Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DAY SIX .B Palmer • yKit t' s one thing risking your neck by yo ur own choice, but when your neck is on the line because of someone else's stupidity, well, I get a little cranky. Right no w , I'm a little cranky. Take racing for an example. Anyone who signs on the dotted line knows there are risks involved when yo u put, say, 10 guys on the starting line and let them go at it for a given amount of laps. Th at' s why it says at the bottom o f just abou t every racing entry form that " I (t he participant) assume full res ponsibility fo r any risk of bodily injury, death o r prop er ty damage..." A nythi ng ca n hap p en when yo u race, an d tha t' s wha t makes raci ng fun , ex ci tin g, m ys terio u s and, yes, even sca ry . I love r a cin g , whether I'm . watchin g or p articipatin g. To m e, if there is n't' even a li ttle b it of risk in volved in so me thing, then it rea ll y isn't wo rth d oin g, at least not se rious ly . I' ve b ee n ba nged up more ti mes tha n I' d like to re me mber while racing motorcycles. But, then again, I've also m ade p len ty of appointments with my doctor and orthopedist after playing baseball, foo tball and basketball. The majority of my injuries happ en ed in my younger days. After all, I had fewer an d less-important responsibilities back then and would take more risks on the trac k (or on the baseball dia mond, for that matter) than I do now. Pretty much my only obligation was going to school and keeping my grades up so my par en ts wouldn't "impound" m y M X bik e . But h ey, if I snapped a femur, so what? I'd just have to study at home for a while. Damn. At one point, it seemed as though I was always hobbling around my school ca mpus on my "stickled-out" aluminum crutches, or showing off my latest bruise o r raspberry. M y classmates joked around by having pens ready on Mond ay morning so they cou ld sign my new cast. To th is d ay I break ou t in a cold sweat when I think of th at God- awful electric saw my doctor used to use to cut p las ter off m y b roken .Iimbs . " Don 't I worry, it only vibrates," he'd assure me . "It won't cut you." I soon got to know my radiologist on a first-name basis. "So, what are we tak ing pictures of this week," he'd sa y. Even the nurses knew me quite well, perhaps a little too well. I hate those damn hospital gowns. . I remember one nurse asking me; "When are you going to quit racing or riding motorcycles? Those things are dangerous." "Never," I snapped back. "And besides, motorcycles aren't dangerous, jus t my r ig ht wrist is . Sometimes it doesn't listen to my brain." Even my mom, who at first wanted nothing to do with motorcycles, cracked a proud smile when she heard my quick comeback: "I'd rather have my two sons racing mot orcycl es and going to bed early on Saturday and Friday nig hts, than drink- . ing and getting in to real tr o ubl e," she always said. Both my parents backed my brother's and my racing 100%. Rarely did my racing crashes involve other riders . I just had the uncanny knack of riding over my head and crashing all by myself. I didn't need any help. After all, what did I have to lose but possibly miss a couple of days of school. , Life was so tough back then, But I knew the risks of racing and gladly took them. If l.crashed and got hurt I had no one to blame but myself. You see, no one was h oldin g a gun at my head and forcing me to race. It was and still is my choice. I remember one time at my local MX track where one of the hot riders hit a small rock on the track while leading, fell and scratched his face. Rather th an accept his screw-up for hitting the rock, after the race .h e went ballis tic and accused the track owner of bein g "negli- I gent" for let tin g a rock get on the track. No wo nder we're losing tracks left and right. Who wants to put up wi th snivelers like that? I kn ow I wo uldn't. U nfor- ' tunately, this track has long since locked its gates. Not for this particular incident b ut for hundreds of o ther ones m uch I . II' I like it. The owner got fed up with all the wli.ining and sue-happy riders who "didn't realize they could get hurt racing," and all the political red tape, insurance hassles, and environmental wackos that went along with running a MX track, and walked away from it all . Hey, I'm surprised and thankful he lasted as long as he did. When it comes to street riding I simply don't take risks. Period. There are plenty of people out there who give them to me, anyway. I enjoy riding on pavement as much as I do on dirt, but at least in the dirt I feel tha t I am in more control of my own destiny. On the city streets or open highways, th ere are more people and objects out to get you. And there's nothing tha t ticks me off more than nearly getting taken out by someone else's stupidity or thoughtlessness. I must admit, I've been pretty lucky when it comes to street bike riding knock on wood. There have only been a few times where I truly th o u g h t my number was about to come up, and most of them involve the same situation. Awhile back, I had just left my house to go to work. I was cruising a long about 40 mph on a nearly empty fourlane residential street. There was one car on the road, and it was in the opposite lane up ahead and coming toward me. Nothing unusual here . As it was approaching, though, I noticed that the left- fro n t portion of the car suddenly pitch down and the next thing I knew a rolling tire /wheel was heading straight at me - also doing about 40 mph - seemingly locked on to my front headlight like a heat-seeking missile. I had almost no time to react, but I instinctively swerved to the right and th e speeding wheel whizzed by my left foot with just inches to spare. I don't even want to think about what could've happened if that tire had hi t any part of my bike or my body. ' ' Just tod ay, I was cruising along on th e fre eway and so me thing n o t far ah ead of me caught my attention. I soon realized it was another runaway tir e, traveling this time in the same direction as me and crossing over from my left to the right, moving along at about 60 mph. The tire slammed into a Toyota Carnry that was in the "slow" lane, destroying its leftfront fender and headlight. By then the out-of-eontrol tire was just ahead of me but to my right and going up a dirt embankment. It then rolled down the hill and back onto the freeway, veering across all four lanes (I was in the carpool lane). It slammed into the concrete center divider just ahead of me. The tire shot straight up into the air and began bouncing like crazy down the freeway . At this point, I realized I couldn't slam on my brakes because there was traffic right behind me, so I gassed it and watched that wheel bounce almost di rectly over my hea d. I was no t ha ppy, for my life and the lives of others were on th e line because of someone else's stupidity. Tires just don't fall off cars, except, of course, off neglected cars. Cars that their owners simply don't care about or maintain, and, in tum, endanger other people. In flying, pilots are responsible for their aircrafts' airworthiness - it's not the mechanic's, the passenger's, or anyone else's responsibility if the plane is safe to fly. It is solely that of the pilot. So why should this be any d ifferent for those who drive cars, trucks or motorcycles? Tires, mufflers, ladders, two-byfours, or anything falling off cars or trucks is downright irresponsible and unfortunately seems to happen far too frequently. That's why I get frigin' mad when I see things like runaway tires on the road . I guess these are just some of the risks we all have to accept when it comes to street riding, and I'm certainly not going to let other people's stupidity stop m e fro m doing what I like most ridin g motorcycles. I'm just going to hav e to keep my eyes peeled and be prepa red for anything to happ en. Because it will happen soone r or later. L"i Preferabl y later . I" 25YEARS AGO•.• Janua 20,1970 ry high -tech "multip le portrait" photo of Jim Wi ls o n graced the cover, showing how "So Cal racers saw the action as widespread rains spattered goggles and A distorted--~~2 j vision." ... In an ad that featured a silver-booted female model, Moto Beta Sportcycles offered their "unmuffled roar of congratulations" to John Gran t, District 36 l00cc Expert points leader... Whitey Martino passed Larry Bergqu ist o n the last lap to score the win at the K ra mer Corners, California, desert race ... R uss Darne ll returned from Europe to pull off a w in at the Bakersfie ld, Ca lifornia, MX ... A p rofile fea tured father and son racing team C.H. and Chuck Wheat... Webco's new football-style nylon face guard advertised for $3.95... Ra lph Waldman celebrated New Year's Day with a victory at San Francisco's Cow Pa lace dirt track.. . We eva luated a m o t ocr os s s chool. The .teacher? Gary Baile ys-who was-assisted by Tim Hart... Two na tive Scots ro d e one bike to the top two places at the Mi ramar, California tria ls. One o f th e riders was Jack Wa rd , fathe r of then future MX great Jeff Ward ... Yamaha ran a full-page ad on the b ack cover, congratulating Steve Bast, Mike Bast, Jim Da w son and Bill Pa yne for winning the team challenge at Baymare, California. 15YEARS AGO... January 16,1980 te v e Be a u mon t pro v ided the painting for the front page of the decade-opening iss ue . The picture featured two astronauts floating in space with a pair of motorcycles...An "In the Wind" p iece warned that readers shou ld call California Assemblyman J. Rob ert Hayes and ask him to veto AB1407, the Sagebrush Rebellion Bill...Another item announced that Ke n n y Rob erts , Ba rry Sh eene, Randy Mam nlaand several other top ra cers ha d m et.in, Belgiuffi- to form the Professional Riders Association. Many S L OOKiN ,BACK.. ~· G ·1 of the riders also ag reed not to ride any Honda NSR500, and road tests on of the six named FIM World ChampiKawasaki's KLR650- B2 Tengai an d onship rounds, opting instead for the KLR650-A4 - all of which we touted on proposed World Series...Warren Rei d, the cover...An "In the Wind " sidebar Jeff Jennings and Jim G ibson each won announced the promotion of Mike a class at the opening round of the Kling er from Cycle News comptroller CMC/Can-Am Golden State MX Series and ch ief financial officer to CN Pubin Orange, California. Despite a broken lishing Group publisher. "The challenge foot, Johnny O ' Mara was riding a 12Sec is great, but I receive this challenge with Mugen...A tech article examined the facopen arms," said KIinger...The "Voices" tory Honda RC250 P ro-Link works section included a letter from Wittman, machine, campaigned by Steve Wise Arizona's Lou Selby, scolding KTM for and Chuck Su n ...At just 23 years of age, an ad they had run in the prev ious Drew Smith hinted at burn-out in an . issue, showing a knobby track running interview. " Right about now all I want next to a small cactus. "You know to do is not think about 'or ride motorcywhere I'd like to stick that cactus, don't cles , " he said ...We tested Mert you?" Selby closed...A two-page article Lawwill's Pro ' Cruiser bicycle, an early showed off the 1990 S u zuki lin eup, version of a mountain which had been unveiled at a Palm bike. Though we liked the .' " Springs, California, press conferbike, we were pu t off by I '.. , ;l ~J ence...Keith Bowen claimed three its " Roll s Royce" price .":".~ "".~:,::, <..U..:.I~ Pro class wins at the Coors Extra , , .... Gold Indoor MX Championships in tag, How much was it? A Columbus, Ohio... Ken n y Rob e rt s hefty $489. won the short track final of the Hickman SYEARS AGO... t N Hay uI-~Es Cla/sRsic a comb~inhadtion ew ear s ve 0 b, erts irt ay January 10,1990 _.. ~ bash held at his spread in Northern e kicked off the California... Mi ke Tripes edged out year with a Jeff Hasse for the Vet Expert class win KennfRob erts at th e Brad Lackey Christmas Grand • interview, a racer test ---....:...:::::::::~~ Prix held at Soufliern California 's of Edd i e La w s o n's title-winning Carlsbad Raceway. a ·!:J.1m '." W 55

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