Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RACERX-' By Davey Coombs admit it. I am one of the first people to argue th at the AMA Supercross Series shoul d be gin in glamoro us Anaheim tadium in Southern California, n ot lando, Florida's Citrus Bowl. It makes ense for the factories, for the privateer earns, for the media, and for tradition in zen eral, Year aft er year the su bject ha s een brough t up in art icles and conversaion, but year after year the point is m oot ause the supercross promoters refuse o move the opener away from Orlando nd back to Califo rn ia. Orl ando is gathe rng mom entum, they argu e. Orlando jus t oes n' t work, I say in repl y. Now I'm starti ng to see their point. It s th e m orn in g a fte r th e 1996 AMA uper cross Series opener in sunny-buthilly Orlando, and I'm still reeling from n epic nigh t of racin g. Th e event was uppos ed to mark the dawn o f a new ea r of su percross, bu t it see med m ore ike a new era of racing all together. The ime h ad co m e for b etter relations tween rid ers and the AMA, the AMA nd the promoters, the media and everyody el se . Several to p riders w er e o n ran d-new teams, including Mike LaRoc0 , Jeff Em ig, Larry Ward and Damon uffrnan. A few others we re back from ong absences from supercross, including 25cc GP refuge Jimmy Button and the nigmatic Damon Bradshaw, who was ppearing on a u.s. Supercross track for he firs t time s in ce 1993 . There was dded purse m oney, the return of a yearnd points fund, an d the ove rall positive ib es that come from getting eve ry one o gether again for the first time of th e ear. Down in the pits th ere were new earns and new semis everywhere . It was ro nic th at th e two best-looking rigs onda of Troy's mammot h trailer and he sleek Pro Circuit /Kawasaki sem i ere getting mo re attention than the pit reas .occupied by th e true H ond a and awasaki tea m setups . In fact, the Honda f Troy rig dwarfed Team H onda's two ox vans, causin g recu rri ng jokes about here exactly series cha mpion Jeremy cGrath was spen di ng his downtime n a lawn chair in hi s co ld box van o r pread out on the custom -leather couches here " p rivateers " La rry Ward an d ike Craig relax. But Honda team manger Wes McCoy reminded me that "box ans win championships." He' s got a oint there. The track itself was a short throw back o the bar-banging da ys of the mid-1 980s, efore th e tracks become more tech n o than a central Florida rave. It seems th at the powe rs-that-be at PACE/Supersporls w ere flipping through so me old videos and came across a clip of the Orl ando '83 event, whi ch wa s n arrowl y w on by Yam aha-m ounted Ron Lech ien ove r Johnnv O 'Mara, Mark Barn et t, Warren Reid a"nd Jeff Ward. "That' s w hat I wa nt to see this time," demanded promoter Bill Why is it that basketb all fans love to see Jo rd an score as m any p o ints p ossible each nigh t but su perc ross fans d on't w ant to see McGrath build as big a lead as possibl e each time ou t? I don 't care whether Jeremy lives in Canyon Lake or a d ouble-w id e next to mine, he sho ul d have been AMA Athlete of the Year. Last yea r, too. And the yea r before th at. And West. He was w atching side-by-side ra cing down lOD-yard-Iong whoop sections, double an d trip le jumps that required m ore speed than timing, and wide turns that allowed for paint-swapping passes, rather than carv ing corners up with fake berms and kick er bumps. Wh en riders and fans got to Orlando for the first session of '96, that' s pretty much what w e got. What w e didn't get w ere noi sy prerace fireworks that left the stadium filled with smoke. There was no silly, pr e-rac e introduction of Jeremy riding in the belly of an oversize , fire-b reathing, sharkshaped Tonka truck, and there w as no cheesy Rocky-sty le music to fill th e brief voids between races. (There was also no Dynamite Lad y openin g act, no on e dressed up as a bear rid ing a bike on fire, and no Evel Knievel-style jumping con test, but it's a long season and th ere's still tim e.) About 40,000 came out of the nearby snow to see th e rac e, including rap- ' per/ racer Vanilla Ice, who was w earing an AMA official shirt in lieu of a pit pass. The racing itself last night was excellent, alth ough not always close. The time has come to forget about whether or no t Jeremy McGrath's dom inan ce is good or bad for the sp ort and just app reciate him for what he does . This was a running conversa tion all weekend long in Orland o. We must think of him as the Michael Jordan of supercross - a best th ere ever was w ho just happens to still be around. if h e ha s to make li ke St e ve McQueen /Bud Ekins and jump the fence to get o u t of tha t exclusive neighborho od, here's hoping he do es a nac-nac and I'm there sitting on my cooler to see it! (And I'd lo ve ' to see hi m at the '96 Motocro ss de s Nations.) An yway, ba ck to motorcycle-friendly Orlando. McGrath showed up with a new ha ircut and the same old victory-first attitude. H e won th e heat race and main event wi th relative ease, taking the tim e to do some tricks for the fans and make the first lap or tw o m emorable by looki ng over at the only two guys he had to pass all night, Steve Lamson in his heat race and Mike Brown in the main. But the rest of th e races, with the possible exception of Mi ckael Pichon' s 12Scc m ain-e ven t runaway, we re fu ll of acti on. The 125cc hea t races, won by Pichon and Da vey Yezek, and just about all of the rest of the 250cc races had the crowd on its feet in the cold gra ndstands. The only downer was the shoulder-popp ing fall of Greg Albertyn in hi s sem i-qualifier. Bu t the n again, it ain't su percross if Albee doesn't get hurt. Th e 2S0cc m ain ev en t offered a serious "State of Racing" m essage. While McGrath checked out like a businessman late for a fligh t, the presence of Team Great Wes tern ' s Phil Lawrence and Yama ha's Damon Bradshaw in the shotgun positions wa s meaningful. "Factory" Phil ha s nev er been on the podium before . Brad sha w ha sn't been on one in three ye ars. H ell, he hasn't been on su pe rcross track for three years. Bu t as the laps clicked off and the appeara nces of LaRocco , Ward an d Em ig never h appen ed, it b ecame clear that these tw2. guys were pu ttin g in the rides of their recent lives on a tra ck th at allowed it to happe n. Were LaRocco, W a rd a n d Emi g n ot 'a s p re p a r e d a s McGrat h, or were they jus t victims of bad lu ck and op e ning-n ig h t jitt ers? W e'll know after Minn esot a and An ahe im . In th e en d M cGrath w on in lapped tr affic witho ut a na c-n ac - maybe he' s sa ving it to get ba ck into his neighborhood - but he d id salu te the crowd with a victory lap nac-n a c, La w rence rode smoo th and smart all night long and finished a crow d-pleasing second to Bradsha w 's even more crowd-pleasing th ird . But with one m or e lap H u ffm an m ight h av e pa ssed th em both. (If McGrath is "Showtime," maybe we sho uld start calling the still-improving Huffman "HBO" now for the sake of future headlines .) H ugh es fell back a few spots after some kind of ru n-in with Mike Cr aig, res ulti ng in a po s t-race brawl th at gave hockey fans in att endan ce th eir mon ey's worth. Th e AMA should take the mo ney they collect on the fine s fro m this mess and put it towards pit speakers for next year' s Orlando race. Some top rid ers and m echan ics missed the call to the starting gate and were forced to line up on the far o u t sid e . This o ve rsight ru ined a ny chance for a replay of the m agnificent Pichon / Tim Ferry 12Scc hea t race when Ferry had to line u p with the ESPN cam eramen. So what did O rlando p ro ve ? Sev eral th ings. For one, Wes McC oy was right: You don't have to have an 18-wheeler to get on the podium, just a box van and a fancy nickname like "Showtime" or "Factory." Orlando also proved tha t the less technical a tra ck is, the closer the racing will be, especia lly in corners wh ere you're less worried about timing for the upcoming double-triple-double than you are abou t diving in on the gu y in front of you. The idea that more is better when it comes to jumps is for dirt con tractors, not su percross racers. And finally, the event proved that Orlando can w ork as the sea son kickoff. For th e first time, Orlando was not ju st a race - it was an event. A happening . The Opener. N ow if they could just get someone to paint the starting gate.... I1\' I:lO KIN ·BACK~.. I O G s shown on the co v e r, so r t o f, th e Big Apple osted it s first p ro essional mo torcycle acing e vent since orld W a r II (the ig one ). AI Keny- and third-place finisher Rich Th o rwal d son, and hi s lead kept growing th roughou t th e rac e ... Despite he avy fog, Bob M esse r saw h is way clear to the SOOcc-c1as s vi cto ry in ACA m ot o cross ra cin g at Southern Californ ia 's Saddleback Park. ~l 1'1"'i;]"i -~lC c= Jim Wilson and Chuck nl-": i'n " "'\}'r - -=-..L_ Minert follow ed Mess- .:.I:!~ " : lT ~ er a cr o s s t h e fin ish '~.-. _ . . . .. line. ' ~ :p:a~~ r~:f~~;~; ~lT---'~-= r a ck cours e at .~~""_ _"I adiso n Square Gardens . im Odom applied continuous pressure, ut eve ntu ally had to se ttle for se cond lace... The wil y J.N . Rob erts prevail ed n th e Lost Coyotes' Eu ropean Scramle s at Red Roc k Canyo n , Ca li fo rnia, corin g a huge v icto ry in the H eavyeight d ivision. By th e end of th e first ight-mile loop, Roberts had a good half . e on eventu al runner-up Ron Nelson 15 YEARSAGO... JANUARY 28,1 981 ou nd three of th e DG Golden State Moto' cr o ss Se ri es s a w ........ -!'!"oniii~ Broc G lover get his m itts on a couple of first -pl ace trophies, taking the 250 and SOOcc Pro classes with double m oto victo ries. Scott Bu rnworth too k top 12Scc Pro ho nors at R the Fr em ont, Cali fornia, event... Larry Camel Supercross w in of hi s ca re er at H oop er sco red a double m oto win in the round two of the se ries in Houston, 2S0cc Pro class and also took the Open Te xa s . Ba yle fini shed four se co n ds P ro o v era ll at th e Clarks Branch ah ead of J eff Matiasevic h , taking the M ot ocross in Roseburg, Oregon . The points lead from teammate and defendraces were run on a d ry track, d ue to a ing champion Jeff St anton, who fell on we eklon g midwinter drough t - is th at a the opening la p and fini shed seventh... re cord fo r that state? ... Yam aha Mo tor Charlie Ven egas froze ou t th e com petiCorpora tion headqu art ers in tion a t the se co n d an n u a l Budweiser Cyp re s s, Cal ifornia, took . In d oo r Speedway Ice Raci ng delivery of its first 7S0cc chain 1 ' . , j • World Ch ampionship in Tu s: dri v e V-twin e ngi ne from - - 'I. _ .:.._ . . co n, Ari z on a. M a r k H a n nah Japan, de stined for d irt tr ack '.~ , -.. ~ . wa s the runne r-up and Jan racing. Racing Team Manag Jensen also stood on the podie r Ken C la rk sa id en g ines um... Ph il La w re n ce fought off w ould be available for deal12Scc World Champion D on n ie er-backed racing efforts . Schmit for nearl y half an hour to tak e the 2S0cc Pro main-event victo ry at round thr ee of th e GFI Cal5Y SAGO... EAR ifornia Win ter Series South in Per JANUARY 3 0,1991 r is . Californi a . Schmit t o ok a h e co v er of Cy cle . ' . ', . . measure o f revenge in the 12Scc N ews featured Jean--,..._-..J Pr o class w ith a d ouble mot o w in Michel Bayl e, who sco red th e sixth over Lawren ce. I1\' T 47

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