Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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.SUPERCROSS'. Round 10:Pontiac Silverdome ..U.S. Supercross Series . By Davey Coo mbs Photos by Kinney Jones PONTIAC. MI. APR 8 ocal stars Mike LaRocco and Brian Swink turned the 10t h round of the U.S. Supercross Series into their own little homecoming party an d di d so in front of 49,847 fans in th e Po ntiac Silverdome. Te am Kaw a s aki's LaRo cco , w ho lives jus t across the Michigan-Indiana border in South Bend, and Michigan native Swink fini shed first and second, respectively, in wha t was a crash-filled main eve nt. " It (the track) wa s rutty and I made a lot of mistakes, bu t apparently a lot less than everyon e else," reasoned Lakocco, who leaped nin e points closer to se ries points leader Jerem y McGrath, who had a terrible night, finis hi ng fifth . "We've got a lo t of lime left in th e se ries and anyt h ing can happen," ad ded LaRocco who now tra ils Mc G rath b y just 16 points. "So maybe I' ll get some luck and catch hi m. Every little bit helps." Inclu ding a good start. LaRocco com pleted the first lap in fourth and was third after the second lap. By the time he mov ed into se co n d behin d Swink, LaRocco was right where he wanted to be. "I finally got the kind of start I wanted and rode my own race," said LaRocco, who h ad never won at Po ntiac. "I kind of took my time and got up front. Once I passed Brian I wasn't ge tting any pressu re, so I was ab le to ride smooth and think abo ut the track. I was able to d o a ll of th e m a jo r obst acles a n d l If) Q'\ Q'\ T'""'i ..... ~ cruise in." "I've forgotten wha t it's like to be up on th e podium," said Swink, who hadnot finish ed that high sin ce the '93 Seattle Super cross. "I just concen tra ted on riding reall y smooth and getting to the front. I stayed close to Mike after he got by me, but I starte d trying too hard and making too many mi stakes, so I just sta rted thi nking about getting second. I'm a cons isten t 10th -pl ace rid er so far this year, so going from 10th to seco nd is a pretty go o d impro vement. I' ve alw ays felt like I was as fast as eve ry body else , but I ju s t ha ve so me head trouble. If I can get my head int o racing and hlock everything else ou t I can win so me races." Third-place finishe r Mike Kiedrowski came from 14th to third in a matter of 10 laps, using his considerable ou td oor skills to erase an ea rly fall. "The more agg ressive you rid e here the more mistake s you make," said Kied row ski, who also crashed twice in his heat race . "All of the top gu ys ended up go ing down some time tonight. People were riding over-aggressive and they went d own because of it. It made for good racing, but I' don't think us riders liked it too much, hitting a 20-foot-Iong rut before . the triples." Series points leader Jeremy McGrath was among those who paid the price for being aggressive, tho ugh the dominant Kawasaki's MikelaRocco (2) recorded his 0.. second win of the year and , with it, gained < 6 nine valuable points on series leader Jeremy McGrath. Only 16 points separate the two riders: ' figure so far in this series was not going to dwell on his bad night. "I'm not concerned about what happened tonight," said McGrath after cra shing tw ice in th e main e ven t. "It was just a difficult track and I had a shitty nig ht. I feel okay about the rest of the series but I can tell you there will be no vaca tion for me this week. I'm going to work m y a ss off b efore th e n e xt round in Charlotte." Always considered to be a pivotal round of the series, the 20th running of the Pontiac Supercross took place on an extre mely nasty track. Long, deep ruts always seem to form in the Michigan clay that's trucked in for the event; but this year's dirt was particularly soft. The complicated , jump-filled track became more and more unforgiv-