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/127769
(Opposite page) Jeremy McGrath scored his 32nd career win In front of a highly partisan crowd. Including 125cc main events, McGrath has been undefeated In Anaheim Stad ium for five straight years. (Above) For the se cond race in a row, Team Yamah a's Kevin Windham topped the Western Regional 125cc main event. Like 250ccclass winner Jeremy McGrath, Windham had a huge lead and too k time to do a little showboating of his own. (Left) Kawasaki's Damon Huffman overcame a mediocre start and raced to second place. It was the Californian's first 250ccclass podium finis h. Here, he passes Suzuki's Mike laRocco for what he says was the first time In his career . over th e h andl eb a rs a t th e end o f a sa ndy straightaway , He ended up finishing a lowly 19th and dropped to sev enth in the series rankings. Third in the standings coming into Anahei m was Tea m Great We stern Ban k's Phil Lawrence, who appeared to be setting himself up as the Larry Ward style p rivateer hero of the yea r . Lawrence overca me a bad start and had m oved into sixt h place late in the race, but a last-lap cra sh cost him a half dozen spots. It a lso rui n ed a p erfect op portunit y for him to capi talize on Bradshaw's d isastrous night and move in to second in the standings. McGrath is still a t the to p of the points charts with a perfect score of 75 w hile M ik e La Ro cco, fourth o n the night , is up to seco nd w ith a total of 54 points, The third-ranked rider is Huffman, who boasts 52. Sitting in fourth with 48 is Team Honda of Troy /Sinisa lo's Mike Craig, who has been showing a newfound spirit of consistency this season. Can McG rath win the m ali? " N o, I don't think so," sa id t he three- time cha m pion. "I can su re try, but I don't think tha t I can. I just want to be consistent and win the title. As far as races go, if I can win 10 again I will be stoked:' Wh ile McGrat h was making mincemeat out of the 250cc field, Team Yam aha's Kevin Win dham was doi ng a little da mage o f hi s ow n in th e We st ern Regional 125cc mai n . For th e second week in a row the 17-year -old Windham took control of the IS-lap event near the halfway mark and eased away for the win on his Alley Semar-prepped Yamaha YZI25 . Team Chaparral /FMF's Greg Schnell enjo yed his best-ever finish as he crossed the finish line a distant seco nd afte r leadi ng the early parts of the race , Suzuki's Ja mes Do bb rode we ll an d greeted the checkered flag in third. The Englishman started poorly, but charged hard an d fast as he moved into the final pod ium position. "My co n fiden ce is re all y up r ig h t now and I feel real good abo ut the way that I'm riding," said Windham, wh o is m ore tha n m a kin g up for h is inj u ry plagued roo kie year of 1995. "I woul d have never thought it possible to come in and sweep the first two races like this , but now I'm taking it race by race. But I can tell you that I w ould love to win them all." Aft er two weeks of rel at ively easy but passin g- fri endly tracks, the Dirt Wurx-con structed Anaheim circuit was a technically difficult layout wh ich pr ovided few opportunities for straight-up p a ssin g a n d si de-by-side raci n g . The fiel d w as litte re d wi th s mall jump s, bum ps and grooves, m aking the riders look as if they were in a popcorn popper as they bounced arou nd the co urse . In other words, the jump-laden design was a return to recent su perc ro ss th eo ry, unlike the retro tracks of Orl ando a nd Min neapolis. The new course was no t popular ....i th most of the riders. "I like the more technical tra cks, but th is one was rea l difficult to pass on," said LaRocco, who had been a critic of th e firs t tw o tra ck s on th e ci rc u it. " Every thi ng h ere was easy todo and yo u could u se the in sid e lin e to do everything , so it was reall y di fficult to ge t a wheel in on anyone: ' 250c c Te am Ka wasaki 's Ry a n Hughe s, Team Xtreme's Jimmy Button and Team Chaparra l /FMF's Larry Brook s each started their night off on low no tes as they failed to complete -th e first lap of the first 250cc heat race without in cid ent. Hugh es a nd Button went down rig ht after the start wit h a sma ttering of other riders w hile Brooks snapp ed the chain on h is Yamaha and coasted to a stop. Out fron t -was the Honda of Lamson, followed by Shaun Kalas, Huffman a nd curren t All -Japan National MX Champi o n Jeff M at ia se v ich , once a favorite of the Anaheim crowd. Bra dshaw held fourth in the early going, bu t a few miscues would cos t him a qualifyin g spot. Lawrence was seve n t h from the s tart. Kalas rod e d ef ensi vel y in a bid to h o ld back th e faster Huffman bu t, after crowd ing him over the big triple coming down the first ยท \D base line, he lost the po sition on th e 0\ third base triples. Huffman immediately ~ set his sigh ts on Lamson and, in a preview of things to come, passed the veteran in the closing stages of the race. Whil e Hu ffm an and Lamson ro de away wi th the lead positions, Kalos was left to defend his po sition nex t against the Kaw a sakis of Matiasev ich, Bra d s ha w , a charging Lawrence, and Pro Circu it' s moonlightin g 125cc specialist Mickael Picho n. For the res t of the event 7