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/1193082
VOLUME 56 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 17, 2019 P187 Sipes would be on the front page this week. Winning an AFT Singles TT National and a major hillclimb, and finishing in the top 10 in a 250SX AMA Supercross, and, like Robert, being a member of the gold-medal-winning U.S. ISDE team in one year is indeed impres- sive, stuff riders of the year are made of. Still, even all that cannot trump 12 grand prix victories and 18 out of 19 GP podiums. Cooper Webb went from not even being invited to the pre-sea- son press conference in January to winning the 2019 Monster Energy AMA Supercross title in May. Had he done a little better in the out- door championship, there's a good chance his smiling face would've been on this week's cover. Bauman probably came the closest to beating out Marquez for his, well, yes, surprising AFT Twins Championship. He came out of the corner swinging and never stopped punching, denying Jared Mees a third-straight champion- ship. No one expected anyone other than Mees to win the title at the start of the AFT season. No one except Bauman, that is. Still, Marquez. This issue of Cycle News also brings with it the end of the 2000-teens—another decade of motorcycle racing, which begs the question: Who would be the rider of the decade? My vote? Chad Reed. Ten years ago, Reed was already well into his racing career winning 250cc GPs in his rookie year, and fighting for AMA Super- cross and motocross champion- ships. In fact, he lost the AMA Supercross title to James Stewart by just four points in 2009 but went on to win the 450MX out- door championship a few months later, and he was voted AMA Athlete of the Year in '09, as well. Reed won the AUS-X Supercross Championship in his home coun- try of Australia in 2016 and 2018, and he broke the record for the most AMA Supercross main-event starts in 2018. Reed's racing ca- reer actually covers two decades. He won the Australian Supercross Championship in 1999 (and 2000) before winning his first AMA Eastern Regional Supercross Championship in 2002, his first of two 450SX titles in 2004 and sole 450MX title in '09. And let's not forget there was a time when Reed was even a racer/team owner with TwoTwo Motorsports. Seemingly once every year for the past five years or so, my wife hears Ralph Sheheen shout out the name Chad Reed on the tele- vision and from the other room I hear, "Is he still racing!?" "Yes, honey, he's still racing." Yes, Reed is indeed still racing and is still pulling down respect- able results in supercross and continues to maintain a strong fan base. His longevity is truly amazing and remarkable when you take into account that his sport of choice is one of, if not the most physically demanding in the world. And, of course, there is nine- time world champion Valentino Rossi. His last MotoGP Cham- pionship came a decade ago in 2009, and he's still going strong as a member of the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Factory Team finishing on the podium twice this year and seventh in the championship. His last win came in 2017, and many believe that he can do it again at least one more time in 2020. As for this publication, Cycle News is entering its sixth full decade of covering motorcycle racing and everything else in between when it comes to two wheels. As for me, this will be the start of my fourth decade as an editor of Cycle News, which doesn't include my first six-plus years in the '80s and a few years before that as a freelance writer covering local motocross. Everyone involved with putting out this publication every week is proud of it and has no intentions of slowing down. Perhaps, deep down inside, we are all inspired by racers such as Reed and Rossi and will continue putting in the hard laps to bring you the best motorcycle publication we can every Monday, week in and week out, just like we have since day one more than 50 years ago. Here's to another decade of mo- torcycles and motorcycle racing. It never gets old, does it? CN