MOTOCROSS : McGrath Upsets Elders to Win Feature Event

Jeremy McGrath, a 21-year-old Honda rider from Murrieta, stunned his elders Saturday night by upsetting Honda teammate Jeff Stanton, the national champion, in the Coors Light Challenge, main event of the Camel Supercross series, in Anaheim Stadium.

It was the first major victory for McGrath, who last year won the Western 125cc championship before moving up to replace former world champion Jean-Michel Bayle on the Honda team.

Stanton, bidding to become the first four-time stadium champion, got off the line first, but McGrath slipped past him on the third lap.

A crowd of 55,817 was on hand for a race that was more technical than swift. Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group officials set up a course full of tight turns, complicated jumps and few places to pass.

Damon Bradshaw, the defending Anaheim champion, got a poor start, and when the riders went by the finish line the first time he was eighth. He finished fifth. Mike Kiedrowski was third and Mike LaRocco fourth.

Damon Huffman, a 16-year-old Saugus High student making only his second stadium ride as a professional, won the 125cc main event. Huffman, who finished fifth in his debut last week in the Houston Astrodome, was so far ahead that his Suzuki was lapping riders in the 15-circuit race.

Phil Lawrence of Cherry Valley finished second on another Suzuki, with Jimmy Gaddis of Las Vegas, the Astrodome winner, third on a Kawasaki.

Bradshaw gave Yamaha followers a few moments of concern when he trailed badly in his qualifying heat, finishing eighth when only the first four went to the finals. However, he came back to win his semifinal heat with ease after briefly trailing Danny Stephenson.

“I got a bad start (in the heat),” Bradshaw said, “and a couple of guys hit me and I kept dropping farther back. This is a tough track to pass on, and I figured I could make it in the semi.”

Guy Cooper, who will be 30 next month, won the heat in a thrilling finish with Suzuki teammate Brian Swink. Cooper, who took the lead from Michael Craig on the fourth lap, first fought off Stanton and then Swink for the heat victory. Cooper and Swink went over the final jump side by side, with Cooper only inches ahead.

“I could hear him (Swink) behind me at every corner,” Cooper said. “I’d be on the inside and he’d ride the rail. I just gassed it. We have finishes like that all the time when we practice together.

“Starts are real important on this track. It’s really hard to pass.”

Kiedrowski, the national 500cc champion, was a runaway winner of the first heat. The Kawasaki rider finished several turns ahead of McGrath, Shaun Kalos, LaRocco and Jeff Emig, who battled through eight laps in a seesaw duel for second place.

“That was different, being out in front like that,” Kiedrowski said. “Usually, I’m in the pack, but I’m happy, I got to ride my own race. The track is really tough and tight, a lot like our Kawasaki practice track. I like it. It’s technical.”

A group of international riders from Japan, France and England, invited by American Motorcyclist Assn., made their American debuts, but none qualified for the final round of 20 riders. Shiro Ohtakaza came closest, finishing fifth in the last-chance qualifier, from which only two riders made the final.