Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127718
..U.S.Supercrossseries ' ·, R d6 G . D SUPERCROSS · OU": eorgla orne ff By Davey Coom bs Photos by Kinney Jones B §j ~ ATLANTA, GA, FEB. 25 a vetera n fans it all looked a familiar. On the floor of an Atlanta stadi um a h alfoz en men were engaged in a fier ce battle for the lead of a 250cc supercross main event. After numerous lead ch anges, foiled breakaways - an d untimely m istakes, a Kaw asaki rode to the front and captured a well-earned checkered flag . But this time ke 1990, th e setti n g was the clean, well-lighted Geo rg ia Dome, not cold and windy Fulton County Stadi u m. The play ers were named Em ig, McGrath, Henry and so on, not Johnson, Coop er and Bradshaw. And the winner this time w asn't Kawasaki legend Jeff Ward; it was Mike LaRocco. "At first I kept tripping over my front tir e a nd I couldn' t ge t it going," sa id LaRocco of his rid e from ou tside the top 10 to hi s fir st vi cto ry of the seaso n. "Afte r I got in to the race I found some good lines an d started making things work for me an d I gave it 100 percent to th e end . I h aven 't been in a battle like that for quite aw hile. I' ve bee n inv olved . in so me goo d battles thi s ye a r , but unfortunately they we ren' t for the lead. It makes it a lot of fun and that' s exactly the wa y that I want to race." In winning this version of the "Battle Of Atl an ta," LaRocco also put a stop to th e record b o ok ru n of se r ie s points leade r Jeremy McGrath, the rei gnin g two-tim e su p ercross series ch am p ion. McGrath had begun the '95 season with fiv e straigh t m ain event wins , gi v ing him a record -tying six straight including the '94 series finale in Las Vegas. A win in Atlanta wou ld have given McGrath sa le possession of the recor d he sha res with supercross grea ts Rick Johnson and Bob Hannah . Al s o, M cGrath h ad a 'chance to break away from an other tie with Johnson involving th e record of starting a series with five straight wins. Instead, McGrath's dominance came to an end in At lant a after "Showtime" . faile d to regain his rhythm after crashlanding wi th early lead er Micha el Craig on the second lap. "You can't win 'em all," reasoned McGrath, as gracious in defeat as he ha s been in victory all year. "As much as I wo u ld've liked to win them all, yo u just can' t. I fell down early and kind of lost m y mo m en tu m . I g ot ba ck up th e re pretty good but the cra sh was pla yin g on me mentally. I'll just have to come back the next tim e and win. TOnight it just wasn't me ant to be. "You know, I could feel it this mornin g for some reason," McGrath ad de d. " It was just an off day . It was a great race and I had a good time; I jus t didn't win." "I was really tired of him w inning' everything, so I'm glad it wa s me who bea t h im," said La Rocco. "I 've got to make su re it keep s happen ing. As far as the title goes, right now it's more important for me to jus t keep getting good finishes. I d efinitely plan on giving it all I've go t until the las t race . Hop efull y, I will h ave more races li ke to n igh t and catch up to McGrath." The last man th a t La Rocco p assed Saturday night - Kawasaki teammat e Mike Kiedrowski - ha s a plac e in supe rcross lore as the guy .who sho uld ha ve won the 1990 Battle Of Atlanta. Rid in g fo r Honda back th en, Kiedrow ski crashed into an infi eld fence with Damon Brads ha w w hile try in g to take the lead . On this night , Kied rowski kept it on two whee ls all the way to the finish but his teammate proved to be jus t a little faster . " Man, I wish I w ou ld ' ve got th at one !" said runner-up Kiedrowski on the p odium. "I was passing everyone on the inside lines all night and I stuck to them and LaRocco got me on the outside. The ou tside was a littl e bit faster and ma ybe I shou ld've sw itched over." " It was a wa r ou t there," said Yam aha's Jeff Emig after placing third in what w as thus far th e rac e of th e year . "It For the first time thisyear, Jeremy McGrath wasn 't on the podium. Instead, it was winner Mike LaRocco (right) , runner - , up Mike Kiedrowski (left) and Jeff Emig (center) taking the spotlight at Atlanta's . Georgia Dome . rem in d ed me of th e r ace th ey h ad at Atl a n ta (at Fu lt o n County Stad ium) where Ricky, Wardy and Cooper went 'at it. The old -timer Kiedrowski was still up th ere, so I guess I sh ou ld've beat him . We really had it goi ng. Everyone was dicin g and going back and forth, a