·SUPERCROSS
By Davey Coombs
PARIS, FRANCE, NOV. 12
ollowing the conclusion of Sunday
night's main event, a
jumping contest was held
on the finish-line jump of
Bercy Stadium in Paris. The
jump was actually a long
double in which the first
straight-up jump launched
the riders out over a table-top
bridge to a soft landing on the
wide downside. An unknown
French kid on a 125 and a Spanish pilot were allowed to enter
against five favored American
flyers: Jeremy McGrath, Jimmy
Button, Steve Lamson, Larry
Ward and Mike Metzger.
Each rider would take three
passes in a row at the jump as the
crowd rated the leaps with noise
level. The three most popular
jumpers would move on to a onejump, single-elimination round,
from which the overall winner
would emerge.
Spaniard Edgar Torronteguas
started the air traffic with a
"Dorothy" heel-click, a flattop and a
nac-nac. The crowd was quiet in anticipation of the Americans on the runway
and Edgar got a polite reception.
American 125cc National Champ
Lamson was next and the Honda flyer
landed a right-pitched no-Iegger, his
own high-heeled Dorothy and a leitside, one-legged flattop. Again, polite .
applause.
The sensational McGrath was next
and "Showtime" got the crowd going by
starting out with a slow front-wheel
wheelie down the landing as the spotlight shined on him. His first take-off
was a basic left-side flattop that drew
more cheers than it might have
deserved; but his next two jumps went
off the Richter scale! McGrath
did a high leg kick on his signature nac-nac and then
brought the house down with
his new and improved
"Superman" leap. McGrath
was going to the fina Is for
sure.
Larry Ward had the same
misfortune he's had all year he was forced to follow
McGrath. Ward did a couple
of extremely sideways pitchouts into downward spirals
and then threw a long-legged
Dorothy in vain.
The next trip was assigned
to Serge Guidetty, a teenaged
Frenchman who fared so-so in
the actual racing competition.
Guidetty's first flight was an
aborted can-ean or something
because he couldn't get his
right leg up over the tank. The
crowd moaned but Guidetty
kept the noise level high by
waving his arms frantically as
he rode around on approach
to his next High t. This time
Guidetty blew the crowd
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18
Paris Supercross Jumping Contest
