Pay-Per-View Supercross Goes Full Cycle

Flushed with the success of record attendance at nearly every Supercross this season, Pace Motorsports, the series promoter, will offer the sports’ first live pay-per-view television coverage Saturday night when the series concludes at Las Vegas’ Sam Boyd Stadium.

Jeremy McGrath, Supercross’ nonpareil rider from Encinitas, took some of the edge off the race when he clinched his seventh championship with a win Saturday night in Joliet, Ill. It was the Mazda Chaparral Yamaha rider’s ninth victory in 15 events.

There is one gem left for Pace to offer pay-per-view enthusiasts (at $14.95), however. If David Vuillemin, a Frenchman who lives in Corona, can win, he will collect a $500,000 bonus for sweeping the Vans Triple Crown--a three-race series involving Phoenix, Minneapolis and Las Vegas events.

Pace officials said it would be the largest payout for any motorcycle competition.

Vuillemin, who won four of the six motos McGrath failed to win, finished second to McGrath in the season standings and also last week at Joliet. Both ride Yamahas, but McGrath rides independently for Mazda Chaparral, while Vuillemin is a factory rider.

Although only 22, Vuillemin has championship credentials. He won the three-moto World Supercross championship last year and before leaving France the 1995 and 1996 French 125cc Supercross titles and the 1996 European 125cc crown.

Nicknamed “the Cobra” for his knack of making quick passes while charging toward the lead after bad starts, Vuillemin won at Phoenix that way. He was seventh out of the starting gate and caught McGrath on the last lap to win the first leg of the Vans Triple Crown. At Minneapolis, he passed Ricky Carmichael’s Kawasaki on the first lap and led the remainder of the way.

“I have to get a good start in Las Vegas, ride smooth, not make any mistakes and if I do that, I’ll be OK,” Vuillemin said after a training ride on the Yamaha team track between Corona and Lake Elsinore. “It might be very hot and because the track is outside, the track will get dry pretty fast, so it should be an interesting race.

“I have to beat Jeremy, but I have to beat everybody else too. The [starting] gate will be full of good riders.”

Vuillemin rode the first five AMA Supercross events last year, then headed home to contest the FIM world 250cc championship, in which he finished third.

“I decided I wanted to ride a full season in the United States because for me, this is the best championship in the world. I left my home in Marseille to live in Corona because it is where everybody trains.”

Honda and Suzuki have tracks nearby, as well as Yamaha.

He won the third event, at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium, beating McGrath on his home track before a record 61,244 spectators. His other win came at New Orleans.

The World Supercross series in which the Frenchman won $100,000 consisted of only three events after the Brazilian round was canceled. Vuillemin won the opener in Paris, then finished fourth in the Rose Bowl and fourth in Leipzig, Germany. He beat another French rider, Sebastien Tortelli, with McGrath finishing third.

After Saturday night’s Supercross finale, Vuillemin and most of the other riders will turn their attention to the Chevy Trucks U.S. Motocross outdoor championships, which will open Sunday, May 14, at Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino.

RIM OF THE WORLD RALLY

The third round of the SCCA Pro Rally championship will take place today and Saturday in the Angeles National Forest. The event will start tonight at 7 from the Palmdale Holiday Inn with cars leaving at one-minute intervals. It will be the 17th annual Rim of the World competition.

Most of the six stages tonight and seven Saturday will be on twisting, rough fire roads in the foothills near Lake Hughes. Teams do not know the makeup of stages until the navigator is handed route instructions with exact mileages just before the start.

Seven-time SCCA champion Paul Choiniere and navigator Jeff Becker have driven Hyundai factory Tiburons to victory in the first two rounds in Michigan and Oregon. They are hoping to regain the title after losing last year to fellow Hyundai driver Noel Lawler in the open class.

The entry also includes a number of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and Subaru Imprezas. Rally cars are all street-legal, usually sports cars or pickups.

OFFSHORE GRAND PRIX

One of the major difficulties for offshore racing enthusiasts has been the near-impossibility of seeing much of the spectacular ocean racing because courses often extend far off shore.

The San Diego Bayfair Group, organizer of the San Diego Offshore Gran Prix, have solved that problem by bringing this weekend’s opening event of the American Power Boat Assn. national championship season into San Diego Bay. The 7 1/2-mile course extends from the Embarcadero Marina Park South to Harbor Island with excellent viewing areas along the shore.

Featured in Sunday’s main event are the elite Super Cats, 32- to 43-foot catamarans with inboard twin 495- to 510-cubic-inch engines capable of speeds approaching 140 mph.

Some of the fastest boats in the world are entered. Craig Ferguson of Huntington Beach, driving Renegade, is the world champion. Rick Bowling of Alamo, Calif., won the Pacific Offshore championship in Jelly Belly.

Rique Ford of Chino set the old modified class world record of 138.683 mph last October in Long Beach, driving his Ragamuffin. The modified class has been incorporated into Super Cats this year.

Super Vees, another popular class, will be headed by Nigel Hook, 1998 world and two-time national champion from Del Mar, who drives a 43-foot Citgo Supergard Scarab. Former unlimited hydroplane driver Steve David will join Hook in the Scarab, which is the latest generation of the boats made famous by the exploits of Don Johnson in “Miami Vice.”

SCORE BAJA 2000

To celebrate the new century, SCORE International will replace the 32-year-old Baja 1000 off-road race this year with the Tecate Baja 2000, starting Nov. 12 in Ensenada and finishing at the tip of Baja California in Cabo San Lucas.

The course, revealed by Sal Fish, SCORE president, will crisscross the upper half of the Baja peninsula before heading south. The race has gone as far as La Paz before, but never to Cabo San Lucas. The 1,754-mile course will include existing dirt roads and trails that go through pine forests, boulder-strewn mountains, dry-lake beds, dry river beds, cactus-filled desert and sandy beaches.

Fish said he expects the cash purse to be about $200,000, plus close to $1 million in contingency prizes. It will be the final event of the five-race 2000 SCORE Desert Series. Round 3 will be the Tecate Baja 500, June 2-4, starting and finishing in Ensenada.

LAST LAPS

The Corsa Moto-Classica, a national championship dirt-track vintage motorcycle race, will be held Saturday night on a one-third-mile oval at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond. A vintage road race and bike show will be held Sunday. Bikes must be from 1974 or earlier vintage. . . . Irwindale Speedway will hold the first of four Food 4 Less Fast 4 Shoot-Outs--a four- lap race for the four fastest qualifiers in NASCAR’s super late model division--as part of Saturday night’s stock car program. . . . Richard Griffin, runaway leader in the Sprint Car Racing Assn., has three wins this season but none at Perris Auto Speedway. He hopes to remedy that in Saturday night’s main event. San Clemente-based Swift Engineering will return to CART racing in Japan on May 13 with Brazilian Tarso Marques as the driver. The new Swift-Ford will be entered by Dale Coyne Racing.

NECROLOGY

Fred Gerhardt, 86, a builder of Indy cars from 1957 to 1974, has died in his native Fresno of natural causes. Gerhardt built the midget racer that fellow Fresnan Bill Vukovich drove to the U.S. Auto Club midget championship in 1950. He built 30 cars that ran in the Indy 500, with the highest finish a third place by Mel Kenyon in 1968. Survivors include his wife, Dorothy, sons Jim and Rick, a daughter, Linda, and eight grandchildren. Services will be held today at 9 a.m. at the Northwest Church in Fresno.

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This Week’s Schedule

WINSTON CUP

Pontiac Excitement 400

* When: Today, first-round qualifying (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.); Saturday, second-round qualifying, 10:45 a.m., race (ESPN, 4:30 p.m.)

* Where: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (oval, .75 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 300 miles, 400 laps.

* Last year: Dale Jarrett passed Mark Martin with 32 laps to go and held on for his first victory of the season.

* Last race: Jeremy Mayfield won the NAPA Auto Parts 500 at Fontana, switching ignition boxes when he momentarily lost power near the end.

* Next race: Coca-Cola 600, May 28, Concord, N.C.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL

Hardee’s 250

* When: Today, qualifying, 1:30 p.m., race (ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.)

* Where: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (oval, .75 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 187.5 miles, 250 laps.

* Last year: Mark Martin crossed the finish line 1.111 seconds ahead of Jeff Burton for the victory.

* Last race: Matt Kenseth took advantage of Ward Burton’s crash with eight laps remaining, then held off Jeff Burton to win the Auto Club 300 at Fontana.

* Next race: Busch 200, May 13, Loudon, N.H.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Ram Tough 200

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 1:30 p.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 10:30 a.m.)

* Where: Gateway International Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.25 miles, 11 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 9 degrees in turns 3-4), Madison, Ill.

* Race distance: 200 miles, 160 laps.

* Last year: Greg Biffle beat Jack Sprague and Stacy Compton out of the pits with 30 laps to go and held on for the win.

* Last race: Andy Houston passed Dennis Setzer on the final lap to win the Line-X 225 in Portland, Ore. Houston, who overcame a fifth-lap bump with points leader Mike Wallace, dived to the inside of Setzer in the first turn on the 73rd lap and drove away to win by 1.616 seconds.

* Next race: Memphis 200, May 13, Millington, Tenn.

NHRA

Advance Auto Parts Nationals

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 10:45 a.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 7:45 a.m.; Sunday, final eliminations, 7:30 a.m. (TNN, 4:30 p.m., tape).

* Where: Atlanta Dragway, Commerce, Ga.

* Last year: Gary Scelzi won the Top Fuel division, John Force won in Funny Car, and Warren Johnson in Pro Stock.

* Last event: Larry Dickson won the Top Fuel division at the Moto1.net Nationals in Richmond, Va. Force (Funny Car), Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock) and Randy Daniels (Pro Stock Truck) won their divisions.

* Next race: Matco Tools Supernationals, May 21, Englishtown, N.J.

FORMULA ONE

Spanish Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 4:30 a.m.)

* Where: Circuit of Catalunya (road course, 2.937 miles), Barcelona.

* Race distance: 187.968 miles, 64 laps.

* Last year: Mika Hakkinen won, snapping Michael Schumacher’s two-race winning streak. David Coulthard finished second with Schumacher third.

* Last race: Coulthard, driving a McLaren, won the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England, slowing the momentum of Ferrari and Schumacher, who opened the season by winning in Australia, Brazil and Italy.

* Next race: European Grand Prix, May 21, Nuerburgring, Germany.