Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

NE-W- VID EO RELEASES Now Available Through Cycle News Video Theater the 1988 U.S. GP and a slew of AMA 250 races and championships after that. Di d th e cycle st art over again when you rode that dirt track race late this past season? What did it feel like to get on a big dirt tracker again? That was just something Edd ie Adkins put together for me as a friendship deal. We had talked about it in the past and I jus t decided one day that I would do it. I jus t wanted to give it a try and go into it without any pressure, nothing serious. Even after practice if it didn't feel right I coul d back ou t and not feel bad for disappointing anyone. So I decided to go ah ead the Monday before the rac e. I called Eddie and everything worked out where I w as ab le to rid e the bike . I thought we were pretty competitive if you take into consideration how short of time we had to set the bike up in two practice sessions. It was a lot of fun . I enjoyed it because it was a no pressure deal and it's competitive racing week in and week out. To jump back in was · pretty difficult, but I just wan ted to ride, basically. I satisfied myself. After my car accident I did n't think I wo uld ever be ab le to go through a mile corner like that again. It was n't a problem. Everyone was pretty happy to see me back racing a dirt tracker. (Scott) Parker a n d Sp ri n ger (Jay Springsteen) and those guys, maybe they were even a little surprised. I got to race with (Larry) Pegram in the heat race and Will Davis and Ronnie Jones so it was pretty neat. How is it that after alI you have accomp lished you are perceived by man y as no t being capable of riding a su perbike? Any insi ght? I' ll give you an example. When I was chosen to ride Laguna Seca (the U.S. GP) for Erv (Kanemoto) tha t year, the man he was talking to was Jerry Griffith. Erv told Jerry tha t I was a superbike rider and probably wouldn't do well because I had been riding superbikes since 1985 .and a 250 since 1983. Jerry said, 'No, I think he can do the job: So Erv we n t ahead and hired me for that race and since then I have been concentrati ng on the 250. I've had some good dea ls and been enjoying it and it's been good to me. But now eve ryone believes that I can only ride a 250. ' Ironi c isn't it? . It rea lly is. I'd like to try some new · things. I think I have a really good background of experience and bikes to draw from, to set up, develop and race bikes. But I kind of like it when people say I can't do something. that I'm not cap able of doing something. Because historically that usually means that I'm going to be pretty successful at exactly that if given a shot. (La ughs ) HD and when did you meet Wayn e w Rainey? A" mutual friend, John Silverbar, who once had a fiberglass shop in Northern California, introduced us in 1978 at the San Jose Mile. Shell Thuett, too, whom Wayne was riding for at the time, introduced us and we have remained good friends ever since. We didn 't do a great deal of racing together because Wayne was a Junior at that time. I guess I had wa tch ed him for a while before th a t, when he wa s an amateur racer, racing all over California . I've known Wayne a lo ng tim e and he 's a good friend of mine. l owe him a lot. Wha t lies in store ior Jimmy Filice in · 1995? Well. it's still too earl y to say. I'd like nothing better than to get the opportunity to show 'p eo p le that I can rid e a superbike. Maybe that would mean racing in the 60Dec Supersport class, I don't know . I'm just hoping to get another chance to go racing. ~ "19 9 4 AMA CAMEL SUPERCROSS SERIES" Round #5 - TA MPA STADIUM - TAMPA, FLORIDA (#305E) The runaway train that seemed to be carrying Jeremy McGrath nonstop to his second straight AMA Camel Supercross Series Championship finally jumped its tracks in Tampa, Florida. As McGrath failed to recover from a bizarre fifth-lap crash, Team Yamaha's Mike Craig was putting together a complete main event victory, the first major 250cc-c1ass win of his professional career. The 125cc class provided outstanding action for the crowd of over 35,000 at Tampa Stadium , as 16-year-old Team Kawasaki sensation Robbie Reynard swapped the lead numerous times with Team Suzuki's Ezra Lusk on an extremely slick, narrow and technical track. 47 minutes from Motovideo. Round #6 - The GEORGIA DOME· ATLANTA, GEORGIA (#306E) Just weeks after the Superbowl rolled through the Georgia Dome, "Showtime" Jeremy McGrath did the same on his Team Honda/1-800-COLLECT motocross machine. McGrath's toughest competition was himself, weakened by chicken pox as the rest of the top racers from Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and KTM battled it out for the runner-up honors in the premier 250 class. In the 125cc class, local hero Ezra Lusk put on a tremendous display of riding on his factory-supported Suzuki in front of over 40,000 fired-up Atlanta Supercross fans. 47 minutes from Motovideo. Round #8 - The HOOSIER DOME - INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (#307E) As the AMA Camel Supercross Series moved past the midway point on its 14-stop tour, defend ing champion Jeremy McGrat h did likewise in his bid to eclipse his own mark of 10 supercross wins in a single season. On a challenging, rutted track in the Indianapolis Hoosier Dome, the Team Honda/1-800-COLLECT rider collected his sixth victory of the season, extending his already healthy advantage in the point standings. In the 125cc Eastern Regional race, Ezra Lusk apparently didn't notice the "no smoking venue" signs in the Hoosier Dome, as he thoroughly smoked his competition as the Indiana fans cheered the young Suzuki teamster to victory. 47 minutes from Motovideo. Round #9 . MEMORIAL STADIUM - CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA (#308E) Team Kawasaki's Mike laRocco took the gloves off and fought his way _ the win at the Charlotte round of the Coors Light Challenge in the AMA Camel to Supercross Series. The first turn provided plenty of fireworks as series champ Jeremy McGrath, Team Suzuki's Brian Sw ink and Damon Huffman, Team Sizzler/Noleen Yamaha's Kyle Lewis and KTM's Cliff Palmer all went down in the first turn. For most of the race, Team Honda/1-800-COLLECT rider Doug Henry led the field and looked like he would have a shot at his first-ever 250cc Supercross win. Then, on the sixteenth of twenty laps, laRocco brutally stuffed the Honda rider . in a tight right-hand tum. The remainder of the race would turn into a 'handlebarbang ing battl e for the wi n between La Rocco and Kawasaki teammate Mike Kiedrowski. 47 minutes from Motovideo. Donate to THECLAYTON FOUNDATION ~ e ~ 0\ 0\ rl 2201 Cherry Avenue Long Beach, CA 90806 , "Wewant to be yourfavorite charity" Z (l) 0 29

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