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/127965
S UPERCROSS SHEFFIELD SUPERCROSS (Above) Four-time World Champ ion Stefan Everts has . never claimed to be a top-notch supercross racer, but he was able to fin ish second in the main behind McGrath . (Left) Jeremy McGrath made up for last year's loss in the Sheffield Supercross by dom inating this year 's race. McGrath won both his heat race and the final . .SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND, OCT. 3 e sma ll town of Sheffi eld in Eng00 land is th e la st place yo u wou ld 0\ ex pect two legend s of motorcycl e 0\ ...... racing to do battle. But that' s just w ha t t h appened he n ...... su pe rc rosswracer the world's grea tes - Jer emy McGra.th N lin ed up against Ste fan Eve rt s, a rid er l-< OJ m an y co nsi der to be th e g reates t motocross racer of all time. ..... Eve rts w as a lat e introduction in to U th e She ffie ld program after Ezra Lusk pu lled ou t w it h an inju red arm. With Honda. back in g th e even t, Everts was ~ ~ .g o 26 the perfect rider to add some exposure for the red rid ers . "Dave (Gra nt - h is manager ) asked me if I wanted to race Sheffield early in the week," Everts said. "At firs t, I sai d no - th en I th ou ght abou t it a nd sai d, 'Okay , get me a good deal:" Gra n t had his rea sons fo r wantin g Everts in Sheffield . "I wa nted him here to race (jeremy) McG ra th," Gra nt said. "These tw o are the best around, and for Stefan and Jeremy to be here in the same night is good for the spo rt - it's no t even about who wins." A lso in Sheffiel d w e r e other Honda-mou n te d rid ers: Mike Brown, Ja s on McC orm ic k a n d Eng lan ds Mot ocro ss d es Na tions team rider Rob H errin g. Another o f th e English d es Nati on s rid er s, Carl Nunn, was also in a ttendance, along with former World Supercross Champion Gu y Cooper. It ' s n o secre t that Ev er ts d oe sn 't claim to be a su percross rider, and the Belgian also wasn't afraid to admit that h e ex pe cte d to ge t a beati n g by McGrath. " H e (McG ra th ) is a g reat su percross rider," Everts said. "I don't expe ct to race With him, but I can ge t a podi um. If I finish topthr ee, then I am happy with that." McGrath, thou gh, wasn't taking Everts or his co mme nts for gra nted. "He' s a grea t rider - whether it be in motoc ro ss o r Su percross." McG rath said. "If he lines up at the s ta r t, I' ll be look ing over to see w here he is - he gets m y res pect everv time :' With a sellou t cro wd of 20,000 in attendance, Eve rts' eveni ng sta rt ed poorly with two cras hes during the fi rs t pra cti ce sessio n. Th e Hond a rid er loo ked very smooth, how ever despite the cra sh es - especiall y con-. sidering it w as hi s fi!!t supercross event in two years. " It didn' t sta rt too good ," Everts said. "I did one of the jumps a little too lon g and ran into the berm in the next comer. Then I fell in the whoo ped section, but by the end of the session I felt good, thou gh : ' Th e firs t hea t of th e ni ght b rough t togeth er McGrat h, McCorm ick, Herring and New Zea lan d ve te ran Darryll Atkins. McGrath bound ed o u t of th e gat e and rocketed to the win in the heat , his rivals havin g abso lu tely no answer to his d ominan ce. It see me d he' d have to look for Everts for so me com pe tition . Second place we n t to McCormick, wit~ H erring th ird , Atkin s fou rt h and Ben Taylor fifth .