Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·:'.:...:...,.'.:;ByLMOT :" :· FIN 'ehris'J ' "O A' . " .',:. onn~ ver get the feeling that you may have bitten off a little more than you can chew? I just sent in my entry for the Acerbis Adventure Nevada Rally and, well - let's just say that I'm already starting to choke... and the race is still two months away. It all started about a month ago, .when Acerbis honcho Bill Berroth gave me a call at the opulent Cycle News offices. "Hey Chris," he said. "Did you have fun covering the rally last year?" "Sure Bill," I replied. "1 like nothing better than going to bed at one 0' clock every morning, waking up three hours later, riding like a madman all day in .' order to keep up with the racers, baking my brains in 115-degree heat, and trying to communicate with Swahili riders. Why do you ask?" "Well, I was wondering if you'd be interested in riding at this year's rally." I reamed my motto - time away from E the offit:e, even if it's spent under the direct blast ofa blow dryu from hell, is always betterthan time in theoffice - and responded, "Sure, Bill. You can count on me." Only when the Nevada Rally entry form arrived in the next week's mail did I realize that Bill had said riding, when I'd assumed he'd said writing. As my fellow editors giggled at the terrified expression slowly creeping across my face, I recognized that my motto had a minor flaw: Even a week in the office is preferable to undergoing an intense aerobic workout while under the blast of that blow dryer. "What's the big deal?" I can hear you asking. "You moto-journalists.get paid the big bucks to ride all the latest trick bikes. With the stuff you have access to, you should overall the thing." While the big bucks part may be a little off, I must aclrnit I will have it easier than the average competitor. In effect, I will be a factory rider. As you read these words, Honda tech gurus Eric Crippa 25 YEARS AGO:" July 15, 1969 "B r,;p;;j ';";/;l4'km ~ .~~~~1~ ailey beats the Euro. .:<\ ' .. ' peans!" was 1fI.. ' ;,, ~. , : the headline, and a . ,1 , ." , ' : . photo of Greeves- f~' ,~ mounted Gary Bai- -::.. .. ' le~ leading Swede Q~"'''''''''''''"'~:;;"f: ' Shg Petterson at . _,,_..__... _.,;;~,,~ Saddleback Park for -the 4th of July MX were featured on the cover of Cycle News. Bailey topped the 250cc International class over Arne Kring and Tom Rapp. Mark Blackwell won the 500cc Sportsman d ivision... Rookie Jim Rice slid a BSA to victory at the San Jose National at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Rice finished the race with an approximately 200-yard lead over defending champ Gary Nixon. Mert Lawwill finished third. Don Castro won the Amateur main... Jack Ward, the father of Supercross and National MX Champion Jeff Ward, won the Canyon Crest Trials in California... Motorcycle stunt man Evel Knievel set a new world record by successfully jumping 17 cars at Ascot Park Raceway. That same night at the Ascot ,IT, Skip and Bruce Ogilvie are in the process of building me a trick XR628 rally bike identical to those that will be campaigned by desert aces Charlie Halcomb and Chuck Miller. I'll have enough high-zoot riding gear to outfit the lJ;aqui army, and I've even conned my dad into chasing me around the Nevada desert to change my tires and air filters. Let's see, what could be missing? Oh, I don't know - could it be, perhaps ... talent? I'd imagine that I tend to exaggerate my lack of riding ability. After all, you can't continually test all the hot bikes and watch all the best riders without picking up at least a modicum of skill. The problem is, lately I've been doing a lot more watching than I have riding. You see, every summer, when the racing season hits its stride, the Cycle News editorial offices have been known to get a tad frenzied. While the monthly mag. azines are out having fun, testing the new nitro-burning Yamasaki trials bike, my co-workers and I slave over. hot computers, editing mountains of race coverage. On the weekends, I'm usually off to some exotic locale (like Millville, Minnesota), covering a National motocross . It's the price we pay for bringing you the most up-to-date race coverage, and entertaining as it may be, editing and writing hasn't done much to improve my conditioning (okay, maybe the typing helps build up my finger muscles). Hence, my riding skills have not kept pace with my writing skills, which should give you an idea of just how desperate my current situation is. I must admit, covering last year's rally was not that bad. In fact, if you get . the opportunity to contest the event, I'd highly recommend it. (After all, unlike me, you probably get to actually ride now and then during the summer.) I plan to just try for a finish, and treat the thing like a long dual-sport ride. What better way to tour the Wild West? Or if riding the rally sounds lik~ a bit too Van Leeuwen, aboard a Triumph, won the Expert main event; John Hately topped the Novice Trophy Dash, while Dallas Baker won the Expert Trophy Dash. 15 YEARS AGO... July 11,1979 o n Sanford was shown on the cover maneuvering his Maico through the Sequoia National Forest in California during the Tuff E' Nuff National Enduro. Sanford won the event over Rick Munyon; Mike Hannon was third. Dave Bertram; on a Husky, won the Open A class... The AMA announced the six riders who would represent the U5. World Trophy Team for the upcoming ISDT in West Germany: Frank Gallo, Kevin LaVoie, Ted Leimbach, Dick Burleson, Jack Penton and Larry Roeseler... Honda's Marty Tripes beat Yamaha's Bob Hannah in both 250cc National MX motos at Red Bud Track 'N Trail in Michigan. "1 could've gone , faster," said Tripes afterwards. "1 don't D much, it's also a lot of fun just to spectate. You might not get much sleep, but you'll get to see the world's best offroad racers perform - an opportunity that doesn't come along every day. , Some of you are probably wondering exactly what a rally is, especially since the sport is European in origin, and last year's Nevada Rally was the first of its kind ever held on American soil. Basically, a rally is a cross between a reliability end u ro and a dual-sport ride. As with reliability endures, or "Qualifiers," riders are scored in special tests (in which all-out speed is the objective). Also like Qualifiers, those tests are connected by a series of transfer sections. The only difference is that while tests are from anywhere from five to 20 miles long in a Qualifier, they can be several hundred miles long in a rally. This year's Nevada Rally will take six days to complete a 1700-mile 'clockwise loop around the entire state of Nevada, starting and finishing in Las Vegas . Nearly the entire course will consist of special tests, As with a dual-sport ride, competitors follow 'the course by using a road book and an odometer. Last year's Nevada Rally had an unusually high number of course markings, which drew criticism from the Euro riders. These guys are accustomed to the dunes of Africa, where landmarks - and tum markers - are almost nonexistent. In those events, organizers ad vise the riders of each day's starting and a finishing , points, and pretty much let them find their own way between the two. In conditions like these, a racer comes to depend upon his comp,ass and/or a global positioning system (GPS) - a satellite-coordination system that can pinpoint your location anywhere on the globe. The famed Paris-Dakar - the granddaddy of all rallies - got its start when a group of adventurers set out to ride from France to Senegal. It soon began gaining popularity, and other rallies started popping up here and there. As the European press focused more attention on the events, factory teams began spending larger and larger amounts of money in their efforts to win . Bikes grew increasingly exotic - with huge engines and fuel tanks, and support efforts increasingly intensive - sometimes with entire chase teams actually entered in the car classes. Before long, the amateurs who had gotten things off the ground were priced out of the sport. Over the past few years, rallies have undergone a "rebirth" of sorts. As factory teams have fallen on hard times, the events have begun to revert back to their origins. New "production rules" have been passed to make bikes less exotic, and amateurs again get the opportunity to participate and compete - if they're good enough. Armed with this knowledge, I recently attendeda pre-rally press conference at Las Vegas ' Showboat hotel, hoping to glean any inside information that would help my chances in the rally. At the conference, course organizer Casey Folks revealed that this year's event would be more like those overseas. "This year," said Casey, "there will be almost no course markings at all. Speed alone will not win you the race. The winner will be the one who is best able to read the road book:' "Read?" I thought. "Reading is almost like writing. I just might stand a chance of doing well after all!" After the conference, in the Showboat's parking lot, the hopes of reading my way to a win took a sharp dive. As I wore out my shoe leather in the hot desert sun, I could almost see the Vegas bookies, raising the odds on the Jonnum/Honda entry. After all, it doesn't bode well for navigating the wilds of Nevada, when you can't even find the way to your own car. B even remember passing Bob (Hannah), it happened so fast!" Suzuki's Danny laPorte went 2-2 to win the 500cc class... Marland Whaley rode a Montesa to victory at a National Trials event in Texas... Honda's Warren Reid won the Open and 250cc Pro classes, and Suzuki's Brian Myerscough topped the 12Scc class at the Mammoth MOuntain MX... Fresh off his win at the Carlsbad U.S. GP, Suzuki's Gerrit Wolsink went 2-1 to win the Canadian GP over Great Britain's Graham Noyce; Brad Lackey finished third... Cycle News featured an interview with 21-year-old Eddie Lawson, entitled "Eddie Lawson, dirt track racer". last before officially hanging up his boots for good.. . Will Davis passed defending champ Scott Parker on the last lap to win the Lima Half Mile GNC. Larry Pegram won the Junior National... Yoshimura teammates Jamie James and Scott Russell took each other out while battling for the lead at the Superbike National Championship Road Race at Road America; Yamaha-mounted Rich Arnaiz went on to win. John Kocinski won the 250cc GP at Road America, while Jeff Farmer won the 600cc Supersport class.. . Yamahamounted Ed Lojak defeated Steve McSwain and Randy Hawkins to win the Blackwater 100 GNCC in Davis, West Virginia; it was Lojak's second Blackwater win... Cyc1~ News tested BMW's $13,000 K-1 supersport motorcycle, as well as a Matchless G80... John Mafaro dominated the NHRA drag races in Columbus; Ohio... Roland Diepold won the French MX 250cc GP over Rob Herring... Ron Ribolzi overailed the Show-Me Hare Scrambles in Missouri... National Hare & Hound Champion Dan Smith and Chris Crandall topped the Open Expert classes at the Desert Viper's Dual Euro Scrambles in California. . . B 5YEARS AGO... July 5,1989 ea t u r ed on !he cover of Issue number 26 was sixtime champion , Bob Hannah, on a Suzuki, blasting out of a loamy, Unadilla berm for our Unadilla 250cc MX GP preview. The race would be Hannah's F 67

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