Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

' ..:,. ; .. t· v •- , SUPERCROSS ',~ 'P . , France aris . , ' Bercy Supercross ' , " '-.•.:-:1 - - - - ----'---- - - - - - - - -- -- -- - - - - - -- -- - - - -- - - ~ La ecce bags Bercy even though McGrath encountered inexcusa ble interference from lap pers . "Vialle came across me on purp ose at the end of the whoops," claimed a furious McG ra th. " H e had been bl u eflagged and I went down the insid e l?f him , but at the tum he cut across from the outside to the inside and we came together." On the last lap , with Lakocco now desperately close, it was Yves Demaria's turn to get in the leader's way. " He jum ped across me in the combination before the fina l tu rn and I cased the triple to miss him, " said McGrath "He had been blue- flagged as well!" One could not help feeling tha t a fulllength 18 lap race would have fallen to Lak occo, even witho ut the interference. At the pos t-race press conference he made no secret of his frustration at the abbreviation. "I still say they should n 't have s topped it in the first place, but after that it was the right decision to shorten the rerun," countered McGra th. Ami d all the carnage, Button scored an emphatic third . "I do n' t have a ride yet for ne xt year a nd I'm pleased to (Left) Jimmy Gaddis (40), Frederick Boll ey (14), Jeremy McGrath (1), Damon Huffman (12), Mike laRocco (3) and Mike Craig (19) ready for the start. (Below) Team Kawasaki's Mike laRocco was crowned King of Bercy . By Alex Hodgkinson · M PARlS, FRANCE, NOV.n-13 ik e LaR o cco left Pa ris $35,000 richer and just on e point aw ay from the series lead in the World SX Champ ionship Series after being crowned th e new King of Bercy - but Kawa saki was not pleased. "My bosses at Kawasaki USA didn't want me to come he re, " admitted the reigning 250cc National Champ ion. "They feel w e have too many races already, and would rather I went testing." The 23-year-old from Ind iana had to wa it until the final night to win a main event in the French cap ital, ha ving run ou t of time to catch H on da's Jeremy McGrath and Doug Henry on the first two evenings, as the red flag came out to abb revia te both races: laRocco was second on Friday and Saturday, before scoring the win on Sunday. Defending Bercy champion McGrath never lost a qualifier all we ekend after rediscovering his gating skills for the first time this yea r - "I guess it's all down to confidence that I found my starts again, but the d irt is good here too, so we are getting good traction," he said. But results-wise, it was downhill all the wa y for McGrath after his opening night win on Friday. McGrath was third on Saturday, and a clutch problem held him to 12th on Sunday. Henry's first ride on a 250 in the cauldron of the world's most famous indoor arena was tempestuous, to say the least. The p reviously unbeaten New Eng land er had to sit ou t the restarted Friday main after being knock ed out cold, four laps into the first attempt to run the race . On Sa tu rd ay ni ght, Henry s truggl ed to fin d his rhythm thro ugh the whoops early in the evenin g, but made them his own once he fina lly clicked in the final lap s of the semi. In the ma in, he came from behind to win over laRocco and McGrath, in a fin a l that wa s stopped early when Jimm y Butto n lay prostrate in the middle of the track. Still unemployed for '95, the impres- sive Button ha d already mad e the pod ium o n the fi rst nigh t a n d ke p t hi s fourth-place points on Satu rd ay becau se results of a red-flagged race ar e taken from the previous lap . The only other r id er to m ak e th e pod ium in the three days wa s Te am No leen/Yamaha's Larry Ward, the Bercy speciali st having to wait unti l the final day to make his mark after being the innocent victim of the Henry crash on day one. Team Suzuki ' s Damon Huffman showed impressive speed , his 4-9-6 scorechart coming from last place in the early stages each time. FRIDAY The qualifiers on Friday set the pattern for the weekend. Vice 250cc World Champion Stefan Everts d id not even make the semis after crashing out of an unimpressive fi fth in h is repech a rge, an d n e ither d id Barcelona winner Fred eric Bolley. It was eventually an ignition failure which put him out for the evening, but the Frenchman had previousl y gone backwards from second to fifth in the opening hea t, passed with consummate ease by veterans Guy Cooper, Jeff Matiasevich and Doug Dubach. The main event fea tu red 13 U.S.based rid ers and three Frenchmen. The first attempt to run the ma in wa s stopped after four lap s, as three of the four potential winners lay prostrate in the track! "Henry jumped across the line and la nd ed on Ward's back," exp lai ned LaRocco, at the post- race p ress conference. "I was too close to miss the debris an d wreck ed the radiator." ' "Henry la nd ed on m y neck," confirmed a sore Larry War d, whose bike ha d ended up d angling from the stadium wall, its front wh eel caught up in the timekeeping equipment in the stands. Henry lay mid trac k, surrou nde d by medics and tr ack s ta ff. Th ere was no re alistic op tio n bu t to stop th e race, while checks were made and it was confirmed medically safe to move him . - McGrath, who had led by more than the length of th e stadium, wa s furious: "I don't think the race should have been stopped ," said McGrath . "We could get by on one side." While Mike LaRocco Senior worked miracles to repair his son's bike for the rerun and his son sat impassiona tely on a hay bale waiting, McGrath d id nothing for his d ign ity as he harrassed the organiz ers to restart immediately. After a Hl-minute break , only Henry - on his feet but ordered to the medical uni t for a thorou gh exam ina tion - failed to reappear for the rerun which was cut from 18 to 14 lap s. Ward also pulled off on the first lap wh en he realized that his front wheel was not running tru e. McGrath aga in led fro m the ge t-go, while laRocco fought past Dub ach and Hughes . After three la ps, th e LaR occo was second, but traile d the champion, once again playing run-and-hid e, by more than 10 seconds. Comp uter printouts showed LaRocco ma king fastest time on the ninth of the remaining 11 laps, but time just ran ou t, have the opportunity of the se races to show I can be up the re on a 250,:' said Button. "I want to prove Suzuki mad e a mistake sacking me." Huffman was fourth after riding through fr o m a last-place s ta r t. His mechanic had also utilized the break to replace a su spect front wheel. Am ericans took the first seven placings. SATURDAY laRocco took a long tim e to loosen up in the qualifiers on th e second day, but nevertheless matched McGr a th 's unbeat en transfer to the main. Henry, however , ha d struggled manfully for the first half of the evening, even needing to go to the repec ha rge afte r going d own in the whoops which were trou bling him every lap . Suddenly, halfway through the semi, everyt hi ng clic ke d a n d the 125cc National Champion advanced a place a lap from non-qualification to fourth. Henry wa s flo wing agai n in th e main. Gating fifth, he cut through to second at the second tum and on lap six of

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