Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I' m actually re lie ved : McG ra t h sai d. "It ' s a wk wa rd. a n d o nce y ou s t a rt wo rryi n g about it. it s e em s to get wo rse. At first it d idn 't bother me much , but then it sta rts ge ttin g to you . Now I'm jus t totally relieved . It's o k ay . I'v e been there e igh t . n in e years . It's awkward for me . and a d ifferent pos ition , but so me t ime it's bound to ha ppen. " A pair of crashes - incl uding one in th e first turn - could n't p re vent Mike LaR o c co fro m fin is hi ng fou rth , a n d Te am Yamah a 's T im Ferry als o overcame a ma in-event tumble to claim fifth. MAIN Holder of t he Supercross t itle for seven of the last eight years, Jeremy McGrath fi nally had t he crown wrested away. McG rat h fi nished th ird at Da llas. a nd such is h is impe tu os ity that he wrap s it up tw o rounds before t h e s e r ie s is ev en co m pl e t e d. at the Texa s Stadium 14th stop . "I've been kind of impatient, a nd I' m k ind of ha p py to g e t th is on e beh ind m e: C arm ich a e l sai d . Bu t don 't e ve n th ink he ' s sa tisfied no w, With his pr im ary goal of the season out of the wa y, Carm ichael can now redirect his attention to ty ing erstwh ile ch a m p Jeremy McGrath ' s re c o rd of 13 -consecutive S X wins . And after th at? "I've got the title ; now it's all about th e record bo o ks ." Carmich a el p o s s e ss e s a lo t of virt u e s. but pa t ience s ure is n 't on e of them , In order to cli nc h th e title in Texa s . Carmichael needed a t least one pe rs on to fin ish betwe e n h im a nd McG ra th 's Mazda Yamaha, a nd it was perhaps fitting that th e one to do the honor s wa s good frie nd and freque nt t ra in ing partner Ezra Lus k . Lus k ' s ma in - e ve n t b e ha v ior wa sn 't t oo frie nd ly. how e ver, as h e d id eve ry thing with in his pow e r to put h is fac tory Hon da pa st Car m ic ha e l and into the le a d . He d id ju st that on a couple of occasions e a rly on but , as has happened so often this season - and in h is career, fo r that ma tt er - th e Georg ian wa s thwarted by c rashes . "T o wi n ra c e s is gr e at , bu t a ll a long . the title was m y main d e a l: said Carmich ael from the ba c k of the Kawasa ki sem i, field ing congr a t ula tions from a steady stre a m of visiting com petito rs. "It was a fun race . I had to eam that one. and I had to earn the whole series. J e remy's al ways going to be tough, until the day he hangs his boots up. but I'm up to the challenge, and I'm ready to do whatever it takes." S o s p re a d o ut was the pack th at Lu s k ' s fa lls didn 't allo w d e fen d in g c h a m p Jerem y McG ra th t o catc h h im , and the Ca liforn ian had to settle fo r th ird pla ce and the knowledge th at his t itle -str ea k is over. McG rath seemed to have c ome to te rm s wit h th e notio n, howev er , and wa s g ra cious in de fe a t , pra ising Carmichael before sig ning autographs for a st illa ffectionate hoard of fans , Lusk garnered $1000 wo rth of SFX Awar d dough . but Ho le s h o t Ca rm ichael was ap parently unim pressed. dogging the leader for a lap b efore b litz ing b y in the whoops . th ro ug h which he was blaz ing -fast all e vening . Lus k wasn 't about to ba c k do wn . how ev er , s ti cki ng to Carmic hael a n d n e arl y pu lling off a pass in a lap-three corner. The triples gave Carm icha el an o p po rt u ni ty to s ho w Lus k his rea r whee l (via a wh ip ) but , on e circ u it la t er ( w h e n Ca rm ichael bobbled and wa s forced to double ), they gave Lus k an opportunity to retake th e le a d . In the last c o rne r of that lap ( t h e fourth ) , Carmichael s q ueeze d ba c k b y. only to h a ve Lu s k p o wer into the lea d o nce a gai n in t h e who ops . Carm ic hae l pass e d him ag a in ove r the tr iples (th rowi ng an oth er whip ) , a nd th at was pretty much it for th e barn -burner. "He ke pt passing m e back in the whoo p s ," C arm ich a el sai d . "I wa s getti ng so fru s tr ated . b e c au s e I wo rked so ha rd on th e other sect io ns of the tra ck. All th at wo rk we nt down the dra in wh en we got to th e whoops . I was a bl e to get b y h im one la s t time . and I ga pped h im a little bit to where he wo u ldn 't pa s s m e through the wboops ...He ma de me wo rk for it. fo r s ure . It was a g rudg e match ." "We used to do th at every day a nd have a lot of fun at it," Lusk s a id of his b attl e wit h h is fo rm er nei g hb o r Ca rmichael. "I really m iss it; it's like I los t a good friend when I had to move away , b ut thi n gs c ha n ge a n d life c ha nge s a nd throws y ou curves .. ..O ve r here in this o ne section, I lost the front whee l. Afte r tha t, t ry in g t o p ass on e of th e lappe rs through the whoops . I fe ll ov er aga in . After two c rashe s . I de c ided, ' I'd better ba ck it down and conserve se cond pla ce ...· Despite ge tt ing warmed up by speeding throu gh his warm -up lap . McG rath had bee n he ld up in turn one b y a c ra s h in g LaRocco . a n d after Heath Vo ss he ld him o ff in t hird for over two laps . th e le a d duo was so far a hea d th a t h e h ad litt le hop e of c a tc hing the m . "I t rie d to m ak e a little b it of a charge. bu t they wer e ste a di ly pulling from m e : Mc Gra th said. "It's a little diffe re nt s itu a tion for me . I gue ss I'm goi ng to ha ve to tr y to figu re it ou t an d t ry to ge t bac k up o n the top step. A lot of peo p le are asking m e if I'm goi ng to retire . I'm no t th ink ing ab out re t ir in g . I finish ed secon d before. and I won th e next yea r." Mike La Ro c c o ' s s tart h a d be e n eve n wo rs e t h a n u su a l, as th e Amsoil / Dr. Ma rte n s/ J o urn e ys /C o m petitio n Accessories ride r fou nd hims e lf o n th e ground in turn o ne. He began a textb oo k te a r th ro ugh th e pack . which was onl y del aye d s lightly by a tr ip over the ba rs in th e whoo ps on lap eight, event ually adva nc ing as hig h as fourth . Ferry wa s a nothe r rid e r to p la c e well d espite fa lling down . re c overing from a losing his fro nt end on la p one to get up to fifth. Though the Dallas round enjoyed next-day coverage on ABC, there was almost as much anticipation among Sf'X personnel for the Las Vegas season finale, which will be aired live on Pay Per View for the second year in a row. Michael Weber, Executive Vice Pres ident of Television and Ucensing for Sf'X Motor Sports Group. has an extensive background in pro wrestling. and is largely responsible for Supercross' live pay-per-view airing (as well as the ESPN2 and ABC coverage it normally receives). "We've had fans say, 'We'd like to see all the events on Pay-Per-View. so we can watch them all live,'" Weber said. "Loveto do it. but there's so much work that goes into it." Now that the title is clinched. there's a bit less incentive for fans to drop the $19.95 price for the show. but Sf)( is still hoping the hard-core fans will tune in for the Dave Coombs Sr. Memorial 125cc East-West Shootout (which will pit Travis Pastrana against Emesto Fonseca, Grant Langston, Ju stin Buckelew and Nicholas Wey) and the increased behind-the-scenes coverage (the three-hour telecast will see arenacross announcer Robbbie Floyd join Art Eckman. David Bailey and Davey Coombs. providing more info from the pits). Also. there's a good chance that Ricky Carmichael will be shooting to tie Jeremy McGrath's record streak of victories. so Sf)( expects around 100.000 homes to sign up. "I'm impressed how dedicated people have been to our product," Weber said, before using the on-hand audience as an example. "You've seen the pit parties after we open the gates at 12:00 - 12:30. We get 1000 people standing in line at noon. They're devoting 10, I I hours of their Saturday at the event. so they're enthusiastic. People will pay the $10. $11 to get into the pits. over and above their ticket price. plus the time commitment. It's starting to mirror what other motorsports have. where people make a whole weekend out of it." If you'd like to order the program. contact your local cable or satellite service provider. And if don't want to stay up late on Saturday (the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Stan dard Time, which means it won't begin on the eas t coast until 10:30). you should know that SFX has capitalized on WCW's going out of business by taking over its 7:30 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) time slot for the re-airing. II: U II: I e n e _ S • M AY 2 , 2001 21

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