Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"I love it," said the 24-year-old from Murrieta, California . "That's what I'm here for...I'm in bet ter sha pe now th an I've ever been, and I'm look ing forward to Anaheim, my favo rite tra ck." No doubt, b u t McGrath may be the only rid er lookin g forwa rd to the rest of the se ries, and if his dominance continues, even th e fans ma y begin to tire of it. Well behind th e leadin g duo, Team oleen /Siz zl er / Yamah a rider La r ry Ward matched his result at round one, riding to a stea dy third-p lace finish. Last week's runner -up Mike Kiedrowsk i wa s a bit m ore up-and -d own, gatin g m id p a ck a n d m ount in g a cha rge be fore crash in g and fin ishin g a n even tua l fourth . Th e top riders' odd combination of consi st ent arid e r ra tic rid ing h a s made for a three-way tie for second in the you ng title chase, as Kiedrowski, LaR occo and Wa rd all ho ld 40 points apiece. McGrath has a perfect 50 thus far. 'Tm th e on ly gu y with the exception of Jerem y who has been up here (on the ro strum ) tw o w eeks in a ro w ," sa id Ward, th e to p-finishing pri vateer in '94. " Maybe if th ose guys hav e so me problems I'll end up with a championship." Huffm an d idn't start off qu ite so well in the year's firs t 125cc East / West challenge, leavi ng the holesh ot to youngste r Kev in Windham . After sta rting aro und fourth, Huffman had ass umed the point by the fifth of 15 laps, and while his win was easie r than the knock-down-drago u t affa ir of a year ago, ru n n e r -up Windham was also im pres s iv e . The firs t-year facto ry Yamaha rider didn't panic w hen in the lead, and he continued to rid e in telligently eve n when pas sed b y Huffma n. Thi r d we n t to steady Frenchman Mickael Pichon, w ho headed Team Suzuki 's Craig Decker and Tea m Sp li tF ire/Pro Ci r cu it / • Kawa saki rid er Ryan Hu ghes. Points-wi s e, Hu ff m an le a d s the Western Region with a cushi on of seven on Deck er , 25-18, while Windham and Pichon sh are the top spot in th e Eas t, each with ,42. Las t week 's winner, Tim Ferry , finish ed eight h and is four points behind the leader s. "I think it 's possibl e (to win every round) in th e 125cc cla ss," sai d H uffman , when prompted by .floor announcer Larry Maier s. "Jere my ca me dose in '9 2; h e just los t th e o peni ng rou nd . Ho pefu lly, I can do it." Huffman had hoped to pull off the fea t in ' 94, thou g h h is chan ce s h a d alre ady ended by the Minn ea po lis race. That's because the sa me even t ha d bee n held n in e ro u n ds and nea rly thre e months later, by which time spring ha d ch ase d aw a y th e ch illy weather so pr ev al ent thi s tim e around. P romot er SRO / Pace had to go wi th the only date the stadium was available, bu t it caused pr obl ems for th e mech anics . "It's just too cold; we can' t do our jobs," sa id Lee McCollum, Ferry's factory Su zu ki tuner. "It's fin e w hen yo u' re in h ere ( the indoor pits), bu t they only let yo u bring a few things d own, so we keep h aving to go out to the trucks. Then wh en it's all over at m idnigh t, we'll hav e to haul every thing ba ck out there." Another problem caused by th e ea rly date wa s th at the dirt brought into the ' s ta d iu m contained a hi gh amo u nt of moi st ure, causing many jump faces to develop deep ruts (last year' s race featured nearly perfe ct so il). Bu lldozers we re b rought o ut between ra ce s to groom th e tr ack, wh ich was run in reverse direction to last year. Despite the disadvantages, on e thing is for sure - the fan s d idn't mind . An enthusiastic near-capacity crowd o f 55,723 was on hand in the dome - th e most to witness a su pe rcross since Anahe im in 1993 (55,817). Perha ps it was th e warmest game in town. "We had to take wh at we could get, but judging from the turnout, it mi ght n ot be s uch a b ad thing." sai d Roy Janson, executive di recto r for the p rom o ter group. 250cc W ard won th e firs t hea t race after avoi d ing a firs t-t u rn pileup that put Mike Craig out for the night. Kiedrowski had lost his rear fender in the melee, but held on to finish seco nd, wh ile early lead er John Dowd put his factory Yamaha in third . "I go t ther e (tum one) firs t," said Ward . " Do w d came in a little hot and pu shed everyone in to the hay bales. I'm riding good rig h t now . I'm a littl e stronge r, but it's more men tal. I've been doing this for five or six yea rs and those guys don' t scare me any m ore." The seco nd heat was a ya wner, with McGrath giving a glim pse o f things to co me in th e ma in . He was in fro nt by tum two, and pulled eno ug hof a lead in the eight-lapper to pull two nac-nacs on th e last go-arou nd. Hond a / 1-800-Collect coho rt Doug Hen ry was second in fro nt of ho les ho tte r Jeff Emig's factory Yama ha. LaR occo appeared to have a boat anchor attached to his bike when the gate dropped, and he stalled in tum o ne, b ut charged from la st place to secure the final tra nsfer. "It's cold outside, b u t I lo ve supercross!" declared McG rath before heading off to the pits to prepare for the main. Ho nda of Troy's Todd DeHoop was a little more bus y, recovering from a big flip in h is heat to win the first semi, though his bike appeared to be falling apart in th e p rocess. Frenchman Frederic Bolley finished second, with Ho nd a p rivatee r Cliff Palmer third . " I s napped off some bolts, and we d idn't ha ve.eno ugh time before the se m i to ge t it all fixed right," sai d DeH oop. " No w we can put it all ba ck tog ether ri ght a nd tr y to co me ou t and d o the deed ." Lanky Kaw a s aki privat e er Phil Lawren ce w as th e se mi two w in ner, h eadin g H ond a p ri v ate e r Bud d y Antu nez and Tea m Suz uki's Ezra Lusk w h o h ol esh ot but 'fe ll o n lap o ne . "I wo u ld n ' t say I d id great," sa id Law re nce, whose inju ry-ridden '94 sea so n was followed by his d ism issal from Team Suz uki. "Winning a heat wo ul d be great. It's a hell of a lot better than last year, thou gh ." Je ff Demen t re deemed a se m i-race crash by topping the six-lap Last Ch an ce Q ualifier o n h is factory KTM, and th e line u p was set for the fea ture. Said feature was effectively over shortly after, as Mc G ra th hunkered d o w n an d sna red th e holesho t, w it h LaRocco s tar ting in seco nd . "I kn ew it was a dream matchu p," said McGrath. "Everyone wa nts to ' see us both ge t a good start an d, fortunatel y, I go t ou t in front. I figu red I'd better ge t going be fore he go t too dose." Th at he did, putting over three seconds on th e Kawasa ki rider by the third circu it. The margin was in crea sed by a fu rther tw o secon ds shortl y af te r, but LaR o cco a p pe a re d to se t t le d o wn a rou n d th e m id way poin t, closing th e ga p slig h tly . Then he got cross-ru tted w h ile tr y in g to pa ss a lapper over a small double, and he cased the landing. Fo ur laps late r the scream of a "panic (Above right) Doug Henry (4), Jeremy McGrath (1), Mike laRocco (2) and Phil lawrence (42) blast of the li ne in a heat. (Right) Despite an uncharacteristic good start, runner-up Mike laRocco could not match the pace of McGrath. U") 0\ 0\ rl 5

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