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/127992
Round 15: RCA Dome TOYOTA TRUCKSITHORIPARTS UNLIMITED AMA SUPERCROSS SERIES __ ...... _-- ...... By Kit Palmer Photos by Karl Ockert INDIANAPOLIS, lN, APR. 24 ver since Team Honda filled the first four positions at the opening round of the AMA Supercross Series at Anaheim 15 races ago, it's been tough for the Red Riders to duplicate that feat. But they came close at the Indianapolis Supercross, where Team Honda's Ezra Lusk and Mickael Pichon ruled the RCA Dome in front of 46,831 spectators. Unfortunately for the team, though, the good finishes at Indy meant nothing in regard to the championship, with Jeremy McGrath having already clinched the 1999 series a week earlier with a second-place finish at the ew Orleans Supercross. Still, Lusk, who also won at New Orleans, and Pichon gladly accepted their success at Indianapolis and will certainly ride their high wave into the next series, the AMA outdoor Nationals t)1at gets under way May 1 at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, California. Only one more supercross race - in Las Vegas - takes place before then. As for Lusk, not only did he get another mental boost with the Indy win, but he also got a huge check for winning the Vans Triple Crown Series, the threerace series-within-a-series. The Anaheim I, Houston and Indianapolis Supercross rounds counted toward the Vans Triple Crown, in which the top rider of those three races receives a check made out for $25,000. Had one rider won all three races, however, he would've been $100,000 richer. The series basically came down to a willner-take-all battle at Indy between Lusk and McGrath, who actually held a two-point advantage. But McGrath, who seemed to have a bull's-eye painted on his back at Indy, saw his chance of getting $25,000 wealthier vanish into thin air after he got wiped out in a first-turn pileup. (It was one of many crashes for McGrath on the night.) After passing Kawasaki's Damon Huffman, who grabbed the 1900-PRO-RACE Holeshot Award and the $1000 that comes with it, Lusk rode off to victory relatively unchallenged on his Mike Gosselaar-tuned Honda. It was his fifth win of the series. '1 just had a good, comfortable race," Lusk said. "J really have to thank Honda for sticking by me and helping pull me. out of that rut I was in. J think I'm getting the confidence back up to where 1 had it last year." _ Pichon also slipped by Huffman early on and pretty much drafted of( Lusk the whole way, never really getting close enough to challenge for thEl lead, except, perhaps, for the first few laps. Riding with a sore shoulder and ankle tha t he injured earlier in the week E Up lor grabs at the Indy Supercross was the $25,000 from the serles-within-a-series Vans Triple Crown. Team Honda's Ezra Lusk walked away with the check following his main event win.