Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'S Supercross SeriesS Round 12:Pontiac Silverdome UE C OS PRR AMA CDC By Kit Palmer Photos by Karl Ockert PONTIAC, MI. APR. 13 e r em y . McGr ath co u ld n ' t qu it e d ecid e wh a t he w a s more happy a bo u t - . clinching his record -breaking fo urth straight supercross title or keeping his remarkabl e winning st reak alive. 'This is going to sound kind of we ird, but I feel kind of... normal," said Tea m 1-800-Collect/Honda/Fox's McGrat h, wh o, in front of a huge crowd of 51,809 specta tors in the Pon tiac Silverdome, came from beh ind in the 20lap feature to clinch his fourth consecutive SX title and increase his win strea k to 12. "1 mea n, 1 know what it feels like (to win a championship) and - I don't kn o w, I just feel normal. I gu ess I'm more stoked about the streak, because I kind of knew a couple of races ago I'd win the cha mpionship. But, then again, any thing can happen." Ha ving said that , Team Hond a consultant Jeff Stanton , who was standi ng nearby, turned aro und and said wi th a gri n, "Yea h, rem ember 1992, the L.A. Coliseu m? Anyt hing can happen ." McGrath wen t in to the 12th race of th e I S-round se ries ha vi ng a ll but w r app ed up t he titl e des pi te thr ee rou nds yet to be run ; all he had to do in Michigan was to finis h no wo rse tha n 18th and the nu mb er-one plate wo uld ...... . be his agai n to wear next year. And to .... no one's surprise, McGra th, on his Skip 0... No rfolk-tuned Ho nda CR250, cruised to ~ victory in th e Silverdome, th ou g h he di d have to make amends for a sixthplace start. J ..... 10 " 1' m gett ing us ed to th at ," McGrath joked . "1 ha ven ' t go t te n t he holeshot in about four races . I think Dallas was the last time." McGrath to ok over th e lead fro m Kawasaki's Ryan Hu gh es o n the seventh lap a nd steadily pulled away to w ha t woul d be his 41st career su pe rcross victory . The celebration in the pits was - all things cons idered - somewha t s m a ll an d co nserva tive on this titleclinchin g night, as most of the 51,000plu s spectators head ed straight for the wa rmth of thei r car s' heaters to avoid the frigid 3D-degree temp eratures and gus ty wind s outside the stadium, while most of the racers imme dia tely locked themselves into their team 's big rigs or box vans to get ou t of the cold . However , a sma ll grou p o f fans ignored th e co ld and partied with the red team, including, of course, Honda team manage r Wess McCoy, w ho had this to say about his pr ized ride r and th eir team : " A ll th e g uys wo r ke d hard fo r t his, a nd 1 d on't see a n y w her e in th e realm of su pe rc ross that anyone is w orking harder than these gu ys ar e, es pecia lly Jere my . Nobody believ es her e that he (McGrath) thinks he has so mu ch talent tha t he can just go ou t there and do that every weekend. On Monday he rid es by himself, on Tuesday we test with him, on Wednesday we test wit h him aga in, on Thursd ay he flies, on Friday he practices - it all has to d o with testing and hard wo rk. Anyo ne who thinks he's not doing it seven days a week is full ..." The only rid er ot her than McGrath who had a shot - albeit a long shot - at the title was Kawasaki' s Jeff Emig, wh o got off to a mid pac k start in the featu re and slow ly wo rked his way up throu gh the field, finishing a respectable second place, five seconds off McGrath 's pace. Despite being unable to put an end to McGrath's strea k, Emig was co n te n t with his ride. " 1 r eally focused on my race thi s w eekend, and tried not getting frustrat ed b e cau se McGrath is out in front of me," said Emig. "1 rode a pr etty consistent race." Emig was one of the first to con gratulate McGrath w hen he rod e up next to him on the cool-off lap and gave his longtime rival a pat on the should er and the thumbs-up . McGrath cu rre n tly has a perfec t poin ts to tal of 300, w hile Emig hold s d own second pla ce with 199, just nine points ahead of teammate Hu ghes. Perhaps putting in the most ins piring rid e of the night was Team Suzu ki' s Ezra Lu sk, wh o finish ed up on the podium for the second time this season. Th e Georgian, who was feelin g ill all day and night, led th e fir st tw o laps before getting pa ssed by Hugh es then su ffering a so lo crash lat er that sa me la p. He rem ounted in 13th place and wen t to wo rk, pi ckin g off rid er afte r ride r un til he had control of third place wi th only two laps left. His last victim was Hu gh es, w ho was experiencing a bad case of arm -pum p. "I' m starting to cres t that peak," said Lus k. "I'm maturing a lo t > 1 know wh en to pin it and wh en not to; wh en to be aggressive and when to wait. It's all coming together for me. My confide nce level is ba ck up th ere, m y bod y is stro nger, an d I'm having fun ." Lusk le d t he way. a mo ng all th e Tea m Suzu ki riders as Gr eg Albertyn went from a seven th-pla ce sta rt to finish ninth in the main event, taking the

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