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/127776
.SUPERCROSS . AMA Sujlercross Series. By Do nn Maeda Photo s by Kinney Jone s HOUSTON, TX, MAR 16 igh t wins in eight tries . . With h alf of the 1996 A MA Su percross Series in the record book s, the imme d iate fu ture is beg inning to look grim for all but one rider. In the premi er 250cc class, no one except three-tim e Supercross Champio n Jeremy McGrath has crossed th e finis h line in first place, and at the moment, it doesn't look as if tha t w ill cha nge a ny ti me soon. So far, McGrath has wo n on every type of track and in eve ry ima gin ab le situa tion .- from the less-techni cal tracks that w ere found at th e ea r ly-seaso n races to the brutal Dayt ona Internati onal Sp eedw ay cou rse, and fro m a clean holeshot getaway to a poor m id pa ck s tart. It d oesn't m atter. McG rath has won them all, This weekend, th e course inside the huge H ouston Astrod ome was described by many rid ers as the best of the ye ar - techni cal with lots of air. Steep er takeoff ram ps sen t the riders flying higher than usu al, and a monstrous quad jump separa ted the men from the . . boys. McGrath go t off to his usual fast B Round 8: H s nAstrodome ou to start, but the hard-cha rging duo of Jeff Emig and Ryan Hughes b rought th e crowd to its feet as th ey p ush ed their way past the champ. Just when it looked as if McGrath might have a race on his hands, however, th e Kawasa ki tea mmates ran into each other an d cras he d ou t of con tention. McGrath was polite enough to mutter a "Thank you" inside h is helmet as he raced past an d on to w hat wo u ld be ano ther co mfortable wi n. "The way I look at is this - Daytona was th e big race that was goi ng to be hard for me to win," said McGrath, who continued to pull furt her ahead on the all-time win list wi th his record-extending 37th career win. "Now that I've got that one behind me, th e res t are easy. I'm just taking it race by race. Can I win them all? Who knows? But if these guys keep knocki ng ea ch o ther d ow n like that, maybe so." With the early-race d em ise of Emig an d Hughes, McGrath was pr essured ne xt b y th e third Ka w asa ki rider, Damon Hu ffman. The two-time Western Regional 12Scc Champion did his best to d u plicate his Seattle performance and p ass the cham p, but li t tle m is ta kes allowed McGrath to in ch away at a The streak continues: Three-time Supercross Champ io n Jeremy McGrath cha lked up hi s eighth win In a row on the big -air Housto n As tro dome tra ck. stead y ra te. In th e end, Huffma n was three secon ds ad rift. "I was try ing to stay on him, bu t I was making little mistakes," said Huffman. "I think Jeremy was faster in the little triple before the finish-line ju mp. He seemed to g ain th er e, an d I also wasn ' t able to d o th e quad every lap when we started lapping riders." After his tan gle wi th Emig, Hugh es remounted quickly and set a tor rid pace as he sliced his way back up through the pack. The su per -aggessive rider was visibly less energetic after his spill, but stilI mana ged to race home third with .relative ease . Of his encou nter with Emig, Hu gh es said, "I was charging through the whoo ps really fast and Emig left an opening on the insid e. Then he cut over and I was going too fast to keep from hitting him. It wasn't intenti onal, it was just one of those things." . Emig, on the other.hand, didn't see it that way. After being flung off his bike when H ugh es ran into his rear wheel, Ernig dusted himself off and could only salvag e eighth. "You know, we as a team are working real hard to beat Jeremy McGrath/' said Emig. "Kawasaki is the only team w hoseems to ha ve a good cha nce a t beating him, and we seem to be getting closer every week. Tonight, two of us we re beating him, but we both ende d up on the ground. What good is trying so har d if Ryno is go ing to do stuff like that?" Fou rth we n t to Suzu ki's Ezra Lusk. The fo rmer Ea st ern Re gi on al 12S cc Champion was the only rid er other than Emi g an d McGrath to lead the pa ck across the start / finish line, as he was the immedi at e ben efact or of th e Emig /Hughes Jangle and took over the lead wh en McGrath was forced to take eva sive action . Lusk held off McGrath for onl y one lap , but managed to fend off everyone else, with the exception of Huffman and Hu gh es, for th e rem ainder of the race. Lusk' s fourth-place ride matches his finish at this year's Seattle Supercross, and the shy Georgian feels as if he is slowly bu t su re ly making good progress. ' . "I bruised my tailbone at the Atlanta ra ce a n d h a ven't ridden fo r th ree weeks," said Lusk . "I felt good tonight, but I need to wo rk on my conditioning a little. I'm starting to feel better and better o n a 250 . A ll I n eed is m ore strength." Yamah a's Dam on Brad shaw rounded ou t the top five with a somewha t lonely rid e. "I felt good , but not great," sai d Bradshaw. "I got a bad start and didn't get to run with the leaders, but I can't complain." With eigh t races down and seven to .go, McGrath boasts a perfectscore of 200 points. Huffman is second with 146, while Emig trails with 124. At this point, McGra th co u l d s pen d th e n e xt t w o week ends relaxing at Lake Ha vasu and still easily maintain the series point lead . In the combined Eastern an d Western Regional 12Scc final, Yamaha's Kevin Windham made a triumphant return from injury and abso lu te ly waxed the field. Th e per son abl e Louisi an a rider w as th e on ly 12Scc pil ot to clear th e qu ad jump, and he used it to stretch his le ad to over 20 sec o nds at th e finish . Though he missed the San Diego round with a b rok en co lla rbone, Windham entered the rac e tied for th e Western Regional Series point lead with Suzuki's James Dobb . Need less to say, Windham emerged with a firm gras p on the Western Series point lead , "I kn ew that if I co uld get a good start and clear the quad on the first lap it would give me a good ad vantage at the sta rt," said Windham, who d id exactly tha t. "Once I got out fron t I never saw anyone. I was able to get over th at jump eve ry lap , and I just kept pu lling away." Seco n d went to Eas tern Regi on al 12Scc Ch ampio n Micka el Pichon. The Team SplitFire /Pro Ci rcuit /Kawasaki rider suffered a med iocre start and was never able to mount a challeng e for the lead . "I got a bad start and Windham got the holesh ot," said Pichon, who actua lly managed to beat Windham in their heat fa ce. "I could have beaten him if I started with him." Rounding out th e top three was Windham's teamm ate and current Eastern Regional Series point leader John Dowd. The popular 30-year-old nail ed the holesh ot and had no problems holding on to third. Windham leads Dobb - seven th in H ou ston - in th e West ern point sta ndings, 75-69, while Dowd lead s Pichon in the East, 107-96.