CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
I
t was 18 years ago that Jeff Emig pulled off one
of the most monumental wins in AMA Super-
cross history, one that grew in significance over
the years and forever links the two main players
in the story.
It was April 27, 1996. That night was the very
first AMA Supercross race in St. Louis' newly
completed Trans World Dome. The result of the
race was almost preordained. Jeremy McGrath
was going about his business earning the moni-
ker of Supercross King. MC and his factory Hon-
da were simply unbeatable – winning 13 straight
Supercross races as the season wound down.
The championship was over. Yet one rider hung
on to the belief that he could beat McGrath,
in spite of the record. Every night that's what
he dreamed about, every day that's what he
trained for, and on this night that rider halted
the unstoppable force, at least for one night.
In the current season where five different
riders have won in the first half of the 2014
Supercross season, it's hard to imagine the
landscape of the 1996 Supercross. McGrath
was all encompassing. He was in his prime, had
the best bike, arguably the best mechanic in Skip
Norfolk, and he had that intangible that is hard
to pinpoint, but Emig says it boils down to con-
fidence. He harkened back to a night four years
earlier when McGrath threw down the gauntlet to
illustrate his point.
"Jeremy had more confidence in his abilities than
any other rider of that era," Emig said. "I mean, I re-
member after he won the 125 race at the San Diego
Supercross in '92, the 'big boys' were on the line for
the 250 race and Jeremy basically said over the P.A.
System, 'Hey, the 250 guys better watch out next
year because I'm coming.' You've got Jeff Stanton,
Mike LaRocco, Damon Bradshaw, you know the
list goes on and on. You've got the best riders in
ST. LOUIS STREAK BUSTER
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the world and he sent out a message of warning.
And that was very confident. I think a lot of riders
maybe thought of it as a little arrogant at the time,
but we all know now that every great champion
like that has a bit of arrogance that's all driven from
confidence in themselves."
Fast forward to '96 and McGrath was at the
very zenith of his greatness. He kicked off that
year's Supercross campaign with a win at Or-
lando, then Minneapolis, then Anaheim and he
just kept winning and winning. The streak built up
to an unprecedented 13 consecutive wins after
Charlotte. At that point there were just two rounds
remaining and no one was betting against the un-
defeated season. It seemed that all the other rid-
