Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

,Round 11: Metrodome TOYOTA TRUCKSiTHOR/PARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES By Kit Palmer Photos by Frank Hoppen ,... M .J: ~ as :::E 18 MINNEAPOUS, MN, MAR. 20 f there's anyone who can claim a dome as his own, it's Jeremy McGrath, who simply is the master of the Minneapolis Metrodome. Ever since Minneapolis became a regular stop on the AMA Supercross Series six years ago, no one other than McGrath has stood on the top step of the Metrodome's podium. No one. And it appears that this trend won't change anytime soon, as the five-time Supercross Champion just seems to be only getting stronger here, since his latest win was perhaps his easiest yet. In front of another large Metrodome crowd - 56,232 - McGrath put his Randy Lawrence-tuned Mazda/Chaparral/ Yamaha YZ250 into third place right off the start, made quick work of the two riders ahead of him - Ricky Carmichael and Robbie Reynard - and opened up a five-second lead. He pretty much maintained that advantage for the remaining laps of the 20-lap feature to record his fifth win of the season and the 56th of his career. "I don't really think it has anything to do with the track, even though the fans here are great for me," McGrath said of his success at the Metrodome. "But I think it's just the time of the season this race happens, when things start coming around for me. My body is feeling good, the bike's good - I've just got a good complete program. It's just the time of the year." McGrath's win was made a little easier when two of his main rivals were knocked out of contention, one before the gate even dropped and the other right after. Team Honda's Kevin Windham, the last rider to win a main event other than McGrath this year, sat out the evening's program after suffering a nasty get-off during an earlier practice session that left him with a broken collarbone and a possibly bruised lung. (See "Briefly...") That left Windham's teammate Ezra Lusk - the only rider other than Windham and McGrath to record multiple wins this season - as one of the few legitimate threats to the champ. But Lusk went down on the first lap and suddenly found himself trailing the 20-rider field. With the pressure off, McGrath simply put it on cruise control and breezed to victory, unchallenged. Finishing some nine seconds behind McGrath in second was Team Suzuki's Larry Ward, who fought back Mike LaRocco at the finish. Ward took control of second place on the eighth lap after passing his teammate Reynard. From there, he ran relatively trouble-free until lappers thwarted his momentum over some of the track's doubles and triples, letting a late-charging LaRocco, on the Factory Connection/Jack in the Box Honda, get a little too close for comfort. Still, Ward hung on to finish second. "I was strong tonight," Ward said. "I struggled through practice, and to fight back from that and have a good main wasn't just a lucky performance. 1 rode well, so 1 was happy." Ward is now second in the series point standings. Finishing fourth was Team Honda's top finisher, Mickael Pichon, who in f'lct turned in one of the best rides of the night. After getting hung up in the starting gate, Pichon steadily worked his way up through the pack until he had control of fourth by the 14th lap. He took the checkered flag ahead of Team Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, who started off the race in ninth. Sixth place went to Team Honda's fourth member, Sebastien Tortelli, who' was followed by Chaparral/Yamaha's Steve Lamson, Reynard, Lusk, and Suzuki's Greg Albertyn, who summed up-his night with one word: "Atrocious." Eleventh place was filled by homestate favorite Heath Voss on the Great Lakes Aviation Honda. He was followed across the finish line by Moto XXX Suzuki-mounted Phil Lawrence, Team Noleen's Tim Ferry, Plano Honda's Grayson Goodman, Kawasaki of Missouri's·Doug Stone, Mountain Ridge Motorsports' Jason Frenette, and Carmichael. Stone's brother, Brian, also on a Kawasaki c;>f Missouri KX250, and KTM rider Kelly Smith filled out the 20rider field. HEATS Carmichael shot his factory-backed Kawasaki into the lead at the start of the first hea t race. LaRocco followed Carmichael through the first turn bu t was nearly taken out by Pichon before the first lap was over. Pichon stuffed LaRocco in a turn - clipping his front wheel - and snatched away second place. LaRocco nearly went down but instead regained control of his Honda in third place, ahead of Huffman, Albertyn and Lawrence. Up front, Carmichael tried running away from the pack, but Pichon was !laving none of that. The Honda rider matched Carmichael's every move and finally set him up in a short whoop section. Pichon launched his Honda into ·the whoops, pulled alongside Carmichael and darted to the inside of the next turn. Pichon came out of the turn in the lead and pulled away for the win. '1 had some good lines on the track," Pichon said. "Now I· just have to try to put in 20 clean laps in the main." Carmichael kept an eye on Pichon the rest of the way but seemed content to just hang on to second. A few seconds later chased LaRocco, who could not gain any headway on the Kawasaki rider. . Finishing fourth was Albertyn, who left Huffman on the ground after passing for that position earlier in the race. Huffman still had plenty of time to recover and finish fifth, well ahead of' Lawrence. When the gate dropped in the second hea trace, Lusk shot his Honda into the lead, but both Reynard and McGrath flew past the Georgian before the first lap was over. Lusk settled into third, ahead of fellow Honda rider Sebastien Tortelli, Suzuki's Ward, Lamson and Canadian Jean-Sebastien Roy. McGrath then set his sights on Rey-' nard and, after a couple of laps, the Yamaha rider finally made his move over a triple jump, taking over the lead. l.usk then started working on Reynard and eventually slipped by the Suzuki rider in a turn. Once into second, Lusk saw that McGrath was within striking distance and stepped up his pace. Lusk caught McGrath and· was threa tening to make a move until, on. the last lap, he bobbled in a turn and lost his chance. McGrath went on to win the race, followed by Lusk and Reynard. Not far 'behind Reynard finished Tortelli. Ward and Lamson finished fifth and sixth,

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