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/127772
1996 Daytona Supercross by Honda By Donn Maeda hen the gate drops at the sta rt of the 1996 Daytona Supercross by Honda 20la p mai n event, all eyes w ill be focused on Jeremy McGrath. Though the three-time Supercro ss Cha mpion ho lds d own first place on the all -time su per cross w in lis t, the prestigious Dayt ona eve n t is on e th a t he' s nev er w on. Needless to say, McGr ath want s to win this yea r's event, and h as even d eclared that winning Da yto na was one of h is main goa ls in '96. So w hat has kept McGrath from winning in the past? Two things, basically. During McGrath's fi rst tw o years as champion, th e rough cond itions and high speeds .at the Speedway kep t McG ra th off th e hi ghest spo t on the winner's podium. "This isn' t eve n a real supercross," he said . "It's an ou tdoor track with jum ps . I' m just trying to get through this race with as many points as I can and kick butt when we get back to the real super- W cross tracks." That wa s two years ago. In 1995 , McGrath was determine d to wi n the even t an d prove his d oubters wrong. A convi nci ng w in in th e h eat race led man y to believe th at he w oul d indeed earn his first Daytona w in, but a huge pileup in the first tum left him near last p lace. Even McGrath couldn' t recover from that. Th is year, McGrath is o u t for revenge. By ca p turing h is first 250cc N ation a l Cham pionshi p in '95, the Californian h as proved tha t he h as what it tak es when the going gets more physical and less technical. As far as he' s concerned, McGrath feels that he' s overdue for a win at Daytona International Speedway. But wh at will it take to win? Now in its 26 th year of construction by "Professor" Gary Bailey, the Daytona co urse is t ra d it io na lly th e lon g e st , roug hest, most strength-sap ping track of them all. The sandy course is laid ou t on the grass infield area of the famo us facility, and racers reach higher spee ds than is norm al for a supe rcross eve nt. A field of 30 riders compe tes in the main even t, 10 more th an the normal 20 that make up a feature at other stadiu m venues . Four-time w inner Jeff Stanton and th re e- t im e winner Mike Kiedrowski will be on h and at Daytona this year, bu t n ot as comp etit o rs. Stanton w ill pa ss hi s kn owled ge on to Hond a /1 BOO-Collect / Fo x ri ders Mc Grath an d Steve Lamson, while Kied rowski w ill o ffer a dvice to Kawa saki 's Da m o n Huffman, Jeff Emig and Ryan Hugh es. As the fa cility ' s winningest ri ders, Sta nton a n d Kiedro ws ki obvio u s ly kn ow th e littl e secrets needed to gai n Dayt ona success.