Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1002797
IN THE WIND P40 AMA Superbike Championship was launched and went on to become the premier form of road racing in America. Trippe was also instrumental in promoting the annual Easter John Player Anglo-American Match Races in the 1970s and '80s, which gave many American riders their first taste of inter- national racing and started the American revolution in Grand Prix racing with Roberts, Ray- born, Nixon, Baker, Lawson and Spencer. Motorcycle Weekly ceased publication in 1975 and Trippe's long-time partner Bruce Cox moved back to England. Trippe continued promoting through most of the 1980s. Then he start- ed a family and felt that continu- ing in the race promotion busi- ness was a bit too risky. He went on to work in the auto industry and later in computer software. But he never lost his love of motorcycling, and in 2005 he re- emerged in the industry, found- ing a prestigious motorcycle auc- tion that ran in conjunction with the U.S. Red Bull MotoGP in Monterey, California, and work- ing in an advisory capacity in the U.S. NASMOTO Supermoto racing series. More recently he was the West Coast Operations Manager for Mecum Auctions. Trippe will always be remem- bered as one of the premier promoters in the history of American motorcycle racing, and an innovator who helped cre- ate an entirely new genre in the sport. CN REA: WORLDSBK NEEDS MOTOGP STAR POWER C urrent and three-time WorldSBK Cham- pion Jonathan Rea believes WorldSBK needs a MotoGP star rider to come over and switch series to boost the failing popu- larity of the production-based champion- ship. WorldSBK has had some MotoGP stars join its ranks, such as Max Biaggi in 2007, Marco Melandri in 2010 and Nicky Hayden in 2016, and Rea believes someone like Andrea Iannone or Dani Pedrosa would be a massive boost to the championship that is suffering through a lull in popularity. Mo- toGP, by contrast, is enjoying a golden age with record crowds and television numbers tuning in to watch the races. "It would be really nice if some guy like Pedrosa or Iannone [came to WorldS- BK]," he said to motorsport.com. "Or if Honda brought [Cal] Crutchlow here. It would be incredible, it would give superbikes more prestige, to be honest. "Sometimes all the best riders aren't always on the best bikes, and I feel like superbikes is an amazing place to be. But it would be really nice to get some real star quality from MotoGP to come here. Not guys that are finishing their career or guys that have nothing left [to give]." CN Come out and play! Jonathan Rea wants some star power from MotoGP to join WorldSBK to show how fast the production boys really are.