Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Motocross Round 11: Broome-Tioga Sports Cen ter AMAlMAZDA TRUCK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP250cc MX SERIES S By Jerry Athey Photos by Karl Ockert BI 'GHAMTON. NY. AUG. 29 n y racer will tell you , it's not ! over until it' s over . And that's ju st th e messa ge that Team Honda ' s Ke vin Windham d elivered to title rival and current series points leader Greg Albertyn - and some 16,OOO-plus cheering fan s - at the seco n d- to -Ias t round o f AMA /Ma z d a Trucks at ion aI Champion ship 250cc MX Series, held at the beau tiful Broom eTioga Sports Cen ter in New York. Windham, who trail ed Albe rty n by 35 points goi ng in to th e Binghamton round, flew his Alley Sema r-tu ned factory Honda CR250 to the command ing 1-1 vi ct ory o n th e rough a n d rutt ed course and, in d oing so, closed to within just 21 points - less than one mota - of the South African wit h one race remaining in the series. " Irn really h a p p y with my rid e today," said the 21-year-old from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "I got two decent starts - both insid e the top 10. I put my head down, mad e some early pa sse s and got out in front earl y. It was really a good race up until we hit lappers, I need to get through them a little. ~~.t.ter. than I did . j' sp ec iaIJ y in .th e second " mota ' w en Button caught up to me. !11 m m ;. :;; .D ~ Q. c'X 10 But , it wa s still a really good day for me. "My stra tegy right now is to go back and w ork just as hard this week a s I have ever y week - and com e back and win both mot os next week," Windham ad d ed . "Unfortu nately, wh en the press u re was rea lly o n me, I kind of let myself down. Especiall y at the last race at Millville, wh er e I had a terrible first mot a . N ow , it's ou t of m y hands. I'm going to go out and rid e the bes t I can . Tha t's all I can do. " Finis hing in the runner-up posi tio n for the second week in a row was Team Yama ha's Jimmy Button. Spar ked by his recen t br ea kthro u gh results - a wi n at Wash ou gal and a second at Mi llville a n d d espite a fir st-m ojo mech an ical problem that dropped him to fifth at the fi nis h , th e 26- y ear-o ld fro m Ca nyon Lake, California, looked fast and agg ress ive. Button hammered on teammate Doug Henry for almost the en tire seco nd mota before ta king ov er se co nd place with just a few laps to go. "I feel p retty good," said Button . "I just wish I wouldn't hav e had the problem with the clutch in the first mot a . I th ink I could've been up there:..! the. seco nd mota, I had a 'really good race with Doug. I was ma ybe a little too nice to him . Doug's a good rider and he was ha nging it out when he needed to and.it to ok me a while to get around him . I wish I could 've go tt en around him maybe three laps earlier. I think I could have made a pretty good run on Kevin, but he rode two great races and deserved to wi n. I'm happy to ge t second overall. I'm out there trying as hard as I can every wee k and it's been paying off." Fillin g ou t the podium at Binghamton was Team Factory Connection /Jack in th e Bo x /H ond a ' s Mik e LaR o cco . Aft er s ta r ting th e firs t mot a in six th, La Rocco we n t to wo r k, chargi ng through the talent-rich field on the heels of Albe rtyn be fore finally passin g the Tea m Suzu ki star for the runner-up spot just before th e h a lfwa y p oint in th e mo ta. In moto tw o, Lakocco blasted to a top-five st art and, after another mot olong skirmish with Albertyn, even tua lly finished sixth. "I felt like I tried hard ," said lhe 28y ea r-o ld fr om South Bend, Indian a . "The fir st mota wen t pretty good for me, I was able to com e back and move forw ard. In the second mota, I got kind of mixed up and spun out in the middle of the race tryin g to pass Albertyn - we kind of bumped into each other and I en ded up turning the wrong way an the track. I ended up gett ing passed , but overall, th ings went pretty decent for me today. Team Honda 's Kev in Windham (14) kept the title chase interesting with back-toback moto wins at Binghamton. With one round to go , Windham closed the gap on ser ies leader Greg Albertyn. This one cou ld go down to the last moto of the season . " It seemed lik e we hook ed up both motes ," said laRocco of his da yIong battle with Albertyn . "In th e first in a to I had to go around him and in the second mota , we must ha ve passed each other three or four times. He ended up beating me in that mota, but it was a tight race." Finis hi ng fourth overa ll on the day was the series po ints lead er Albertyn. In th e firs t m ot a , AIber ty n s ta r te d ju st ins ide the top 10 befor e attachin g himself to LaRocco for the duration of the race, even tually finishi ng th ird . In the second go-arou nd, Albertyn became the earl y cabo ose on a six-rider freight train made up of Henry, Team Suzuki 's Larry Ward , Windham, Button, LaRocco and himself. The aggressive 26-year-old finished out the mota in fifth after intense battles with Su zuki teammate Robbie ' Reynard and laRocco. "I'm not too unhappy," said Albertyn.ยท " In . the firs t mo to , LaRocc o ne arly cleaned me out a few times and I ended ) up letting him by . That was probdblY '~ l