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/78404
VOL. 49 ISSUE 29 JULY 24, 2012 P93 Jeremy McGrath watches the opening round of the 2003 AMA Supercross Championship just minutes after confessing that he seemed to only be able to focus on the races and titles he didn't win while talking about his career earlier that evening. Today McGrath says he's comfortable with his place in the sport. "I was almost in a daze for a week or so af- terwards," Spies stated. "I guess I had so many interviews, a MotoGP wild card coming up and everything that I really almost feel like I never got to enjoy winning that championship." The good news for Spies is that I've talked to somewhat emotional. When our time was up he seemed to want to keep talking even though the racing was about to start. So we walked together from the KTM transporter to the sidelines of the track. I kept the recorder going. Motors were rev- ving at the starting gate for the opening AMA Su- percross race, but McGrath's thoughts where fo- cused on a track in Minnesota, some seven years earlier. "I just keep thinking about the races and cham- pionships I didn't win," McGrath admitted. "That outdoor title in '96, I should have won. That cham- pionship was mine and I gave it away by trying a jump I never should have tried at Millville. I was over-confident and was riding so well I thought I could pull off anything." McGrath was the winningest AMA Supercross rider of all time, yet he still felt that people would never give him full credit for his motocross riding that he deserved. He felt that second AMA 250 Motocross Championship in 1996 (after winning the title in 1995) would have given him the respect of being more than just a Supercross specialist. More recently Spies reported not feeling the jubilation he expected after winning a hard-fought World Superbike Championship. Spies amazingly came back from an 88-point deficit to finally catch and pass Nori Haga in the final weekend of the 2009 series to win the title. the other riders in the years since and they all re- port now being better able to enjoy their accom- plishments. Ashmead loves the attention he gets at Daytona for that 1989 win. To this day in March at Daytona Beach people come up to him and say "Hey, I remember when…" The same goes for McGrath, Rainey and Rus- sell. McGrath still wishes he would have won that '96 outdoor title, but he's secure now in know- ing people recognize his historic contributions to the sport. And despite being matched in 2005 by Miguel Duhamel in terms of Daytona 200 wins, Russell found that he's still, and will always be "Mr. Daytona" for being the first to accomplish the feat of four and ultimately five wins. Rainey is incredibly appreciated worldwide for what he ac- complished in Grand Prix racing and nowadays during Yamaha Legends events you can obvi- ously tell he feels the love from his fans. He told me as much at the Indy Mile a couple of years back. He was flabbergasted when thousands of flat track fans at Indy gave him a long, standing ovation when introduced. It was an emotional mo- ment. So while elite riders might be perplexed by not feeling like they thought they would immediately upon earning major race wins or championships, based on the experience of others those positive feelings are likely to grow in time. CN PHOTOGRAPHY BY LARRY LAWRENCE