Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(L eft) Pl ay ing it smart: Wit h hi s fi rst AMA Nat ional ti tle in hi s crosshairs, Albertyn (8) ro de co nse rvativel y at Binghamton. A 3-5 earned him f ourth overall. (A bove) Henry (1) and John Dowd (6) fi ght f or t he f ir st- moto hol es hot. tyn with jus t one more race to go (427406). LaRocco is solid in third wi th 379 p oints, foll ow ed b y Lu sk , 'w it h 315 p oints. Teammat es Henry a nd Button ar e fifth and sixth, resp ectively, tied at 290 points. Dowd is seventh (271), Ward is eighth (263) and Emig d rop s to ninth (262). Reyna rd fills ou t the curre nt top 10 in the series wit h 247 points . 01 01 01 00 Q; ..c E Q) Q. Q) tJ) 12 MOTOONE Lar ry War d led the cha rg e thro ugh Broom e-Tioga 's loam y, l BO -degree first tu rn , followed by Yama ha team ma tes Dow d , Henry and Button , Alb a Yamaha / Pireli i / DSP' s An tho ny Amara d io . and Ferry . Wind ham wa s next in lin e, followed by Team Kawa saki' s Da mon Huffm an, Lusk and Albertyn. Lu s k, w ho s ta r te d in abou t l Othplace, go t pushed out in the second tu rn and dropped from the top 20. The d isapp o int e d Ge o rg ian w o uld s pe n d th e entire mota ba ttlin g with lesser-kn own rid ers to eve ntua lly finish 12th. Ne xt to fall victim to bad lu ck w as H enry , w ho s ta ll ed th e b ig Ya m a ha fo u r-s tro ke in th e ne xt turn a n d re entered the race dead last. "I stalled my bike in the third turn," Henry sai d . "I slid ou t sid ewa ys, somebod y hit me from beh in d and I ended ' up sta lling it. Wh en yo u sta ll it in th e first few turns like that, everyone goe s by you." ' Before the completion of the first lap, th e b lazing-fas t Windham had ta ken o v er t he to p p o siti on, di v in g u n de r Ward in a deep ly rutted and one-lined corn er. Dowd, Alber tyn , Button, LaRocco and Fer ry followed . With Win dham now solidly in the lead , Alberty n an d LaRocco began to charge, each movin g around Dowd and th en Ward a t th e one-t hi rd mark in the m ota . Wh il e Albe rt yn 's pass on Ward looked easy (in vit ing sp eculation as to th e u se of team tactics), La Rocco's was a ny th ing bu t, as he aggressively forced his Honda und er ' Ward's Suzuki at the bo ttom of Bingham to n's hu ge downhi ll to ta ke over third , Runner- up Albertyn was the next rid er in the determined LaRocco's si ghts , Ast he d u elin g rid ers hit th e jump-filled, high-speed "upper" section of the track, LaRocco mad e his move, narrowly taking the position and ho lding on un til the finish. Windh am took th e m ot a w in by mor e than 10 seco nds . The hard -charging LaR occo ra ced in for seco n d , fol lowed closely by Alber tyn in third. "I didn't ha ve su ch a gre at sta rt," Albertyn exp lained . "I was on the ins id e and go t b locked off a litt!;' bit, but I ended up coming out oka y, I'm kind of down: I felt like I wa s rid ing goo d, bu t it w as h a rd to cha rge. We ' ve g o t it a ll fi xed up n o w , so th e seco n d m ot a should go be tter." Reyn ard was sixt h, Do wd was seven th a n d Ward was e ig h t h . Lusk cha rged into nin th, followed by Henry, who recovered from his first -lap mishap for 10th. happy with my race. Kevi n was going fa n tas ticall y a nd s o w as Mike. I ju s t wan t to win this cham pionship, so that's wha t I was thinking abou t." Ferry put in his best rid e of the seaso n, for fourth. Button wa s fifth a fte r suffering an odd mechanical pr oblem, "I felt like I rode all righ t," said Bu tton. "I jus t had a little problem. It's really rocky here this weekend and w e're runnin g ha n d gu ar d s . Th e le ft- side gua rd got coc ked and jammed up my cl ut ch adju st er, so I w asn' t a b le to loos en up th e cl u tch w he n it go t h ot during th e mota , It got hot and tightened up, so I had to rid e a bun ch of laps w it ho u t th e cl utch to le t it coo l back MOTOTWO Henry pu t his boomi ng four-strok e int o the lead as the rider s hit th e firs t tu rn to be gin mot a tw o. Ward p u lled off ano ther grea t s tart for se cond , followed by Wind ham, Bu tto n, Lak occo , Albe r ty n a n d Fer r y . Lusk s u ffe re d ano ther horribl e sta rt, rou nd ing the first lap well ou t of the top 20. Also mired in the back of the field d uring the beginnin g laps were Dowd and Hu ffma n , With Henr y leadi ng the way, the race became a seven-rider freigh t trai n cons is t ing o f Wa rd , Win d h am , Bu tt on , LaRocco, Albertyn and, a li ttl e farthe r back, Ferry. Ward was the first rider to go afte r H e nry , a tte m p t ing to di v e u n d er th e Yamaha rid er on a hill sid e off-ca mber turn ap proac h ing a large downhi ll. Wa rd again tried the sa me move the following lap and looked to have th e p a ss m a d e b e for e H en r y uncor ked th e bi g YZ an d became the firs t rid er of th e d ay to dou ble-ju m p down the huge hill . As the rider s began to p ile u p beh ind h im , Windham continued tosear ch for a w ay arou nd his tw o com petitors. With ju s t a fe w laps com p le te d , Win dham leaped past Ward on the big dow nhill and - on the next lap - attacked Henry at the sa me p oint wher e Wa rd had tried ea rlier, execu tin g a perfect ou tside- inside block pass on the defendin g ch a mpi on to tak e ove r th e lea d . O nce ou t front, Windham began to pu ll away, lea v in g Henry to fall in to the clu tches of Button . Just after the halfway point, Alberty n attem p ted to go tinder LaRocco in the turn immedi ate ly follow- ed to the seco nd 125cc holeshot. Team Suzuk'i"s Larry W~;'d took the holeshot In the first zsoe, moto , foll ow ed by Team Yamaha' s Doug He n ry in 250cc moto two . -, . , ·Brieflv...· . , To narrow the field to 40 riders. in each class. .a series of qualifiers we re Abse nt at Binghamton we re Team Primal Impulse/ Suzuki/Bill' s Pipes' ridrun.on Sunday rnom lnq. rPlanet Honda/ Pro. Grip's Jason McCorm i ck ' ers Mic ha el B r a ndes and Buddy Ant u nez .'According to Team Mantoo k the first 125cc ·.qualifier win , F&S Suzu ki/ Sinisalo/ Gaerne/ Shoei- . ager Billy W hitley , Brandes was still feeling the effect s of his crash at Mil.. back ed Paul Currie won the second 125 cc qualifier .and S tamford 'Iville and Antunez, who injured his thumb before Millville : but rode anyway ' Motorsport s/ Fac tory .Connection/Thor-sponsored Ca'rlo Coen , from .: decided. to skip the las t 'fe\/\( outdoor races and begin prepannq for his · nearby Newburqh.' New York : took the 125cc conso lation-race v ictory. In . quest for an unprecedented fourth Nat ional Ar enacross tit le. . the 250cc class.jt was Team Suzuki"s Robbie Reynard taking the first · qualifier win. Chaparral Ya maha's T i m Fer ry sco red the w in in qualifier Also absent at' Binghamton ";'as T eam ChaparrallYamaha's 'S t ev e Lamtwo _ which was t he fastes t qualifierof the day. Th'e 250cc 'consolatiOnson . " Steve crashed and injured his back at Millville," explained Team 'racevtctory went to KawasakilTwo Whee l/Pro Acti on-backed Canadian Manager Larry Brook s: " It's still hurting him. He took a wee k off and went champion BlairMorgan ." · .." . .to the doct or and was told that he had some stretched ligaments and to rn ' muscle tissue, He tried to ride this past w eek : but he couldn' t, so ' we 're U .S, Tob~ccojTe~m Roost~r continuesto support the top privateers . ' do~n to one rider (Tim Ferry) this wee kend." . . '. in the .outdoor series by awarding $1000 to the highest-p lacing privateer . and $500 to t he second-hiqhes t -placinq privateer in each of t he t w o ' . Whi le Ricky Carmichael stilln eeds one more ove rall victory' to match' nationalclasses. At Binghamton it was Manchester Honda/F actory Con- ' Mark Barnett' s all-time win record of 25,' he did manage to match one of nection-backed localhero Paul Carpenter who took the to p honor s in .. Barnett' s records at Binghamton: By clinching the 1999 125cc outdoor thezso ccctass for his 12-13, t l th-overall finish, followed by Big Valley title, Car michael became only the third rider in AMA history to sco re three Honda/Great Lakes Avtauon-sponsored Heath Voss; who.we nt 17·9 for : consec utive National Motocross 'C hampionships, joining Barnett ·0 980, 12th overall. ln-Hie 125 cc 'class, it was M ontgom eryv ille Cycl e/ RRP'8 1 and '82 - .125cc) and Tony ' DiStefano 0975, '76 .a nd· 77 - 250cc) in backed David Kratz taking the big check for his 12-1 0, lOt h-overall per- . the record book s. . . ' . .formance. followed by F&S Suzuki/ Slnisalo' s Paul Currie , w ho finished Team' Honda's Sebastien Tortelli made an appearance at Binghamton, . 40-1 1 fo r 13th overall. . . greeting fans and signing 'autographs, W hile Tortelli hopes to be able 'to Speaking of the top-privateer awards. U ;S.: Tobacco 'will also p ~ese ~ trace the U.S. GI' at Budds Creek on September 12. his. wrist .(injured at . year-end awards of $5000 to the highest' finishing privateer and $2 500 to Unadilla) still seems 'to be a quest ion . mark- '''M y' wr;st is feeling pretty . , the. secc nd-hiqhest-finlshinq privateer in each class. Wit h .just one round good ," said the reigning 250c(; World Champion. " My-doctor is happy. He to go, Yamaha of Japan/H olley Racing's Takeshi Koikeda and Big Val- . -says that everything is healing well, but the GP will depend on what is going ley Honda/ Great Lakes Aviation's Heath Voss are tied wit h two to p' prion with my wrist at the time-.If I'm 1oo.percerit. I will race, If I'm not. I won't, vateer finishes each in the .250cc class. Team Moto XXX/Th or's Travis I know that my.physical conditioning is fine, because I'm still training. ltjust Preston seems to' have the 125cc award all locked up. with f our top pn- ' depends on the pain in my wii st..1hope I can. do it. That wo uld be great." " vateerfinishes. Preston's nearest compe titors. Team Moi o Planet/ AI · Lane Yamaha's Matt Walker.and F&S Suiuki/ Sinisalo's P a ul Currie, ' One rider who will definitely be ai the Budds Cree k U.S. GP will be Team 'each have two top privateer finis hes _ making fo r a grea t show down Suzuki' s Greg Albertyn. '" really haven't given it much. thought lately. betwee nthe two riders at Stee l City, ' since !'m engaged in this championship batt le," said Albertyn. "Obviously, . I'm going to have to remotivate myself afte r the outdoor season. l'rn pretU .S , Tobacc o 'also co nti nued ' its suppo rt of inju red motorcycii st s ' tyexclted, though, especially to' see all myoid friends , Hopefully, I'll go through the Clayton Memorial Foundation by donating 33 cents for . "out there and 's how everyone that I'm the best outdoo r rider in the wo rld." each o f the 16.08 5 ,paying spec tato rs on hand .at the Br oom e-Tioga ' Albertyn was the '1 992 125cc W orld M X Champion and the 1993 . and Sport s Center. resulting ,in a donation 'of $5308 to the non-profit orqani19.94 - 250c? W odd MX Champion, . . ... . zation. · . . ' Italian Stefy Bau became.the first woman in a long time to try to cjualify' 'T H Q . PI~ystation Champion'ship Motocross ' Featuring Ricky . for S unday' s 125cc National. Bau had to ride Saturday's 'pre-qualifier and . Carmichael Holeshot Awards in the' amount 01 $500 were present- . 'was unsuccess ful. at the task,' but she had fun and said she will try. again ed 't o the riders who too k holeshot s in the fo ur National motos. Benz'; . next year , "The 'problem was that I wore myself out earlier in the day by. Boyz Racing's Damien Plotts t ook the first 125(;C holeshot .' follow ed -'racing tho se WML motes." said the Team Green/FM F/ UFO·backed 22· . by Team PrilT1al l m puls~/Suzuki/Bill' s Pipes' Da;'id .Pingree. who blast- . year-old Bau._ l be more prepared 'and try again.next year." :!'J . . -:.;. :"';""...... .- ' . ' . . . -- - ---_ .--

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