Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS . AMA Supercross series . Round 6:GeorgiaDome "I' m starting to feel a lot better and I think I can run with McGrath no w:' said LaRocc o. "But I just need to get a good start. H e runs good for the first six laps . If 1 can stay w ith him un til th en I th ink I could take him after that." Wh en combined with the inconsistent finishes of the rest of the field so far this season, McG ra th 's sixth straight win of ' '96 g ives h im a lead o f 46 p o in ts on Kawasa ki ' s Dam on Hu ffm an . That's al m os t two full races w orth of po ints. McGrath ha s 150 total poin ts while Huffman,- sixth in A tlanta - has 104. Thi rd through fifth in the sta ndi ngs ar e Emig (95), LaRocco (92) and Ryan Hughes (90). The 125cc main -e v ent p odium in Atlanta wa s filled with two first -timer s . and one o ld-timer. Team Yamaha's John Dow d, who turned 30 la s t Augus t, became the o ldest man ever to wi n a 125cc Supercross m ain when he pulled into the w inner's circle for the first stadium win of his career. Dowd took advantage of a b iz arre crash by race leader Mickael Pichon to claim the Atlanta victory and the points lead in the 125cc Eastern Regio na l Series point standings. "Everyth ing finally went my wa y for once," said Dowd, who hail s fro m Chicopee, Massachusetts. " Usu ally it 's the other wa y around, but that's just part of racing. You have to stay on your bike and finish the race, especially on a rutted track lik e this. Tha t's half the reason I won, 1guess." (Left) Jeremy McGrath (1) ran down early leader Jeff Emig (2) and went on to sco re his sixth-straight win of the 1996 season. McGrath remains unbeaten in main events thus far in 1996. (Below) Mike laRocco worked up to th ird after another so-so start. By Davey Coombs Photos by Kinney Jones ATLANTA, GA, FEB. 25 o rg e t all of those cliches like "McGrath Gone With th e Wind," "G en eral Jeremy Bums Atlanta," . "Showtime Survives Battle of Atlanta" or an y of those other Civil War catch-phrases. Jerem y McGrath w on this year's running o f th e At lanta Supercross whil e hardly breaking a sweat. The H onda /1 SOO-Co llect / Fox Racing-backed su pe rstar from Canyon Lake, California, won what h a s lately been th e m ost competit ive su pe rcross ra ce o n th e circuit by confide ntly leading the last 15 lap s of the main event while ge tting only m ock pr essure from the rest of the pack . The win in the spacious Georgia Dome, in front of 45,552 fans, was McGrath's sixth in a row and extended his perfect season into at least the first weekend of March. "I used to feel that on a track that gets . ru tted like this, that I wasn't strong enough to win," McGrath said of the ru tinfested Atlan ta track. "Now, after I won my outdoor ational championship last year and got my training act down with Gary Sernics, I kno w that I can w in on a ny track . Atl a n ta's ju st a no ther race F now." That m ay be true in the future, but the 1996 even t will go down in th e hi story books . M cG rath broke Rick Johnson' s re cord o f starting an AMA Supercro ss -Series with five straight wins and in the proces s tie d Bob Ha nnah 's all-time reco rd of six AMA Su percross w ins in a row. " I came in to this race a lot less nervous than before," admitted McGrath. "I came to this point be fore thinking to myself, 'No one has ever won six in a row: and I lost my chance both times. By now 1 think everyone is accepting me as the champion and expecting me to win, no matter whether it's tw o in a row or six in a row." When asked if new records mean an ything to him after all the records he's broken in th e last few years, McGrath said, " I' m ju s t racing .to win th e race; th e records ju st come with it. For me it's still just a thrill to win even one race." Whil e McGrath is running away wi th h is fo u r th s t ra ig h t AMA Su percross cro w n, Kawasaki' s Jeff Emig continues his rise from a dangerous level of medi ocrity . Emig led the ea rly part of the race in Atl anta but se ttle d for se co nd a fte r McGrath pulled away from him . Still, the result boosted Emig to thi rd in the points standings and gave him a new lease on the rest of th e se r ies. It also helped reignite the old feud between him and McGrath. "I' m not completely innocent (of starting u p the rivalry), and I'm probably get' ting under his skin a little bit:' said Emig of McGrath. "He's still winning the main event and all, but it's getting a little harder every weekend. 'Gan g green' is coming . Everyone on our (Kawasaki) team Ryno, mysel f and Dam o n (Huffman) ~ are riding really well and .gett ing real consistent starts. 1 fina lly go t a holesho t, too, and th at means a lot. But I give Jeremy McGrath credit He's riding fast and doing w ha t h e has to d o to w in . H e know s that the time is com ing . I'm working as hard as 1 can an d m y goal is to be at him . 1 d on ' t want to lu ck ou t and beat him - I want to beat him st raigh t up. I want to be there and I want to p ass him and beat him ." Th ird in Atlanta w as Su zuki' s Mike LaRocco, who is continuing hi s careerlo ng trend of being one o f th e fastest guys on the track at the end of the race, but a pathetic starter. LaRocco rose from outs ide the top 10 to third in the 20-lap main event, getting to wi th in inches of Emig at the end. '

• Cover