Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128006
Round 9: W ashou Motocross Park gal AMAlMAZDA TRUCKS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 250cc MX SERIES MOTOONE "'. I ~ IIii III .. ~ '" Q m m m ~ 24 Henry put his Yam a ha ou t in front earl y in the first moto, picking up where he left off after last weekend's win. The th ree-time champ wa s followed closel y by the Hondas of Lusk and Windham, with Washington native Larry Ward and Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig tra iling. A surprising sixth at that point was the Honda of Akira Narita, an d then chased McGrath. Lusk m ad e a pass on Henry for a mo ment halfway throu gh the first lap, bu t Henry snapped the lead right back away, and the top five would stay identical for the firs t five of 15 laps. It was at tha t poin t that McGrath star ted moving forward . After pa ssin g Narita, he closed in on Emig , who was unab le to capitalize on his good start. "I finally got the good sta rt I' ve been praying to God for, an d I wanted to see what I could do wi th it, but the whole time I cou ld tell that the bike was ru nni n g s lower a nd s lower," said Em ig a fter w al king back to the Washouga l p its before th e ra ce was over. "The motor jus t went. I tell you, this has been a bad season, but they can have the rest of it, as long as it gets ou t of my system for next yea r." Yamaha 's John Dowd sta rted well bu t dropped out of the race with a flat rea r tir e . On th e sa me lap th at Emig dropped out, Lus k wo uld suffe r a massive crash that also lan d ed him out of the po ints. "I was trying to make up some time there on Doug and Kevin, an d I went arou nd one of those fla t sweepers and the rear end got awa y," said Lusk whi le icing down his sho ulder in. the Honda semi. " It caught an d swapped and we nt end over end. I took a nice little tumble ther e." Alber tvn wa s 15th at the end of the first lap, but after five lap s, he was up to .1Oth , then fifth. Els ewher e, McGrath ' s progres s seem ed to li ght a fi re und er h is old teammat e Button, who ha d a tt ac he d himself to the supercross ch am p's rear fend er after moving up from 10th at the end of the first lap. "I'm sure a lot of peopl e are thinking that with Jeremy being arou nd has them read y to go a little faster," Bu tton said of McGrath's presence. "I came off one of the jum ps and looked over and saw MC a little bit ahead of me and I thoug ht, 'J go tta beat him ! I go tta get him , I go tta ge t him !' I kept pushing it and I'm glad he was up ther e, becau se it helped me ge t after th e guys in fr ont of h im as well." .McGra th, however, was beginn ing to fa tigue . Aft e r Button m oved around him, Albertyn mounted a last-lap cha rge that carried him aro u nd McGrath and int o fourth-place. " I go t s lo p py at the e n d ," s a id McGrath a ft erwards. " I rod e a lot o f motos getting ready for this, but yo u jus t can ' t do it at race pace unless you 're here racing. I was starting to get pretty squirr ely, bu t I was having fun . Overall , I was happy wit h the way I rode. I had a good midd le charge, bu t towa rds the end I was a little sloppy." " I h a d a t errib le s ta r t a n d th e n I dropped it in the s eco nd turn," said Al be r tyn of his ri d e . " I had to com e fr om a lon g ways back, but I m a d e points on LaRocco, though I los t a few to Wind ham . I wa s also having so me pret ty serious bike problem s, an d I was wo rried the bike was going to blow up, but it held . I wi ll have to ge t them in the next mot o." Ward , who finis hed sixth, explained , "I had a pr ett y good ride, but I pumped !IP a little bit towards the end and But- ton and McGrath got me. I was able to hold off laRocco, and that helped Greg a little bit. It's tough ou t there, beca use it's su pe r high -speed and reall y, reall y sli p p ery. You have to hav e a rhyth m around those slick comers and be really smooth." Up fro nt, the last three laps wa s an all-ou t sprint between Henry and Wind ham, the Honda rider nev er seeming to give up in the wake of Henry's heavy roost. Wi ndha m actually mad e a pa ss on the big Yamaha, but Hen ry was able to quickly retake the lead from him . From th a t poin t o n, th e tw o s taye d within inches of eac h ot her, but Henry never lost the lead agai n. "I jus t go t a good start and rode the b est th at I co ul d ," said Henry a fte r crossi ng the fin ish line jus t one bike length ahea d of Windham for his thi rd moto win in a row. "Kev in and I had a real good ba ttle and he actually passed me a t one poi nt w hen we go t to so me lapped riders, bu t I got him right back. It was just a good, close race and I ha d a grea t time riding like that with Kevin." "I wo re a roost guard underneath my jersey and a little nose piece on my Scott goggles bu t being behind that 400 w as s till killi ng me," said Windham afte r-. wa rds , his lip still swollen from at.least one flying rock . "I feel like I just we nt a couple of rounds with (Mike) Tyson. It .w a s a good moto and th e bike was working great, so I'm happy. It was just (Above) Button (10) and Ezra Lusk (4) battled n ear ly in the first mota. Lus k ended up crash ing in both motos and left Washo ugal without adding a s ingle point. L (Left) Windham put in a co uple of strong rides, going 2-3 for secon d overa ll. ( one o f th os e tr ack s where I co u ld n' t really get under him, and when I did, he go t me right back." As for what he might do d iffer ently in th e s econd m ota , Windham s a id, "I've got to pass him ea rlier, because that roost is killing me." MOTOTWO Th e four- strokes of Button a n d Henry hit the first corner side by side to start the secon d moto . "I got to the first turn way too soon ," Button sai d. "I d rifted ou t and I think tha t took Dou g a little wa ys out, and I drifted a little ways ou t on the ban k, and Larry Ward and Doug go t around me ." Ward blasted right past bot h Yamaha s on the exit of th e fir st tu rn and pointed the number-seven Suzuki away from the other 39 bikes on the track. McG rath, mea n w h ile, ha d a lou sy star t, bu t it was nowh ere nearly as bad as Lusk' s start. After fini shing 31st in the first moto , Lus k did not even make it to the first turn before getting tossed from his motorcycle, alon g wit h Suzu ki' s Robbie Reynard. Lusk remou n ted dead last and fought to get back in the race, but it wa s to no avail. With his left should er aching, Lusk cou ld on ly climb up to 21st position, leaving him wi th a d is as tro us score of ze ro on th e d a y . Behind the fleei ng Wa rd rode Henry, Button, Chaparral Yama ha's Tim Ferry and a bett er-s tarting Albertyn. The high est-star ting Ho nda was the sixth-p laced Wind ham, who was quick to mak e a pass on Albe rtyn in the hopes of ga thering a few more poi nts. LaRocco had a another bad start back in eig hth , w hile McG r a th was even worse a t 15th . Kawasak i teamm a tes Emig an d Damon Huffman ended up getting ta ng le d t og e th e r halfwa y through the first lap, both losing a hand - ful of po sitions . Huffman wou ld recover for IOth-pl ace po ints, wh ile Em ig came p in one behi nd him, in 11tho Henry seemed to have spent most of his strength in the first mo to . He wa s pa ssed by Button on th e second la p , then wa tched Ferry's YZ250 go by him for third on the fifth la p. As the mota wore on, He nry wa s apparently wearing down, slipp ing back to six th at the finish, well off of Button's wi nning pace. ~ "My p a ce was good , but it wa sn ' t good enoug h," said Henry later. "I was tryi ng to ride my own race, bu t those g uys wou ld n 't le t m e . T hey were pu tting a lot of pressu re on me and they moved by me." !u Ferry rode very well on the Cha parral Yam aha, but he go t caught betwee n t h e ra gi n g b a tt le s for fir s t th r ou gh fourth, and sixth th rough ninth . That left him working alone th ro ughout the mo to. ;