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/128609
AMA/EA Spores Supercross Series Round 13: Texas Stadium Mazda/Chaparral Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath had a rough night. After a heat two bobble that sent Carmichael to the ground McGrath got back going to finish second. The main event was McGrath's to win until he clipped bars with Windham exiting the first tum. He picked up his bike in last place and raced through traffic to finish fourth. mistakes. I was too worried." flag with eight seconds between him- Judging by the speed he was trav- self and Vuillemin. eling, Vuillemin's mistakes didn't "Vuillemin rode a good race in show much, but neither did Wind- second, but I kept my eye on him and ham's, as the he took the checkered kept it going," said Windham. "I was trying to ride consistent because the track here in Dallas is really technical. It was real easy to make mistakes." Third-place Carmichael's main event was pretty much mistake-free, but his heat didn't go as planned, which may explain why the normally good-starting rider had such a lackluster getaway in the main. "The heat was a bad deal," said Carmichael. "Jeremy got a little squirrelly, made it to that jump and got a little sideways (see sidebar). There's nowhere I could go but right on him, and unfortunately I came out on the short end of the stick. I had to ride a semi, so that eliminated my good gate pick. I'm happy to be on the podium, but I want to win one bad. I've got the itch. I want one bad," McGrath definitely had a tough night. A crash and a bobble in his heat were not indicative of his typical riding, yet by making up so much ground throughout the event, he very well may have saved his seventh championship. Vuillemin only managed to gain four points on the series points leader. Completing the first lap in 19th place, it could have ended up racer to the starting grid and did a massive burnout on a board that was placed underneath his GSX-R 750. Lopez, from WinberIy, Texas smoked his rear tire to warm up the crowd for opening ceremonies. Lopez was present to help promote PACE's new Formula USA Road Race series. BRIEFLY••• Team Suzuki's Travis Pastrana was in attendance at Dallas not as a rider but as a mechanic. Pastrana was hanging out and "wrenching" for his good friend Kenny Bartram. "I don't know what I'd do if he needed something done on the bike," Pastrana said in an interview from the stadium floor, "Basically I'm just cheering him on." Speaking of Bartram, the Oklahoman was having a good time during Saturday's practice. doing all sorts of freestyle tricks over the finish-line double. Evidently, he was having too good of a time. as he was blackflagged by the AMA. "They said that I was doing too many cliffhangers," Bartram said. The buzz around the pits was that the track was too technical for competitive racing and that it suited Jeremy McGrath's riding style and ability over the other competitors. McGrath's answer to that. "I don't know if the track was to my advantage. With the ground so slick like that it was anybody's race." Windham's answer to that - he won. A combination of hotter weather, longer days, the time change and the hole in the middle of Texas Stadium did take it's toll on the condition of the already tricky racetrack. The slippery red clay was baked in some spots due to the afternoon sun that shines brightly through the stadium. Many of the corners developed dirt track style blue grooves in them, especially the one after the treacherous whoop section. Speaking of blue grooves 1981 AMA Grand National Dirt Track champion Mike Kidd was on had to help promote PACE's new dirt track series. Kidd rode a dirt tracker back and forth on the smooth portions of the track giving the Supercross crowd a taste of things to come in the near future. Kidd wasn't the only non-Supercross racer present with his race machine at Texas Stadium. AMA 750cc Supersport series regular Grant Lopez brought his Team Valvoline/Emgo-Suzuki road 14 APRIL 19, 2000' cue .... n e _ much worse for McGrath, especially with only three rounds left in the series. "It was pinball tonight," explained McGrath. "We were doing one-minute lap times so I knew it would be a long race. I was like, 'I'm just going to charge the best I can.' I had a pretty good flow out there. I had fast times, 58s. i just tried to ride as hard as I could. " Finishing fifth after the McGrath come-from-behind tour was LaRocco, who had a fairly eventful race - especially when, on the second lap, he and Sebastien Tortelli traded paint. Due to the altercation, which happened in the whoops, LaRocco fell from fifth to sixth, where he stayed for much of the event. Torte"i fell as far back as eighth. By the final lap the two Honda riders had latched on to one another, passing FMFJHonda's Brock Sellards, Ward and Suzuki's Huffman to claim fifth and sixth. Both Tortelli and LaRocco definitely worked hard for their finishes because passing on the dried Texas clay was not an easy feat. Once letting LaRocco by on lap 13 and Tortelli past on lap 17, Huffman held his ground to finish seventh Making an appearance at Dallas were several of the Arenacross series regulars. The Final round of the Arenacross series had wrapped up a week earlier in Reno, Nevada, and some of the riders that gave it a shot were Texans Charley Bogard and Bryan Picerelli. Also in attendance, but watching, were series runner-up Denny Stephenson, Travis Hodges, Josh Demuth, Brad Woolsey and Miss Arenacross, Michelle Falls. Making a return to supercross racing was KTM' s Keith Johnson. The New Mexico native, who broke both arms after Anaheim 1, rode somewhat injured at Dallas after he crashed and hurt his hip during practice. Enduring the pain, Johnson qualified for the main where he finished 12th. Missing from action at Dallas was SplitFire/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki's Billy Payne. "He hurt his arm last week at an Arenacross race and is at home healing up," Pro Circuit-boss Mitch Payton said. Payne slipped from seventh to 1Oth in the ~nal point standings. As reported last week, Larry Ward's KX250 stopped working on the second lap at round 12 in Pontiac. At the time the reason for the mystery engine failure was unknown. For those who may be wondering it was found out later on that Ward's bike had suf- Not to be out done by Lopez. freestyle jumper Mike Jones returned to Supercross for the second week in a row to do an exhibition of his own in between races. After pulling off a few tricks, Jones concluded with a one handed burnout on the EA Sports podium. Team Honda's just spent two weeks in Michigan training with Jeff Stanton, now it's Kevin Windham's turn. The Supercross series still has three rounds remaining, but that doesn't mean it's too early to begin preparing for the May 14th AMA National Motocross opener at Glen Helen. "Kevin is most likely going to go back to Jeff Stanton's house as well and get ready for the nationals," said Honda PR man Greg Wright. "Windham tested last week with Tortelli up in Sacramento with the outdoor set up of their bikes and they both came away very satisfied." With Lusk's de~njte return set for Glen Helen, Honda's talent deep team will definitely be in full force for Glen Helen. Windham wasn't the only Honda rider that drew mass attention for his exploits in Irving. Plano Honda's Grayson Goodman announced before the event that he will be retiring from Supercross after the final round in Las Vegas and that round 13 in Texas Stadium would be his last in front of his home crowd. The 28-year old long time Supercross racer and holeshot artist did a few television pieces leading up to the night's program. Earlier in the week Goodman was the topiC of local NBC and ABC affiliate news pieces and another station did a live shoot with Goodman a hour before racing began on Saturday. As usual Goodman had tons of family and friends at Texas Stadium cheering him on to two holeshots and a 15th place finish in the main event. According to Greg Wright, Goodman may serve as a consultant to Plano Honda next year or go to work at his father's business. Maybe Goodman should teach holeshot classes. 51; fered a simple piston seize. Holeshot honors in the 125cc main event went to Planet Honda's Jason McCormick. His efforts earned him the $500 Yahoo! Sports Holeshot Award. For the second week in a row Mazada/Chaparral Yamaha's Jeremy McGrath pocketed the $1000 Yahoo' Sports check for crossing the chalked line in the iead during the 250cc main.