Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SUPERCROSS THORR'ARTS UNUAfITED AAfA SUPERCROSS SERIES By Kit Palmer· Photos by Kinney Jones Stadium TEMPE, AZ,JAN. 25 hree races, three different winners on three different brands. First it was Suzuki's Greg Albertyn, then Yamaha's Doug Henry and now it's Kawasaki's Jeff Emig who joins this year's list of winning riders in the early stages of the 1997 AMA Supercross Series. And still no Jeremy McGrath. In fron t of one of the largest supercross crowds ever, 250cc ational Champion Jeff Emig rode what he said was a "smart" race, and he certainly used that tactic to help him record his third career supercross victory. Some might argue whether or not Emig was the outright fastest rider on the track, but Emig did prove that he was the steadiest and coolest, a combination which proved to be unbeatable at Sun Devil Stadium, . where 63,565 fans looked on. Emig, however, was the fastest rider to the first turn in the 20-lap feature on his Jeremy Albrecht-tuned Kawasaki KX250. Instead of pulling away, though, he led the pack around the track for six" laps before giving way to defending champ Jeremy McGrath. But Emig didn't let this discourage him. Instead, he kept his cool, astra tegy that would payoff later when a rare mistake by race leader McGrath, who slid out in a tum at the halfway point, gave the lead back to Emig. Back in front, Emig's lead was slim over a rapidly closing Albertyn. But, fortunately for Emig, A1bertyn's attack ended on lap 13 when the South African flew off the track and out of Emig's thoughts. Still, Emig wasn't out of the woods yet because McGrath was lurking in second place, only a few seconds back. And there was also fast-approaching Damon Huffman to worry about. Huffman had just passed Honda of Troy's Larry Ward for fourth and inherited third when A1bertyn stumbled. Huffman was on the move and was threatening to pass McGrath when he, too, went careening off the track. With A1bertyn and Huffman now out of the picture, all Emig had to do was maintain his three-second lead over McGrath, who was, at this point, obviously unable to mount another serious charge for the lead following his lap10 get-off. "First. win in my new gear, new goggles, is awesome, just awesome," Emig said. '1 think I probably rode the same lap time every lap, and I didn't get too flustered when McGrath got by me. I knew that it would come down to the end. I was fortunate that he (McGrath) went down, but I always knew who was back there. I just kept my cool, rode the same lines, rode really relaxed and didn't worry too much about what was going on behind me. That seems to be the. way to win these things. I think the main thing in supercross is to keep your cool." Emig knows that breaks like McGrath falling out of the lead may not come very often, so he made the best of it. "When I saw him go down, I said, 'Okay, let's put in some fast laps, let's get away from this guy:" Emig said later. "He's riding his Suzuki really well now but I felt really comfortable, felt really loose and just rode the speed I wanted to." McGrath was obviously disappointed about throwing away his best chance for a supercross win this season, but he. did look at the positives. "It's definitely better than last weekend (where he finished third in the LA Supercross):' McGrath said of his second-place finish. "1 had a good, strong race and I felt really good, but I just made a mental error. Right after that my

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