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/126275
e • .~ t (A bove) In the opening round of the 125 Nationals. Wa rren Reid lays a healthy roost on defending champ Bob Hannah. (Below) Fresh off a second overall at the Canadian Grand Prix. Warren poses with his "First Runner Up " trophy. . 22 By Dave Hawkins At 18 years old, Warren Reid is Honda's.young'[ est racing team member. He's also Hond.a.;s only works 125cc motocross rider. ., On July 24 , Warren finished the Canadian 125cc Mot ocross Grand Pr ix second overa ll, the high est placing in 1977 by an Ameri can in ' 125c c W orld Championship com petitio n. In spit e of that fea t, a seas on that was slo w to com e together and susp e nsi o n probl ems have forced Warren to live in the shadow of what Marty Smith d id to 125cc motocross racing in 1974 and 1975 . Now . with suspension dialed in and a gre a t Grand Prix performance under his belt , Warren is ready to make his own mark on 125cc racing. W ith Sm ith on larger mach in es, Warren Reid is Honda's sole hope for the 125cc clas s, Before signing with Honda in 1976 , Warren rode for the Flying Machine Factory (FMF) and dominated the local pro races in th e hotly-contested Southern California area, As a Team Honda rider , Warren has proved himself as on e of th e fastest 125cc riders in America , He finished th e '77 125cc Ame rican Motorcyclist (AMA) Na tiona l Associatio n Motocro ss series in fou rt h place. After sorting out handli ng ' prob lems that hindered ,his pe rformance ea rly in the seri es, Warren moved rap id ly toward th e to p of the point sta ndi ngs. Aft er a disappoint ing 18th a t th e United St a tes G rand Prix in Oh io. Wa rren rebou nded th e nex t week to ta ke sec~'J dv ~vnatl an d pa r!" ly,rniss,t1lf : ; lOp posit ion . -. "Sa tu rd ay in practice 1 felt pret1y good ," Wa rren said of th e U .S.GP. " I was turning . pretty com peti tive lap tim es, and set third fastest tim e in the qualifying laps on Sunday (after 'la night -long rain storm flooded the Ohio track ). 1 reall y got nervous before the ra ce. but 1 don't kn ow ~h y - there weren 't a ny points involved for the arionals, so th ere . was rio reason to be excited , but for some reason before th e start of the race I gOt sick . , " I was running fourth in the first moto and made a m istake and GastOD (Ra hier) and Gary Ogden passed m e . I used all my tear-offs in a couple laps then I finally had to pull off my. goggles because I ' co uldn 't see anything, I kept getti ng m ud in ·m y. eyes, then after one big mud hole t her was a drop-off, I got some m ud in my eye and didn't go off the d rop-off just right , hit a b ump wrong and went over the bars. I got up and tried to kee p going but I got a big glob in m Y Jeye again and had to pu ll off. Ill' " In the second race , about the th ird la p , I fell in th e big m ud ho le t rying lO ta ke a differ ent line. I slid off th e track and m y bike wouldn 't sta rr. It took about two la p for me to ge t sta rted, So 1 didn' t do too good th at race ei t her." After the U.S.G P, W arren an d step ' f,,:!~er J?n, " ~ .. Rosen stie] hi t, tJ:1 ~ r,?ao for th e Ca rradian G ra nd ' Prix in