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/128008
end mota I just didn 't h ave t h e strength," said Reynard . "My pace was good all day and my sta rts ar e finally beginning to com e around, so I'm happy with the way the day we nt." Factory Connection lJack-in -th eBox/O'Neal/ Hon da rid er Mike LaRocco was no t pleased with his 4-4 tally for fifth overall. With the season wi nding down, LaRocco knew tha t the sandy Millvill e course was the perfect place for him to make a move on Windham and possibl y gain some ground on Albertyn on the leaderboard. However, the da y d id not go according to plan for Lakocco. "The day went oka y, but it wasn' t as good as I wanted it to be," sa id LaRocco, wh o w ill s oo n represent Te am USA alon g with Windham and 125cc su pe rstar Rick y C armicha el a t th e :99 Motocross des Nations . "I d idn't get great starts tod ay, and the tra ck w as rou gh and not really that hard to pass on, but the pace right now is to the point where it' s hard to get ar ound a lot of riders. I feIt good, pace-wise, but I just struggled to get through the pack. "We' re at the point right now in the champi onship wh ere it d oesn 't look good, so I just want to try to win a race or two to end the series," said Lalcocco. "I'm over 40 points ou t, so unl ess something bad happens to som eon e els e, it doesn't look good . I'm just going to try to ride best and try to win som e races." In years past, both Yamaha 's John Dowd and Team Kawasaki's Jeff Emig battled together for the Millville wins. Neither rid er had the to tal pa ckage to vie for a wi n this time around . Dowd u sed a 7-5 sc ore to take si xth o ve ra ll honors, while Emig ran 6-9, for seventh. "I cra s hed in practice this morning and hurt my left ankle prett y bad - both of my legs, actually '- when I hit a tree," said Dowd of his performance. "I was p retty wo rrie d and pretty sore after that. The first few laps of the race were really rou gh , because I couldn' t figure out w here to posit ion my feet on the pegs, beca use they hu rt pretty bad . But once I got going I got the bloo d flowing and the adre naline pumping and felt better ." "There were some pre tty p osi ti ve th in gs to wo rk off," said Emi g of his afternoon. "My finishes are below what I wan t, bu t we' re act ually getting so me new things worked out on the bike. But my starts have just been terrible still, and that's the number one thing that's holding me back." Suzu ki's Larry Wa rd p laced eighth overall, followed by American Honda pilot Ezra Lusk and d efe nd in g AMA 250cc National Cha m pio n Doug Henry, w ho w as on a fast pace in the second moto un til he rein jured his ankle. . "I was d ragging my foot arou nd a (Above) Try ing to prove that his win at Washougal the previous week was no fl uke, Button turned in ano ther strong performance . for second overall. (Right) Kevin Windham had an up-and-down day , fading to eighth in the first moto and smoking everyone in the second• . (Below) A sore shoulder hindered Reynard, but he still pulled down a fourth-place ride. corn er and hit something like a rock or a stump with my ankle," said Henry. "It hu rt real bad for two or th ree laps , and I slowed down to che ck it out. It felt all right after the race, but during the race it was pretty pai nfu l." " I fell ove r in bo th rnotos ," s a id Ward, the eighth place fini sher . "I had som e okay starts, but I ju st cou ld n' t keep it on two wheels." In the poin ts standings , Albertyn 's tota l .d ig its now reg ister at 391 for 10 races and 20 total motos. Windham is 35 points back, at 356, ho lding off LaRocco by 14 points. Lusk , once in the early title hunt along with injured Honda team mate Sebastien Tortelli, is fourth with 293 points - still tw o points away from mat he ma tical eli mination, bu t rea listically ou t of the picture. Emig is fifth in points wit h 261, jus t one point ahead of Henry and nine ahead of the rising Button, who moved from ninth to seventh with his 4O-point Millvi lle haul. Roundin g ou t th e top 10 are Dowd (246), the sidelined Tortelli (245) and Ward (237). T he dy namic Sp ring C reek Motocross Park d esigned by former woods racin g star [ohn Ma rtin, plus his club and crew, was in exceptional form on Su nd ay. The river bed cou rse, with several steep clim bs towering above its notorious wh oops sections, kep t the ride rs and mechanics gu e ss in g all. day long: Does on e set the bike u p for th e rough and choppy hill sect ions or the 39 energy-sapping whoops that line the bottom of the co u rse ? Most riders seemed to opt for the hills and take their licks in the whoo ps . The wea th er was warm and sunny for th e mos t p art , thoug h s o me late afternoon showers made for poo r vision and throttle-control riding in the closing s tages of the second 250cc mota. Lap times early in the day clocked in around 2:35 for the leaders. Wh en th e fir st 25 0c c m oto rolled · d own the long, lo am y Spring Cre ek st arting ch u te, it was th e Kawasaki of Dam on Huffman at the front, follow ed , by the bi g Yamah a s of Butt on and He nry, the Suzu ki of Reynard, and the Yamaha of Dowd . Huffman wo uld not stay at the front for long, as a first-l ap mistake dropped him eigh t spots before th e end of th e lap . Back in 15th pl ace after a ter rible start was Honda's Lusk, who would later be among several rid ers who claimed th at th e starting gate seemed to stu tter on its way d own. "We had a d oubl e- st a ge droppin g ga te out there," said a fru strated Lusk later . "It started to drop once, then wait ed to drop again. I was almos t int o the ga te and had to back u p." Button complet ed th e first lap out fro n t, followed b y Re yn ard , H enry , Albertyn and Ward . Fe rry wa s n ext , while laRocco rod e 10th. On the seco n d lap, Reyn ard ' s mech anic, Tony Ber luti , wrote, "Like Yesterday: Wh oop s," on his pit board, signaling to his rid er that it was time to make a m ove on Button in th e Spring C reek who op s sec tio n in w h ich h e always flourish es. H owever, Reynard seemed to hav e a hard tim e pulling the trig ger on Button, who was riding at a furi ou s pac e on the nurnber-10 Yamaha. "I had a good start and I was pretty confident going in to that mot o," said Button of hi s fast sta rt and firm early grip on the lead. "Thi s Yamaha go es grea t on th is track and I was feeling really good." Alberty n di splaced Henry for thi rd on the thir d of 14 laps, moving around the number-on e Yamaha at the bottom of the steep infield d ownhill. Albertyn kept going, pa ssing his teammate Reynard and then sp en d ing jus t on e lap behind Button befor e making a pass for the lead in the whoops section. "Th ree la ps in a row, I mad e some mistakes in the whoops and almost took Gr eg ou t with me, " said Button of the pass. ':::J " en "Jim m y was pretty m uch out of con- :::J tr o l t hro ug h t h e w hoo ps th e lap I < passed and he did a good job to save it, 7 -