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/128606
St. LouiS. MO . Meroch 16. 2OCX:J AMA,/EA Sports Supercross Series Round 10: Trans World America Dome I JlJU o By MATT FREEMAN PHOTOS BY KARL OCKERT line and went around him. I knew it was a big mistake because I gapped him a little bit, and from there on out, it was pretty much easy." McGrath went by so fast that the series' points runner-up did not even get a chance to latch on to him and attempt a retaking of the lead. . "That's all right; it's part of racing," rationalized Vuillemin. "I'm kind of disappointed, because I wanted to stay with Jeremy and race with him as long as possible. In the rhythm section, it went two-threethree. I would go into it and sometimes jump short, sometimes jump long, so I could not jump the other three. He [McGrath] was doing it [correctly] every time." McGrath was, in fact, perfect, lap after lap, through this particularly difficult rhythm section that no one else could quite master, and it definitely helped McGrath in a big way. Even Ricky Carmichael, who gave McGrath a good run in an earlier heat race, could not successfully nail down the section every lap. In the main event, Carmichael gated second to Vuillemin, but in the second turn, riday, March 17, marked the 10-year anniversary of Jeremy McGrath's first 125cc Supercross main event win. So how did the six-time Supercross champion celebrate the occasion? By winning, of course. On Saturday, March 18, at the Trans World America Dome in St. Louis, in front of 52,841 fans, McGrath recorded his 67th career 250cc Supercross main event victory, and he did it in typical McGrath style: He dominated. The Mazda/Chaparral-Yamaha rider passed Yamaha's David Vuillemin who had stalled his bike's engine in a turn only three laps into the 20-lap main event - to take the lead, and the Vuillemin mishap was all McGrath needed to breeze to victory. The remainder of the 20-man field chased McGrath in vain as the defending Supercross champion lapped riders all the way up to eighth place. "The plan was to just follow David [Vuillemin] a little bit, until we came around that corner," explained McGrath of his main-event strategy. "The corner was really, really bumpy, and I guess he braked too much and stalled the bike. I was on the outside [? 14 MARCH 29, 2000' cue • e n e vv s IAbove) James Povolny Jr. (62), Greg Schnell (63), Sebastien Tortelll (21), Jeremy McGrath (1) and David Vulllemin (934) round the first tum during 250cc main event action. Vulllemin was credited with the actual holeshot. (Below) Yamaha pilots McGrath and Vulllemin congratulate one another tor their one-two finish after the main.