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/125810
Pllth of righteoumess, fast -racing, and big purses. 'To do the job, Lee brought over five complete crews and one spare passenger along with four Wasp sidehacks.,All of the riders that are in the US are championship caliber and one, Rikkus Lubbers, won the World Championship last year. Ton Van Heughten has won the national championship of Holland and was close to winning the World Championship this year. As individuals, the sidehackers are quite different in many respects. Ton, for instance, is not very tall while Rikkus is a giant. Ton is fairly well off. His family manufacturers the well-known Huega Carpets. He holds a chair on the Board of Directors. Rikkus is a bricklayer in the off season. But, great as the differences are, the similarities are much more striking. Every one of the sidehackers is an athlete. As one of the American sidehackers commen ted, "They look like they've been carved out of granite!" Another commen ted in awe, u'Jihey're like animals!" A bit overstated perhaps, but understandable. In American motorcycling, we're not used to seeing riders who have trained and developed their bodies to near perfection. D.ue to- the language bar:ier it was a bit difficult to find' Out Just what made up their training program, but it seems to include running, calisthetics, weight lifting, training sessions on the bike, and a bit of water polo to break up the monotony. And, of course, Guring the season 'there is racing every weekend. The championship rounds are two motos each about 30 minutes long. One important difference between American and Europeans sidehackers becomes immediately evident in casual conversation. Ask an American about a race and he immediately tells you about the track or some of his experiences on it. The Europeans start telling you how good it was for the spectators. The Europeans didn't like the course at Hopetown too well because it was three miles long. '''The spectators only get tp see us five or six times," Ton Van Heugten . said, obviously concerned, "if it were only one mile long they would see us twelve, fourteen times. It would be much better." The Americans are sportsmen and are racing for fun; the Europeans enjoy racing but it is also their living or a good part of it and they are in tensely conscious of the fact that their sport and their living depend on the show they provide for the spectators. The Europeans will put on several exhibitions around the country in their remaining three or four weeks here. They are scheduled to appear at SaddIeback Park, at the Carnegie Park TransAMA and at Puyallup Raceway. As catalysts they have already done their job, The Americans raced against them at Hopetown and did just well enough to become really enthusiastic. Lee VanDam offered to get appearance money for Jim Stevens if he wanted to race in Europe this summer and there was a hint that appearance money for a few other Americans would be a distinct possibility. There is already talk of a championship series to determine who goes with Jim Stevens. But there's something more important at the moment. Havmg tasted the wine of international competition at Hopetown, American Sidehackers want the rest of the bottle. In short they want to be part of the show at SaddIeback and possibly at Carnegie. This seems like a natural for all concerned. The Americans need the experience. The Europeans want to put III i 0. .... N '" III ~ Z ~ w Z W ..J o >(.) :. Yama h a : : : ,. : of Fontana .. .. : Sales 'a,ts Seniee .. .. : DKW,~HODKA, BMW .. .. .. .. .. Triumph 9008 Sierra Ave. Fontan~ Calif. (714) 8.£2-2252 .. It -****************- , conditioning produced this result from an American 'hack'er: "Carved out of granite." on a good show and they can put on a much be,tter show if they have, as one American puts it, some "cannon fodder" out there to give the spectators a yard stick against which to measure the skill of the Europeans. And, of course, the promoter will benefit from a better show. The Europeans are only pu tting on an exhibition. FIM regulations with not permit them to race, even if they had anyone with whom they could really stage a race. Americans, if they are allowed to get on the course at the same time, will also be putting on an "exhibition." There is no sidehack event on the TransAMA schedule. Just as there are catalysts that speed up reactions, there are several elemen ts that can sJow down or stop reactions. The AMA now seems to be trying to block' the American sidehacks from racing at Saddleback. It seems the ploy will be to req uire each American hack team to buy a professional license at a cost of $84 per team. The Americans want to compete but it's doubtful that they will want to compete that badly. After all there's no prize money, and it's not even a race. Just half-time entertainment, so to speak. After the reception the Europeans received at Hopetown from both the spectators (who collected a healthy donation for them) and the American Sidehackers, there is no question but that their trip, so far, is a success. But it has been expensive and the appearance money they receive at their exhibitions wiIJ not begin to cover expenses. So the Europeans are planning to sell their fine Wasp sidehacks here in the States. The Wasps have· an obvious advantage over the home built hacks: They are not only very fast but they also go straight and tum in the right direction. The asking price is $2,000 and details can be obtained from N orton-Villiers in Paramount, California. 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