Round 6: Georgia Dom
e
By Henny Ray Abrams
Photos by Kinney Jones
ATLANTA, GA, FEB. 26
hough weakened b y a
recent case 'o f chicken
po x, Jeremy McGrath conserved his energy for the
main event where he had
a typically McGrath
evenmg, easily winning the Coors Light
Challenge in Atlanta 's Georgia Dome
before a crowd of 40,126.
"I was worried before the race," the
22-year-old Team Ho nda/l -BOO-COLLECT rider said after posting his fifth
win in si x tries in the AMA Camel
Sup ercross Series. "I did n't know ho w
strong ] was ."
But if he d idn't, the rest of the field
did. Despite hav ing spent Tuesday night
in bed with a fever, McGra th rolled to a
win in his heat race, the fast er o f th e
two, though Kawa sak i's Mike LaRocco
made a run at the end that came up just
sho rt. "I didn't actually know how close
he was," McGrath said , having beaten
LaRocco by only about a second af ter
backing off.
"Skip (Norfolk, McGrath's mechanic)
gets a little angry wh en I do that. I did
that in Orlando."
Yet what he also did in Orlando was
win the main and he would d o th at
again here . Taking the lead on the fifth
of 20 laps aro un d the hard-packed clay
course inside the Georgia Dome, site of
this year's Super Bowl, McGrath pulled
away to a comfo rtable margin over the
rest of the 2o-rider field.
"I was a littl e tired," McGrath said
following his 15th caree r supercross win
and first in Atlanta. "I was ridi ng hard
until the 12th lap . Then] saw nobody
was gaining on me, so I took it easy . I
was ridin g my own pace . l never try to
coun t myself out. l knew] was a little bit
unde rpowered with my bod y."
McGrath's utter domination would
leave the p ursuing pack fighting oyer
second. Yamaha's Jeff Emig, who'd led
Team Yamaha's Jeff Em lg (6) led the first
four laps of the 2ll-1ap final before giving
way to eventual winne r Jeremy McG rath
(1) and his 1ยท8OO-COLLECT Honda.
the first four laps before being passed by
reigning Supercross champion McGrath,
held onto the spot early on, turning back
cha llenges fir st from Team Honda/lBOO-COLLECT's Do ug Henry, then
Henry's teamma te Jeff Stan ton. But
Stanton was persistent, dogging Emig
un til th e 13th lap when he used an
inside line as Ernig used the berm. The
two made contact on the exit, with Stanton getting the better drive an d takin g
