Photos by Mike Hobbs

David Vuillemin

Supercross with a twist or just cool racing and a freestyle show? It depends on who you ask and how many beers they ingested before, during or after the show. Jeremy McGrath had been working on the event for over two years before it finally came to fruition. The race was originally slated to run in 2005 but things didn’t manifest as fast as expected and it was pushed back until 2006.

MC and his name acted as the bait for the event but the King had a little help from his friends. Wasserman Media was a major backer of the event and title sponsors such as Honda and Amp’d Mobil didn’t hurt. NBC, yes! TV actually stepped on board and in a sense the race was considered “Made for TV.” This means that spectators at the race are secondary for the atmosphere and sound bites but are not the main focus. October 22 marks the day the event will air for umpteen million people across the land.

Spectator turnout was a little anemic considering the Home Depot Center only seats something like 26,000 behinds. On Friday night, the stadium was about a quarter full and on Saturday the turnout was a little over double that. But when you consider that three of the main players in the game were not on the field, Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart and Chad Reed, that might have had something to do with it. Or maybe everyone was saving up their gambling money to head to Vegas the following week for the US Open to watch the sport’s best battle it out in a living-room sized, smoke-filled arena. It must have something to do with the Vegas tag line or it’s a better place to dress to impress and show off more bags of saline than a hospital emergency room. But that’s a different story altogether.

The crew went all out and built one of the coolest-looking tracks ever to be seen in a stadium. Two steel 20-foot wide freestyle ramps built by All Access and designed by supermoto racer Micky Dymond were planted right in the middle of the track. The jumps were insane and kicked the riders into the night sky with some serious hang time not once but twice each lap. The jumps alone set this race apart from anything seen in the past.

The theme was supercross plus. MC and crew mixed the racing up with a 20 rider, invitation-only roster and a run-what-you-brung format. This meant a handful of riders elected to do battle aboard 250 four-strokes instead of the stable steed 450. Unlike traditional supercross events, there was no 250 and 450 class separation.

The only crack of a two-stroke erupted from the freestyle dudes. This brings up a point. What are freestyle riders going to do when two-strokes completely die? The Metal Mulisha are probably stocking up with a warehouse full of uncreated two-strokes that will take them into the year 2015. The freestyle show was packed with a star-studded field including Yamaha’s Nate Adams throwing side by side backflip variations next to Pastrana on the 20-foot wide ramps. We wouldn’t be surprised if wide ramps don’t start popping up at freestyle events now.

The format was certainly not traditional compared to what we’ve been watching for the past 30 some years. In addition to the standard 20-lap main event, they ran head-to-head, two-man bracket racing just like in drag racing. To seat the field they held a short timed qualifying session. From those times the fastest rider was put up against the slowest rider in a two-lap sprint race. The format cut the lineup in half every sprint until last man was standing, or riding.

For the JMI, Kevin Windham was the man of the hour on both nights winning both match race finals. The weeding down grudge matches sparked the attention of the fans and, in our opinion, made for the best racing of the night.

Big Bucks: $500,000

An unheard of combined half million dollar purse was put up for both nights of acing. For a motocrosser this is some serious green. The cash was spread out between both nights for top finishers in the bracket races as well as the two main events. Windham took home the lion’s share of the loot with an undefeated run on both Friday and Saturday night. His pot of gold at the end of the rainbow grossed the Sobe/Honda-backed rider in the neighborhood of $185,000. For a stand-alone event this is a pretty hefty payday.

McGrath’s Last Stand

Jeremy McGrath

Before the event even started, the 7-time Supercross King announced that this show would be his last supercross race. Although he officially retired a few years back this would be his last stand and final close to his supercross racing career. In the end, the announcement must have jinxed the King of Supercross just like when you tell yourself this is the last lap or the last time you’re going to hit that huge double before going home. The curse of telling yourself or the world “this is the last of anything” came out and bit MC in the neck. On Friday night during the first timed qualifying session, McGrath came up a little short on a jump and it sent him to the ground. The battered McGrath limped around with an injured foot and what he thought was a pinched nerve in his neck.

A trip to the hospital revealed he had broken his C7 vertebrae. He spent the night in the hospital and missed the race on Saturday night. After seeing so many riders end up with career ending or life changing crashes, it’s safe to say McGrath was lucky and dodged a bullet and put a terrible close on the end of his career.

This alone brings up safety issues and the importance of better and mandatory protective gear for motocross and supercross racers. This is why devices such as the Leatt-Brace™ if proved effective should be mandatory just like the Hans device is for car racing.

The Event

The low spectator turnout was a little disheartening but the overall event offered a sick track, good racing, unique obstacles and a great freestyle show if you’re into freestyle motocross. The downside of the event was that it drug on and there was way too much downtime, too much freestyle and not enough racing. The show started at 7:00 pm on both nights and by the time the final main event went off you were over it. Families with kids started to clear out around the 10:00 pm hour.

Nonetheless, everything about the event was top-notch including the announcing with Larry Naston, the lights, the stage, the fireworks but the transition time from event to event took way too long. I like a good freestyle show but it took 20 minutes to set up the freestyle ramps and another 10 to take them down and they did this twice during the night. If they took out one of the freestyle shows and shortened the program, added Stewart and Carmichael, this would have been one of the best supercross shows ever.

Pastrana

Travis Pastrana

Travis Pastrana—still a lunatic. It was nice to see TP back racing but we knew it would not last. Our group even had bets on how long Pastrana would be racing that night before he twisted one of his glass knees and would have to sit out. After hucking some sick freestyle moves and racing the bracket races, stick a fork in him, he was done. Halfway through Saturday night, Pastrana jammed his knee and had to sit out the rest of the night. This kid needs a year off of motorcycles for his body to regenerate. Nonetheless, he’s always a blast to watch.

The Racing

Kevin Windham

With McGrath out of commission before the event really got underway, everybody knew it was going to be an all Kevin Windham weekend. Except for a few jolts of speed, K-Dub was on cruise mode both nights.

It’s not to say some of the best supercross racers were not on the line, it’s just that Windham was master of his domain this weekend. If in fact his rivals Carmichael, Stewart and Reed were on hand, it would have been an entirely different ballgame. But on this weekend the ballgame was all Windham.

The most colorful rider of the race, hands down, was Honda’s Josh Grant. He’s been in the news now and again for his on- and off-track antics but this kid is all business. Talk about fun to watch. With just a touch of reckless abandonment and flare to ride the wheels off his 250F, he brings an excitement to his riding. On the other hand, Windham is a tactician on the track and carved through it smoother than creamy peanut butter.

When the gate dropped for both main events, Windham shot out into the lead early on and linked sections together that the rest of the field dreamed about attempting. It wasn’t much of a race from that point, at least not for the lead.

Nick Wey

The aggressive Grant aboard a 250 in a field of mostly 450s garnered himself two solid podium finishes on both nights with a second on Friday and a third on Saturday. His style kept some of the best supercross racers at bay including Nick Wey, who finished third on Friday and David Vuillemin who finished fourth. Vuillemin and Grant battled it out on Saturday and Grant finished in third behind Vuillemin.

Like many riders, the race was a fun event and a chance to get back into supercross mode for the upcoming 2007 season. It’s hard to call it a 2007 season when the season kind of starts in October now with the JMI and US Open. For Wey, the start of his season regiment will be put on hold when a crash on Saturday night left the Honda rider with a busted collarbone.

The Future

The Jeremy McGrath Invitational was slated as the first annual so that must mean there will be a second. It was a great event and for its first year we couldn’t have asked for a better event. Well, we could have asked for less downtime, RC, Stewart and Reed. Just the fact that the race will air on NBC is another step forward in the progression of the sport. It says that stand-alone races and events like the X Games, Jeremy McGrath Invitational and the US Open of Supercross can hold their own on the tube and prevail.

Some predicted this race could have been a debacle like the Summercross that took place at the LA Coliseum in ’99. McGrath was the headliner of that race but times have changes in seven years. The JMI was as professionally run as any AMA Supercross and they put together a great show and an event that could easily outgrow the Home Depot Center in the years to come. The crew will hopefully tweak their program to lessen the downtime and keep the spectators more enthused. But the show will edit into nice bit for TV. Scheduled to air on NBC October 22, 2006 Check  http://www.nbc.com/Schedule/ for your local showing time

To answer the first question of the story, the JMI invoked a new look and format for supercross racing as well threw down an entertaining show including freestyle for the fans.

To view more photos of the event visit: http://www.racetog.com/Jeremy%20McGrath%20Invitational

Friday Night

MAIN Event

1. Kevin Windham (Honda)

2. Josh Grant (Honda)

3. Nick Wey (Honda)

4. David Vuillemin (Honda)

5. Heath Voss (Honda)

6. Danny Smith (Honda)

7. Jason Thomas (Honda)

8. Chad Johnson (Suzuki)

9. Kyle Lewis (Honda)

10. Eric Sorby (Honda)

11. Jiri Dostal (Yamaha)

12. Jeff Dement (Yamaha)

13. Kyle Mace (Kawasaki)

14. Greg Schnell (Suzuki)

15. Josh Hansen (KTM) DNF

16. Justin Mace (Kawasaki) DNF

17. Jeremy McGrath (Honda) DNF

18. Travis Pastrana (Suzuki) DNF

19. Robbie Reynard (Honda) DNF

20. Ryan Clark (Honda) DNF

Saturday Night

MAIN Event

1. Kevin Windham (Honda)

2. David Vuillemin (Honda)

3. Josh Grant (Honda)

4. Heath Voss (Honda)

5. Jason Thomas (Honda)

6. Greg Schnell (Suzuki)

7. Chad Johnson (Suzuki)

8. Josh Hansen (KTM)

9. Danny Smith (Honda)

10. Jiri Dostal (Yamaha)

11. Kyle Mace (Kawasaki)

12. Joe Oehlhof (Suzuki)

13. Eric Sorby (Honda)

14. Justin Mace (Kawasaki)

15. Robbie Reynard (Honda)

16. Jeff Dement (Honda)

17. Jeff Willoh (Honda)

18. Kyle Lewis (Honda)

19. Cole Siebler (Honda)