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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127775
.S Supercross SeriesS · Round 7: Daytona International Speedway U E C O· S PRR . .AMA (left) (left to right) Th ird-p laced Damon Huffman, winne r Jeremy McGrath and runner-up Damon Bradshaw celebr ate their f inishes. (Below) French man Mickael Pichon scored a runaway win in the 15-lap Eastern Regional 125cc main event. It was the defending champion 's second win of the season. When asked h ow long he felt comfor ta bl e be fo re t ighte n in g u p , Em ig replied; "1 felt really great from the time the gate d ropped u nt il I went through the first tum. I do n' t know what it was tod ay - my focus an d concentration jus t wer en't there tod ay." Once McGra th took over the lead , his strategy w as sim ple: "1 wanted to hamm er it out like a National," he said. "1 rod e as ha rd as I could for th e first 10 laps." One of McGrath's biggest advantages over the rest was his ability to ju m p a tricky tripl e jump on the far side of the track from the insi de line . "1 kn ew that 1 gaine d about a second a lap by doing that ," sai d McGrath. "I would h it it on the inside and 'braap.' fly the thing from th e inside. I think .everyone else was doubling it or go ing way wide to triple." McGrath's lea d was five secon ds by the fourth lap , seven by the sixth, an d 10 by the ha lfway poin t. With five laps to go, McGrath led by over 15 seconds an d had began to lap rid ers who were ru nning inside the top 10. "1 wasn' t eve n tired," said McGra th. "1 cou ld have pushed it lon ger if 1 had to." After be in g p a s s ed by M cGra th, Emig held d own second pl ace for five lap s before giving in to Bradshaw. The Yamaha rider pulled alongside Emig in the pit-lane whoop section and pus hed h is w ay past in the mech anics' sig n al area . Huffm an was nex t to strike, and the you ngster p assed h is more experienced teammate in the fron t jum p section and set his sights on Bradshaw. It only took tw o mo re laps for Hu ffman to fin d his w ay past Bradsh aw and in to se co n d, and h e quickl y opened up a small gap over the Yama ha rid er. "1 p ractice d r eal h a r d d u ri ng t he w eek, and focu sed on pa ssin g guys fast at the start of the race: ' said H u ffman . "My weakness is that it takes me a while to get going, so we worked on my early race speed." Huffman was su perior to almost everyone in the front jump section - the same area tha t La mson used to p ass McGrath in their heat race. "Tha t was the special 'Mike Kiedrowski' line:' said Huffman, in referen ce to the wheelie technique he used as h e approached the step-up tableto p ju m p . " Mik e to ld u s a ll a bout tha t before the race. 1 guess he u sed to pass gu ys there, too. Then we also watched Lam son do it du rin g his heat race." But as the race wore down, Huffman began to tighten up and allow Brad shaw to close ba ck in. "1 think he relaxed a bit after he got by me : ' said Bradshaw . "1 took so me tim e to regrou p after he got by me, an d I saw so me of h is lines th at were better." With Bradshaw breathin g down h is neck, Hu ffman began to make little mistakes that wo uld cost him in the end. "1 hit a rut wrong and swapped off the track" said Huffman. "That's whe n Bradshaw got by me. After that I loosened up an d char ged back at him, bu t I could n't make a pass stick." Huffman hounded Bradshaw in the remaining laps, pulling eve r so close in the front jump section, but was forced to sett le for th ird in the end . "I'm happy w ith the wa y 1 rode, bu t I wis h 1 had finished just a litt le bit better: ' said Huffman. After starting 12th, Lamson methodically p lugged his way through the pack and eventually fou nd .himself in four th at th e chec kere d flag. Lamson was th e final rider to find his way past the ailing Emig, doing so on the eighth lap over a tri cky whoo p se ction th at p receded a . kicker jump. Once past Emig, Lam son fou nd himself faced with a five-second gap between himself and Huffman, but at one poi nt closed to within a few bike len gth s. " It w as ha rd to close in o n them becau se 1 was all by m yself:' he sai d. "1 got right on them at one poin t, but 1 friggin ' s cre w ed up in the w h oops an d almos t fell. 1 think I rode the front wh eel over abou t fou r whoop s before 1 go t back under control." At the finis h line, Lamson was three seconds behind Huffman, and about 13 ahead of Emig. Sw ink crossed the finish line a distant sixth after running as high as fourth. S wink looked grea t at the star t of the race, but slowed a tad as the laps wore down. Still, he was ab le to maintain a co mfortable gap over seventhplace d Lawrence. "1 felt great at the start, but my arms pumped u p about the fourth lap: ' said Swink. "1 ended up all by my self out there, and 1 was just riding a conservative pace . Every time 1 tried to push it, I wo uld start to pump up." Behind Lawrence .cam e Button, LaRocco and Brown, who rounded out the top 10. LaRocco ran near the front of th e pack early in th e race , but crashed on the far side of the course on the sixth lap and lost man y position s. Two surprise non-finisher s wer e heat race winner Henry and Hughes. Henry started well an d held d ow n fourth for . three laps, but w as sid elined w hen his chain derailed over a triple jum p. "1 fe lt great:' said Henry. "1 thin k that I cou ld have stayed up th ere, top five for su re. The cha in fe ll o f r ig h t whe n 1 landed from a triple, and I think it was still halfway on w hen 1 ga ve it one last twist. Then it got all bin ded up in the countershaft sprocket." Hughes, meanwhile, started poorly and rounded the track in 13th 0 1) la p one. Hughes got as far up as sixth before crashing hard at the halfway point. . "1 was riding pre tty h a r d : ' sai d Hu ghes. "1 got crossed up in a ru t and 1 knew right away that it was gonna swap bad. When 1 got up, the bars were bent so bad that I had to pull off. We tried to bend them back, but it was no use. " 125cc Pich on and Dow d made qu ick wo rk of the tw o 125cc-class heat races, but it was Ch ap arral' s Brian Deegan who led the field off the line and into tu m on e. Dow d w as a close second, w hile Ferry, PJI/X treme/Atomic 22 /Burns v ill e Ya maha / Enzo Ra cin g-rider Cory Keeney, F&S Suz uki's Davey Yezek and Pichon filed in beh ind. A huge p ileu p claimed at least 10 midpa ck riders over the first set of jumps, but the lead pack was unaffected . Wh ile Deegan did his best to ho ld on to the lead, Picho n quick ly set to work and blitzed in to second by the star t of lap two. Dowd, meanwhile, drop ped to four th b ehind De e g an , Pichon a nd Ferry . "1 don't know what my problem is at the start of a race:' said Dow d . "1 don 't kn ow if it' s 125s or wha t, bu t 1 can never ge t going fast du ring the first few laps." Meanwhil e u p fro n t, Pichon mad e quick w ork of Deegan in th e pit-ro ad whoop se ctio n an d waved good by e. Wit h eac h p ass ing lap, the Fre nchman added to h is lead and was never serious ly cha lleng ed as h e raced away with his second win of the series. "1 go t a good start, but 1 had abo u t four or five ri ders ahead of me," said Pichon. "The problem w as in the begin ning 1 couldn't find a good line to pass the guys in front of me. After a couple la ps r sta rted to at tack th em and p ass them . After that, everything w as good." Ferry also passed Deegan early in the race, and look ed to have control of second as he pulled away. Dowd, however, h ad o ther ideas . Though it took him seven full lap s to warm up, Dowd w as able to pass Deegan in the front whoop