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/127595
~ REVIEW The 1993 American MXISuper_ro _ _ _ c _ss_se ason _ e By Ch ris Jonnum ore than any thing else, 1993 will be re m e m be r e d as a year of change. It was a year tha t sa w Democra t Bill Clinton move in to the White Ho use , ending a 12-year era of Repu blican leadership . A year that saw the inev itable d own sizing of the miltary after the end of the Cold War, and the passing of a ne w ta x pla n (t hough increased taxes can hardly be called a change) . Th e year also saw the Pope visit Mexico - a na tion mad e up almost entirely of Catholic people - for the first ti me in yea rs, and jus t recently witnessed rival na tions Israel and Palestine signing a his toric peace tre aty. In the sports wo rld, Yankee Jim Abbott hurled the first-ever no-hitter by a one-handed pitcher, and Algeria n runner Nouredd ine Morceli broke the world mile re cord by a w h op p in g 1.92 seconds. Yes, as Bob Dylan once sang, "The times, they are a changin'," and no thing is more representative of that fact than the 1993 professional MX season. What was expected to be a fairly predictable year, with the establisbed stars ba ttling it o u t a mongst th e m se lves, instead tu rned into a ben efit for the young guns. It was "out with the old and in with the new " as each of the champions crow ned in the fou r majo r series was a first-time winner of tha t ti tie, and only one ha d ever ea rne d any AMA National crown before . Bu t i t "wa s n ' t ju s t th e rid er s who chan ged , as the sport itself also underwent sev er al adj us t me n ts. American mo tocross - both p rofessiona l and amateur - is ext re me ly h ealthy a t th e moment, and it is only natu ral for chang e to occu r. Not all of th e alter at ions were necessarily improvements, and perhap s not all will even be perma nent, but it is unarguably an exci ting time for tile spo rt. M 12 Jeremy McGrath (15) st ole th e sh ow in the Camel Supercross Seri es, winning 10 features in the 16-round series. Came l Supercross Se ries Perhap s th e best ex a m p le o f the changing of the guard was rookie sensation Jere my McGra th, who turned the motocr oss world on its ear by d ominating the prestigio us Camel Supercro ss Series . Things act ually go t off to a familia r start, as Kawasaki 's Mike laRocco won the Orland o opener for the second year in a row. But also like last year, laRocco was qui ckly sidelined by a wrist injury, and missed the bulk of the season as he recovered. McGra th took the opp ortunity and the reins, making it look easy as he raised the spo rt's standard of excellence to a new level. With tw o rounds s till left in th e seaso n, th e yo u ng Ca liforn ia n (just 21) became th e firs teve r ro ok ie to ga rner th e Ca me l Superc ross Cha mpions h ip, a nd wit h o ne ro u nd rem a in in g, he won hi s record-b reak ing 10th ma in event of the season. "To be ho n est, I w asn't thinking abou t the record," sa id McGrath in San Jose, after his 10th win broke the record