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/1262717
CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE J anuary 23rd is a historic date in the history of Supercross. On that date 20 years ago, Jeremy McGrath won his first of what would eventually be a record shat- tering 72-career AMA Supercross wins. McGrath's victory on that mid-January night in Anaheim in 1993 is an enduring memory for many longtime Supercross fans, but for two people in particular— McGrath and Jeff Stanton—it's a night they'll both remember for a lifetime for very different reasons. For McGrath, a Supercross- class rookie who had dominated Western Region Supercross for two years, the victory that night pro- vided the confidence he needed to let him know he could ride with the elites in the premier class. It was one of those break- through moments that opened the floodgates. The young star would not be denied after that win and he ushered in an entirely new rid- ing style that a generation of riders would emulate. For the supremely confident Stanton, his defeat made him realize, perhaps for the first time, that time stands still for no one. Great champions fade and young guns move up to take their place. For Stanton, a three- time Supercross champ, all that became perfectly clear when his younger teammate made the pass P122 THE BIRTH OF A LEGEND: JEREMY MCGRATH Nac helped launched the freestyle movement. But all that would come later. At Anaheim in 1993, McGrath was just a promising, understated rookie, who, by his own admission, wasn't necessarily expecting to win, much less go on and dominate the championship. Stanton was the number-one plate holder and the man most pundits expected to repeat as champion, yet he had a fairly slow start to the '93 cam- paign, scoring a sub-par fifth at the season opener in Orlando before rallying to get on the podium with a that would in time become one of the most historic and fabled in the history of the sport. The contrast between the two factory Honda teammates couldn't be starker. Stanton, doggedly determined and consistent, but not particularly flashy; McGrath, late to the game, the ultimate Gen Xer, a former BMX racer who brought the low-flying, rhythm-pumping style of that sport to Supercross. "MC" was charismatic, a Supercross hero for the new digital age and the sport's first crossover celebrity. His Nac- January 23, 1993 was indeed a historic day in Supercross history. The headline says it all.