Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Opposite page ) Stronger than ever? Jeremy McGrath seems to think so , as evident by his third consecutive U.S. Supercross victory, at Anaheim Stadium. He came from behind to win with eight laps to spa re. (Above) Back-ta-back 55,000plus. On the heels of the Minneapo lis Supercross whic h attracted 55,723 SX fans, the Anahei m Supercross pulled it s share of spectators with 55,417. Falta returns T Team Yam a ha' s John D owd rod e well to seventh, finishing just ahe ad of ' Kawasaki ' s M ik e LaR occo, who, like Kiedrowski, h ad a fru strating night. A ft er rou nding th e fir st lap in 13th pl ace, the 250cc Na tional MX Champion climb ed to as high as fifth before crashin g into th e b ack o f a la p ped rider on the 14th lap . Co mple ting the top 10 w e re Lu sk and H onda of Troy rid er Brian Sw ink . McG rath's third win of th e se ries g iv es h im a p erfe ct 75 poin ts in th e cha m p io ns h ip sta n d ings. W ard s its h ose w ho a ttended this year's Anaheim Supercross were treated to a very s pecia l an d lengthy intermission called the Legends o f MX, w hich was p ro d u ced by th e M ickey Thom pson Entertainmen t Grou p. "Basically a lot of o ther sports take care of their legends, makin g su re th at th ey do n't get forgotten," sai d MTEG's -Tony Gardea . " We feel it's important to remem ber the guys of the past who helped bu ild w ha t the sport is today." Many famous supercross racers of th e past were invited to be a pa rt of the Legends ceremony, includ ing [ar oslav Falta (righ t), the CZ rider from Cze choslov akia who won the Los Angeles Su percross in 1974 at the L.A. Co liseum. In all, 17 riders we re in tro duced , including such no ta bles as Gary Jones, Gary Sernics, Marty Smi th, To mmy C roft, Ch uck Sun, M ike Be ll, Donnie Hansen, David Bailey, Broc Glover and Joh nny O' Mara . So me of th e rid ers wore th e same rid ing gear.tha t they wore in their heyd ay, and Falla came riding out on a res tored CZ Falla replica, loa ned to him by Lou is H arker . After the introd uctions, fou r riders too k to the track and competed in a ch arity race. Each of the fou r Japanese manufacturers sup plied mot orcycles: Fall a (Suz u ki), Smith (Kawas aki ), Semics (H onda ) and Bell (Yam ah a). Each of the manu facturers donated $1000 that w ould be given to the winner, w ho 'd then donate the $4000 to a chari ty of their choice. : The four-lap race, in which David Bailey provided the play by pl ay, went d ow n to th e wire between Semics and Sm ith, both of whom, int erestingly enough, now conduct motocro ss riding schools. Semics led for m ost of th e ra ce un til ge tt ing passed on the last lap by Smith. Bell finis h third with Falta fou rth. Smith, who won the very firs t Anah eim Supercross on Decem ber 4, 1976, donated his $4000 earnings to the Olive Cres t Home, a home for abu sed children. . According to Gardea, Legends of MX will also be hel d at the San Diego, Den ver and Las Vegas Supercrosses. alo n e in secon d w it h 62 po in ts while Kied rowsk i and LaRocco are next in lin e w ith 55 and 53, respectively. In the West Co ast 125cc m ain event, defending champ ion Damon Huffman cru ise d to an ea sy victory over SplitFire/ Pro Circuit /Kawasa ki rival Ryan H ugh es a nd Su z uki te ammate Cra ig Decker. Huffman shot his Tony Berluttituned factory RM125 into th e lead an d sim ply pulled away fro m H ughes and Decke r, fini shin g so me 11 seco n ds ahead of the Kawa saki rider. " I'm so rry th e race was bori ng," sai d Huffman afterward . " But I like 'e m tha t way." Huffman looks as thou gh he'll d om inate the 125cc West Coast .Series just as McGra th is domi nating the 250s, w hich mi gh t explain Hu ffma n's new race stra tegy . " I've been wa tching Jerem y a lo t and am trying to do what he d oes - rid e the first ha lf of the race the hardest, pull away, an d from th ere ri de co nsistent and smooth . It see ms to work." Hugh es and Decker had a few bri ef battles, but, for the most part, there was lit t le han dleb ar-t o-h andl eb a r ra cin g ac tion in th e 125cc feat ure, whe re th e top riders crossed th e finish line spread ou t. Decker di d make a last-la p cha rge on H ughes only to .cras h in a turn just before the finish . 250cc Lusk was the early leader in the firs t 250cc heat race, bu t a cras h on the second lap dropped him to fourt h. Anot he r cr as h a la p lat er en de d an y cha nce he had of qu alifyin g for the feature via the hea t race . Taking over th e rei ns w a s Swi nk, w ho led for the next th ree la ps before slamming into a lap ped rid er and cras hing ba ck to four th. Dowd sud de nly found himself lead ing Kied rowski and Lamson w ith only two laps rem aining. Tw o tu rns from the checke re d flag th ings go t close w he n Dowd w as balked in a tight turn by a la pper. Th e sudden slow -d ow n caug ht Kiedrowski by surprise and he slam med into Dowd's back tire. Kiedrowski then veered off int o a hay bale and crashed, stallin g his eng ine in the process . While the Kawasaki rider stru ggled to start his bike, Dowd and Lamson took the chec kered 1-2, with Swi nk taking third. Kiedrowski conti n ued to s tru gg le w ith his bike and his teammate LaRocco soo n b lasted by to sli p in to th e final direct tran s fe r s p ot. A frus tra ted Kied rowsk i was headed for .the semis . "The id le wasn 't set righ t and it d ied right away ," said Kiedrowski. The win was Dowd's first in a su percross heat race. " I was w ondering what it feels like - it fee ls pr etty good," said Dowd. " Lamson had me a little nervous th ere bu t 1just held my line." H en ry and Ward put in a good effort bu t could n' t sto p McGrat h in the second h e at ra ce . H enry took th e h ol esh o t ahea d o f Ward and M cGrath, w h o passed Ward on the first la p . McGrath th en sta lked He nry until findi ng the fast line aro und him on the fourth la p. Even th ou gh Henry and Ward kept the champi on in sight, th ey were no match as M cGrath b re e z ed to vict o ry . Hen r y looked to have second in th e bag u ntil cras h ing on th e last lap and ge tti ng p as sed by W ard . Henry reco vered in tim e to finish th ird ahead of Su zuki' s G reg A lb ertyn, who su rvived a close b attle over Phi l Lawre nce an d Sh a u n Kalos . Th e second heat race m arked the ret urn of Alb ertyn , w ho dislocated his shoulder du ring th e opening ro und in O rlando, Florid a. Lusk, on ce again, nailed the.holeshot - th is time in the firs t sem i. Un lik e th e fir st heat race, Lusk m an aged to keep the rubber side down and he we nt on to w in the race. Kied rowski, however, wa s mak ing a run at Lusk after passin g the H ond a of Troy duo - Mike Brown and Todd DeHoop - un til hitting a whoop w hic h se nt the Kawa saki rider over the h a nd lebars and to th e g ro u n d . T he Kawasaki factory rider w ould have to transfer via the LCQ. Brown wa s seco nd wi th DeHoo p, Jam es Dob b (anoth er H ond a of Troy rid er ), and pr ivateer Buddy Antu n ez head ed straigh t to the final. Emig ran aw ay and hid in the second se m i. Aft er scrappi ng w ith KTM's Jeff De men t through the fi rst few tu rns, Em ig took command , p ulled away and scored an easy wi n. De me nt settled into . .. ~ t.::: . "': ~ :~ ~ 7

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