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/127655
:JU N O R R 'F U > ,B DorinMaeda: " y amel Motorcycle Week is upon u s aga in and , as usual, it seems lik e just yester d ay 'that I w as on the other side of the country loving it, and hating it at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy bike we ek, it's just tha t there are several incidents that have mad e my past experiences rather unusual. The worst thing about my yearly 10day excursion is just that - it's 10 days long. Not tha t I d islik e the trip, mind you. It's my wife of seven months that does most of the complaining. A few days ago, I found her sitting on the bed, staring into space with a sad look on her face. "What's wrong? Did you have a bad da y at work? Am I in trouble?" I asked, a feeling 'of pani c swelling inside of me. "No," she replied , "1just remembered that Daytona is coming up soon ." Oh, brother. Last year, the majority of my trip consisted of retrieving messages that "Eileen called and said she misses you," from the hotel operator. I'm almost sure that I spent my entire per diem on phone calls horne. This year will be even worse. Thanks to the later-than-normal. scheduling, Camel Motorcycle Week will happen smack-dab in the middle of spring break. Usually, it' s only on the last few days of the week that the string bikiniclad coeds begin to arri ve, and by that time - I'm usually too tired to look. Hrnm. . . now I know why she bought me that cellular phone for Christmas. "Hello? Donny? What are you doing? I don' t hear motorcycles in the backgro un d. You' re not down at the beach, are you?" Traditionally, my trip begins with the opening round of the AMA National Championship 12S/2S0cc MX Series, held at nearby Gatorback Park in Gainesvill e. The races are usually exciting, as the racers are anxious to take to the natural-terrain course after two full 25 YEARS AGO M 1 arch 1,1969... BC anno un ced a new tel ev ision series for the 1970 season that would rev olve around a young man and his motorcycle, Then Carne Bronson...A story prethe v iewing 1969 Da ytona 200 listed Cal Ra yborn and Gary N ixon as the co-favorites to win the race at the fa med sp eedway in Florida. Ni xon was set to comp ete on a fact o r y Triumph w h ile Rayborn would ride a factory Ha rleyDavidson ...Don Emde rode hi s 100cc Hodaka to victory over Pat Evans in the 100cc GP class at Willo w Springs Raceway in Califomia...The city of Los Angeles ordered 10 Moto-Guzzi Police bikes, marking the first time a foreign N months of supercross. This day usually runs smoothly, with the exception of the mad dash to the Gainesville airport that evening. Only minu tes after the final moto, either I, or ace photographer Kinney Jones, roost to the airport in order to get that day's film on a plane bound for the Cycle News offices in Long Beach, California . Still tired from a day at the trac k, I often work late into the evening wri ting th e MX rep or t and, after only a few winks of sleep, it's off to Daytona for the AHRMA Vintage Road Races. In order to allow me to catch a few Zs, Kinney usually handles the four-hour d rive to Daytona Beach. For those of you who have never driven in a rental car with Mr. Jones, let me just say that I usuall y don't get much sleep. Adrenaline rushes h ave a fun n y way of keepin g yo u awak e. . After a full day at the vintage races, it's time to re st and ca tch up on lost slee p. Each year, however , the sa me Monda y nigh t ritu al takes place. As sure as cloc kwork, ad g uy /v intage b ike guru /party an im al Terry Pratt will phone just as I be gin to do ze off... "Sleep? Wh at are you ta lking abou t? We're going out!" The places that we visit. . . well, let's just say that I hope my wife doesn 't call on the cellular phone while we're there . ("But honey, they do have a 'band-aid law' in Florida !") The next two days are relatively easy, with the' exception of the ann ual Alligator Enduro. During my first visit to Daytona, the start of the" Alli gator " was changed for the first time in yea rs. On the evenin g before the event, I asked a Cycle Week veteran where the start was. He assured me that it was "jus t on the other side of th e sp eed way," but the next morning I quickly discovered that he had been unaware of the location change. Panicked, I returned to the hotel lobby, hoping to see a fa miliar face. Enter Mr. Larry Maiers. Though I had never before met the television motorsports show host, I was desperate. "Excuse me, Mr. Maiers, do you know where the start of the Alligator End uro is?" Big mistake. "Boy, it' s 10 after nine, and th e enduro sta rted at nine!" tea sed Maiers with a deep chuckle. Larry did go on to fill me in as best he could, but I don't think I'll ever hear the end of that one. Anxious to at lea st see the latemin ute riders start, I did my best Kin ney Jones impression as I raced down the seemingly d eserted sw a mp lan d h ighw a ys . Wh y is i t that g uys who always dri ve wild get awa y with it, and the one ti me I d ecide to pin it, I ge t caught? Damn that Murphy gu y. After listening to my s to ry, th e patrolman was nice enough to site me for 70 mph, though I had been pu shin g the triple-digit mark. With a smile, he pointed me in the right d irec tion an d assured me that the citation wouldn't be trans ferred back to California. Wrong. Assigned risk? What 's tha t? Last year, my "Alligator experience" proved just as interesting. Because of heavy rains prior to the even t, the start was again moved at the last minute. This time, though, I w as ready, and knew exactly where the new spot was. Just as I wa s leav ing the hotel, gu ess who wandered up with a look of panic on his face. "Did they move the start of that thing?" asked Maiers . Revenge is sweet. Hoping to get some exceptional photos, I ven tu red deep into the woods, wai ting for the AA riders to race past. Cautiously, I examined all off the possibl e lin es that the riders might ha ve taken. Thanks to the tracks left by previous riders , I finally found a spot that was untraveled and a safe distance from the common path. My shots of the first dozen or so riders turned out great but, as the saying goes, all good things mus t end . I still don' t know who he was, but after plowing in to the first tree in the woods, one rider proceeded to ricochet off each and every tree before motorcycle had ev er been purchased for police use...Reg Pridmore was selling the engine and ge arbox from a SOOcc Manx Norton in the Want Ads section for $495... in Corona, California, bea ting Ste ve Bauer...In a pre-Daytona shakedown race at Ontario Motor Speedway, Wes Cooley rode his Yoshimura Suzuki to the w in over Dave Emde and Steve M cLaughli n. Emde beat McLaughlin and Harry Klinzmann to win the Open GP class in the AFM race...Ron Turner rode his Yamaha to victory at the Valencia MX, topping Warren Reid and Ji m Gibson in th e 2S0cc class. Steve Stackable wo n the 250cc class at Sayers Motocross Par k in San Antonio, Texas. The Min i Junio r class was wo n by Danny Storbeck...Road ra cer Dale Singleton was selling his Yamah a TZ7S0D for $6700 in the Wan t Ads section... 1 E 5Y ARSAGO M 7,1979... arch t its sp ring meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, th e FIM anriouced that th e y w o u ld d r o p the 3S0 cc a n d Form u la 7S0cc cl a ss es fro m th e World Champ ionship Roa d Race Series in 198 0 . The FIM Technical Committee, meanwhile, w as se t to examine th e g rowing use of ultralong tra vel fr ont fo rks on MX machines, which it said could lead to "un desirable and d angerous ha nd li n g effects. " ...Bob Balentine won the n inth an n ua l Soboba Grand Prix on the Soboba Ind ian Reservation in California...Rex Staten won the Uri-Leap Year Grand Prix A 5YEARS AGO M 1,19 arch 89... ubba Shobert crashed hi s Cabin Honda NSRSOO during a pre-GP seas on test session on Phillip Island, B flailing off the course an d s tra ig h t towards me. I guess I p icked th e w rong sport. With the deftness of an NFL blocker, I tensed up and waited for impact. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt that bad, and I even managed to stay on my feet. Upon impact, my bare sh o ulder se n t the padded rider and his machine bouncing off and back onto the main trail. Just as I began to laugh about th e whole inci dent, though, I loo ked down an d noticed that the flash was missing from the top of m y camera. I ev entu ally found it, some 20 feet away in a small bush. But wha t about Main Street, you ask? Oh, yes, ho w could I forget all of the excitement of walking down Main Street at night? Th in k yo u've seen a lot of Harleys? Think again. Each night, a sea of chrome, lea the r, and ta ttoos flows through the streets of do wntown Daytona Beach. It's quite a sight, believe me. Though I'd like nothing better than to shoot a few night-time photos, my better sense of judgment tells me to leave that to Mr. Jones . One night while walking the stretch, a rather large biker called out to me. Did he know my name? No, but when he said, "Hey, Honda! " I was fairly certain that he meant me. I think carrying a surplus of camera equipment down Main Street would only exaggerate my ethnicity. Don't get the wrong idea, most of the "bikers" are just as friendly as the next gu y. It' s the bad seeds that you have to watch out for. Would you believe that I have never seen the Daytona 200 by Arai? Each year that I have wo rked Cycle Week, I've scheduled an early flight out on Sunday morning. With all of the short track and supercross action over on Saturday, my job is done. Thi s year, however, I' ve elected to stay an extra day in order to witness what looks to be one of the most exciting races ever. Edd ie Lawson, Doug Polen and Scott Russell? Count me in. And don't worry, I' m not p lanning on standing in the International HorseCN shoe with a camera . Aus tralia, and suffered a cr ac ke d b on e in h is foo!. .. Ri ck Johnso n kept h is perfec t AMA / C am el Su pe rcr o s s Seri e s sea s o n intac t wi th a victory at Miami's Joe Robbie Stad ium . Johnson beat J eanMichel Bayle an d Jeff Stanton. Th e 125cc ma in ev en t in Miami was w on by Damon Bradshaw w ith Ty Davis and Chris Col em an filling th e to p three ...Chuck Graves and Lee Shierts teamed up to w in a SOO -mile endurance road race at W illow Springs Raceway... CN