Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Motocross worthy's M tocro o ssPark track th a t was not fr ien dly fo r rid ers moving through traffic . "I kn ew I cou ld catch those guys, but I co u ldn' t do anything with it once I caught them," said laRocco. "In the first mo to I got right up there. The track was real dusty so I couldn't choose my lines. I ended u p missing a lot of comers and making mistakes. I couldn' t see where I was going. It was tough being in that position." After finishing third , he fou nd himself in the same position again a t th e start of the seco nd rnot o, but he forge d on, obviously ma king less m istakes than most of the field to finish a res pectable fourth beh ind th e H enry /Lus k / Albertyn battle. A 7-2 moto score ea rn ed Lusk fourth overal l. A se cond-pla ce s ta rt in mo to one turned into a rid e that Lusk would probably like to forget. "I had a couple tip overs in the corners and co uld n' t reall y get it together," said Lusk. "I was behind Dou g (Henry) and I came int o a comer a littl e too hot and hig hsided . I go t up fro m th at and sta rted to come u p a little and I ended up going down again. I tipped ove r in a corner." In moto two, Lusk got o ut in fro nt wi th the holes ho t and led for five complete la p s before stalling his bike and le t ti n g Henry b y . A lbe rtyn moved arou nd Lusk as well on the same lap, but Lusk never fell out of the top thr ee a nd gained second before the second moto was over. By Matt Freeman Photos by Karl Ockert TROY,OH, JULY25 . '" '" '" ~ gj g' < 6 . ~ o, this is what it's like to win again ," s a id reignin g 250cc Iatio nal Motocross Champion Dou g Henry after leading the first moto from st art to finish at Ken w orth y' s Motocross Park in Tr oy, Ohio. 'T he re were guys ou t in the pits wondering if I was going to last and I wa s thinking that too: ' continued Henry, whose moto wi n was his first since the se ries started - 14 motos and seve n rounds prior to its stop in the Buckeye state . N ot onl y did Henry la st throughout the fir st m ot o, the Team Yamaha YZ400 rid er also prevailed in the seco nd moto, figh tin g fro m fourth to firs t to take the overall in fro nt of the 17,366 specta to rs that lin ed the in field of th e fas t su pe rcross-like Kenworthy tra ck. H enry' s m ot o wi ns di d no t come easy by any means, as he slammed the do or on end less passing attem pts by the li kes of Suz u ki's Greg Albertyn , a nd Hond a' s Ezra Lusk a nd Kevi n Windham . Albertyn's gutsy runner-up showing in th e fir st mot o was th e g rea test threat of all to Henry in the second moto as Albertyn, th e ser ies p o ints lead er go ing into round eight, tried jus t as hard as H enry for . th e m ot o w i n. A w in . w o u ld have gi ven th e So u th A fric a n tw o-time World Motocross Cham p ion the ove ra ll, ins tea d of H enry - but Henry pr evail ed . "I knew Greg (Albertyn) was behind m e a nd I wasn' t goi ng to let him by because I wanted to ge t th e o ve ra ll so bad," said Hen ry . Albertyn wanted it just as badly and was co ncen tra ting so ha rd o n ma kin g the pa ss on the w hite flag lap that he let an unsu specting Lusk slip by for second place. From there all Albertyn could do was finish the mot o in th ird , still good enough for second overa ll o n the day. Mo re importantly, wit h his second ru nner- up s howing in as many weeks , AIbertyn gained va luable points on the res t of the field. 'This is not my bes t track necessarily, Team Yamaha's Doug Henry became the s ixth rider to have won a 250cc outdoor National this year by sweeping both motos at Kenworthy's Motocross Park In Troy, Ohio. but I'm happy w it h the results a nd I ca me aw ay with nine po int s more of a lead than I had," sa id Albertvn, who is o ne of six riders in th e se ries to ha ve won a n overa ll in th e 12-round affair. " There's ' not much m ore I co u ld ask for." Fact orv Connecti on /Hond a /Jack in the Bo x-backed Mik e LaRocco also gained a little gro und on his fello w racers by tak ing the fina l pod ium position. Co mbined wi th his ove ra ll win from last we ek at Unadilla , LaR occo s ho t up to secon d in se ries s tan di ngs, so me 30 poin ts behin d A lbe rtyn. Nevertheless, LaRocco's det erm ina tion did not frown o n A lbe r tyn 's lea d , and in Troy, h e proved it. Getting mediocre sta rts in bo th rno tos , La Rocco was forced to mo ve up to th e lea d p ack o n a d u sty " I passed Albertyn before the Dirty Dozen {a section of 12 small jumps in a row)," said Lusk. ' ''1 just drove around and jumped the ju m ps and passed him. "I 'rn really happy with Honda and th e bike and everythi ng," sai d Lusk of his ride . " It's all working awesome. I jus t have to keep getting those starts I've bee n ge tting and put in two good motos an d keep that going. I thin k in th at seco nd m ot o there I proved that I' m still pretty strong and tha t I have the speed. I hope I ca n keep it to geth er lik e thi s every rnot o. I really think I can." Fi n is h ing fi ft h be h ind Lu sk wa s Team Suzu ki's Larry Ward . Ga ting th ird in the first m oto and barely in the top 10 in the seco nd, War d turned in a s tro ng showing of 6-5, ru nn ing just outsi de of th e lea d pack o nce he se ttled into his own pace, a pace that w as far from d isappointing. " I ro de 1000-percen t better to day,". sai d W ard , whose first-ever 250 cc a lio nal wi n ca me a t Tro y in 199 1 aboa rd a Suz u ki. "I was rea lly ha ppy to tum it around. My mechanic and Suzuki never gave up on me. The y kept trying to make me happy and this w eekend my bike was perfect. I was com pe titive both motos. Th os e top three or four guys ha ve been going that fast all along and then for me to run w it h them the whole 30 minutes, in th e seco nd moto, es peci ally, feels a lot better . I'm look ing forward to goi ng home to Washougal ne xt weekend . A s ixth a nd a fifth for fifth overall is a lot better than a 12-12 last weekend. 1 had speed today. I was comfortable on m y bike all day and I was comfortabl e on the jumps. It was a tough ra ce, it w as rough, it wa s ho t and I hung in there bot h mo tos." Luckil y, his starts d id not reflect his overall fini sh, otherwise Kawa sa ki's Jeff Emi g w ould hav e placed outside the top 10. Instead , Emig came from behind on bo th acco un ts to sco re a ta llv of 5-6 for sixth overa ll. It' s no su rprise, ho wever , th at Emig ma d e u p t he time eve n tho ugh on this track it was har d to do so . .In the previous two yea rs on th e Kenworthy track, Em ig swep t all fo ur motes.

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