Magrath charges into San Diego Supercross
10 January 2001
MCGRATH CHARGES INTO SAN DIEGO SUPERCROSS
PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- After his dominating performance in the series opener
in Anaheim last week, Jeremy McGrath put a bit of a damper on the notion that he
was going to face a serious challenge in the 2001 AMA EA Sports Supercross
Series presented by Speed Stick.
Even though the AMA Supercross season is only one race old, it already
feels like it's going to be another year of domination by McGrath. If his
competitors were looking for some relief coming into this Saturday's (Jan. 13)
race at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium, they will probably be disappointed.
McGrath has been winning AMA Supercross races at Qualcomm since 1991, back when
the house was called Jack Murphy Stadium.
This weekend McGrath will continue his quest to win an unprecedented eighth
AMA Supercross championship and the odds are in his favor in San Diego. The
29-year-old who lives in nearby Encinitas, Calif., has won five of the last
seven AMA Supercross finals held in San Diego. He won every race in the stadium
from 1993 to 1998 (there was no race in 1997). McGrath first tasted victory in
the stadium 10 years ago when he won the AMA Western Region 125cc Supercross
final.
One ray of hope for the rest of the field is that McGrath has not won at
Qualcomm since 1998. The two most recent winners, David Vuillemin and Ezra Lusk,
are two of the hottest riders on the circuit today. Frenchman Vuillemin snapped
a three-race winning streak by McGrath at San Diego last year, and established
himself as one of the few riders capable of beating McGrath. Ditto for Lusk, who
won in 1999, and is back healthy and looking strong after missing the entire
2000 Supercross season due to a shoulder injury sustained at the very first
race. Last week Lusk finished second in his first race back and that alone has
likely bolstered his confidence to new highs.
Another statistic that seems to be in favor of Honda riders like Lusk and
Mike LaRocco (who was runner-up to Vuillemin at San Diego last year) is the fact
that Honda riders have won 11 of the 17 Supercross nationals held in San Diego.
That stat would give much more comfort to Honda riders if it were not for the
fact that four of those wins came with McGrath at the controls of a Honda.
Since the first event in 1980, Kawasaki has not been able to win an AMA
Supercross race in San Diego. Team Green will have its best chance of getting
that first victory this weekend with Ricky Carmichael. Carmichael turned in a
strong third-place performance in the opening round and should be a front-runner
in Saturday's race. His teammate Stephane Roncada surprised a lot of people by
actually leading a few laps early in last week's season opener. If he can find a
way to maintain that type of pace for the entire race, he could be a factor.
Suzuki, like Kawasaki, has yet to taste victory at Qualcomm. Travis
Pastrana made an impressive Supercross national debut in Anaheim last week,
finishing fifth. The 17-year-old seems to be on a sharp learning curve and he
has the potential of pulling out a big victory in the near future.
One thing is certain. Even though the series is a grueling 16-races long,
if McGrath earns another convincing win in San Diego it will be difficult to see
how anyone is going to top him this year.
Past San Diego 250cc Winners
Year Rider Machine
2000 David Vuillemin, France Yamaha
1999 Ezra Lusk, Bainbridge, GA Honda
1998 Jeremy McGrath, Menifee, CA Yamaha
1996 Jeremy McGrath, Menifee, CA Honda
1995 Jeremy McGrath, Murrieta, CA Honda
1994 Jeremy McGrath, Murrieta, CA Honda
1993 Jeremy McGrath, Murrieta, CA Honda
1992 Damon Bradshaw, Mooresville, NC Yamaha
1991 Jean-Michel Bayle, France Honda
1990 Jeff Stanton, Sherwood, MI Honda
1989 Rick Johnson, El Cajon, CA Honda
1987 Rick Johnson, El Cajon, CA Honda
1986 Rick Johnson, El Cajon, CA Honda
1985 Johnny O'Mara, Gardnerville, NV Honda
1982 Broc Glover, El Cajon, CA Yamaha
1981 Broc Glover, El Cajon, CA Yamaha