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/100354
VOL. 49 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 18, 2013 The AMA Grand National Championship was won by Jared Mees after a season-long and heated battle with Sammy Halbert and defending champion Jake Johnson. The battle went to the final round with Mees taking the title by 13 points. In the realm of off-road racing, the battle for the GNCC XC1 class went to the very end with Paul Whibley and Kailub Russell scrapping it out to the last lap. Whibley won the title in style with victory in the final round. And how about the man known simply as Taddy? While he didn���t win every round like he did last year, the Pole still ended up with the AMA EnduroCross title. There���s a guy named Cody Webb, however, who was knocking on the door all year. But just when he���d get it ajar, Taddy would kick it back closed. The 2013 season should be a close one between those two. In other off-road racing action, Steward Baylor Jr. came out of nowhere to win the National Enduro Championship; and David Pearson blundered in the final round to all but hand Kurt Caselli the National Hare & Hound title. If there was a team of the year award in addition to Rider of the Year, that would undoubtably go to the Vance & Hines NHRA Pro Stock team. After all, they only lost one final round the entire season as Eddie Krawiec won his second straight title over his teammate Andrew Hines. The team was rewarded with NHRA rule changes for 2013 that will keep the boys in the shop late throughout the winter. In MotoGP, the title went to Jorge Lorenzo, but again it was a fight almost to the end with countryman Dani Pedrosa. That season was also marred by injury to Casey Stoner that took him out of title contention in what was to be his final season of racing. Kudos also needs to go to another ���old man��� in the racing game with 41-year-old Max Biaggi winning the World Superbike title. Bring on 2013. CN P171 LOOKING BACK 40 Years Ago January 9, 1973 Our final issue of the year featured the Kawasaki 250 and 450 prototype motocrossers that we tested on the cover, as well as a shot of three motorcycle cops to accompany our story on the bikes they use to catch us speeders��� We also featured a story on how the general public���s perception of the motorcycle world had changed over the years. That image until then was primarily a negative one, a lot of which had to do with the movie ���The Wild One��� of the 1950s... Cycle News analyzed many of the motorcycle magazines on the stands at the time, such as Modern Cycle, Cycle World, Cycle Guide, Dirt Bike, Cycle Sport, Easy Riders and Cycle. 30 Years Ago January 12, 1983 The year 1982 was a historical one for American racing. USA won the Motocross des Nations, Brad Lackey and Danny LaPorte gave the U.S. its first Motocross World Championships, and Bruce Penhall won the World Speedway Championship. We featured all these heroes on the front page of our year-end issue, also known around here as simply ���Issue 50...��� Danny ���Magoo��� Chandler was named Cycle News Rider of the Year. 20 Years Ago January 6, 1993 Wayne Rainey was our Rider of the Year in 1992 and was featured on the front page��� We interviewed champs Chris Carr, Jeff Stanton and Doug Polen��� And we also interviewed Damon Bradshaw who let a seemingly easy Supercross Championship slip away at the season finale at the L.A. Coliseum. 10 Years Ago January 1, 2003 Our Rider of the Year, Supercross and Motocross Champion Ricky Carmichael, was featured on the cover 10 years ago��� We also did feature stories on 2002 champs Nicky Hayden, Collin Edwards, Valentino Rossi, Geoff Aaron, Chad Reed, Mika Ahola and Stefan Everts.