Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

F IM W o rld C h a m p io n s h ip S u p e r c r o s s S e r ie s R o u n d 2 : M e s s e Halle A lb y - typi c ally hon est t old a sto r y o f a man ab out to g iv e t he ga me up . W ith thre e Wo rl d M o t o c r os s Champi o nshi ps to hi s name and a n Ameri c an Moto cro ss t itle, the S outh Afri c an was j ust glad to be sayi ng g ood b y e t o his Ge rman fa ns . "My fitness is not wh at it sho u l d b e , " Alb ert yn sai d. " LaRocco was o n it in pract ic e. I don 't th in k I can beat h im . It' s not the m oti vati on , i t' s si m ply that I have not been tr ain ing ." A s for La Rocco, h i s aim was to get a start and take a podi u m . Hav ing b een c u r se d b y terrible starts his entire career , La Rocco was begging for a cha nge in Germ any . " I' m not a good sta rter, and this t rack is not g o in g t o be easy t o pa ss on : LaRo c co sa id . " It ' s n ice prize -money w ise, and I ' m qu i c k e r LEIPZIG, GERMANY, NOV. 25 h o ug h he garnered a couple of titl es back in '93 and '94 , Mike LaRocco has since earned the reputa tion as a rider who, though consistent and a hard charger , never really seems to have what it takes to grab the brass ring in an entire series . T hat all changed this off -season , as LaRocco secured the World Super cross Championship at the final race in Germany . True , it was a rather unimpressive series (j ust tw o rounds long , and David Vuillemin - defending champion and w inner of round one di dn 't show fo r the finale), so LaRoc co was n 't a bou t t o crow lo n g an d hard abo ut his accom plishm ent. Bu t ev en if th e 2000 W orld Sup er cross t itl e is n' t as l o f t y as it so u n d s , a cha m pions hip - any ch am pionshi p is better than a poke in th e eye w ith a sharp st ic k . A nd th e $1 0 0 ,0 0 0 that went alo ng with it di dn't hurt , eithe r. A s co uld be ex pected wi th LaRoc co, the title was earne d th rough con sistency - a bi t iron ic , in suc h a short ser ies . Afte r f in i shing sec o n d to Vuillemin at th e It a li an op en er , the Fa ctory C onn e ct i on I Am so il /D r. T DECEMBER 13, 2000' cue HEATS LaRoc c o opened th e night w ith a win in his heat a he a d o f J oaquim Rodriguez a nd Rodr i g Th a in (o n a Suzuki) . LaRoc co cloc ke d a best lap time of 45 .17 1; it wo uld not be bet tered all nigh t lo ng , and it showe d how ser io us he was. " I c a m e ou t of t he sta rt really qu ick," LaRoc c o said . "F ro m there it w as easy . The track 's good - nice dirt a n d I f el t rea ll y fas t , alth ough t he competition wa s not that difficult." Heat two and Fren chman Frederic Vialle winning ahead of T h i e r r y Bethys an d Mathieu Lalloz. Albertyn claimed fo urth place in a d isappointi ng start to th e last even t of his career. Heat three went to McGrath, and t he s e v en - t i m e A MA S up e r cr os s Ch amp ion wa s feeling good after a somewhat disappointing Eu ropean seaso n. Sec on d place went to Pierrick IAbove) Mike LaRocco was fe eling like the LaRocco of old. He us e d consistent finishes in the unimpressive series to gamer the championship , and the $100,000 that went along with it. (Right) Jeremy McGrath won the main event by more than 20 sec onds, obviously demonstrating that rumors of his demise hav e STOR Y A N D PHOT OS BY G EOFF M EYER 14 " It's hal f A m eric an Supercross and half European: Mc Grath said . " I like it - some techn ic al stuff . and we can all race o n it . A ct ion Group has made some n ice tra ck s th is yea r; Stad de Fr an ce was al so good fo r a Euro pean tr ack ." been premature••. again.. Martens ' /Journ eys Hond a r id er notched another runner - up result beh ind Jeremy M cGra th in Ger man y . (McGrath had suffered fork problems at round one and was out of the running.) Go ing into the race , th e only riders ot her than LaRocco w ith a shot at th e cro w n were a pair of Suzuki riders , semi- reti re d Greg Al berty n and K iwi Josh Coppins. But Al bertyn w as com ing off a va ca tio n in Sou th A fr ic a, wh ile Co p pins was not eage r to bust himself up in a sport in wh ic h he was not a regu lar front-ru nn er. "I'm not as expe rienced as the oth ers: Co ppins said . " It' s pointless, me g oi n g o u t and t r y in g t o r a c e w ith th em . St ill , th ere is so m e m o ney at hand , and I' ll go as ha rd as po ssib le without inj uring myself." I e n e uv s t ha n m ost o f th e se g u y s , so wh o knows? M a ybe I can get a w in for once." Wh e n t h e r i de r s a r r i v ed a t t h e M e s s e H a l l e , i t wa s o bvio us th e Action Group t eam had wo rk ed hard on th e track , blessed with m ore floor s pac e t h an a re g u la r E ur op ea n Supercross . T he obvious favo rite for th e evenin g , McGrath was im p resse d with th e layout . Paget , thir d to Jussi Vehv ilainen and fou rth plac e wa s fo r Cop pin s. " T h at w as c o o l , " M cGrath sai d. "T he track 's good here bec aus e it 's bigg er. There is not a lot of dirt, and th e j um ps are not th at bi g. Th ey have a sand sectio n wh ich wa s not as bad as last ye ar. I'm ha ving fun, try ing to get somethin g t o g eth er aft er Berc y and Stad de F ranc e. "

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