Supporting Cast Gets Motocross Spotlight

With the Anaheim Supercross all but conceded to Honda rider Jeremy McGrath, the battle for second place should be heated enough to satisfy the anticipated 50,000 spectators Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

McGrath has won the last three 250cc races at Anaheim and two 125cc races before that. And he has won the first two races this season, at Orlando, Fla., and Minneapolis, in quest of his fourth consecutive American Motorcyclist Assn. Supercross championship.

But behind him, a tense race could develop between Damon Huffman of Saugus and Damon Bradshaw of Mooresville, N.C. They offer a contrast in backgrounds, and with Mike LaRocco of South Bend, Ind., offer the strongest challenges to McGrath.

Huffman, 20, is the latest in a long line of Southern Californians who have helped dominate stadium motocross since Mike Goodwin introduced it in the Coliseum in 1973. Like McGrath, he won two Western Regional 125cc championships before moving up to the premier 250cc class.

Huffman, who switched from Suzuki to Kawasaki this year, demonstrated his ability during the Geneva rounds of the 1995 World Supercross Championship Series when he split victories with McGrath in his first major outing on the bigger bike.

Bradshaw, 23, is a former teenage phenom who burst onto the supercross scene at 16 with a victory over the world’s best riders in Japan. After coming within three points of winning the 1992 supercross championship before losing to Jeff Stanton in the season finale at the Coliseum, Bradshaw abruptly quit the sport in 1993 and did not ride competitively for two years.

Back again, riding for Yamaha, Bradshaw has shown flashes of his old form; he finished second to McGrath Saturday night in Minneapolis and was third in the season opener at Orlando.

LaRocco recently moved from Indiana to Rancho Cucamonga to train with Suzuki teammates Greg Albertyn and Craig Decker. Albertyn is a three-time world outdoor champion from South Africa who has been having difficulties adapting to the tighter stadium courses. Decker is making a comeback after suffering a broken back in the Las Vegas Supercross last year.

LaRocco is a two-time national outdoor champion who was McGrath’s closest rival in the stadiums the last two seasons when he wasn’t slowed by nagging injuries. He was fifth at Orlando and third at Minneapolis.

Besides the 250cc main event Saturday night, the Western Regional 125cc series will make its debut with David Pingree of Menifee, Calif., and Kevin Windham of Baton Rouge, La., favored to battle for the title vacated by Huffman.

Motor Racing Notes

DRAG RACING--Most of the top drivers scheduled to compete next week in the National Hot Rod Assn. Winternationals at Pomona will be giving their cars a final tuneup this weekend at Bakersfield’s Famoso Raceway. The Budweiser Warm-Up, sanctioned by the Professional Racers-Owners Organization, will feature time trials today and side-by-side runs Saturday and Sunday. The Famoso track is under new management, former racer Jack Williams having taken over the operation. Scheduled to appear are Kenny Bernstein, John Force, Shelly Anderson, Larry Dixon, Eddie Hill and Scott Kalitta.

OFF-ROAD--La Rana Desert Racing will conduct its annual New Year’s 200 in the Sidewinder Road area off Interstate 15, 10 miles south of Barstow, on Saturday. The 200-mile race is the opening event of the seven-race La Rana desert series.

TRUCKS--NASCAR’s SuperTruck series, which made its debut last year with remarkable successes, has changed its name to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series. The schedule has expanded to 24 events with the purse structure increased from $1.2 million to more than $4 million. The series will open March 17 at Homestead, Fla.