VOL. 50 ISSUE 40 OCTOBER 8, 2013
P103
LOOKING BACK
at the top of the hill grew to like it. By then
it had the not-all-together-true reputation
as the place where Americans cut their
teeth. It was paved motocross. A man's
track. Winning at Laguna Seca started to
mean something to those who weren't just
American. Just ask Casey Stoner, Valentino Rossi…
Yes, the stigma of Laguna Seca
changed when the MotoGP Series came a
calling in 2005 and Nicky Hayden showed
the world that local knowledge still came
in mighty handy to win there. While there
was still a little grumbling, Laguna Seca's
staff was attentive and they did what was
asked of them by Dorna to make the riders happy. Changes were made and the
place got better (yes, there's even a bathroom made from brick and mortar if you
look in the right place) with at least some
permanent garages, track repaves, etc.,
and men like Rossi will tell you now that
they like the place, they like the challenge
it presents to them.
And, as Kenny Roberts squirms in his
seat at the mere thought of it, non-Americans now dominate there. Yes. At Laguna Seca. Say it ain't so. But Americans
shouldn't take it personally. The Euros
now dominate everywhere, don't they?
So at the risk of pissing off Texans and
Hoosiers everywhere, I have to say that
Laguna was and may always be my favorite place for a United States round of MotoGP. Is it the perfect place? Hell no. The
hoteliers rape us on a yearly basis, the fog
rolls in every morning and chills us to the
bone, and sometimes you're forced to relieve yourself in a god-forsaken porta-potty. But the place has charm. It has history
(hot-blooded motorcycle racing history).
And it has soul.
CN
40 Years Ago
October 16, 1973
Kenny Roberts graced the front page of
Cycle News 40 years ago after winning
the final National of the year at Ascot…
Mitch Mayes won the Four Aces Grand
Prix, while a young Larry Roeseler won
the 100cc Expert class on a Krizman Harley-Davidson... Round four of the TransAMA MX Series in Lexington, Ohio, went to Roger DeCoster.
30 Years Ago
October 19, 1983
We pictured the BMW K100 doing its
thing on the cover 30 years ago. It was a
first look at the new line of K100-4 series
of Beemers… We reported that Kawasaki was pulling out of U.S. road racing…
George Holland, Brian Myerscough and
John Finkeldey were the stars at the Hollister Trans-Cal MX… Gary Jones won the SCORE Off-Road
World Championships at Riverside International Raceway.
20 Years Ago
October 13, 1993
Cycle News traveled to Massachusetts
to ride the new Husky WXE off-roaders
with Kevin Hines; we also tested the '94
Kawasaki KX125... Alex Barros and Tetsuya Harada were the stars at the GP final
in Spain… Sam Ermolenko won the U.S.
National Speedway Championship.
10 Years Ago
October 8, 2003
Our 450cc Motocross Shootout was featured on the cover 10 years ago. Back
then there were only three contenders…
Rich King topped the Springfield Mile…
Ruben Xaus was the man to beat that
no one could at the Imola World Superbike… Max Manzo won the Sachsenring
Supermoto World Championship round.
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