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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127654
(Left) Despite crashing 250cc hea t race win marked the first of his career. "Now I want to back that up with a podium finish tonight. I'm hoping to win one by the end of the year; ma ybe it will happen tonight." Only the firs t fou r finish ers tr ansferred directly to the 2D-lap main event, so neither Craig nor the poor-starting Stanton made the earl y grade. The two would have to compet e in th e semi along w ith Kawasaki p rivateer Buddy Antunez a nd Honda of Tr oy's To d d DeHoop. ' The second heat race saw McGrath lead start-to-finish, though Swink might have had the holeshot had he, too, no t gone into the outer hay bales. Emig ana Tea m H o t Wheel s /Spii tF ire 's Rya n Hughes pursued McGrath in the early stages , but neither would be a ble to place any rea l pressure on the leader. McGrath ended up winning with a time of seven minutes, 18.51 seconds, about two seconds slower than Henry's time. Swink eventually passed Emig for second while Lamson came from midpack to snatch the final transfer sp ot from Noleen/Sizzler Yamaha r ider Larry Ward. "I'm just trying to get a good start, ride my own race and entertain the crowd," McGrath said. "I'm just getting over the flu. I didn't get to ride that much during the week, but it looks like I'm doing all right. I'll tell ya, I want to win every race." The Tampa fans were treated to McGrath's rtew "nac-nac " move on the last lap . Craig won the fi r s t semi with Antunez, Stanton, Del-loop, and Yamaha privateer Jeromy Buehl all joining him in the main event. The second semi was won by Team KTM's Cliff Palmer, who admitted that he thoroughly enjoyed his time out front, even if it was while leadingasemi "I sure am excited about this," Palmer said . "It felt real good to be in the lead. It's definitely different from being a little further back, which is where I usuall y am. My KTM is working real good. It's fast, it's really strong. and I think it's a good bike. I just need to go out there and prove it to everybody." Hughes, Rich Taylor, and up-andcomin g Florida riders Travis Blackburn and Kenny Yoho all followed Palmer into the main event. A surprising non-qualifier was Larry Ward, who landed on a downed rider and went over the handlebars in the second heat race. Ward was an ob vious favorite in the Last Chance Qualifier, but it was Dag Boyesen w ho grabbed the ho les hot aboard his Penske /Boyesen Yamaha. Within a lap, Boyesen surrendered the lead to Ward, but both Yamaha riders ended up making the main. Moments after th e gate dropped to start the 2O-lap main event, it was clear that at least one streak would no t be broken: Craig and Matiasevich ensured the Yamaha brand of its fifth straight 250cc main event holeshot as they raced in tandem to. tum one. Matiasevich led for a couple of turns before Craig wrestled the lead from him. Behind them came lamson, Kiedrowski, laRocco, McGrath and Sw ink. Craig also led th e San Dieg o rou n d l a s t weekend f or m ore than half the rac e befor e McGrath a nd Kiedrowski got aro un d him. "That was a different race," Craig said. "I had Jeremy (McGrath) on my bu tt the whole time and I couldn't break loose. I jus t held it as long as I could, but I kep t giving him the insid e line, which was stupid .on my part. Then I gave up and just wo rried about getting th ird . So th is weekend I thought 'Screw it! I'm going to get first no matter w hat.'" Lamson eventually faded from the le ad picture and Craig, Ma tiasevich, Kiedrowski and McGrath started to pull aw ay from the rest of the field after three laps. Stanton , 10th at this point, was the first Tea m Honda rider to hit the ground . "Emig just can't go in a straight line he's just got to take peo ple out," said a fru strated Stanton after the crash. "He came right-to-left th ou gh the w hoops and just cleaned me out. I went over the hay bales. He did the same thing in the first tum at San Diego - took me right out. These guys can't ridetheir own race anymore. They've jus t got to tak e you out all the time. The y just th ink abo u t the instant rather th an th inking about down the road. Racing is going to po t because all the assholes wan t to be oneday heroes instead o f thinki ng long term. It makes it worse for everybody." Once he re-entered the race, Stan ton was two laps down and could only manage to work his way to a 17th-place finis~ . At the front of the pack, Matiasevich was working hard to retake the lead from Craig . "The first three laps, Chi cken was righ t behind me try ing to ge t a whe el in," Craig said . "Once I got a bike length or two on him, I could start picking my lines and going faster. I looked back a little while later and I started thinking, 'Man, I'm pul ling away from these guys. Just keep doing wh at you're doi ng an d don't make any mistakes: " "I think I just tried too hard and heated my self up," said Ma tiasevich after fading off the pace to fi nish a s tillrespectable sixth, "The bottom line is the heat down here affected me." On the fifth lap, the race took a d ramatic tum when McGrath crashed over a berm, opening the d oor to victory for Craig, Matiasevich an d the others. "Hey, I was just goi ng for it and I missed," said McGrath, not seeming too concerned with the end of his win streak. " I kne w tha t section was tricky going in and I just touched my wheels on the last one. It's really not that big a deal tome:' Henry was the ne xt Ho nda rid er to go down, fall ing less th an a lap af te r McGrath. Two lap s la te r, .La m so n became the fourth and final Honda ride r to crash when he cased it on the tripl e. "I just cau gh t Henry 's wr eck out of the comer of my eye an d then I was pretty close to Lamson when he went d own," sai d Sw in k, a witness .to both hard In the main event and finishing 17th, Jeff Stanton gives Craig a congratulatory high-five following the Yamaha rider's first-ever supercross wln.(Below) Mike KIedrowski (3) has obviously rebounded from a slow start on the series by recording his second runner-up finish in a row. Here he battles slxth,place finisher Jeff Matlasevlch. (Bottom)Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk (17)and Kawasaki's Rabble Reynard (33) had an epic battle In the 125cc feature. The two racers traded places for the lead many times during the 15-1ap race. Lusk came out on top.