Supercross
Round 3: Messe Hall
..
By Geoff Meyer
LEIPZIG, GERMANY, NOV. 27
efore 15,000 spectat ors, 23yea r-ol d Fre nc h se nsation
Da vid Vuillemin raced to
his first-ever World title afte r finishing a cons ervative fourth at the
F1M World Champio nship Supercro ss Series fina l in Germany. It
wa s VuilIemin's secon d consecutive fourth-place finish, bu t it wa s
h is se r ies-o pen ing win back in
October that put him over the top .
Goin g int o the third and final
round of the s e r ies, th e rider
known as The Cobra held a slim
four-p oint le a d over t h e 1996
World Supercross Champion Jeff
Emig , w h ile Su z u ki - moun ted
m
Michae l Pichon was a fur ther five
m
m
points behind Emig in third p lace.
..,; On ly these th ree riders had a realistic chance of win ning this year' s
crown g oing in t o Leip zi g ,
..CI
E although some 13 points back was
u
Ezra Lusk. Lusk won th e second
C
ro u nd of th e series in Pasadena,
Cali fornia , only a week earlier but
30
B
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.,
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(Above and ins et) David Vuillemin
• captured the FIM World
Champions hip Supercross title with
a fourth-place finish at the series
final in Germany.
(Right) Jeremy McGrath won the
race but was unable to catch
Vuillemin in the points race.
wo u ld need a m iracle to p a s s
thr ee of the best supercro ss rid ers
in the wo rld to win the title. Even
Jeremy McGrath, who had DNFed
the opening round of the champio nsh i p in t h e fa m ou s Stad de
Fra nce stadium in Paris, was look in g at a brick wa ll in Vu ilIemin.
McGra th was b a ck in seve n th
place wit h 15 points.
Pr ess ur e
is
some thin g
Vuill e min s eems to deal w i th
okay, and his attitude was simp le.
"I don 't need to go out and w in
tonight," VuilIemin said . "If Emig
win s then 1 need a podium; that's
pos sible the way I have bee n rid ing."
..
