AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series
Round S: Georgia Dome
tie he'd held for one week with Bob
Hannah for most wins on a Yamaha.
He already holds the record for most
Supercross wins on a Honda with 43.
The win also allowed him to pad
his championship points lead to 25,
190-165, over Yamaha's David
Vuillemin, second on the night after
encountering some difficulty dealing
with the rutted track and lapped riders, which bedeviled most of the field.
Team Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki's
Ricky Carmichael also had trouble
dealing with the track, never feeling
comfortable, and riding defensively to
take the final podium spot.
For McGrath it was business as
usual. The field funneled into a tricky
section at the end of the start chute,
and he was right behind Suzuki's
Damon Huffman.
"It was tight going in there,"
McGrath said of the 20-rider field. "I
had such a good start on the outside,
but he [Huffman] kind of blocked me
a little. I came out, and luckily I
turned, went inside and jumped that
jump. I just passed him right away.
After that it was pretty easy.
"I started to settle in a little in the
middle of the race, and David
[Vuillemin] started catching me a littie," McGrath said, confirming what
the stopwatches revealed.
Vuillemin moved by Carmichael
By
HENNY RAY ABRAMS
PHOTOS BY CARL OCKERT
n the immediate afterglow of his
sixth Supercross win of the season,
the 66th of his remarkable career,
and the 21st on a Yamaha - a new
record for Yamaha - Jeremy McGrath
was asked what it would take for him
to be beaten.
"I feel like nobody wants to win,"
said McGrath, who is now almost fully
recovered from the flu which had
weakened him the previous two
races. "I want to win. And I feel like
no one else wants to step up and take
it, and I'm not going to give it away.
It's a good time for these guys to go a
week off and think about it. I think
everyone's looking for a break, and
Daytona [the next Supercross round
on March 11] is a rough track. I'm
excited to go there; I've had some
good success there in the last few
years. I'm ready to go."
McGrath has been ready to go for
years now and was more than ready
when the gate dropped on the red
clay-covered floor of Atlanta's Georgia Dome. He didn't get the holeshot,
but he was in the lead by the fourth
turn and he led through every bend,
jump and whoop after that. It added
up to another commanding win, this
one by 11.006 seconds before a
crowd of 60,294. The victory broke a
I
8
MARCH 8, 2000'
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