Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

think anybody deserves it more than him and his mechanic. When I told Greg about Jeremy coming on board, he took it really good and was really positive about it. He said, 'McGrath is the best supercross rider and I can learn from him and it's going to be goodior me.''' "I've worked harder than I have ever before:' Albertyn said. "The Suzuki is going better than it's ever gone before, and, you know, everything has got to come together sooner or later. "This is incredible, man:' he continued. "It's like winning a World Championship. To come over and be a World Champion and then not do anything in the results is, like, really de-motivating, but to finally make it and to prove to everybody that I am a supercross rider and that I can win, it is elation. This is'a start (toward a championship) and I'm so happy." And Albertyri's win at the Coliseum wasn't handed to him on a silver platter. He worked for it. The Suzuki rider had to first pass AMA 250cc National MX Champion Jeff Emig - a rider who many predicted would win the series opener then hold his ground for the majority of the race over an ever-present and redhot Doug Henry of.Team Yamaha. "I've been working really hard and think I have a good shot at it (the tiUe) this year:' Henry said. 'Tve been waiting for this race and I'm here and I'm ready - that's pretty much it." As far as trying to catch Albertyn r Henry explained: "Ah, I didn't want to overdo it. This is the first race and all. I wanted to just get a good finish in the first one and try to better that throughout the year. [ just want to stay consistent, be on the podium and win some. I think that's what it's going to take this year, becau~e you're going to see a lot of different winners and riders up there and I just want to be up there more than anybody else." Third-place finisher Larry Ward was also full of surprises. For one - he showed up. During the off-season, Ward broke his leg aild 'ankle and wasn't even expected to compete. But compete he did, and he crossed the finish line third on his Honda of Troy CR250, despite having a three-inch screw removed from his ankle just five days before the race. After the race, Ward reached into his pocket, pulled out the three-inch-long screw and said: 'This is what was in my ankle - Monday. I had it taken out (on Monday) and that's the point when they told me I could go ahead and start walking, riding and stuff. Before that I was non-weight-bearing (on the leg) for eight weeks, so to get through this, really, I'm very happy. I rode Tuesday and Wednesday, Thursday I flew out here, and Friday I rode practice, that (Friday) was the.first time I rode my actual race bike." Ward rode among the top five for the entire race before taking over third for good on the seventh lap. . Rounding out the top five on the night were Team Suzuki's Mike LaRocco and Team Yamaha's Ezra Lusk. A seemingly uninspired Emig ended up sixth after crashing. And what happened to Jeremy McGrath, the most talked about rider heading into the LA Supercross? Quite simply, McGrath had the worst night of racing since joining the 250cc ranks in 1993 - he ended up 15th. Making his debut appearance on his factory-backed, Team 1-800-Collect/ Scuzuki of Troy /Fox/No Fear Suzuki, the four-time supercross champion .was undoubtedly under a lot of pressure. (Right) Jeff Emlg (3) found himself in the lead when McGrath and Lamson tangled in the first turn. Emig, however, lost his rhythm and dropped back to sixth. Here, Emig is' chased by Albertyn (8) and Manchester Honda Racing's Damon Bradshaw, who showed signs of his old self. (Left) Defending champ Kevin Windham lived up to many people's expectations by winning the 125cc West Coast feature. Perhaps a bit too much to handle. To get beaten in LA - after winning 14 of 15 rounds last year - would make his new team and equipment look bad, at least that was what a lot of people were saying beforehand. And a'loss would certainly raise a lot of questions and doubts as to McGrath's decision to willingly leave Team Honda, a team he's had so much success with over the past four years, during the off-season. Receiving his actual race bike on the day of the race didn't help matters, nor did getting passed by his former Honda teammate Steve Lamson on the last lap, for the win, in his heat race earlier in the night. People were beginning to talk. When the gate dropped for the 250cc main event, McGrath got the jump on the pack and led into the first turn. But when he got on the brakes and began to square off the first turn, he was plowed into from behind by none other than Lamson, whose bike got sucked up between McGrath's rear wheel and fender. By the time they managed to pull their bikes apart, the pack had left the two riders behind. McGrath got going again quickly, but toppled over again a few feet later. He still managed to pass Lamson a few turns after that, but the knockout punch was yet to come. Still on the opening lap, McGrath and Lamson would tangle again when Lamson unsuccessfully tried a block pass on McGrath in a tight, left-hand turn. This time, McGrath was a little stunned by the impact. He still got back on his bike, as did Lamson, but at the end of the next straight, McGrath.'s Suzuki stalled. After his thre.e first-lap get-offs, McGrath was mentally and physically shot. He just circulated the track at a leisurely pace with his goggles hanging around his neck for the rest of the race, perhaps already thinking about next week's second LA Coliseum race. Despite his disastrous Suzuki debut, MaGrath was still graceful in defeat. "When you fall, get taken out, or whatever, three times in one lap, it's like, God, what do you think?" McGrath said.. "But 1 love my bike, 1 got an exce.lIent start - I guess it was just my time to have a bad-luck race. Now, I'm under no pressure, I'm ready to win, win, win." For the first time in four years, McGrath is not leading the supercross series point standings, which puts him in a position that he's never really been in before - playing catch-up. "I'm just going to approach it (the rest of the season) like this weekend, I was ready," McGrath said. "(But) there's not going to be people hounding me, hounding me, hounding me." That leads to another question: Did all this pre-race hype of him switching brands and forming his own team actually affect him on the track? "I can say that I don't think it did, but it might've," McGrath answered. "You never know, obviously 1 didn't· ride that good in the race; 1don't think it was really me, it was just a matter of bad luck. Now I'm the underdog and I like being in that position." "At least no one can blame the bike," one observer said, regarding McGrath's loss. "Just look at who won." Albertyn's win did salvage what could have been a disastrous evening for DeCoster and Team Suzuki. Not only did McGrath have a terrible night, but the team \pst one of its riders for what will most likely be the entire 1997 season. Two-time Eastern Regional 125cc Supercross Champion Mickael Pichon, who was making his S.uzuki debut in the 250cc ranks, suffered a horrendous crash on the first lap of his heat race when his bike swapped out over a section of jumps at high speed, resulting in a brutal body slam onto the face of another jump. His bike then slammed on top of him, leaving Pichon with a broken leg. "His femur is definitely broken," DeCoster said. "You can imagine that he doesn't feel too good right now." As far as other notable happenings on the night, many were keeping tabs on the number-1 00 bike of Honda of Troy's Mike Kiedrowski, who was making his debut after his one-year retirement. The multi-time AMA National Champion failed to transfer to the main event but did show some promise during the course of the night. The "MX Kied" finished one spot out of a transfer position in the first hea t race, then tangled with Team Moto XXX's Brian Swink in the semi which forced him to r:-.... ride the Last Chance Qualifier. There, 0\ Kiedrowski was involved in a first-turn 0\ ...... pileup that sent him riding back to the pits and out of the evening's program. Swink didn't make the 250Cc feature either, but he certainly had his chance. Now back on a Kawasaki, the brand he basically started his career with, Swink was leading the LCQ and heading to certain victory When he came into the tum at the top of the Peristyle a little too hot and blew through the hay bales. He 7

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