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AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series Round 1 2: Pontiac Silverdome Jeremy McGrath (11 earnecl his eighth win of the year at the 88th of his career at the Pontiac Supercross II. But not much longer, and the main event proved that. Windham's endurance gave out in the second half after a long spell hounding McGrath. LaRocco, on the other hand, was just the opposite. LaRocco usually gets stronger as the race wears on, and if he's near the front at the -beginning, he's a legitimate threat. Tonight he wasn't close enough to make a run until the very end, and then he ran out of time. "That's an 18-minute race," LaRocco said. "If we could at least make 20 minutes we could have at least ridden-with him." What it meant was that McGrath was able to stretch his championship lead and move ever closer to his seventh Supercross title. After 12 of 16 rounds, McGrath leads Yamaha's David Vuillemin, fourth at Pontiac, by 32 points, 282 to 250. LaRocco is third at 230. McGrath lost the previous week's race in the Minneapolis Metrodome to Vuillemin, and he didn't want it to happen again. He'd tried a different starting technique in Minneapolis and it didn't work. By the time he broke free in Minneapolis, Vuillemin was too far gone, and McGrath was left to chase second-place LaRocco to the end. This week, McGrath went back to By HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTOS BY KARL OCKERT PONTIAC, MICHIGAN, APR I Vor Kevin Windham the race was a .'" little too long. For Mike LaRocco the race was a little too short. For Jeremy McGrath it was just right. At the. end of the night, the Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha rider had notched his eighth AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series win in 12 tries, and he got his latest win in front of 51,756 spectators at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was the second time this year that the series visited the venue. "The track was really demanding tonight," McGrath said after beating Amsoil/Competition Accessories/Jack in the Box/Factory Connection/Honda's laRocco and American Honda's Windham. "You had to be really perfect out there," the defending Supercross Champion added. And he was. The race, on a tortuous track, played to McGrath's strengths. His lightning starts, his consistency, his precision, his fitness, his resilience, and his unflappable nerves all came together at Pontiac, though he took second place to Windham in his heat. But he wasn't worried. "Kevin rode a great heat race," McGrath said. "He can ride fast for eight laps." 12 APRIL 12, 2000' cue I e n e _ os what's worked before, lining up in the middle, outside of the other fast guys, and he also made a tire change. "Normally I run a short knob tire because the bike gets so much traction that it does wheelies on the start," McGrath explained. "It's hard to keep it down. Tonight the track was a little more loose, so I ran a little bit taller knob because Doug from Bridgestone was saying, 'Hey, I think you're getting pulled because you're not getting enough track,' and it worked out perfect, and I'd like to thank him for that because he made the right call." McGrath collected the $1000 Yahoo! Sports Holeshot Award, but was Mike laRocco once again came on strong late in the race, passed Windham and took second place. passed by Windham. The top two seemed to be able to clear out and right away it looked like a two-rider race. After hounding Windham for nearly four laps, McGrath made his move, snapping his Yamaha under Windham, when the Honda rider went high up the berm in the final left-hand hairpin before the finish section. You might have expected McGrath to clear out at this point, but he was having trouble in one particular whoop section.