Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~.By Paid carruthers ... " .TEARDOWN h e first year was simple , Rider of the Year for 1992? Wayne Rainey, There was never a question. i'lte name came up, the staff voted unanimously for Rainey, and it was a done deal, Slam dunk. The same held true for the 1993 award. Ricky Graham simply dominated the Grand National Championship and again we had no argument inselecting him as the Cycle News Rider of the Year, No staff fight, no arm-twisting. And the AMA even backed us up by giving Graham the Pro Athlete of the Year award. I would like to say that our th ird attempt at the Rider of the Year award went so smoothly. But things were tight at the top in 1994, and solid arguments for a number of riders were brought to the table. Each had something to offer. Each had recently completed special seasons... Scott Parker? You would think that winning an unprecedented fifth Grand National Championship would go a long way in ensuring that he would be the staff's pick for Rider of the Year. Not so. Maybe the way Graham won last year's championship somewhat clouded Parker's accomplishments in 1994. Maybe he wasn't dominant enough. The fact that he and Chris Carr went to the wire in their duel for the title meant that either rider could have won. Parker was carefully considered but - unlike the AMA, who awarded him the Professional Athlete of the Year Award - we were swayed elsewhere. For, while Parker's career has been great, his 1994 season wasn't and the Michigan legend even admits as much. Very good? Yes. Great? No. Michael Doohan? Wow . The Australian's march to the 500cc World Championship was something legends are made of. He was simply a class above the best road racers in the world. When Rainey won his last title in 1992, he did so after recovering from a serious leg injury the year before. Doohan's leg T injury makes others look like bad sprains. Who can forget the photos of his leg, screwed, wired, poked, scarred and swollen, in that hideous-looking llizarov frame? However hobbled in the paddock, the Aussie was perfect on the race track, winning his first and muchdeserved title in record-setting fashion. Some voted for him, but not enough. Perhaps Doohan was so good that he made it appear as though he didn't have any competition. Kevin Schwantz was up and down, and eventually out. John Kocinski started well, but faded. Perhaps the championship was a foregone conclusion so early in the year that Doohan's accomplishments were forgotten by the time voting for the award came around. If somebody was robbed, it was Doohan. And that's not just one Australian patting the back of another. Jeremy McGrath? The lik able Californian was another who was perhaps h is own worst enemy. After simply dominating the series in 1993, McGrath won again in 1994. But somehow it just wasn't the same. Like Parker, McGrath's year was good, but not great. Unfortunately, we now measure great by McGrath's '93 season, and that perhaps isn't fair. McGrath's cause would have been further helped if he'd done more during the outdoor National MX season. It was there that his performances were overshadowed by Mike laRocco, who also made a case for himself in our balloting. LaRocco's case was the opposite of McGrath - he could have wrapped this thing up with a more impressive supercross season. Troy Corser? In an early-season issue of Cycle News there was a story titled, "Who is Troy Corser?" Following his impressive AMA debut at Daytona, that was no longer a question. Corser started strong and held on to win the AMA Superbike National Championship. Now he's gone on to the World Superbike Championship where he will likely find the same success. Corser had a heck of a year in the U.S., and he would have been a strong candidate for Rider of the Year if his late-season results would have matched hii early-season' string of success . But, like Corser would tell you, he didn't have to win late in the year because of what he'd done early on. Against such strong competition, Corser came up a little short in our voting - but that's nothing to be ashamed of. That brings us to the winner of the Cycle News Rider of the Year Award - Ty Davis. If you question our choice, you're not alone. I also had to be sold on the idea. Initially, I thought of Doohan, then Parker, then McGrath, then McGrath again. Then I grappled with the idea of Parker, then Doohan. But I was leaning towards McGrath again, and then back to Doohan. Then someone brought up Ty Davis. They reminded me of his accomplishments, results played out in different places, on different terrain, on different variations of motorcycles - two-strokes, four-strokes, 250s, 500s . They reminded me that he was a Top10 finisher in the ISDE, the top American. They reminded me of his wins in National Enduro, National Reliability Enduro, National Hare Scrambles and National Hare & Hound competitions. The off-road guys were starting to wear me down. This Davis guy was starting to sound like the real deal. Then came the Baja 1000 . Davis won that too. Oh, yeah, and he also qualified for an AMA Supercross final. Was there anything this guy couldn't do? When the final tally was taken, Davis had earned enough of the staff's votes to make him Cycle News Rider of the Year. And my vote was among them. Davis truly had a memorable season. He is a man of many talents and he brings to the sport a versatility that is unmatched in modern motorcycling. In fact, he 's somewhat of a throwback to the days when specialization didn't pay the bills. What's next for Davis? Dirt tracking? Road racing? I'm a believer that anyone who can blaze through the desert with the speed of someone like Davis is capable of nearly anything. If you don't believe me, take a trip to an isolated place on the Baja California peninsula, unload your open class motocrosser, strap your helmet on and let 'er rip. Don't mind the rocks, the cactus, the booby traps. If you do pretty well with that, try it at night. Don't fret that you're a couple of hundred miles from civilization and even further from decent medical care. Just let 'er rip. And call me when you're finished. . If you still don't appreciate a guy like Davis when you're running through the 'Mexican desert at night doing close to 100 mph, give us a call. We'll put you on I.' next year's ballot. 1 ,~O(jKING' BACK.n · 1 25 YEARS AGO.., January 13, 1970 ur "Gian t 1970 Issue" fea tured Lo n g Beach artist Carl Bartlett's pa in ting, "First Tum. " Going from m emory of h is Expert racing d ays -:;=~ in Illinois, Bartlett painted the racer' s eye view of several dirt track racers entering a tum... Abram Drain and Ben Hunter, "the only two black professional racers in the business," were interviewed by John Wyckoff..."A tastefully customized and carefully engineered Honda 750 • four cylinder" chopper was featured in a pictorial...[awa advertised Barry Higgins as the first American overall in the InterAm Motocross. Higgins rode a threeyear-old, stock 360cc cz... We published a picture of Harold Mortensen, having his bike dragged across the finish line by three young men at the Barstow to Vegas run. Mortenson had broken his front hub, and after riding it until the spokes gave way just yards from the finish, he sought the outside assistance of a few spectators... Arne Kring won the Hawaii International Motocross, out- O -;-==-__ 108 pointing Bengt Aberg... Another photo showed Jeff Ward lining his Honda up for the start of the Saddleback Mini National, under the watchful eye of his father . Ward's class? The 6-8-yea r-old division, which Ward of course ran away with the w in .. . A s h or t article announced that Buddy Hackett would be the Grand Marshal in the Mint 400. 15 YEARS AGO.., January 9, 1980 i ck Mann was featured o nth e cover, astride the I t. factory Yamaha . ~' OW250 of B.ob ::.I", ' , . Hannah, . With '-- "-'-.._ .•_. . . the cover line, "The ~ '70s: From Mann to monoshock" ... Inside were tributes by Gary Van Voorhis and Len Weed, along with pictorials honoring the decade of the '70s...Wiseco and Klotz teamed up to run a full-page ad congratulating a young Scott Parker and Randy Goss... Louis McKey and AI Fols the president and vice president, respectively, of the Phanton Duck of the Desert Corporation, were featured in an interview. D McKey was voted Cycle NewsIWest 1979 Yamaha and KTM and I feel confident that I will ride for them next year. I Rider of the Year (for the second year in don't want to ride for Kawasaki again." a row) ... Dick Burleson and Marland Whaley were interviewed... Scot HardPlessinger rode a KTM in 1990 (and to the '94 GNCC title)...Rick Johnson was en rode a Husqvarna to the win at the San Gabriel Valley M.C .'s 130-mile crowned King of Bercy at the Paris Supercross... We test ed the 1990 Honda Beatty to Vegas Hare & Hound. Bruce Ogilvie was second on a Yamaha, while CR250, the Ducati 851 Superbike and Bob Balentine, fresh off a broken pelvic the Suzuki RGV500 of Kevin bone, finished third on a KTM... Larry Schwantz... An "In the Wind" sidebar Ziegle won the Devils Head Enduro in stated tha t the BLM had announced the end of the AMA Barstow to Vegas Har e .Diamond Mill, Oregon... A classified & Hound on BLM-controlled land in ad read, "Get the holeshot with Tex Air Shocks." ... An "In the [ii7i.rJ":.:Ir.-rJ.~So~u~them California's Mojave Desert... Wind " item announced Colorado's Mark Manniko that Mark Kariya had topped both the Schreiber Cup ' jo in ed .the Cycle News and the EI Trial de Espana for the staff. third year in a row... Doug Polen and Scott Russell - both mounted on Suzukis - tied on points at the 5YEARS AGO... Mexican International Superbike January 3, 1990 race in Mexico City...Guy Cooper and Honda rider Mike Kiedrowski ur gigantic yeareach won a night at the Geneva end issue Supercross. Cooper's win was his incl uded a 1990 first major victory with Suzuki, and motorcycle buyers' came despite a crash in the main... guide ... Top riders KTM ran a Happy Holidays adverwere interviewed, including recently tisement on page 29, featuring a knobcrowned 500cc National Champion Jeff by track running next to a small cactus. Ward, a recovering Bubba Shobert, dirt The ad later drew fire from readers track legend Jay Springsteen and claiming it was environmentally irreNational Hare Scrambles Champion sponsible... Larry Roeseler wonhis secScott Plessinger. In his piece, Plessinger ond straight Tecate 250K Enduro. Q¥ stated, "Right now, I'm talking to O -"'Ii.

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