VOLUME 56 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2019 P179
Motorcycling lost legends such
as former AMA Grand National
Champion Gene Romero, the
first three-time winner of the
Daytona 200 Dick Klamfoth, race
announcer and journalist Chris
Carter, race builder Ron Wood,
designer Arlen Ness, airflow spe-
cialist Jerry Branch, former mo-
tocross standouts Ron Sun and
Bill Grossi, 1980s Battle of the
Twins road racer David McClure,
trials legend Marland Whaley, GP
and Isle of Man winner Mitsuo
Ito, leading Pikes Peak contender
Carlin Dunne, ISDE competitor
Ron LaMastus, AMA Congress
and Board member Jim Viverito,
Hall of Fame off-road advocates
Clark Collins and Ed Waldheim,
former MX race team manager
Terry Knott and historic racing
promoter Bill Brown.
We also lost the print version
of Motorcyclist magazine. It was
the oldest continuously published
motorcycle magazine in this
country. Fortunately, Motorcyclist
will continue as a website.
Cole Seely, James Stewart,
Marco Melandri and Jorge Loren-
zo all announced retirement from
racing this year. But don't count
them out permanently. As racers
tend to come out of retirement as
Roger Hayden and Jeff Ward did
in 2019.
It's always a risky proposi-
tion to try to predict what stories
we'll remember in the future, but
certainly a few of the highlights
from 2019 will be remembered by
generations of racing fans. Now
as we look forward to a new year
and the 2020s, here's our list of
the top-10 stories from 2019.
10. Many expected the 2019
American Flat Track battle to
come down between defending
champ Jared Mees and Bryan
Smith. Instead it was another In-
dian factory rider, Briar Bauman,
who came through to win his first
AFT Twins number-one plate over
teammate Mees. It was again a
dominant year for Indian Motor-
cycles. In addition to winning the
AFT Twins Championship for the
third consecutive time, Indian
riders won 16 of the 18 nationals
in 2019.
9. Twenty-five years into the
future fans will look into the
record books and simply see that
Dylan Ferrandis won the 250SX
Western Regional Supercross
Championship. What those who
witnessed the season finale in
Las Vegas will remember is that
with just two minutes left to go
in the race, points leader Adam
Cianciarulo handed him the
championship when he crashed
and damaged his Kawasaki. It
was a dramatic conclusion to the
championship, no doubt. The
good thing for Cianciarulo is, the
way he's been riding since, fans
will likely soon forget all about
his Las Vegas collapse after
he bounced back and won the
250MX outdoor title.
8. Carlin Dunne's fatal accident
at this year's Pikes Peak Inter-
national Hillclimb was not only a
tragedy for his family, friends and
the racing community in general,
STORIES OF 2019
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Team USA winning this year's
ISDE for just the second time
ever was the highlight of the 2019
racing season. PHOTO: MARK KARIYA
