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/128231
Sc hwantz (34) and Jeremy McGrath (2 1 go in different directions . looked poised as the faste st rider on the track. He looked like a sure thing for the overall victory . But in racing there are very few sure things. A bad start in Sunday's final and a third-lap miscue put him well back , and he had to fight his way th rough to a seventh-place finish - his 1-7 tally one spo t off Schwantz's eff o rt . Ward ' s T roy Lee Honda tea m mate J erem y McG rat h also had a shot at the Big Kahun a title. The Superc ross legend fin ished second on Saturda y , but eve rything wen t wrong on Sunday when he crashed out of the lead on the third lap and dropped well behind the pack . He battled through to finish 13th. Form er Wo rld and AMA Superb ike Cha m pion Scott Russe ll put in a solid 3 -4 tally o ver the weekend , wit h Paci fico Supermoto Suzuki's Mark A vard posting a 4 -2 o vera ll score. SATURDAY 'S GUAL IFY I N G Ward went out and dominated th e first heat race on Saturda y , gr abbing th e holeshot and leavin g the ot he rs well behind. Ame rican Hond a' s Mik e Met zge r, ret ir ed ro ad rac er Mi ke Smi th , Schwantz, Steve Drew , Don Biava and Matt Pursl ey battled for second , with Schwantz passing Metzger. Drew also transferred . Th e best heat ra c e of th e d ay featured McG rath battl ing w ith his tea mmate Ja ke Zemk e early o n b efo re getting th e bett er of the Er ion Raci ng backed roa d rac er. T he only hiccup aft er that was when McG rath had to av oid Gary Trach y whe n the la tt er crashed right under hi s wheels in turn eight. Ohi o m ot o cr o s ser-turn edSupe rmoto rider Mark Burkhart, however, served notice of hi s speed as he ca me from fourth and started pre ssuring McGrath on the th i rd lap . Burkhart's Yamaha st all ed in a corner, howeve r, putting him dead la st. That left McGrath to cru ise to victory ahead of Zem k e and Josh Chisum . Rus se ll an d h is H o n d a Super ca m p / Ca mero n Grey / D un lop / T roy L e e D e s i g n s / Al p i nestar - b a c k e d Honda assumed the lead in heat race numbe r three. Australian Ma rk Ava rd, Mic k y D ymon d and Scott " Sc o ot er" Lar m fo llowed, with Larm perseve ring t h ro ugh o ut w ith rele ntless pressure fr om Mark E ri cks on and Trav is Marks. In the first sem i, Bu r khart made his move early , taking the lead at the start and holding it to the fin ish . Randy Mennengan a nd Don B i a v a were the best of the rest. Bl air Lively an d his Yam aha timed the sta rt of semi number tw o perfectly to take th e lea d. Behi nd him, T ro y Lee was in a big battle with fo ur others for a transfer position, a spot he wo n. SATURDAY'S M AIN EVENT McGra th fl ew into the lead, with Wa rd second and Russell , Dr ew , Sc hwa ntz, A var d , Sm it h, M et zg er , D ym ond , Ch i sum , Zemke , M a r c Gifford a nd B u rk h a r t m a k i n g up t h e pursuing pack . Smith was the first to go , the Georg ian crashi ng o ut in traffic . Al l eye s turn ed to th e battl e o ut fron t between McGrath and Ward . On th e second lap, Ward got c lo se on th e high - sp e ed as p h a l t sec t io n, but Mc Grat h h e ld t h e l ead w ith goo d spee d through the motocross section . O n t he third lap through turns two and t h ree , Ward outbroke Mc Gra th an d set up a swooping outside move that he made stick headin g into turn fo ur. All of thi s happen ed in fr on t o f a pa tien t Russell . Mean whil e, a person - al Su zu k i grudg e m a t c h b e t w e en Schwan t z and Av ar d wa s rag ing f or fifth pla c e behind Dr ew' s smoo t h fourth-pl a c e pac e . Ru ss ell wo rke d hard behind McGrath and wa s st art ing to appl y pressure , Larm, mean while, took a big d igger at the flat track tu rn 10 , retir ing once he remem bered whe re he was. On lap nine, Russell took ov er sec o nd wi th a pass on M cG rath in turn t h ree, ro lli ng smoo t h ly around th e o utside o f the m otocrosser. "Yeah , I messed up a little co ming o ut of the co rn er, and Russell got by , but, m an , d id I l earn a lo t fo ll owing the roa d ra cer ," McGrath said later. B u r k h a r t move d up a nd p as sed Gifford and Zem ke and wa s m ak in g a m o ve on Ch isum for 10th p lac e, McG ra t h wa s back o n th e attack wi th Russell, w i th t he t wo runn ing neck and neck fo r th ree laps before M cGrath made his m o ve on second for th e final time. Ru ssell ended up a ve ry c lose th ird. Th e Suzuk i tandem h ad A vard in front of Schwantz , and the d uo was c los ing in on f ourth -p la ce d Drew . Ava rd would eventually get by Drew fo r fourth, wi th Schwa ntz t ak ing sixth ahead of Me tzger. Burkhart also ma d e a lat e m o ve an d s lipp ed by ni nth-pla ce d Dymon d, who was bus y with Chisu m . " T he track was fun ," Russell said f ro m the pod ium . " It had a fun and fa ir layo ut, and we beat th e rain. I didn ' t ge t a g o od start. [J er em y] McGrath m ade a mi st ak e , and I got by ." "M y Hon da got a good start , but I k ind blew th e co rn er a little, " McG rath ad de d . " T roy Lee has such a great t e am and a g re at cre w . I want t o thank them ," Ward was happy , having wo n eas i ly to po c k et the opening day's purse of $2800 , " It was good racing w i th S c ott [ Ru s se ll ] and J e r em y [M c G r a th ], " Ward sai d. "I' m looking forward to tomorro w , and I wa nt t o than k F ay M yers ." SUNDAY'S GUALIFYING Metzger put the ha m mer down o n his Ho nda to t ak e th e lead in th e first heat, b ut Ch isum we nt with h im , and th e t wo were side by sid e unt il M etz g er close d t he door. Schwantz , Wa rd , Zemke, Bi ava, Lee , Chu ck Sun , Ma tt Sadowski and Mark Eric k so n chased the lea der. On the second lap , Chisum set up Metzger and gassed it on th e downhill to take the lead . Ward made qui ck work of Schwantz and Met zger and to ok o ff afte r Chisu m , sm ok in g h is tires alo ng th e way . It d i dn ' t tak e Ward lo ng to m ak e his move , and he ended up pas sin g C his u m he ading into the m ot ocr oss sec tion . Schwantz moved in and o n th e last lap m ade a great road rac e mo v e , o u t b r a k i n g Ch i sum o n t he asphal t. The f inal tra nsfer was a close ba ttle as Zemke ro ck 'n ' rolled with Metzger th e whole way, fi nally holding hi m off to make the m ain . A ft er a res ta rt, McG ra t h c ha rg ed into the le ad , w i th Dr ew, Burkhart, Eric Pinson, Rob Ch ristman , T ravis Marks, Gary Trachy , Steven J ohnson and Larm in pu rsu it. La rm ' s highspe ed Saturda y crash s ta rted to sh ow , however. Bu rkhart started t o thi nk a bo ut second place wi th Drew 's position in jeopardy. Drew , a fo rme r m otocr oss- Scott Russell (41 ro de well a ll weekend, posting a 3-4 tally over the course of the two-day event. Here he le a ds Jeremy M cG ra th 1 In 21 Saturday's final. cue I e n e _ s ' S EPTEM BER 1 0 , 2003 47