With Kenwothy's new concrete starting pad, many riders were smoking their rear time before their parade lap to apply some extra traction to the starting surface. Here's a few videos of that. When's the last time you saw a motocross bike doing a smoking the rear tire? 

Doug Henry was very happy with his sweep yesterday. Here's what he had to say afterward about his pass of Lusk for the first spot. 

"Ezra stalled it and I kinda bumped him and thought, 'oh, I gotta get by him, I gotta get by him,' so I just kinda lifted my front wheel and got by him."

Doug said he didn't have problems getting past anyone else, but said it's tough to pass on this track. 

"The only way you get by anybody here is if they make a mistake. It's tough to stay flawless through a whole race, so when you do make a mistake, you just hope you have a little bit of a gap on the guys behind you. I made a few mistakes today, but probably not as many as everybody else."

Doug was resting his ankle Sunday morning. He said it is a lingering injury from the Motocross des Nations last fall and it never really healed. He twisted it last weekend at Unadilla so he took a couple of days off earlier last week and iced it. By Wednesday it was feeling good, but after this weekend's practice it was again tender. "No, it really didn't bother me today. This morning I was icing it for preventative measures."

Did you think you could go 1-1 today? "No, not really."

Take care race fans. -- Matt Ringlien
 

The start of the 250cc second moto.	Greg Albertyn went 2-3 for 2nd overall. And he increased his points lead to 30 over LaRocco.	Albee getting liquids.	John Dowd.
Jeff Emig.	Jeffro went 5-6 for 6th.	This is the start of the Doug Henry photo section.
		This is an example of the gap between Henry and Albertyn about halfway through moto 2.
	Doug Henry's wife Stacey celebrate with Doug's crew.	The finish. Doug's two wins are the first moto wins all year for Yamaha.
The fans here love Doug Henry.			Mike LaRocco finished 3rd and moved him into second in the points.
	Ezra Lusk.
Post-race interviews.	Larry Ward.		The Honda teammates of Lusk and Windham.
Kevin Windham.	Mr. Henry and Mr. Dowd.

I'm going out to brave the elements. I'm going to get some more 250cc action shots and hopefully some quotes after the 250 moto. 

I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to with Roger DeCoster, Suzuki team manager, Greg Albertyn and Kevin Windham. Here's what they had to say.

Roger DeCoster: You've got to be pretty happy about where you are at this time of year. "Yeah we're happy to be in the points lead, especially after a slow start to the season. Steadily Greg kept closing in more and more. The more difficult the circumstances, the better he's been."

Why do you think that is? "Greg realized that before the start of the Supercross season that he was distracted and he realized that this year was a very critical year for him. That if he didn't come through that it'd be difficult for him to secure a good ride for next year. Because of this, he did his homework, trained very hard before the Nationals and that's why we're here right now."

"Greg's always had the speed, but of course his problem has been consistency. Him being in better shape this year has helped his consistency. To be consistent you have to be in good shape."

What about this weekend? Where are you hoping to finish? "It's usually hot and humid here, but this track is different from the other Nationals. It's basically a fast Supercross and I think it will be the most difficult for Greg. If he gets through this with only losing a few points, then I think we have a good chance for the remaining four races. But Greg was the fastest guy on the track yesterday. I'll be happy if he doesn't lose more than five points to Kevin Windham today."

I walked with Greg Albertyn to this morning's qualifiers. What are some of the things you've done to turn things around? "My Suzuki's running probably the best its ever run. But I'm training very hard. My confidence is up now and that's a big part of it. When you crash a lot you forget how to win and lose your motivation.

Doug Henry is in his last full year of motocross racing. He's got one of the strongest fan bases in the pits. It's no wonder, he's so engaging with his fans. Many people were approaching him while he was signing autographs and just chatting with the two-time champ.

This season must have fallen short of your expectations? "No, I definitely didn't meet my goals. I wanted to be in the top five or top three and be there in the end. I've just had some bad luck with small, nagging injuries and I didn't do as much training as I would have like to have done. I'm having a good time and glad that I raced the whole season. The results aren't so good, but the fan support is certainly there."

This being your last season, how would you characterize your career? "I haven't really thought about it too much yet, but I like to think of it as a fun summer vacation. I used to go to school, then came summer vacation, then I'd go racing. After I graduated I went racing and never stopped. Just one long summer vacation."

Doug said he's going to race snowmobiles this winter again, and maybe get serious about it the year after. What would be your dream ending? "To win!"

Kevin Windham is one of the three riders representing our country in Brazil this September. This morning he was taking in fruit and water, essential natural sugars, he said. "The season's being going real good. I was on a roll until last week. Third's not bad, but I lost some valuable championship points. That's what everyone is talking about now. The title is still within everybody's reach and we have to start looking at the war and not just concentrating on each battle. 

Do you think you'll fare better here than Albee? "He's going to be fast along with everyone else. But I'm really happy to see they added a concrete starting pad in front of the starting gate. I love concrete starts, hopefully I can get another holeshot today. My holeshots have been awesome this year, on concrete and dirt. During the week I've been practicing and practicing my starts. Ally (Semar, Kevin's mechanic) and I just burn the bike up during the week practicing starts."

Besides being really happy with your Honda, what other things do you attribute to this year's success? "I've been riding so mucn more this year. At home, I ride two 50-minute motos while today we'll only be riding 35 to 38-minute motos. Whatever it takes I've been trying to do just a little more than that. I used to do more training off the bike than on. This year I've been doing more on than off. The best training for racing has to be riding. I don't think it matters how far you can run after a 30-minute moto but how long you can ride the bike."

How do you deal with the heat? "I try to put it out of my mind. I'm eating a lot of fruit and drinking a lot of water. But it's really not all that unusual for me being from the deep south (Louisiana). 

The first 250 moto just started as well. Interviews from this morning are on the way.
 

Greg Albertyn is now idolized by another young fan.	Albee's Suzuki being powerwashed after morning practice.	Albee getting TV time with ESPN2's Davey Coombs.	Jeff Emig's Kawi.
Jeffro's rolling pad. Nice this is living.		Ernesto Fonseca's Yamaha of Troy YZ.	Doug Henry's No. 1 YZF.
	Mike LaRocco's Honda.	Fans lined up in front of the Mazda tent for autographs from riders like Steve Lamson.	Steve doing autograph duty.
	Ricky cleaning his boots after morning practice. his coach Johnny O'Mara is always nearby with advice and optimism.	Ricky's 125.	Brock Sellards Honda.
The Factory Suzukis get a bath.			Kevin Windham's CR.
	From the first 125 moto.	Casey Lytle and your moto 1 winner Stephane Roncada.	125 moto 1 pre-race grid.
Roncada got the holeshot and never looked back after this moto 1 start.	Ernesto Fonseca finished 14th.		Fast by Ferracci Superbike road racer Larry Pegram takes in the racing action. Larry lives just east of Columbus.
Ricky.	Ricky.		Roncada.

Ricky Carmichael, Mike LaRocco, Kevin Windham and alternate Ezra Lusk. Watch our website for more news on that soon. The edge went to Windham over his teammate Ezra because of Kevin's killer holeshots.

The AMA motocross numbering system has been changed effective next year. This info is being circulated here at the track so here's some breaking news for sure! Here's the deal.

1. At season end 1998, there are only six former champions. McGrath, Emig, Henry, Carmichael, LaRocco, and Lamson.

2. There are only 10 former top-10 riders. Lusk, Pichon, Dowd, Ward, Albertyn, Button, Windham, Hughes, Huffman and Matiasevich.

3. Career Number Priority.

A. For year 2000 implementation, numbers 2 through 9 will be determined by the rider with the most National championships. If two riders earned the same number of championships, then the rider with the most national points that year would have priority.

B. After year 2000, if more than one new champion or top-10 rider is crowned in a season, priority for career numbers would be determined by the rider with the most national points.

Photos and interviews on the way. The racing action is set to start in 15 minutes.

Back soon.

But don't feel too bad for me. Right now I'm set up in the air-conditioned AMA Timing and Scoring trailer typing this. Very nice. 

As many of you may know, Sebastien Tortelli dislocated his left forearm last weekend at Unadilla. Its been pinned but we're not sure when he'll be back. But by missing one round, Sebastien will lose any chance of contending for the title.

It's a close race between 250cc series leader Greg Albertyn (266 points), Kevin Windham (245), Mike LaRocco (240) and Ezra Lusk (232).

As far as 125s go, Ricky's got a stranglehold on the title, which would be his third-straight 125cc crown. He leads Tallon Vohland by 69 points and he's suffering from bruised ribs. He fell down last week at Unadilla and made the serious mistake of standing up in the middle of track, and immediately got center-punched. Ouch. So with Vohland out, Brock Sellards will be Ricky's closest competition, 94 points behind.

Both classes are practicing right now. I'm off to get some quotes and photos. Back later.