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/127394
eIN THE WIND
~
...-4
C\f
....
en
;j
bJJ
;j
<
B
Belgian Georges Jobe ( H o n )
clinched the 500cc MX World Championship at round 10 of the World
Championship 500cc MX Series in
Folkendange, Luxembourg, August
II , with 3-2 moto finishes that were
good for second overall behind Eng.
land 's Dav id Thorpe (Kaw), th e
winner of both rnotos. Championship
rival J a cky Martens (KT M) failed
to score points in either moto. Mart en s
enco unte red problems with a foamfilled tire in th e first moto and broke
a shoc k in race two. jobe ha s an
in surmountable lead in the point
sta n d in gs o ver Marten s, 266-223 .
Martens is assured of second in th e
fina l standings as he is 54 points ah ead
of Dirk Geukens (Hon ) with only
the August 25 U.S. GP in San Bern ardino, Ca lifornia ," rema ining.
T exa n Doug Polen (Duc) cont in ued
to dominate the World Championship
Superbik e Road Race Series by winning both legs of the August II
Swedish ro und at Anderstorp. After a
rai n delay of over an hour, Pol en took
over the lead in the first leg on the
opening lap and stayed in front the
rest of the wa y. Australian Rob
Phillis (Kaw) and Belgian Stephane
Mertens (Due) exchanged seco nd
place throughout the race , but Merte ns
crashed in the final turn on the last
lap while trying to pass Polen for the
win. Phillis finished second, wi th
Fabrizio P irovano (Yam) taking
third. Polen took over the lead of the
second leg on lap three and led the
rest of the way. Phill is aga in finished
second, passing fast qualifier Raymond Roche (Duc) in the last corner
of th e final lap. Roche fin ished third.
With six rounds rem aining in the
series, Polen leads the point standings
over Phillis, 217-161. Pi ro vano is third
with 116 points.
Ca lifornian B illy Hamill powered his
way through the August I I Speedway
Semi-Final in Rovno, Ru ssia, to top
th e race card with 12 points, two more
than his nearest rivals, World Champion Swede P er Jonsson and his
fell ow co un tryman J immy Nils en.
The performa nce earne d Hamill a
Soichiro H nda,---=.19----=-.: .06--=...:-19=--=-..=91=-----_ _
0
S
2
oich iro Ho nda , 84, founder of the Honda
Mo tor Co., died in a Tokyo hosp ital o n
Monday, AugustS, due to co mp licatio ns from
a malfunctioning liver.
Born in 1906, th e son of a blacks m ith who
specialized in bicycle repair, H onda had only
completed an elementary school education whe n
he left his family ho me at the age of 16 to go
to wo rk as an au tomobil e mechanic in Tokyo in
1922. He soo n beca me involved in car raci ng, but
his racing career came to an end when he na rro wly
escaped deat h in a vio lent crash at the 1936 AIIjapan Speed Rally.
Honda formed his first bu sin ess, a pis ton ring
manufacturing firm, in 1937. Discoveri ng tha t he
lacked the kno wledge needed to operate suc h a
cC?m pa ~ y , Ho nda attended technical high school and applied lessons learned to
his b~s ll1~ss. Altho ug h h~ absor bed the lessons , he did not bother taking the req uired
exam.InatlOns and was Info rm ed he would not receive a diploma. H e said that
the dip loma "was wort h less th an a movie theater ticket. A ticket guarantees that
you can get into the theater. But a dip loma doesn 't guarantee that you can make
a liv ing."
japan's invo lvement in World War II saw Honda's firm becom e a su ccess but
his factory was destroyed by Alli ed bombing. He event ually sold hi s stock to T oyota.
In 1946, Ho nda formed the Honda Tech nical Research In stitute and took his
first step towa rd estab lishi ng his nam e as a household one. The compa ny produced '
mopeds, motor-powered bicycles, u tilizin g surplus en gines.
Honda teamed up wi th financier Takeo Fuj isawa in 1948 and under the nam e
Honda Motor Co., Lt d., they began to develop motorcycles. While Fuj isawa took
care of . th~ firII!'s finances, Honda devoted h is time to , develop ment and
ma nufacturin g,
: f i 1/ { 11
In 19f~4'1 I;!9n~ i u~ a pu~li<: chall:nge to his eiJgineer~ that ma ny .con side;ed
absu rd - to..
~a" ~a then co nSidered to be -the .ul timate motorcycle. race,
the Isle ofIMan'!l::,It tpo k H d rida seven year to .win the .race.,