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Final Round: Jingu Stadium By Alex Hodgkinson TOKYO, JAPAN, OV. 2&-27 eremy McGr ath, Wo rld Ch ampion. The Team Hond a /l-SOO-Collect su pe rs ta r w as abl e to boast that handle afte r ad d ing th e .Wo rl d Supercross C ha m p io nshi p to h is string o f AMA Supercross titles. McGrath se w ed up th e crow n during the final round of the World Supercross Series at To kyo 's Jingu Stadium. Goin g int o the final conflict at [ingu, McG ra th w a s sep a ra ted from Tea m Kawasaki' s Mi ke LaR oc co in th e title race by just a si ng le point - and that's how they would finish after respective ly posting 1-2 an d 2-1 res ults. In thei r heat ed battl es, th e duo twice o u td is tanced Team H o nda / I -S00-Colle ct rider St ev e Lam son a n d Tea m Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrowski, who fin ished th ird and fo u rth , res p ectivel y, over the two nig hts. Desp ite hi s absence, Doug Henry maintained thi rd in the series by one po in t over Jimmy Button, and only four non-Ll.Si-born rid ers (two of them U.S. resi dents) broke into th e to p 24 in the sta ndi ngs. England 's Ja mes Dobb com pleted t he ser ies eighth , while.. the French Frederics - Be lle y and Vialle round ed out the top 10. After the sh o rt tracks of th e European rounds, the wo rld title contes tants fin ally got to race a full-leng th su percross tr ack in Tokyo, the winners of the IS- la p finals taking aro u nd 17 minutes to co mplete the di stance. McGrath extended hi s series lead to four p oints ov er LaRocco in the Satu rda y main, scor ing a victory over hi s title riv al by less th an tw o seco nd s, wh ile Lamson, who had wo n the se ries ope ne r in Ba rcelo na bu t h ad to mi ss Pa ris to ride in Osaka, was a fu rther six seconds back in third. Kiedrowski, wh ose su pe rcross acti vities this autu m n have been rest ricted to Japan, w as fourth a furthe r 10 seconds back, and the only othe r riders to avoid bei ng lapped by the lead ers wer e Huffman and Mi ke Bro w n. The bes t nonAm erican was Bar celona' s day-two wi nner, Boll ey , in n inth, while the o nly other Eu ropea n s co rer w as the U.S.based Dob b in 13th , th ough Vialle had also q ua lified. The scenario for Sunday was simple. If LaRocco won, McGra th "only" had to follow him in se cond to clinch th e title. A nd th at is exactly what ha ppened, the A MA 25 0cc Na t io nal Motocross Cha mpion taking the w in to clinch the overall for the weekend, while the cu rrent A MA Su percross Champion ca me home jus t under fou r seco nd s la ter to clinch the series title . A ga in, on ly Lamson sta yed close, com p leting the race less than three se co nds d o wn o n h is Ho n da te am m a te, and Kied ro w sk i was 15 sec o nd s back bu t equa lly as far ahead of fifth -placed Bria n Swink. The race was Swi nk's last for Am erican Suz u ki, w hile Button, also d ism issed by Su zuki for 1995, completed the top six. Dobb wa s the best non -Ameri can th is ti me w it h a 10th-pl ac e fini sh, lapped aga in, and Viall e fo llowed him home 11th , as it w as Bailey' s tum to DN F the main . .J McG rath a nd LaR occo look set to present the fans with a thrilling duel in the U.S. stad iums next year, w hile lamso n and Hen ry have both edged closer. And Albertyn will be there in January, as w ell. n Jingu Stadium Tokyo,Japan Results : November 26-27, 1994 (Final round) Satu rday 1. Jer em y McGr at h (USA ) H a n; 2. Mike LaRocco (US A) Ka w: 3. Steve La ms on (USA ) Hu n; 4 . Mike Kied rowski (USA ) Kaw ; 5. Damon Hu ffma n (USA) Suz; 6. Mike Brown (USA) Han; 7. Ron Tichenor (USA ) Su...; 8. Ti m Ferry (USA ) Suz; 9. Frederic Boll ey (Fra) Yam; 10. Jim my Button (USA) Suz; 11. Davey Yezek (USA) Kaw ; 12. Kohji O hkawara Oap )Yam ; 13. jame Dobb (C B); 14. s Masa nori Enom oto Gap); 15. Takesh i Kolke (Jap). da SundJly 1. Mike la Rocco (USA) Kaw; 2. Jere my M cGra th (US A) H o n : 3 . S te ve Lam son (USA) H on; 4 . M ik e Kiedrowski (USA) Kaw ; 5. Brian Sw ink (USA ) Su z; 6. Jimmy Butt on (USA) Suz; 7. Damon Hu ffm a n (USA ) Suz; 8. Davey Yezck (USA) Kaw ; 9. Mike Brown (USA) Hon ; 10. James Dob b (GB) H e re 11. Frederic VianI.' (Frol) Kaw; 12. Ma san or! Eno moto (Jap) Ka w; 13. Koh ji Oh kawara (Jap) Yam; 14. Ta kateru Atsuta (lap ) l ion; 15. Larry Ward (USA) Yam. WOR LD CHAM P IO NSH IP SU PE RC ROSS SE RIES FIN AL PO INT ST ANDL'lGS: I . Jeremy McGra th (110); 2. MiJu- la Rocco (109); 3. Doug Henry (65); 4. Jim my Butto n (64); 5. Da mo n Hu ffman (55); 6. Ste ve Lamson (SO);7. Larry Ward (46~ 8. James Dobb ( 44~ 9. Frederic s Be lley (31); 10. Frederic Viall e (31); 11. Ryan H ughe (30~ 12. Mike Kiedrowski (26); 13. Guy Cooper (24~ 14. Dou g Du ba ch (23 ); 15. Mik e Cra ig (22) ; 16. Ped ro Conza lcs (18); 17. Mike Brown (17); 18. Jetf Matiase vich (17); 19. Je ff Emig (16); 20. Jim my Ga ddis (13). (Right) Mike laRocco came into the final round one point beh ind Jeremy McGrath, and· though he won Sunday 's main event - that' s how he left. (Below) Jeremy McGrath added a World Champions hip to his already Impressive resu me, sew ing up the title in the J lngu Stadium. FILE PHOTOS BY ALEX HODGKINSON ~ 0\ 0\ ...... -.t" ...... l-< (l) ..n E (l) u (l) o 17