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/127732
,SUPERCROSS·, Round 15:Spartan Stadium ' ,_ Supercro9tseries U.S. wrapped up I w as abl e to just go and ha ve fu n'. Ha vi ng th e record is prett y cool. I never expected to be in this position w hen I started out, but now lwant to hold on to it for a whil e." Wh en asked wha t his realistic goal was, McGra th answered, "I don't know, if I' m s till ha vin g fu n for th ree mor e years, maybe around 50? That wo uld be pret ty cool." Cool for McGrath, torture for the rest. Henry was ab le to break away from the other late in the race, and held a firm gr ip on second at the finish lin e. Emig and Ward traded block passes repeatedly in the final laps with Emig em erging on top, while Kie drowski crashed out of striking distance when he tried to block Ward in a slippery left hander. In beating Kied rows ki, Ward further d istanced himself from the Kawasaki rider in the series point standings. n All I have to do to get second in the overall series is finish at least seventh in Las Veg as if Kied rowski w ins," sa id Ward . "Sure, I would ha ve liked to be first in the series, but I'm p retty pu m ped with second ." In th e 125cc main , th e sport's other all-conqu eri ng rider, Damon H u ffman, wrapped up his second-stra ight Eastern , Regi onal 125cc Su p ercro ss Champi.o ns hi p with an im p ressive come-frombeh ind ride. But su rp ris ingly, it wasn't the Suzuki teamst er who crossed the finish line first. instead, it was Team Splitfire /Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's David Ping ree w ho ea rned his fi rs t-ever win . Help in g out his teammate in an indirect , w ay was fourth -placed Ryan Hughes. Th e o n ly ri der w i th a m athematica l cha nce of beating Huffman for the title, Hughes tangl ed w it h H uffman a t the s tart of th e main a nd the two cras hed whil e ru nning 1-2 into turn ,one. Huffma n re-started next-to-last, and Hugh es was las t. Pingree took cont ro l of the lead early in the event and rode a smart race, By Donn Maeda Phot os by Kinney Jones 16 SAN OSE, CA, JUNE 3 aving al read y clinched his thirdstraight supercross championship a t the previous ro u nd in Cleve- ' land , Te a m H ond a/1 -80 0-Collect / Fo x' s Jere my McG r a th sho wed up at San Jose State Unive rsi ty's Spartan Stad iu m eve n more relaxed than usual. Never one to let pressure get to him, McGra th 's norm al p re-race mood is sedate, and many cite his ability to relax as a key to his success. Before the penultima te main event of the year go t underway, McGrath cou ld be spotted kicking back - not the fenced off Team Honda area - but with some of his lon g-time riding friends in the nonfactory p orti on of th e p it s. McGra th lau ghed and traded jokes as if he hadn't a care in the world - no rac e to w orry about, no pressure to deal with. And realistically, he didn't. After grabbing the umpteenth holeshot of his career, McGrath immedia tel y broke away fro m th e fi eld and ad ded insult to injury, scoring an effortless-looking win and finishing so me 15 seco nd s ahead of his closest riva l. As a (Above) It's official: J eremy McGrath's 29th career win makes him the winningest supercrosser ever. (Right) M oments after this phot o was s hot, Damon Huffman (1) and Ryan Hughes (partially hidden ) crashed off the track. Huffman caught bac k up to a • very close second. Hughes worked up to fourth. matter of fact, McGra th had mor e of a lead on the field by the start of lap two, than the distance that sepa ra ted second, third, fourt h and fifth through out mo st of the race. Doug Henry, Jeff Emig, Larry Ward and Mike Kied rows ki scra p ped over the runner-up posi tion all race long, a nd ev en tu ally fin ished in tha t sa me order. While they were putting on what was arguably the best race of the series, however, McGrath was quietly making history a t th e fro n t. McG ra th's 29thcareer supercross win breaks the tie that he briefly sat in with Rick John son, and no w it's official: McGrath is the all-time wi nningest su perc ross rider. And if he has any say in the ma tter, he will hold on to that record for some time to come. "Today was a pretty good free rid e," said McGrath. "The re's always a lit tle pressure out there - all the other riders are .there - but wit h the championship hold in g on to th e lead u ntil th e very end . "I started to get a little nervous at the halfway point because my mechanics signaled m e th at Huffman was comin g," sa id Pin gree . "But I loo sened back up and just stayed steady." Huffman set a blistering pace through the field en route to his second-place finish, and was a good sport abo ut having his win streak broken.