Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ rr '," UPER Series SS," ".:. " S C O "fh~:-;:~4 u.s. Supercross R , . ,. -1 : 'I,;\ ~ ~ t~. ':< Rou d13: Cleveland S diu n ta m ------------------------------------------~--- McGrath If) 0'\ 0'\ ...... By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones Q EVELAND, OH,MAY20 n a night in C level a nd when so much w as at stake, Jerem y "Showtime" McGrath su m med it all up like this: " It really wasn' t a high-pressure situ a tion for me tonight." This sta temen t came after McGrath very calmly w ent about the bu siness of O clinching his th ird st raigh t supercross cha mpionshi p, his reco rd-tying 28th caree r 250cc main event win and securin g so me bi g dollar bonu ses from h is vario us sponsors. "1 knew that I would ge t th e title tonight, so I just went ou t there and ro de m y own race," said the three-tim e king of supercross. "1 knew Jeff Emig was back the re but I kept my eye on him. I made some mistakes in th e m iddle part of the race and he sta rted to catch me, b u t I guess it worked o ut okay." McG ra th, o n his team 1-800-Collect / Fox Raci ng-backed Honda, ended u p leading Emigacross the finis h line by just a few feet, bu t he was a world aw ay fro m everyone in the series point standings. Despite two ro u nds yet to be ru n, McGrath is now an unbeatable 65 points ahead of second-ra nked La rry Wa rd , w ho finished fourth, Team Yamaha's Em ig a nd tea mm a te Doug Henry . McGra th has 28 career 250cc wins, eq ualing former solo record holder Rick Johnson's career-total. H e's also 20 wins ahea d of any other active rider currently co m peting in supercross. (The injured ' Mike LaRocco has eig h t career wi ns.) As he celebra ted his ninth win of the year on the podium, McGrath th anked American Honda an d his mechanic Skip Norfolk, his parents Jack and Anne an d sister Tracy, and his various sponsors . "We've b e en a ble to p u t a progra m toge t her th at has been pre tt y mu ch u nbe atable these last five years. And I'm going t o co me ba ck next year eve n stronger than ever an d w in my championship aga in next year. I figu r e I got three good years left in me and I'd like to se t a record for wi ns and ti tles in a career." AIR's Roy Jan son then prese nted McGrath with the championship trophy, greeting him by saying , " It seems like we've done this before." "Second su cks but I'll take it," said Emig after closely fo llowing McG ra th across the finish line. "1 had the lead for abo u t three jum ps mayb e and that was it. I feel good about my rid e, bu t.l know I now have tw o races left to wi n one if I'm going to do it this year." "1 feel good with thi rd," said Henry. "1 was rea lly happy with the way I was rid in g fo r th e firs t 15 la p s of th e race becau se I was putting a lot of pressure .on Em ig, bu t he 's just really hard to get arou n d . 1 was tr yin g ou ts ide, in sid e, everywhere. I figured tha t if I could just ge t around him I m ight be able to catch Jeremy . Then th at red cross flag came ou t and I had to roll eve ry jump while those guys wer e jumping the first two. I tr ip le d t h e fir st la p but th e f1agger wasn' t rea lly out there. But he was out there the rest of the tim e and Emig and Jerem y were still doublin g rig ht in front of m e . I don' t kno w - they've. got to w o rk o n th a t re d cross system . Maybe fining these guys just isn' t eno ugh." H enry an d so me other high-placin g riders w ere angry af ter th e race about a si tuation tha t develo ped involving a d owned rider and caution flags. When a rider is lying in th e m iddle of a jump sec tio n and the white cross flags are ou t, everyone on the track must single each jum p in a combination to avoid jeopardi zing the d owned rid er or attend ing course workers. In Cleveland, Honda of Troy's Mike Craig crashed v io len tly near the halfway mark on a triple jump. He lay motionless on the track for several moments as the flags started flyin g. Mo st of the top rid ers tripled the jump as th ey came around to uneven and unclear flagging . But ove r the course of the nex t fe w laps both McGrath and Emig, and some others, steadily do ubled the first two jumps of the section, a move that could be punish able by dis- . qualificatio n and /or a fine . AMA officials chose to fine the ri ders fo r their ac tio ns . Jer em y McG ra th, Je ff Em ig, Mike Kiedrowski, Phil Law re nce, Mike Jones we re all fined for th e same infractio n for an undisclosed amount. The 125cc race belonged to Honda of T roy's Mi ke Brown . He claimed hi s third career 125cc m ain even t win an d edged o u t p rivateer Da vey Yez ek for r u n ner -up h o n ors in t h e 125ccEast

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