_
B mnEW~D~~~_m_ro_~Scr_~_:R_oo_nd_l
_
~
Mike LaRocco (7) scored his second-career Camel Supercross win at the '92 series opener in Orlando. Hen; he's chased by Jeff Matiasevich (9) and Mike Kiedro wski (3).
LaRocco (7) was pressured hard by Jeff Stanton (2), who crashed on the last lap .
LaR
occooutlasts
Stanton at Orlando
By Kit P al me r
P ho tos by Da vey Coombs and Mike Snyder
ORLANDO, FL, JAN,ยท1 1
awasaki's Mike LaRocco didn' t
have a chance.
At least that 's. the way it
appea red as two- time Camel Supercross Champio n J eff Stanton slow ly
reeled in La Rocco, who was leading
late in the 20-lap Coo rs Light Cha llenge 250cc main even t at the open ing
round of the '92 series in Orla ndo's
Citrus Bow l.
Bu t wh en IS-ti me su percross win ner
St an ton , 22, go t cl ose enough to
po un ce, the less-experienced 20-yearold La Rocco fou gh t back and slammed
the door in hi s face. The heat ed battle
came dow n to th e la st la p wh en
Sta nton's last sho t ill the Kawasaki
factory rider failed wh en he cras hed.
A few turns lat er, in fro nt of an
O rla ndo reco rd crowd o f 37,9 18,
La Rocco sailed over the fin ish line
j um p for h is second career supercros s
victory .
LaRocco, who wo n h is first su perd oss feature last year at Las Vegas , was
thrill ed that he won this year's series
opener, but played do wn his victory.
"This is just one race, there's 15
more that I have to worry abou t,"
La Rocco said. " But winnin g the first
K
6
ro u nd reall y helps. I usually start the
seaso n off slowly. This year it's my
goa I to get a better start on the seaso n
and take it o ne race at a tim e.
"Sure, thi s puts a litt le mor e pressure
o n me," add ed La Rocco, " but this kind
of pressure is better than any ot her."
For win ning the 250cc main event,
La Rocco pocketed $5000 from the
$30,000 p urse.
.
Making it a 1-2 Kawasaki sweep was
1985 and '87 Supercross Champion Jeff
Ward. Ward, wh o at the age of 30 is
the oldest rider on the track and p lans
to retire . after the' 1992 MX seaso n,
crossed the fin ish lin e in second place
after havin g passed th e fallen Stanton
on the last lap.
"Tha t's raci n g ," sa id Ward o r
Sta nton's cras h. " Bu t even if I had
fini sh ed th ird I wo uld 've been happy.
Compa red to last year when I finis hed
ninth here and got inj ured .at the next
race , this is a much better start (to th e
seaso n). Last year I was out of it (ti tle
contention ) before the series rea lly go t
started."
Sta nton, who won four supercross
events last year, including Orl ando,
was th i rd across th e fi n is h lin e,
