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Carmichael. Emig top U.S. motocross
Kawasaki is surely happy with the outcome of the AMA National Motocross series this year, having claimed both the 125 and 250cc outdoor championships with rookie-sensation Ricky Carmichael and repeat titlist Jeff Emig.
From the get-go, the 17-year-old Carmichael showed style, winning the first three rounds. He eventually won eight of 13 races, clinching the series with two rounds remaining. Carmichael’s chief competition-Kawasaki teammate Damon Huffman, Honda’s Steve Famson and Yamaha’s Kevin Windham-could only peck at the sometimes wild and always aggressive Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider.
“It came down to whoever was hot on race day,” said the ever-confident Carmichael.
Filling out the top five were Windham, Honda’s Scott Sheak and Frenchmen Mickael Pichón and Stephane Roncanda.
Emig’s number-one plate may have been the bulls-eye for which others aimed, but the reigning 250cc champ was a difficult target. Typically consistent, the factory Kawasaki racer scored seven wins, and clinched the series one race early. “I was set on my program, which was really strong,” he said. “I was just rolling along week to week doing what I know how to do best: ride motorcycles.”
Expected adversaries Jeremy McGrath, Mike LaRocco, Greg Albertyn, Ezra Lusk and Doug Henry were never close enough or consistent enough to do any real damage. Surprisingly, 32-year-old Yamaha rider John Dowd was. The oldest series regular, Dowd was Emig’s primary challenger, taking three wins and eventually finishing second in points. Rounding out the top five were Suzuki of Troy’s McGrath, Honda of Troy’s Larry Ward and Suzuki’s LaRocco. -Jimmy Lewis
McGrath double-jumps to Yamaha
Following a disappointing season with Suzuki, Jeremy McGrath has signed with Chaparral Cycle Supply to ride a factory-backed Yamaha YZ250 in the AMA Supercross and National Motocross Series. “Em pumped to be on the Chaparral Yamaha racing team,” said the four-time SX champ, predictably. “Em ready to win some races, and more importantly, championships.” Randy Lawrence will serve as McGrath’s mechanic, replacing long-time tuner Skip Norfolk.
Suzuki fires Gobert; Lucky Strike to F-1
H aving tested positive for a controlled substance thought to be marijuana, Anthony Gobert has been fired by Team Lucky Strike Suzuki. The random test was carried out at England’s Donington Park during the British GP. At presstime, Gobert’s future plans were unknown.
In related news, Lucky Strike will not sponsor Suzuki’s GP effort next year, but is instead joining former bike-racing rival Rothmans in Formula One auto racing. Lucky Strike sponsored Team Suzuki for eight years, during which time its riders-most notably American Kevin Schwantz-scored one championship and 20 race wins.
Despite the lack of sponsorship, Suzuki has confirmed that it will continue to compete in GPs. “Grand prix racing has always been of vital importance,” said Suzuki’s Mitsuo Itoh. “Next year, we will redouble our efforts to regain the championship that we last won in 1993.”
Six-Days snafu
Considering Stephane Peterhansel has won nearly every major off-road race in the world, one would think he would fear nothing and no one. So why wasn’t the French flyer in Italy heading up his country’s world trophy team at the 72nd International Six Days Enduro?
Some said Peterhansel was recovering from a shoulder injury. Others placed him in Africa testing for Dakar ’98. The most stinging rumor, though, was that the recently crowned World Two-Day Enduro Champion didn’t want to end his season on a losing note. That’s how invincible the Italians appeared to be.
So what hope did Team USA have of improving upon last year’s thirdplace showing? The six U.S. World Trophy Team members were veterans of that event in Finland, but they-and the other 30 American riders in attendance-lacked two key elements: their bikes and supplies.
A shipping snafu had delayed Team USA’s 40-foot equipment container. Rumors suggested this was stuck in customs in Amsterdam, Ffolland; or waiting for a truck to haul it to the customs office in Milan, Italy; or on a train that apparently wasn’t going anywhere because its owners unex-
pectedly went bankrupt. The container dramatically showed up the afternoon before the start of the event, provoking controlled chaos as the Americans rushed to reassemble their bikes and get them to impound.
Several Americans struggled with mechanical problems, including cross-country champ Scott Summers, who houred-out trying to remedy an ignition failure in his Honda XR600. Fortunately, only five riders are scored. But with Steve Hatch, Randy Hawkins and Rodney Smith all having bike problems early in the week (and Ty Davis later in the week), the Americans were lucky to finish fifth. The U.S. Junior World Trophy team, with two newcomers and two returnees, finished eighth.
As expected, the Italians dominated, reclaiming both the World Trophy and Junior World Trophy from the Finns, as well as winning the manufacturer and club titles, and three of four displacement classes. Only Finland’s Kari Tiainen, who recently won his sixth world championship, torpedoed an Italian sweep by scoring top honors in the Over 500cc Four-Stroke class.
Davis, Rodney Smith and ISDE first-timer and club team rider Destry Abbott all posted class-leading test times during the event. In all, eight Americans earned gold medals, which go to those finishing within 10 percent of the class leader’s time.
-Mark Kariya
Team USA loses big at MX des Nations
America’s dominance at the annual Motocross des Nations came to an ugly end in Nismes, Belgium, when Team USA’s Jeff Emig, John Dowd and Steve Lamson finished an alltime-low eighth place. The Americans were beset by bad luck, a poorly prepared racetrack and an inspired Belgian team that was rooted to victory by the more than 30,000 fans in attendance.
“I really don’t know what happened,” said Emig, who went 2-12 in the two-moto format. “As a team, we just didn’t have a good day.”
Rather than hold the event on any one of a dozen top Belgian tracks, the FIM awarded the race to the Nismes circuit, which is laid out in an old rock quarry. The track was hugely overwatered, resulting in a mud race under sunny skies. “The track was really difficult,” said Belgian hero Stefan Everts. “It was very slippery and bumpy, very technical and dangerous.”
Dowd, making his Team USA debut, was running second in the first moto when his Yamaha YZ250 broke. “It was such a great honor to be asked, and I feel like I gave it my all,” he said. “I just had a bunch of bad luck.”
Making his third-straight MX des Nations appearance, Lamson crashed in both motos and eventually finished 15-21. “This is going to hurt for a while,” he said. Davey Coombs
