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/127767
Round 1: Citrus Bowl By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jon es (Left)Jeremy M cGrath was his old se lf at the '96 AMA Supercross Series opener at Orlando. He jumped out in front early, pulled away and barely worked up a swea t en route to his 30th career SX win. (Below) Kawasakimounted Phil Lawrence, of the newly formed Great Western Race Team, surprised everyone by 'finis hing a strong second in the 2S0cc main event. 6 ORLANDO, FL, JAN. 13 ew faces , n e w te am s, new n umbers and a new seaso n greeted fans at th e opening round of the AMA Super cross Series in Orlando, Florida, but one thi ng was the sa me as it has been for the last th ree y ea rs, as Jerem y McG rath added ye t ano the r win to his impressive resume. McGrath left little d oubt in anyone's min d that he is - once aga in - the rider to bea t in th is year 's AM A Su pe rcross Series, as if there were any doubts in the firs t p lace. In fron t of a huge crowd of 40,963 spectators that filled the Citrus Bowl on a bitt erly cold nigh t in Central , Florida, th e Team Hond a r l-Bflfl-Col- j leer / Pox rider rom ped to victory in typi-j cal McGrath form and fashion: He blasted to the front of the pack right off the sta rt, b a ttled briefl y wi th Honda of J Troy's Mike Brown, then pulle d ou t to a comfortable lead and cruised to his 30th career supercross victory and h is third straight at Orla ndo. As he has do ne so many times th rou gh out hi s illu striou s career, h e ma de win number 30 look easy. "Th is is a big race, " sa id McG ra th . "It' s alw ays good to win the first one of th e se aso n . It's a real confidence buil de r." McGrath also put to res t any question abo ut his knee that w as opera ted on during the off-season. Despit e havin g to miss two weeks of training a fter th e incis ion had become infected, McGrath showed no signs of slowi ng down. "The arthroscopic ~urgery wasn't a big deal and the knee is 100 percent," he said . While McGra th's win came as no big su rpr ise, the two rid ers w ho filled the rem ain in g spots on the p odium su rprised nearly everyone. To m ost p e opl e, th e number "13" m eans bad luc k, but for privateer Phil Lawrence of th e Great Western Ra ce Team , it means quite the opposite. Like form er su percross champ Rick Johnson did b ack in 1989, Lawrence chose to ke ep the " u n lu cky" numbe r th at w as assign ed to him for the '96 season . Hi s luck sho u ld h ave been doubly bad Satu rd ay night, since the date of the Orland o Sup e r cr o ss fell on t he 13th, bu t instead, Law rence looked su perstition in th e ey e a nd tu rned in what w a s