Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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IndlenapOII•• IN· Febl""Uery 1 2, 2CIX) AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series Round 6: RCA Dome By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY KINNEY JONES his was a race Jeremy McGrath wasn't supposed to win. . The Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha rider had showed a glimpse of mortality by catching the flu on the flight home from his last win at the Houston Astrodome a week earlier. For three days he was knocked flat on his back in bed, so sick that he couldn't leave the house to attend the auction for his close friend Jimmy Button on Tuesday night. On Thursday, he finally got up to walk around, just a day before flying to Indianapolis and two days before round six of the AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series at the RCA Dome. There was no riding, no training. By the time he got to Indianapolis, many had already written him off, and the pundits were further convinced of this following the first heat race in which McGrath crashed: a slow speed front-end tuck and roll. In the Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha camp, however, there was little worry. Because, en route to a second-place finish in the aforementioned heat race, McGrath turned in the 'fastest lap time of the night. Then came the main and McGrath proved the pundits wrong. By the time the 20-rider field made the U-turn at the end of the start chute, the race was essentially over. McGrath was out in front. As he'd done in Houston, McGrath pocketed the holeshot - and the $1000 Yahoo! Sports cash that goes with it - and sped away to victory. Yamaha's David Vuillemin, kept him honest for the first five or six laps, but that was it. On lap seven, McGrath crossed the finish-line jump with 2.73 seconds in hand, and he just kept pouring it on. Halfway into the race, his lead had grown to over nine seconds and would reach over 13 seconds before he backed off to a very secure 10.553-second win over hometown favorite and birthday boy Mike LaRocco, of the Amsoil/Competition Accessories/Jack in the Box/Factory Connection/Honda team. You could hear McGrath sniffling when he spoke on the victory stand, but there was nothing wrong with the way he rode. "I tell you, it was a tough week: McGrath said after his fourth, and probably most impressive, win of the year. "I was sick all week. I djdn't want to use that as an excuse, but it's been a long time since I went Saturday to Saturday without riding. I guess one week doesn't do too much damage as long as you take care of yourself." The secret at the RCA Dome was energy con· servation, McGrath said. "I got a good start and tried to just flow with the track," he said. "And really try and not chop it up too bad, try to use as least amount of energy as I possibly could, and it ended up working out." He'd learned in the heat race that he had, in fact, been riding choppy trying to chase down heat winner Kevin Windham of Team Honda. "Being a little weak, you can't really strong-arm the track. You just need to ride the ruts and ride real smooth, and we just decided, you need to focus on the start. That's the main thing. Everyone's riding really good, you just need to get that start. When I came out front, I just tried to ride the track. I had David [Vuillemin] right behind me, but as soon as I got a little bit of a gap, I could start using momentum around the corners and not working my body too hard, and it worked real good." T .6 FEBRUARY 23. 2000' eye I e n e _ os