Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

'·1 O U ·· NF C S: .By Jim Talkington ..~ :. od a y I became an "old guy." Well, maybe it was last week, actually, when I spent my entire day at Lollapolooza trying to figure out who the idiot was that would put Nick Cave on stage for a 45minute set at two in the afternoon in 98" heat. Nick probably last saw daylight in 1971.. . until this tour, that is. So there he was, like some magnificent fish whose captor had chosen to display him alive, but out of the water. It just didn't work. I didn't get it. "What's up with this?!" I had to ask myself. It was kind of like watching the Boston Pops at the Bucksnort tavern. Everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I thought that I had recovered from that one until today, when I suffered not one, but two visits from the "you'regonna-be-an-old-guy-someday-soon" gremlin. Picture this: I'm sitting at Cafe Latte sipping Hazelnut coffee and telling a lady frien d that I'm tired of traveling and I really want to have a house in the 'burbs someday. Oh,God. Sooner or later it was going to happen, they've all been telling me . ln my younger days I could've quickly recovered and made a bee-line for a cup of White Castle's w orld famous Joe to cleanse that damn hazelnut from my pallet. But not today. I also couldn't remember any of the 1001 reasons that I used to find fault with suburbanite living. My basic survival instincts kicked in: time to seek higher ground - go home and check out the latest issue of Cycle News and normalcy will return. lssue #31, the "Tha t was then, this is . now," issue. For some reason I started at the back of the paper (I think I'm turning Japanese?). Chris Jonnum's "Final Moto" T opines that "supercross has spirit, but mo tocro ss is blessed with soul." I like that and I understand that and the editorial was very timely for the issue's theme. Skipping about the pages, I came upon Dick Mann and Jeff Smith. Undeniably, more soul. Then I read the Budds Creek U.s. GP report. No soul. No, not the coverage.. . Davey Coombs did his usual excellent job with both words and photos, but it is very sad that the only MX GP stop in America can be justifiably boycotted because of apathy. It appears to me that motocross has much more potential to grow on the world stage now than it does in the national arena. With quibbling among the AMA and the supercross promoters leaving the '95 series up in the air, we should be looking at the sport as objectively as possible now, more than we ever have. Why should I, or you, or anyone care about the U.S, GP? After all, America has 13 MX des Nations wins which prove our superiority, and the money is in supercross and the National Series, right? No one can argue that media exposure is the way to make the sport of motocross grow. It also can't be argued that the quantity of coverage has grown many-fold in the last 10 years or so, what with cable TV and the multiplying sports networks. But where is this coverage, exactly? It's generally hidden at either an obscure spot on the dial or in the early a.m. programming schedule. Yes, the diligent can find the programming but the casual channel flipper is not likely to watch a taped airing of the Houston Supercross anymore than he/she would a Cow Palace Monster Truck Show. Back to the U.S. GP. Us vs . Them. Americans and Euros face off. This is a concept that can sell and did for many years on ABC's "Wid e World of Sports ." Sure, it was shown six months after the fact and Chris Economaki won't soon be mistaken for an elder statesman of the sport, but it was network television. Every weekend for a month, families all over America were reminded that the U.S. GP at Carlsbad would be featured on a particular day. Whether they were watching speed skating or gymnastics or auto racing, they were all captive to the exciting imagery of the upcoming motorcycle race 'and ready to answer that basic call to arms: the Euros are coming! From your average sports fan's point of view, I don't think that any less than 100"10 commitment on the part of America to host a Grand Prix can reflect favorably . We're mistaken if we think that a "if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand" is the proper way to treat the MXuneducated masses. They are the same people who, once involved, can result in getting Jeremy McGrath's face on a McDonald's collectab le cup or a replica CR250 in a Happy Meal. I truly believe this. Isn't the MX des Nations the place to show our superiority and doesn't that produce the ultimate Us vs. Them situation, you may ask? Why not cover that? I don't want to make the (all too often made) mis take of underestimating the American public, but three riders on three different sized bikes in three motos starting in two rows may require a bit too much explanation. A great deal of U.S. apathy toward the Ll.S, GP has to come from our dominance of the des Nations year after year . All of . us should be very proud of our team's record. I was in high school when Honda fielded that first U.S. des Nations team, and I have found each subsequent win cause for celebration. But motocross is not a team sport. We should capitalize on the unique opportunities for exposure presented by hos ting a World Championship round before the opportunity is gone. Why am I so keen on the World Championships being important to the future of MX in America? Let me put it this way: Jeremy McGrath will be the highest paid motocrosser in America in 1995. It is doubtful that Mr . McGrath could capture a 250cc World Championship, to put it considerately (but in no way reflecting on his immense supercross talents) . The sad part of the story is that if communication does not improve between the AMA and the supercross promoters, Jeremy may not have a creditable series in which to defend his title. Just where are we taking this spo rt and how are we utilizing our acknowledged world superiority? Davey Coombs wro te a story on the AMA National series for Dirt Rider magazine titled "In Search of Heroes. " It really made me wonder just where our next heroes will come from.. . then it happened. The appearance of the "you're regonna-be-an-old-guy-someday-soon" gremlin, part deux . I'm looking for heroes, holding Cycle News issue #31 and "YZ Warriors" falls out. What's up with this?! I don't get it. Everyone else enjoyed it. Editor's note Jim Talkington is a professional . freelance photographer from Ohio whose work frequently appears in Cycle News and other motorcycle publications. c Greg Zitterkop f (KTM) won the final round of the Soun d of Thunder FourStroke Series tha t was held in conjunction with the August 14 Washougal 125/250cc National MX rounds in Washington. Not only did Zitterkopf win the event, but he won the series championship for the second time in a row. Ch uck Sun (Hbg) finished sec ond ahead of G ary Beye rs (Hbg) and Grason Hart (Hbg). 25 Y SAGO." EAR .September 2,1969 A II hoard of sidehackers were featured on . the cover, as they battled for positions at ~ , the Cerebral Palsy Bene- ~";;s~ • fit Scrambles at the 1'!r,~ .~~ : Rodeo Fairgrounds in _ H__ ••• ".:: •• .. Salinas, California. Nearly 700 riders competed in the Salinas Ramblers Motorcycle Club-hosted scrambles. The event's motto was, "We race that others may walk." ... Tim Hart, wearing his famous orange with black-striped full coverage helmet, edged out Mike Runyard to win the 125cc Expert class at Carlsbad MX... Ji m Rice rode a threecylinder BSA to victory at the Sedalia AMA National dirt track; Don Castro won the amateur race... Joel Rob ert won the Russian 200cc MX GP to clinch his third w orld title, over Sy l van Ge boers. Chuck S u n , the 1980 AMA 500cc National MX Champion, also competed in the 250c c National class at Washougal. Sun, the first rider to win a 500cc Na tional moto at Washougal, competed aboard a big-bore Husaberg four-stroke. He crashed out of the first moto and placed 27th in the second. G u y Cooper also competed at 15Y SAGO... EAR August 22, 1979 Ph o to of Br o c Glover holding up three fingers to illustrate his clinching of his third-straight 125cc MX National Championship was on the cover 15 years ago . The factory Yamaha rider d id .the trick with 3-4 moto finishes at the Metrolina Speedway Park in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mark Barnett was the overall class winner via 4-1 moto finishes. In the 500cc National, Mike Bell and Danny LaPorte traded 1-2 moto finishes , with Bell winning the tie-breaking second moto; laPorte maintained his nine-point lead over Bell in the series point standings with' one round still to be held... Mike Kidd, Steve Ek lund and Ga rt h 'Brow finished 1-2-3 at the Topeka Half Mile... Fourteen-year-old Erik Kehoe powered three Yamahas to three titles at the NMA MX fina ls at Ponca City. Among A Washougal, no doubt sharpening up his skills for the September 20-25 ISDE in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cooper's . results at Washougal were less than stellar (13-29), how ever, but the fans could've cared less about that, as both he and Suzuki's Bri an Sw in k were entertaining the estimated 10,500 fans in attendance with spectacular aerials over one of Washougal's big jumps. Swink was perform- those competing against Kehoe were Suzuki-mounted riders Ron Lechien and G eorge Holland. Total entries for the event topped 1200. The event wa s also filmed for the movie "On Any Sunday II" ... Cycle News tested the latest 250WR from Husqvarna, calling it " ...the finest enduro bike on the market today." It sold for $1995... Kelly Moran qualified for the Speedway World Final in England... Bruce Ogilvie and Lee Scheffers teamed up to win the Rovers Team Race at Soggy Dry Lake... Can -Am rider Donnie Hansen won the 250cc Pro class at San Bernardino's Orange :-;;' • ~~ photo of Chris Carr la unching his Rotax.. . powered Harley-Davidson over the infamous Peoria TT jump graced the front page; he won the Grand National A .·IN·T EW O..· H IN Continued trompage 3 » • ing a different version of the nacnac made famous by Team Honda's Jeremy Mc Grath. "It's called a cancan," said Swink. "Instead of taking your leg over the back of the seat and touching the other side of the . bike with you boot in mid-air, you pull it (the le g ) over the gas tank. It 's another one of the bicycle move~: I've been practicing it at home. eN Championship event over Scott Parker and Ron ni e Jones... Yamaha-mounted Joh n Kocinski clinched his third title at the Castrol 250cc Grand Prix Road Race at Sears Point; Scott Zampach won the 600cc Supersport event, and Scott Russell topped the 750cc Supersport... Kevin Schwan tz led Eddie Lawson and Wayne Rainey across the finish line to . win the British Motorcycle Grand Prix at Donnington Park; Sito Pons won the 250cc GP and clinched the series title... Kawasaki debuted its 1990 KX line-up, which featured new perimeter frames in the KXl25 and 250... Dave Th orpe won the Belgian round of the World Championship 500cc MX Series at the Citadel... Tom my Clowers and Jeff Emig stole the s potlight at Ponca Cit y; Cl owers top p ed the Minicycle title, Emig the Moto rcycle title. Kawasaki rider Ezra Lu sk top p ed the 80cc Expert class... Damon Brad shaw won the 125ee Expert class at the Volunteer State MX Championships at Muddy Creek. ov

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