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/127771
.Round 5:Jack MurphyStadium By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones 6 SAN DIEGO, CA, FEB. 10 erha ps it was the anticipa tion of seei ng Team Hon da/l -800-Collect /Fox's Jeremy McGrath possibly getting beaten for the first time this season that lu red a record supercross crowd o f 42,808 to San Di ego ' s Jack Murphy Stadi um. And they had good well, fairly good - reason to believe that McGrath might not win. It had been just a week earlier in Seattle that the seem ingly un beatable McGrath was seriously challenged for th e m ain-ev ent w in by Team Kawas aki's Damon Huffman, and many wer e pr ed icting that Huffm an running high on new-found confidence - wo uld pu t an end to McGrath's four- race wi n streak at San Diego. As evident by the packed stad ium, it wa s obvious that no one wa nted to miss out on tha t. Th en , w he n. McGrath was flat-ou t beat en for th e first time this year - by Kawa sa ki' s Jeff Emig - in th e second heat race, many were saying wit h confid en ce befor e th e m ain eve nt th at thi s would indeed be the night that "Showtime" gets knocked off the pod ium 's top spot for the first time this year. But w hen t he ch ips w ere d own , McGrath proved just w h y he is th e reign ing three-time supercross champion and is well on the way to nabbin g his fourth title. When the ga te d ropped in the feature, McGrath, as he has done so man y tim es in th e pas t, ou tg u n ne d everyone to the first turn, quickly established a comfortable lead, and cruised to h is 35th career su percross victory in typical McGrat h fashion . McGrath tu rned a race that ma ny had p redi cted wo uld be his first loss of the yea r into one of his easiest w ins. "Last week (at Seattle), that was just one of thos e things, but I wa s definitely impressed wi th Huffman and how he rode," said McGrath while signing autograp hs for the hundreds of fan s th at swarmed the Honda pits after the main eve n t. "This was one of my best r aces yet. I felt really strong, comfortable - I'm so pumped!" And what about Huffman, the man w ho m an y thought would e n d McGrath's streak at San Diego? A midpack sta rt imm edi atel y followed by an encou nter with a ha y bale all but ruined any hopes he had of giving Kawasaki its first su pe rcross win since Apr il of last vear, wh en Mike LaRocco won at Ponti~c, Michigan. After completing the first lap in seventh, then crashing back to last place on the third lap, Hu ffman rode an ins pi red race in hopes of sa lvag ing as many points as he could , and he would eventually cross the finish line in sixth place. Huffman was not happy the wa y things turned out. "I felt the best ever towa rds winning tonight," said a dejected Huffman. After a long pause, Huffman con tinu ed, "I wou ld've won if I started in the top five: 1 ha ve no doubt in my mi nd. I'm very mad, bu t the wa y to look at it is that 1 rode my hardest. " While Huffman tried to co me to terms with his sixth-place finish, Ernig, Hu ffman ' s teammate, was all sm iles in