Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eSUPERCROSS AMA Camel Supercross Series: Round 10 ~ Jeremy McGrath collected his sixth win of the series, a record number for a rookie rider. Doug Henry (16) held off Ezra Lusk (43) early in the 125cc main. Lusk fell soon after. Charlotte win McGrath's sixth By Henny Ray Abrams CHARLOTIE, NC, APR. 3 na season that he has thoroughly dominated, the only question Honda's Jeremy McGrath had left to answer was whether he could win a supercross without pulling the I 4 holeshot. After the Coors Light Challenge at the Charlotte Supercross, the question will no longer be asked. After rounding the first turn in sixth place, the 21-year-old Californian slow- Iy worked his way' forward, taking the lead on the sixth of 20 laps when Kawasaki's Michael Craig crashed in a section of whoops. From there on it was smooth sailing, McGrath notching his sixth win of the Camel Supercross Series before a sellout crowd of 24,612 at Memorial Stadium. "That's the race I've been looking for for a long time," McGra th said after his runaway victory on a chilly night in Charlotte. "I've won from the front; now I've won from behind. It's the next stepping stone for me." Yamaha's Jeff Emig finished second, a career best in supercross, passing Honda's defending champion Jeff Stanton with less than three laps to go. Stanton held on for third with Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski fourth. Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, who hails from nearby Mooresville, North Carolina, and was clearly the crowd favorite, never recovered from a mediocre start and finished fifth. After 10 of 16 races, McGrath extends his points lead with 224 to Kiedrowski's 200. Bradshaw is third with 191, one better than Stanton. McGrath also set a new rookie record for supercross wins in a season, this one worth $5000 from the $35,000 250cc purse. He also pocketed the $1000 Coors Silver Bullet award foi winning both the fast heat and the main event. Emig's cut of the purse was $3500, with Stanton earning $2000. In the 125cc class, Honda's Doug Henry continued his dominance, winning his fourth Eastern Regional final of the year with ease. Henry was one of the few USee riders to master a triple jump on the east side of the stadium, and used it to quickly pull away. By the halfway point in the IS-lap race, the Connecticut rider had a IS-second lead and he cruised to the checkered flag. "I wish I could do the triple every lap because when I did the fans went crazy," Henry said, his face beaming in the winner's circle. "These fans are really great. They're the ones that put a smile on my face." Second, at some distance, went to RRP Yamaha's Tim Ferry. The Floridian had been involved in a racelong duel with DGY Racing's Chad Pedersen, who he passed with three laps to go. Kawasaki Team Green's Davey Yezek was fourth ahead of his teammate Josh Steel. After the seventh of 10 Eastern Regional rounds, Henry has 164 points and a 4O-point lead over Suzuki rider Ezra Lusk's 124-point total. Pederson is third with 105. Henry's cut of the $10,000 125cc purse was $2000, with Ferry pocketing $1000 and Pedersen $750. There was some concern that the North Carolina University basketball team's appearance in the NCAA Final Four would hurt ticket sales, but the crowd streamed in throughout the evening, selling out Memorial Stadium for the second year in a row. A second worry was the weather. Heavy rains in the area earlier in the week threatened to undermine the event, but the race was run under a cloudless sky, though water from earlier rains seeped up and made the track slippery as the night progressed. Among those attending were former Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs who flew up from Bristol, Tennessee, where his Interstate Batteries NASCAR team was competing. Also on hand for the SuperSports-promoted event was Alonzo Mourning, the NBA Charlotte Hornets' starting center. 250 Heats The start chute for the track funneled into a 9O-degree left, followed by a short uphilll drop-off and another hard left. Getting a good start in supercross is always important; here it was imperative. No one knew that more than local hero Bradshaw. At the drop of the gate Bradshaw jetted from his inside starting position to take the lead on the inside of the first tum. Once out front, there was no stopping rum. By the fourth of eight laps he'd built up over a six-second lead that he would stretch as he kept the heat on to the end, hoping to cash in on the Coors Light Silver Bullet Showdown money. "I got off to a good start, which I've been trying to do all year," said Bradshaw after being cheered home. "It's my second holeshot of the year. With the Coors Ught qualifying thing I tried to get the fastest time." Honda's Steve Lamson was second at the end of the first lap and was never seriously challenged to the end. But behind him the crowd was focused on the charge that Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski was putting on. After muffing the start, Kiedrowski came through the first turn in about 14th place, improving to eighth by the end of the first lap. He began a methodical charge to the front, up to sixth by the end of the third lap. Just after the halfway flags he was up to fifth, pressing Noleen Racing's Shaun Kalos, who he would soon pass. Next up was Suzuki's Guy Cooper in third, and Kiedrowski had the measure of him on the final lap, only to bail off through a whoop section before re-mounting to finish fifth. "The last .half a lap I tried to pass Cooper over the double jumps," Kiedrowski said. "I overjumped the first one and then I gassed it in the air. When the front came up I hit the rear brake and it clipped the next jump and I went off." All was not lost, however. The extra track time Kiedrowski would have to ride in the semi would allow him an extra chance to learn the jumps. The final order would be Bradshaw, Lamson, Cooper, Kalos and Kiedrowski. Though he wasn't first into tum one, Honda's McGrath led the pack by the time the second heat crossed the startfinish jump. From there it was happy sailing, a feat made easier when team-. mate Jeff Stanton got pinched on the inside of the first turn and lost a few places. Halfway through, McGrath had close to nine seconds on Stanton, a margin he would nearly double at the end, taking the faster of the two heats by nearly 11 seconds. If there was any doubt about who the fastest rider on the track was, McGrath put it to rest. "I didn't get the holeshot, but I just sat it out for about two and a half corners," McGrath said. "My starts have been really consistent. I talked with my mechanic about it the other day and we couldn't really explain it. He said whatever you're doing, you're doing it right." Stanton was never challenged in second, and Yamaha's Jeff Emig moved up to third on the fourth of eight laps when Suzuki's Larry Ward fell, allowing several riders past. The ba ttIe for fourth, and the final direct transfer to the main, was the race to watch, with Suzuki's Denny Stephenson and Kawasaki's Michael Craig going at it from the fourth lap on. On the fifth lap Stephenson ran up the inside of Craig in a corner with a big berm, pushing them both up near the hay bales, but Craig managed to stave off the pass attempt. On the next lap Stephenson was high on the berm and

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