Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Round 9: Texas Stadium By Dave y Coombs Photos by Kit Palmer IRVING, TX. MAR. 23 n baseball parlance, a " no-h itter" comes when a pitcher is able to prevent every batter he faces from getting a hit. If the pitcher gets all Ll batters (in a nine-inning game) to make an out, they'll say on ESPN th at he p itched a "gem" - a ra re, perfect game. Team Hon da /l -BOO-Collect / Fox Racing's Jerem y McGrath h as effectively mad e it in to the sixth inning of the nohitter that he's throwing at the competition in the 1996 AMA Su percross Series. In Dalla s, Texas, McG rath recorded his n inth w in in a ro w and ha s nearl y reached the tw o-thirds mark of the 15race series with his perfect game int act. No profession al motocross rider in the history of Ll.S, or internation al competition has ever come this close to having a perfect season. If the rest of the season were rained out right now, a la baseball, McGr ath 's perfect game would count in the record books . "Can I win them all? I don 't kn ow," sa id a m od est-but-satisfi ed McG rath after ru nning away wi th another 250cc main-even t w in. "I jus t want to worry about th e championship for now . If a perfect season hap pens, then it ha ppens. I fi ~ ~ I'm taking this one rac e at a time. If I lose, well, there' s alway s next w eek ." And the next championship, With d istant titl e contenders Damon Huffman, Jeff Emig, Damon Bradsh aw and Mike laRocco all havi ng off nights in Dallas, McGrath extended h is cu rre n t points lead to a remarkable 65 po ints, which means he's lapped the field twice on the points board. Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, an injury-induced seventh tonight, is second (160 to McGrath's 225). The game, or rather race, took place a t Te xa s Sta di u m, th e ho me of the Superbowl Ch ampion Dallas Cowboys, which has nothin g to do with baseball o r Je r emy McGrath. Mat ch in g h is career-high finis h of second in a 250cc main was Team Kawasaki 's Ryan Hu gh es, who came from midpac k to provide the most activity on the track. A seasonbest th ird w as Honda of Tro y' s Larry Ward, who see ms to finally be ove r the thumb injury th at ha s prevented him from defending his 1995 vice cha m p ionship. Fourth pl ace , for th e second straig ht weekend - w as Suzu ki' s Ezra Lusk, who is still searching for his firstever 250cc podium finish . And finishing a lackluster fifth was Jeff Emig, who just never seemed to find the right rh ythm on th e extremely h ard -p a cked Dall as track. Wh ile McGrath flies to his next title, Huffman is followed in the standings by his Kawasaki teammates Jeff Emig (140) and Ryan Hughes (132). Holding down a re specta b le fifth in the standings is Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw, who was a cras h-im paired 11th in Texas. What the 250cc division lacked in energy and excitement could be found in a slam-bang 125cc East-West showd own. Team Spli tFi re/Pro CircuitKawasaki 's Mickael Pich on effectively broke up the perfect ga me th at Kevi n Win d h am was throwin g in th e minor league of su percross by twice ru nnin g down th e su per-talen te d I B-yea r -old Yamaha pilot an d passing him for th e lead. A fter p ushi ng h is w ay into the lead the first time, the Frenchma n must have had a heart-stop ping sense of deja vu when he topped a sma ll jump and was shocked to find a downed rid er in his landing zo ne in front of him - just like the Atla nta Super cro ss last month. Picho n again cr ashed into th e poorly flagge d wreckage, but thi s time wa s ab le to get up : Fortun ate ly fo r Pich on ' s efforts, Windham di dn' t see the down ed rider either an d nearly hit the deck himself. The stu m ble ke pt Windham fro m gaining an im med iate advantage and kep t the Frenc hma n's upset bid alive . A cou p le of laps later he repassed Wind- • ham and put an end to the kid's perfect 125cc supercross series in its fifth race. (Windham missed the San Diego round of the series in February with a broken shoulder.) "I got lucky bec ause Windham did not see the (downed) rider either and he go t stu ck a little bit, too," said Pichon. "I was ab le to get up right afte r him and I knew I had faster lines than hi m. It was just a matter of getting past him befo re I got tired. And I do n' t th ink he was riding his best, either." To m ake mailers slightly worse for an out-of-sync Windham, Pich on 's lesser-known teammate Casey Johnson gathered up Windham as well and finished a career-best second . Windham wa s th ird with California ' s Gr eg Schnell and G rea t Britain' s Jam es Dobb rounding out the top five. The Dalla s win , when combine d with 125cc East Region points leader John Dowd's sixth-place finish after a woeful start, put Pich on just one po int beh ind the Yamaha rid er in the chase for the '96 125cc East Region crown, 122-121. In the West, Windham holds a siza ble 15-point ad vanta ge over Suzuk i fill-in James Dob b. . Th e 1996 version of the Dall as SX was a d r ast ic change fro m the rainsoaked '95 event, w here Doug H enry won his first main event in what turned