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/127563
revolting. Invariably, Bevo Forti, an awesome trencherman, won. He took the sweepstakes for eating a doughnut the fastest, despite technical complaints lodged afterward that he had swallowed it without chewing. He won yet another handsome bet for swallowing two pieces of pizza folded double. He also was on the verge of taking $125 from Hannah and 5avitski for consuming an eight-inch peach pie from Marie Callender's in six minutes, then froze up and lost with only 45 seconds to go. Make no mistake, this was an uproarious group. I never was a member of the Buckeroos or anything like that. But I did spend time with them while writing up a series of Hanhah stories in the summer of 1978. I'd hoped I could persuade Hannah to answer at least a few questions and, as it turned out, a few questions were all that were required, because the saga of Bob Hannah turned out to be so straightforward, so uncomplicated, that it smacked of a hokey movie: a wild and anti-social teenager off the desert who could ride motorcycles faster than anybody else finds generous sponsors who help him to become the first American super-star of motocross. Incredibly, it really was that simple. My only difficulty with Hannah was maintaining that impossible, seven-daya-week pace of his. Go-go-go! We once made a non-stop motor trip together, starting from his trailer in Palmdale, then streaking through the High Sierras clear to Lake Tahoe, following by a hammer-down journey back into Los Angeles in pitch darkness, with Hannah explaining in vivid detail the superior vision of his uncanny green eyes. Just before six in the morning we rolled into my driveway. Hannah sprang out of the car - not his Ferrari - to urinate on my lawn, then bade me farewell and roared off into the sunrise, bound now for San Diego, I think he said. A few hours afterward the telephone shook me. It was Hjlnnah. "Wake up! We're going jet-skiing at Castaic!" Hannah seemed bulletproof. He sped through 1977, 1978 and most of 1979 nearly completely free of injury and illness, even though consistently exposing himself to more trauma on and off the track than anybody else. It was his offtrack shenanigans which proved he was vulnerable to injury after all. Late in 1979, while water-skiing and showing off in the Arizona Colorado, he crashed headlong into the river shoreline, and for months afterward was maimed, his right foot, ankle, leg and thigh all imprisoned within a bulky, bIindingly white, plaster of paris' cast. This forced him to forfeit almost a year's motocross, although he continued going on wild chukar hunts, cast and all. He resumed racing. But now he was as injury-prone as everybody else. Over time, the toll climbed. By 1986, it read: three broken wrists, six broken ribs, four broken ankles, one broken leg, one broken collarbone, one pelvis twice. "While I'm fastest, I'm gonna prove I'm fastest," had been his vow. Now that he no longer was, he apparently sa,:" no point in continuing motocross. So he stopped. ;roday, of course, he has become, among other things, a color commenta tor for television, abrasively evaluating the pretenders to his old throne. Stories still appear about what the Hanhah of 15 years ago was really like, one a uthor claiming that all the time he was really a shy person, using fearlessness and abrasiveness to conceal that shyness. I wrote such a story myself, using the jargon "squirrel" - meaning it as a compliment - but Hannah must have misunderstood the comparison, he took it as slander, and didn't speak to me again for 10 years. t:N 1993 e I NAll0NAL CHAMPIONSHIP SUPERBIKE SERIES ~ ( 'f') Experience the unrivaled excitement of the nation's premier motorcycle road race circuit, the AMA National Championship Superbike Series. When you want the best, AMA Pro Racing is the place to be. - ..c: ~ Cii ;E See it LIVE! at a track near you. **** NEXT UP **** 18 April 17 & March 3-7 Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida Info: 904-253-7223 Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California Info: 800-327-7322 'tcCcCrtc~ COMING ATTRACTIONS May 1-2 June 12-13 June 19-20 July 17-18 July 31- August 1 August 7-8 August 28-29 *October 2-3 'trtcCcCrtl: Charlotte Motor Speedway Road America New Hampshire International Speedway Road Atlanta Brainerd International Raceway Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Sears Point International Raceway Atlanta Motor Speedway Info: Info: Info: Info: Info: Info: Info: Info: 704-455-3200 800-365-7223 603-783-4931 706-967-6143 612-475-1500 419-884-4000 707-938-8448 404-946-4211 •-Tentative Consult your local cable cable listings for extensive television coverage of the 1993 AMA National Superbike Series. Brought to you by AMA PROFESSIONAL RACNG P.O. Box 6114, Westerville, Ohio 43081 Now Available Through Cycle News Video Theater "1992 FRENCH 'GRAND PRIX" ("#89C) Marlboro Yamaha's Wayne Rainey won his second 500cc Grand Prix 01 the 1992 Season as the World Championship Road Racing Series visited the French Magny-Cours Circui1lor the Ilrst time. John Kocinski was first off the line, but by the end of the lirst lap Rainey made his move to the Iront. On lap two, Rothmans Honda's Wayne Gardner made a fiery move to second and began his lirst-place chase towards Rainey. On lap five, while Doug Chandler lost his front wheel and slid off the track uninjured, Gardner Increased his pace in pursuit 01 Rainey. Rainey kept his head down as Gardner closed to within a second 01 the first place position. The two World Champions battled ij out til the end in what was a most incredible 1992 GP battle. Kocinski also made a brilliant charge on Gardner, but Rainey proved too last lor the field and took the win, to put him second in points and closing rapidly on the injured Michael Doohan. Action in the 250CC class saw Jean-Michel Bayle make his road racing debut to finish 24th; the real action was up Iront as Loris Reggiani and P.F. Chili battled back and lorth lor the win. The 125cc GP was another victory lor Semprucci Honda's Ezio Gianola, who ran away with it alter his closest rival Fausto Gresini crashed his Marlboro Honda 52 minutes lrom GP Video. 49