well as in the overall. '1 got another horrible start, but a lot of guys era hed and I pa sed riders and came back to fourth," said Tortelli. "LaRocco was in front of me and 1 was very tired. 1 gave everything I had the first moto. r just didn't have the power, but 1 gave everything 1 had. On the last lap, I tried to pass him (laRocco), but I couldn't make it. My front wheel went over the berm and I crashed." Ward filed in behind Tortelli in the moto to claim sixth on the day, one spot behind his teammate Albertyn, who finished sixth in the second moto. A1bertyn's fourth place in moto two barely edged out Ward for fifth overall on the day. Henry raced across the finish line in seventh. "1 think it's really rough out there," said Henry, who consequently finished seventh in the final results as well. 'lt's tough to find lines. The best line is believe it or not - the roughest. To go fast, you just have to hit that rough line as hard as you can. The second moto, 1 got a pretty decent start. 1 started fifth

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