Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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.COLIN'S COLUMN· . By CoHn EdWards Coming into 1996, I knew things had o be better than the previous season. oing back to the first race, Daytona, I as right there with the front group. nfortunately, my first pit stop was on ap 10 instead of 20, causing me to make third stop. We walked away with a odium finish, though, which I can't mplain about. After Dayton" and a few test sessions Italy, I was on my way tp pick up my otorhome. To my surprise, it had been otally stripped at the shipyard - every. g from my stereo system to my Sega arne system to my underwear! Even ough it was a hassle to get the thing to urope, it was worth every bit of it. aving a "home away from home" · akes leaving the States less painful nd now that I had my "home on heels," me and Alyssia were off to the aces. So we begin with Misano which put s on the front row of the grid, but with roblems beyond our control we took a eventh- and eighth-place finish. I had y sights on Donington Park next and as determined to let Misano be my orst finishes of the year. I felt we were oing good at Donington. I took a fourth d sixth place, and on top of that it felt ood kicking Fogarty's ass, not once but .ce, at his home track! But most of all, he team walked away from the first wo rounds of the '96 season with 37 ints, compared to the three points we ad from Donington and Misano last ason. With spirits high, we took a podium · ·sh in the next two races at Hockeneim in Germany and Monza in Italy. It elt good taking two podium ~es in row, seeing as last year I only had two odi urn finishes all year. My resul ts otorcyc1es returned to the Pikes Peak Hillclimb even though the AMA lifted its sanc·on for the event, but agreed to sanction t for the upcoming year. William Vickry was the winner in the 125cc class on Yamaha, Bob Conway won the 250cc lass on a. Rickman Triumph, and Gary yers took the Open-class trophy on a aico... Suzuki-mounted Rich Thoraldsen and Husky-mounted J.N. oberts traded wins in a dual-European ambles put on by the Antelope Ramlers and the Invaders M.e. ... The Pacific orthwest finally got to see one of their ery own win the Castle Rock IT in CasIe Rock, Oregon,. when Triumph's onny Burres won the trophy dash and ain event. Ed Herrman and Bill Elder · .shed second and third, respectively, so riding Triumphs. were getting better each race thanks to my team, the bike and Dunlop. This brings us to the fourth round at Brno in the Czech Republic. It was my first visit to the track and the country. We spent two long weeks in Czech and working around the "on again, off again" rain, we at least managed to do some testing. For some reason we were shredding front tires on a track noted practice qualifying sessions on Saturday ended before they began, due to the rain. So on Sunday we started the first race with what little time we had on the bike. I can honestly say that this was the first race I was thinking more about keeping the bike on two wheels than racing. Taking a sixth-place finish after race one was a damn well-deserved one! for tucking the front on any given corner - which comes as no surprise being that 90 percen,t of the track's comers are downhill and only one percent uphilL On the Friday of race weekend we were working toward a setup that .would put less wear on the front tire, but had not found exactly what we wanted. If that isn't bad enough, our With what little time we had before race two, the team changed the bike's setup hoping for more traction; race two resulted in a seventh place, partly due to a poor start. I was pleased with my results, though, and was just happy to be leaving Czech with points. Now with no time to spare, my next destination is a test session at Suzuka. 15 YEARS AGO... JULY 22, 1981 This is the first in a series of periodic olumns that Colin Edwards II will be writ·ng for Cycle News throughout the remainer of the World Superbike season about 1tis ife on the road and on the track. 5YEARS AGO... JULY 24, 1991 o n Any Sunday II" . had a full- page ad for its release date on July 17th at the Pacific Cinerama Dome in California... Team Suzuki's Mark Barnett won his sixth race of the 1981 AMA Supercross Series at the Superbowl of Motocross at the L.A Coliseum and wrapped up the series championship. Honda's Chuck Sun took sec~md and defending champ Mike Bell took third place on his Yamaha, which moved him from third to second in the final points standings... Italian Marco "Lucky" Lucchinelli won his second 500cc World GP in a row at the Belgian GP, passing Kenny Roberts in the final comer to take the win. Randy Mammola finished third. The win gave Lucchinelli a nine-point lead over Mammola and a IS-point lead over Roberts with four races left in the season. The next World Superbike race is at Laguna, my "home track," and is a race I am looking forward to. Being around a supportive group of my friends and family is great. I am coming to give the fans a good show, but first I have to convince the bike to make friends with the track. The pressure will be on, as it wiU be for all of the American riders. Fortunately I perform at my best under pressure. No sweat. After Laguna we'll be off again to the Suzuka 8-Hour and then to Brands Hatch, England. If the pressure from Laguna isn't enough, then I'll get my fix at the 8-Hour. The 8-Hour is an amazing race, with its intense crowd of hundreds of thousands of spectators. Winning the 8-Hour is very prestigious and that's what I'm going to try to do; just like every other race. The heat and humidity is so intense, which makes four hours on the bike feel like an eternity. But it's a once-a-year aeal and it's great to be in the midst of it. . Basically the '96 season has brought much more than the '95 season. The bike, the team, and myself have progressed a great deal. The only complaint I have, one that I have often talked about, is that Yamaha, myself and the bikes have to be 100 percent - while the Ducatis only have to give 90 percent on a bad day. I'm not one to complain about the obvious, but come on, look at Carl Fogarty, a two-time champion on a Ducati, who now actually has to race for a rostrum finish on a four-cylinder. I think they should have another look at the rules. Well enough about that. I'm looking forward to the rest of next season, and looking forward to my first win. Who knows, Laguna may be the place to take my first World Superbike victory in front of my home crowd. See you there. (N cycle class. Brian Anderson took the win on his Rotax-powered dirt tracker with a time of 13:24.82 in the Open Pro division. Dave Durelle finished just under four seconds back for second place. 500cc Pro rider Larry Roeseler won his class and had the third- fastest time of the day on his KX500 with a time (N of 13:40.34. " am Honda's Jeff Stanton won the Unadilla round of the World Championship 250cc Motocross Series, followed by Suzuki's Mike LaRocco, and Peter Johansson on a Yamaha. 250cc World Championship . points leader Alessandro Puzar .watched his comfortable points lead over American Trampas Parker dwindle with a DNF in the second moto ... Eighteen-year-old Larry Pegram won his first-ever Camel-Pro National Dirt Track victory with a win at the Hagerstown Half Mile in Maryland. Ronnie Jones finished second and Will Davis took third place honors... Motorcycles returned to the Pikes Peak Auto Hillcimb for the first time in over nine years and dirt trackers dominated the motor- ~ Long-time 500cc GP MX contender Adolf Well during the Trans-Am series in 1973. Photo Cycle News Archives. 75