Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 5: Tampa Stadium Steve Lamson (4) leads winner Mike Craig (19) and Jeff Stanto n (5) Into the first comer at th e start of tha 250cc main event at Tampa Stadium. By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones TAMPA,FL,FEB,12 he runaway train that seem ed to be carrying Jeremy McGr ath nonsto p to his secon d straigh t AMA Supercross Series Champ ionship finall y jumped its trac ks in Tampa, Florida, As McGrath failed to recover from a biza rre fifth-lap crash, Team Yamaha's Mike Craig was putting togethe r a complet e main event victory, the first major 250ccclass win of h is professio n a l ra ci n g career. "Man, I am so s to ked right now," shou ted an ecstatic Craig after th e race. "I'm so hap py fo r the w ho le Yam aha team . We've been working so hard for so long - there's nothing better than this. Now we get to fly home and know that all the work we 've bee n doing is paying off. I couldn't ask fo r anything better than this. This is beyond explanation .: I can't believe I won!" Craig led all 20 laps of the main event a n d mov ed in to seco n d in th e ser ies standings b ehind Mc Grath . Te am Kawasaki's Mik e Kiedrowski and Mike LaRocco finished second and third w hile Su zuki's Brian Sw ink score d a se asonhigh, fourth-pla ce finish. McGra th com pleted the top five finishers on his 1-800COLLECT Honda after getting back on track. When asked how it felt to finally stop McGrath after four straight wins, the 24year-old Craig said: "It feels grea t to win, but I really don't feel like I stopped him. Something happened to him - I know that. But my team put the clock on him after he go t going again and they put the clock on me , and he wasn't gaining at all. If he was catching up, I'd have to say this was a lucky win - bu t I led this race from ,lap one on and he didn't gain onme at all. It's good tha t·he didn't win; maybe it broke his confidence a little bit." "I feel go od abo u t being consistent again, b ut I need som e wins," said Kied rowski, who was back on the podium for th e seco nd week in a row. "My Kawasa ki 's running really well and my mechanic (Shane Nall ey) is doing a heck of a job . The wins are going to start coming because I keep running second, second. I fee l like now I just need a good start. Mike (LaRocco ) was pushing me for aw hile, waiting for me to slide ou t or something, but I didn' t m ake any mis takes a n d just s ta rted to pull awa y. Unfortunately, Craig was already gone." "I just really wasn't myself tonigh t," said LaRocco, who was not overly happy with his third-place effo rt. "I've had a cold and I still hav e a little congestion. I tried to give 100% and see w hat happened. I rode a smart race. I'm in it for the points right now , but I need wins, too. I'm on my way and hopefully I will get so me good luck soon. I' ve b een down this year; hopefully, I've turned things around ." M cGrath's m ishap cos t h im a ny chance of keeping h is p er fect se a so n intact. "I ju~t cased a triple and ove rshot the tum," said McGrath of the m ishap that sa w him jump the banked wall and ha y bales of one comer and land on another p art of the track facing the w rong w ay. "I gassed it to get ove r the wall the first time, but when I tried to jump bac k over the bales fro m th e o th er tum I landed rig ht on Brian Swink's back wheel and went over the handlebars. At first I was really pumped because I thought I was going to sa ve it, but th en I hit Brian. Fifth isn' t bad fo r coming tha t far back. You know, I think I did p retty good and I'm happy . H ell, I co u ld 've b een h urt or so me thing, and I didn't really lose any points." McGra th 's m ishap was minor co mpared to the ones that be fell his three Honda tea m m a tes. Doug Henry, Je ff Stanton and Steve La ms on all cr ashed hard in the m ain event and lost val uable series points. Henry finished 12th after falling on the fifth of 20 laps. Stanton collided with Yamaha's Jeff Ernig at the end of a long whoop section and only scored four points for 17th place. Lamson only managed 18th a fter landing on a hay bale off one of the long Tampa Stadium triple jumps. McGrath 's lead at the one-third ma rk of the season is still 26 points over Craig, 116-90, w ho replaced Stanton as th e runner-up in the standings. Kiedrowski and LaRocco moved up to third and fourth wi th 81 an d 78 points, respectively. Sta nton dropped from second to fifth with a 74-point to tal. , With McGrath 's w inning streak now stop p ed at four, Tea m Suzuki's 12Scc supers ta r Ezra tusk remains the only undefeated rider left in the 1994 series. Th e Bainb ri dge, Georgia, resident won his third 12Sec East Region main eve n t in as man y tries, though this on e was certainly the hardest fought. Team Kawasaki's 16-year-old Robbie Reynard, a relative newcomer to supercross raci n g, joined third-year veteran Lusk in a great battle for the victory. The two teena gers s wa pped the lea d numerou s time s before Lusk made the fin al, and most meaningful, pass with less than two laps to go . Lusk's Suzuki team m ate Jim m y Button took the final spot on the podium w ith a third-place finish. The Tampa St adium crowd , announced at 35,016, watched the rid ers compete on an extremely slick, narrow and technical track. The features included two long triple jumps on either sideline a nd a long whoop sectio n right down the midd le of the infield. The tra ck got a nod of approval from most of the competitors. "It's a pretty tech nical track," said McGrath before the main event. "The jump selection is there - real good jumps - it' s just a little too slick." One of the jum p selections that McGrath was making in his heat race later proved to be his downfall . A tabletop s tep -u p on th e infield was followed by three small-butdistant jumps before banking into a 180degree left-hand comer. McGrath and Henry were the only riders clearing the triple in the heat races. "Tha t's a pretty gnarly move," sa id McGrath o f the unique tri ple leap. "Jumping th e whole thing is really not a must because the third one is already getting worn down. It' s ju s t ki nd of different and fun, I guess." 250cc As has been the case for m ost of the seri es, the first 250cc hea t ra ce of the night fe at u red more g ood s ta r ts b y Yamaha riders. Craig a nd NCY's Jeff Ma tiasevich raced into th e firs t turn together ahead of ev eryone, but only Mati asevich was able to ma ke the tu m . "I holeshot but I we n t right in to the hay bales," said Crai g. "M y bike's fast, the best one ou t there, and it shows on the sta rts. The comer was just too slick to slow it down. There 'was no thing I could do because guys were on th e insid e of m e, so I just went into the bales." "Chic ken " led for three la ps w hile Kiedrowski and Henry engaged in a fierce battl e 'for second . Once Henry won that duel, 'he started wo rking his moves on Matiasevich. Finally, on the sixth of eigh t laps , Henry o u t-leaped Matiasevich by tripling his way through an other small whoop section befo re the tr ac k crossed the starting area. Henry won the first transfer spot while Matiasevich he ld off Kied rowski and LaRocco for the runner-up ho nors. "It really feels gre at to go ou t an d win in front of all these people: ' said Henry as track-side announcer Ben Cheatwoo d chatted him up. "My 1-800-COLLECT Honda is running really well right now, which is good because Jeff has been riding really well, himself. But it seems like everyone is trying to ride real conservatively because the track is so sli ck and ha rd to pass on." Henry added 'that th e

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