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/127264
; SUPERCROSS 11th Annual Torouto Supercross I Larry Ward (71) overs ho t the first turn in the second heat. but came back to win. The American Suzuki rider easil y wo n the main event in Toronto's Skydorne. Wa rd (center). runner-up J erem y McGrath (left ) and thi rd-place Carl Vaillanco urt celebra te in the winner's circle. Vaillancourt was the top Ca na dian rider. Larry Ward soars • In the Skydome ,I iii I J By Nate R auba Photos by Bill P etro and R a u ba "T 22 TORONTO, CANADA, ~IAY 25 hat was like practi ce. o nly I go t a trophy and mon ey," said Team Suzuki's La rry Ward after he easily wo n the 11 th An n ua l Molson Export T oronto Su percross held inside the Skydo me. Ward received 5000 of the $10.000 purse. Ward took the lead from Canadia n Car l Vailla ncourt on lap three of the IS-lap main an d cruised to victory , often turning to look and wa ve at the 40.221 spectators who wa tched. A few laps later Ka wasa ki T eam G reen' s J er em y McG rath also passed Hon da-mo unted Vailla nco urt to take the ru n ner-up spot. Vailla nco urt finished third. well ah ead of fellow Ca nad ian Ross Pederson a nd O hio's J ames Eickel. " If it wasn 't for the Amer icans I'd be the winner ," said Vaillan court. Altho ug h the motorcycle mai n was the fea tured even t o f the Toronto Su pe rcross , wit h out the big -n a m e American riders, off-road truc ks a nd bu ggies, mo nster tru cks and AT Vs were part of the. show to help attract spectators. Ward said tha t he was racing to help out Suzuki Canada, a nd to ha ve _ fun. T he T oronto course was relatively ta me co mpa red to Ameri ca n su percro ss tra cks. with no do uble o r triple jumps. Jumps kept riders clo se to the ground; Ward said he fo un d th e wh oo p sections to be cha lle nging. There were also several fla t stra ig h ts wit h no obstacles. The race fo rmat was si m ila r to American supercross even ts with four heats transferri ng the top three riders to the main, three sem is taking the top four finishers a nd a last chance q uali fier in whi ch o nly the winner would round out the 25-rider field. French rider Ludovic Luquin ran away with the first five-la p heat. Eickel stayed close unti l he faded to a distant second, while Chris Knox go t up first after tangling with Ch ris Po meroy on the last lap to claim third. Ward overshot the first tur n in he ;ll two and had to come from behind 0 win . Mike J on es a nd McGrath ballltd for the lead th rou gh out the race un iil Ward came th ro ugh on the last lap .0 snatch the win. J on es fin ished second ahead of McG rath. Co n necticut 's Do ug Henry took e lead ' when J on Nelson fell o n the fiist lap of hea t three and easily took ae win over America ns Keith Bowen ai d J im Holley. T he fourth hea l belon ged to ue Can ad ia ns as Vailla nco urt led Pederson from start to fini sh. New York er Ariiy Stacey bro ke a way from a battl e with Mar k Rena ud to claim third. • Darr en Sha ruga, T od d T ownend and Tom Carso n led every lap of each of the thr ee semis , wh ile Remi Charest