Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 8: Indianapolis RCA Dome By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones INDIANAPOLIS, IN, MAR, 18 n paper, Jerem y McGrath's win at the Indianap olis RCA Dome fo rmer ly th e Hoos ie rD ome looks like ju st anoth er win for the tw o-tim e Su pe rcross cha m pion, but in reality, th e w in was, as o f ye t, perhaps the most important of the season. Afte r ge tting so un d ly beat en at the Atla nta Supercross, w he re he fin ished fourth three week s ago, and finishi ng a di sappointing seven th at th e Dayton a Supercross last week, McGrath's confidence had simp ly taken a beatin g. As a result, McGrath w as beginning to have some doubts about his abilities. "After winning all the time and then yo u start losing, it really ge ts to ya'," said McGrath. "I was beginning to have my doubts." McGrath wanted to end these doubts in a bi g way at Indianapolis an d get "back on track." But in orde r to do this he had a cou ple of big hurdles to clear those being tw o of the hottest riders on the track of late - Daytona winner Mike Kiedrowski an d A tla nta w inner Mike LaRocco - an d this w ould be no easy task, especially taking int o account that th e Indy race was, for all intents and purp oses, he ld in LaRocco' s backyard, and h e h ad th e s trong backing of th e hometown crowd . And LaRocco knew a wi n her e would n ot only close the points gap on McGrath, but would give him a mental edge goin g into the second half of the seaso n, Unfortunately for LaRocco, who hail s from South Bend, Indi ana, things would not go his way. His hopes of perhaps turning the season ar ound at Ind y effectively ended in the first heat race when he crashe d with Honda' s Doug Henry while dicing for the lead . A badl y bent . mot orcycl e a n d a b ruis ed bod y as a result of the crash forced LaRocco ou t of th e race an d into th e se mis, where he transferred to the featu re, bu t not before crashing in the first turn and having to fight his way up throu gh the field . While LaRocco was spendi ng valu able ene rgy on th e track in th e sem is, McGrath was resting comfortably in the pits after having easily won his heat race, thu s transferring directly to the feature. Going into the 20-Iap feature, while 42,244 spectato rs looked on, McGrath now had the mental - and physical edge and it showed. He quickly jumped out to an earl y lead and simply ran away from the 2D-rider field on his Skip Norfolk-tuned Honda CR250 and scored his sixth win of the season and the 25th o f his career. It was al so his third straight win at the facility . LaRocco, on th e other h and, struggled to third, fin- , ishing close behind a very happy Ryan of the Sp li tFi r e / P r o H ughes Circuit / Kaw asak i team. But the night belonged to McGrath. "I' m so stoked!" said McGrath who reacted to the win as though he had just clinched the series title. "You don't know how nerv ous I was before this race . Usually all wins feel good, but this one ...this one' s special. Afte r you finish fourth and seventh you start h aving I d oubts. It wasn 't so much th e points, but I proved to m yself that I can still Win. I practiced really hard this week for this race - it was revenge week ." "My bod y hurts," said a disappointed LaRocco. "My side hurt every time I landed off a jump, or stretched my arms, and I began feeling a little sick. I eventually realized that I wasn't going to win ' an d was going to h ave to be content with third. At least I got so me points out of it." Just as happy as McGrath was runner-up Hughes, who normally competes in the West Coast 125cc Series. But since this was an East Coast round, Hughes competed in the 250cc class for the fifth time this year. "That was the best race of my life," said Hughes, who held down second place for the last 13 laps of the race. "I'm happy as hell. I didn't expect to do this well , It really blows my mind." , When asked if placing second in the 250cc class mean t more to him than winn in g th e 125cc cla ss, he sai d, "This is definitely better. The 125 class doesn' t mean cra p. I mean, the 250 class is the most prestigious. This is what I' m work- Jeremy McGr (center) an d Ryan ath Hughes (right) were thrilled with their firstand second-place performances, but M ike laRocco (left) was less than satisfied with third. ing for." Aft er ge tting off to an eighth-place start, Kiedrowski clawed and scratched his way through the pack and eventually took the checkers in fourth place, a safe distance ahe ad of Team Noleen/Sizzler Resta urant / Xtr eme / Yamaha's Larry Ward, who advanced two positions after a seventh-place getaway. McGrath ex tend ed his points lead over LaRocco another five points an d no w ha s a 20-point advantage, w hile Ward's once firm control of third has dwindl ed to a on e-point gap over Kiedrowski. What th e 250cc fea ture may have lacked in close racing action was more than' made up for in the IS-lap East Coast 125cc feature, where SplitF ire/Pro Circui t / Kawasaki 's Mickael Pichon came from behi nd to record the second win of the season and the third of his career. The likable Frenchman got off the line in seventh and didn't look to be in a position to win, considering that Team Yamaha's Kevin Windham had opened u p a huge lead over Suzuki riders Davey Yezek and two-time 125cc SX winner Tim Ferry early in the race . As th e race progressed, though, the scene began changing rapidly as Windh a m b e g a n fadi ng and eventually dropped to four th . While Yez ek and Ferry now battled for the lea d, Picho n silen tly sneaked up on both ri ders . Eventually, Fe rry passed Yezek and

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