Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TIME REMEMBERED support and development funds into the hands of the American factory teams, Europe regrouped and created a foundation that would "improve the breed" on the European GP circuit. It was dictated by the FIM that the 250cc class would become the premiere classification in World Championship GP racing. Directly after the announcement, the best riders and teams of Europe began to migrate into the 250cc division. The result was a class that pitted the best riders in Europe against each other on a race-to-race basis, thereby increasing the level of competition. The experiment proved correct as Everts showed up in America ready to do battle. Later that fall, Everts would hand the top Americans another defeat at the annual Fast Cross held just outside of Milan in Arsago, Italy (held the weekend after the Motocross des Nations). Supercross would prove to be a different story for the Europeans. In the winter of '92, young French supercross sensation Mickael Pichon showed up in America with countrymen Yann Guedard and Frederick Vial1e in order to improve their speed before heading back to Europe to contest the 125cc World Championship Series. Pichon, showing great speed and talent, won the San Diego 12Scc West Coast Regional Supercross and proclaimed he would be back to take on the American racers. Sound familiar? Pichon was one of the first graduates of the French Supercross Championship which was created primarily to train young French racers in the ways of American Supercross. The Italian motorcycle federation would soon follow suit in an attempt to leam the Americans' discipline. While Pichon gave a wake-up call to the young American 12Scc supercross pilots, American Jeremy McGrath was devastating the competition in the 2S0cc SX division. McGrath was the first of a new breed of American supercross specialties, who would place more emphasis on the U.S. stadium circuits rather than the roughand-tumble outdoor National tracks. McGrath, in his rookie season in the 250cc class, was so dominant that by the midway point of the '93 American SX Series, his competition had all but given up. McGrath carried his high-wire act overseas to Europe to completely dominate the prestigious Paris and Tokyo Supercross events. In 1994, American motocross domination was dealt its harshest blow. In a shocking upset, England defeated the United States at the Motocross des Nations in Roggenburg, Switzerland. The team of Paul Malin (who stunningly took the measure of Jeff Emig in the 125cc class), Rob Herring and Kurt icoH won the World Team Championship by a slim two-point margin over the U.S. After 13 years of winning the event, the streak was over. No one could believe it. Despite their best efforts, the Americans never really came to terms with the rock-hard, flat-turned, blazingly fast Roggenburg circuit. After years of ruling the event with an iron fist, the Europeans had found the weakness of the U.s. riders - non-technical, highspeed. tracks. From consistently competing on tight, technical, jump-filled circuits, the Americans were not used to holding the throttle ope.n to' the stops and searching for traction through sweeping, bermless turns. The two worlds of American ana European motocross were now drifting away from each other. The U.S. circuits were now known for their rugged, whooped-out, jump-filled, supercross- oriented aggressive nature, while the GP circuits were becoming much more high-speed and less technical. As a result, a debate now exists in America on whether motocross tracks should remain true to their natural-terrain roots, or include rough, stadium-oriented jumps and whoop sections. The summer of '93 also saw Frenchman Yves Demaria claim the Budds Creek 2S0cc u.s. GP (which would prove to be the last motocross GP in this country) over American Jeff Emig (who won the first moto), while Greg Albertyn got the better of the Americans at the annual Italian Fast Cross in Arsago. However, when the first annual World Supercross Series began in Barcelona, Spain, in early (Right) Little- known Fnmchman Jeen-Mlchel 8lIyIe marked the "relnvaslon" of European motocroSS81'S lit the 1987 MX des Nations lit Unedilla. He would later go on to win three major U.S. championships In one season. (Laft) Donnie Hansen_aa member of the first winning U.S. taam lit the 1981 TropMedes NatIons In Lamme!, Balgium. HIli taamrnatH were Johnny O'Mara, Ctluck Sun and Danny laPorte. Thewln rnarkecI the beginning of a new era in motocro.. history. November, an interesting story developed. The American contingent, led by the world's best supercross rider Jeremy McGrath, completely decimated the Europeans competition. From that point forward, American riders Jeremy McGrath, Mike LaRocco, Steve Lamson, Doug Henry, Larry Ward, Damon Huffman and Jeff Emig raced on a different level. In fact, no European rider ever got close to them on the track or in the £inal point standings. By most accounts, the gap in supercross talent and speed between the two continents had actually widened. It was another vivid illustration of just how far apart the two worlds of American and European had grown from each other. In a dramatic conclusion, McGrath would end up defeating LaRocco in the Tokyo, Japan, two-night supercross, claiming the World Championship by the slimmest of margins. Upon winning the 1994 250cc World Championship (his third consecutive world title), Greg Albertyn announced that he was coming to America to become a supercross rider. After signing a contract with Suzuki, Albertyn and his new mentor, Roger DeCoster began training for the '95 SX s.eries. Things would not go well The season started off on a rough note for the South African transplant, his evening ending with a fall on a double jump, which resulted in a dislocated shoulder. The season would not get much better. Despite giving it everything he had, Albertyn was just not attuned to American SX racing. Eventually, Albertyn would get into a groove and begin to card some strong results, but he was never a threat to win, or to get on the podium for that matter. However, Albertyn kept improving on a week-to-week basis and should be a threat in '96. "Wait until the outdoor season!!' exclaimed Albertyn's supporters, and they were proven correct at the season opening Gainesville ational, when Albertyn had the battle of death with 250cc outdoor ational Champion Mike LaRocco. LaRocco would come out on top with the moto win by passing Albertyn (who claimed to have missed a shift) on the very last lap. However, Albertyn impressed the American spectators immensely that afternoon (McGrath won the National after both LaRocco and Albertyn DNFed the second moto) and many predicted that he would win the 250cc National Championship outright. However, it wasn't to be. Albertyn had a tough time adjusting to the hectic pace kept by the U.S. racers throughout the course of an entire moto (something he claimed did not happen in Europe), and despite several impressive rides, was not able to claim a moto win during the '95 season. Albertyn would end up being a test case for the American racing world. Every motocross fan in the world wanted to see how the three-time World Champion would fare against the American riders on their rough, supercrossoriented, technical tracks. Although Albertyn did not win a supercross or moto, he was right in the thick of things. Albertyn was a classic, real-world personification of the differences between American and European motocross. While a dominant figure on the GP tracks of Europe, Albertyn had a tough time adjusting to the American way of motocross life. This "two worlds" theory was further illustrated with America's loss at the '95 Motocross des Nations in Sverepec, Slovakia. While McGrath stayed home, and LaRocco and Henry were nursing injuries, the American team of Steve Lamson, Jeff Emig and Ryan Hughes rode extremely well, losing the event by a single point to the Belgians (the possibility was there to· win the event, but a late-moto tan~le between Kurt Nicoll and Ryan Hughes ended the day for the American team). However, the Americans were never comfortable on the high-speed, technically-void Slovakian circuit. In fact, Steve Lamson was at a loss as to how much speed the European 125cc riders, namely Sebastian Tortelli and Stefan Everts, carried around the slippery, hilladdled Sverepec track. While many Europeans claimed that the Belgian Motocross des ations victory proved that they were now equal to, or better than the Americans in natural-terrain motocross, the '96 World Supercross Series has been a drastically different story. With four rounds now complete, the American contingent, led by Jeremy McGrath, has again been demolishing the European-based competition. The first round in Barcelona and the following three rounds in Paris have been complete American walkovers. McGrath has won three of the four rounds (Larry Ward won the second night in Paris) and is on his way to completely controlling the series. Said a fan who attended the three races in Paris, "The difference in speed and technical talent between the Americans and Europeans is now so great that it seems like the GP guys have given up in supercross. They just want to beat us in motocross." 0

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