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
.SUPERCROSS ยท. Round 5:Jack Murphy Stadium . AMA Supercross Series . . . for a number of lap s until Brown went crashing to the gr ound after the two rid ers collided . "L us k ran me over," steamed Brown. "We were goi ng int o a tum an d he ran right into me, a s tra ig ht ta ke- out. He better w at ch ou t 'cause he' s go t one coming." Brown got go ing ag ain in 13th but would finish out the race in 16th. "I felt good," said a di sappointed Brown. "I could've beenup there." .By n ow , Emi g h ad taken control of second, releg ating Craig to third. By the midway po int, McGrath wa s still cruising out in front, nearl y a full stra igh t'aw ay ahead o f Em ig and Cr ai g . N ow holding down fourth was Hughes, wh o had remarkably com e up from his 17th place sta rt. In fifth was Lus k, followed by a strugglin g Lakocco, th en Button, Lawrence, Bradshaw, Ward, Lams on and Huffman. LaRocco soo n go t by Lus k by pushing h is teammate ou t w ide in a tu rn. Sh ortly th e r ea fte r, Lu sk crashed a ll alone in anothe r tu rn, which dropped him back to 11th oAt this point , a th reeway d ogfigh t had developed for sixth, seven th and eighth places, involving 8 "He (McGrath) dro ve it in on me an d tha t really pissed me off," said Emig of McGra th's pass. "I was yelling at him and I jus t go t fired up. I sa w m y chance and returned the favor. When I ran into him, I wasn't tryi ng to knock him down, I w as trying to pu sh him over into the hay bales." Emig opened u p a modest lead un til the last few laps. McGrath made it a race at th at p oin t, but could never m ake a serious pass attem pt. McGra th ' s se co n d p lace w as challenged early in the race by Emig's teammate Hughes, and at one point the tw o sailed over a tripl e jump nearly side by side with McGrath looking back over his shoulder at his challenger. The two went into the next tum together, but McGrath slammed the door shut on Hugh es wh o stalled h is mot or. Hugh es lost gro u nd on McGrath but didn't lose a position. At the finish it was Emig taking the w in followe d b y M cGrath, Hu ghes , Bradsh aw and Pich on . Finishing one spo t out of the transfers was Pichon. Lusk w ent wire-to-wire in the firs t se m i, lea di ng a freight train of riders co ns isting of Br o wn, Ma tiasev ich , Dem ent and Butt on. Though the riders rem ained fairly close, there was very little passing amo ng the lead ers. Brown held on to secon d, while Mat ias evich to ok th ird, a n d Button and Dement fou rth and fifth . Shaun Kalo s fin ish ed sixth, one position ou t of the transfers. Th e second sem i saw another startto -finish win, this time turn ed in b y Lamson. Pich on finished a distant second, ahead of Lewis and Ward. The biggest drama of this race was Brooks pa ssing Su zu ki rider Tommy Clowers just before the checkered flag for the last transfer po sition of the semis . Swink won the LCQ af ter a fifth p lace s tart, and Great Western Bank's Denny Stephenson looked to have the final transfer of the nigh t in the bag until getting rammed by teammate Bu d d y Antunez in a right tum. Stephenson was left sprawli ng, wh ile Antunez was left holding the last ticket to the main, finishing second . Wh en th e 20- ride r p a ck squeezed in to the qu ick left-ri ght turns at the start of th e 250cc main, it w as the number- (Above) Kawasaki's Ryan Hughe s (5), here mixing it up wi th Craig In the 10o-yard-lon g wh oop section , made the podium with a th ir d-place fi nish afte r getting off to a 17thplace start. (Righ t) Damon Huff man came from dead last after crashing to fi nish a remarkable sixth. The Kawasaki rider nearly passed Mike laRocco for f ifth on the last lap before runn ing off the track. one plate o f McGrath' s Ski p Norfolktun ed Honda leading the way. Perh aps quicker than in any of th e other fou r previous race s, McGrath es tablishe d a comfortabl e lead, a lead th at w o u ld nev er be threatened throu gh ou t the 20lap race. "After that heat race battle, there was only one thing to do and that wa s to get away as fast as possible," said McGrath. "That wa s my plan." McGrath's p lan w orked to a tee, as he simp ly roosted away an d let everyone else battl e for seco nd, wh ich was - . for the moment - owne d by Craig. Craig w as closel y ch ased by Wa rd, Brow n , Law rence, Emig, Huffman, Button and Lusk. Way back in 10th was LaRocco; 14th Bradshaw; 15th Lam son, and 17th Hughes. Huffm a n , wh o h ad h ope d t o get away off the start wi th McGr ath, found himself in seventh, then, worse yet, 20th after an encounter with Lusk , who had just p a ssed Button . " Lu s k came in underneath me and stuffed me into the hay ba les," said Huffman , who would spen d the rest of the race climbing up thr ou gh the pack. . Craig and Brown began dicing over second until Emig mo ved in and situated himself between the Honda of Troy pilots. Ward had dropped to fourth and would steadily continue falling back to 14th, where he would eventually finish, saying he's still ou t of sha pe after breaking his thumb earlier this year. Lusk was on the move and soo n had co n t rol of fo u rth, pressuring Brown from behind. They battled tooth and nail Button, Lawrenc e and Bradshaw. Th at battle ended when all three of them arrived in a tight, left-hand tum at the same time, with Button and Lawrence go ing wide and Bradshaw diving to the inside. Just a s Button an d Lawrence pivoted, Bradshaw went by down low, clipping bo th Button and Lawre nce' s front whee ls . Bu tton and Lawrence went'down sim u ltaneou s ly, as Brads haw got t hrough u n s cath ed . Thi s made the top seven McGrath - who was s ti ll way ou t in front - Emig, Cra ig , Hughes, LaRocco, Bradshaw and Hu ffm an . A lap lat er, Huffman go t by Bradsha w, jus t as Hughe s, with his shirttails flapping in th e w in d, passed Craig in the whoop s. On the last lap, th e only battle left