Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

TEARDOWN By Paul Carruthers ne of the true perks of working here at Cycle News comes in the winter months when we get to throw brandnew motocross bikes in the backs of our' trucks and go racing. When the days begin to shrink, it marks the time when we start baiting each other into racing in at least a few events, and our battles at the Carlsbad Christmas Grand Prix and the like have become folklore around here. So when word came in early summer that Goat Breker .was trying to revive the old Elsinore Grand Prix, we instantly made plans to add the event to our ever-growing bragging-rights calendar. I was especial1y excited because I remember watching one of the classic Elsinore Grands Prix some 25 years agq as a 10-year-old. With eyes as big as saucers, I sat under a streetside tree and watched as the racers flashed by. It was an odd sight for someone who had spent the majority of his youth watching Grand Prix road races in Europe, for these were not the Mike Hailwoods and Giacomo Agostinis of the world speeding by on the street. No, this was really cool. This was. a horde of mostly men, but some women, some old and some young, some skinny but many fat, all of varying talents, riding dirt bikes on the street I was never going to be a Mike Hailwood, but I could do this. Unfortunately, I never got the chance. You see my first visit to the sleepy little town of Lake Elsinore also marked the final edition of the Elsinore Grand Prix. So just when I was tali enough to ride the Matterhorn, they closed Disneyland. Bu.t thanks to Goat Breker, I was given another chance - he was bringing back the Elsinore Grand Prix, just when I was old and pudgy enough to fit right in. Despite the fact that we were excited about the prospect of being able to partake in a race that we'd heard and seen so much about from 25 years earlier (those who weren't around to see it live still have memories of it from the original "On Any Sunday"), we were all a bit skeptical. Remakes usually just don't have the same soul as the originals, and I was fairly certain that this would be the case with redoing a classic like the Elsinore Grand Prix. But it was much more than just the problems of recreating a classic - the deck was further stacked against Breker because he Q would also face the problems of trying to do all of this in the late '90s. Times are radically different now from the early '70s. Things had changed - there are more lawyers, more lawsuits, less freedom... not to mention fewer motorcy. clists. Color me stupid, but I just couldn't imagine that we'd be allowed to race through downtown Lake Elsinore on motorcycles. I figured it would be the Elsinore Grand Prix only in as much that it would be held somewhere near Lake Elsinore; only a Grand Prix in that it wouldn't be a motocross. And I figured there would be just a few hundred of us looking to rekindle something' from our youth. My skepticism carried all the way to race day. I had little or no idea how all of this was going to play out, but I had a feeling poor Goat had bitten off more than he could chew. His advertisements listed not only the Grand Prix, but personal watercraft races, street luge (guys riding big skateboards down really big hills), a Robby Knievel jump, barbecues... I figured the race itself would get lost in all of the other hoopla and I'd just end up regretting that I'd wasted my Sunday. . Still, I prepared meticulously for the event. I cleaned the air filter on the YZ125 I was slated to ride. I spent a solid hour making sure the numbers that I'd been assigned lined up perfectly. I was ready to ride in the Elsinore Grand Prix. I was ready for major disappointment. Boy, was I wrong. Soon after descending from the mountains that separate Orange County from. Lake Elsinore, it became apparent that the new Elsinore Grand Prix looked a heck of lot like the old Elsinore Grand Prix. People were already scattered throughout downtown, despite the fact that it was only 8:30 on a crystal-clear Sunday morning, The city was alive with motorcycles and motorcyclists. There were trucks loaded with modern bikes, old Triumphs and Honda Elsinores. Racers of various ages walked the townin their gear, some old and crusty, others new and bright. This was part '70s, part '90s. I quickly calmed, reminding myself that it would ~oon go all wrong. We'd be forced to park a zillion miles from the start, sign-in would .be an unorganized nightmare... Wrong again. We were allowed to park fairly close to the impound and start area and signup was well organized and went smoothly. Soon we were casually unloading and preparing to go race. Certainly the track would be awful, nothing more .than a toned-down supercross track with very little pavement, big double jumps, tons qf whoops. All stuff that's a lot of fun when you're on top of your game, but downright scary when your pre-race training consisted of a partial downsizing in the amount of doughnuts eaten and a two-day dual sport ride on big-bore, four-stroke singles. Part of the beauty of a race like this is that there is no practice. What you can't see can't hurt you, right? Well, I wanted just a hint of what was to come and fortunately I found Terry Pratt, vintage racer extraordina,e and Cycle News advertising guru. Pratt had raced in that morning's vintage race and I knew he'd know tmd be able to recall every inch of the track. If I hadn't angered Pratt too much lately, he'd certainly give me the quality information needed to help me survive Elsinore Grand Prix II. Finally, I was right. Pratt was very helpful. He told me of fire roads, lots of pavement, nice jumps, relatively smooth straights. "The track's great," he said. If it was "great" on an old Triumph imagine what it'd be like on a new YZ125.. My fears' were quickly put to rest and there was nothing left to do but go race. And I wasn't alone. I'd signed up to race Plus-2.5 Novice in order to grid with soine of the younger guys from the office. By race time, though, it was only me and two other staffers on the line as one of the "young" guys had broken four ribs and a collarbone while also suffering a concussion the day before in a warmup race that was supposed to provide him with some knowledge of the track. Let's just say he learned three quarters of it. The other youngster was forced out of the race by a last-minute change of address, leaving three of us that could have legally raced in the Vet class. Despite the fact that we wf?re missing at least two staffers from the grid, the staging area was packed. . Before I knew it, the flag had dropped and we were actually racing down Main Street in downtown Lake Elsinore, the . same Main Street I'd watched from as a child, before making a sharp left-hand tum and heading into the hills, the same hills that Malcolm Smith took to in "On Any Sunday." To quote a '70s Malcolm, "this was neat, really neat." toy company in a personal promotion . and manufacturing contract said to be worth in excess of $1 fnillion. Following the fire-road section, we encountered a mini-motocross track before heading across Interstate 15 on a paved overpass. Then it was back across the overpass and onto the dirt for more motocross and more fire rqads before dropping down into the city once again for more paved action. There were spectators everywhere, sitting in shades! spots on the hills and standing along the fence through the city streets. By the time I returned to the city for the first time, I had a flat rear tire. It was bearable on the dirt, semi-dangerous on the street and it wasn't doing the rim any good on either. But I hadn't waited 25 years to do a single lap, so I continued on. Until I had a better idea. During my second lap of slamming the rim off rocks and nearly crashing at low speed on the pavement, I opted to pull off. I figured I could get back to the impound area, get the tire fixed and race in the class I should have been in the first place - Vet Novice, wi th the other old guys. That decided, I pulled off in the downtown area and made my way back to the pit area where I fortunately encountered Mr. Pratt once again. With Pratt's help, I was able to get the bike to the .Kawasaki pit where I was able to talk Team Green manager Ron Heben into having one of his guys fix my Yamaha. Then it was a quick run to sign-up, where I was able to talk them into honoring my unused Saturday entry, and I was on my way. By the time I reached the staging area (fortunately, Pratt pushed and I only had to run) I felt I'd aged enough to have been legal for the Senior class. My bike even looked the part as those perfectly placed numbers had been covered with good old paper-plate replacements, just like the ones used by nearly everyone 25 years ago. . With a few minutes to spare before the flag dropped on a mass-start for old guys, I took th.e time to look around and talk to others who were lined up close to me. I saw nothing but smiles, and heard nothing but praise. On that first lap, I also saw more crashes than imaginable but everyone seemed to get to their feet okay. My tire ended up holding "air for the 4O-minute race (ditto for my lungs), and I was able to finish the first Elsinore Grand Prix in 25 ye.ars. It was worth the wait. (N World Speedway Champion Bruce Penhall and Trophee / Motocross des Nations team members Donnie Hansen, Danny LaPorte, Johnny O'Mara and Chuck Sun. Californian Mike Bell won the third annual Stefan Super Bowl of Motocross at Lang Park Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. '. LOOKING· BACK... 25 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 7, 1971 usky's J.N. Roberts won the legendary Barstow to Las Vegas Hare & Hound that drew over 3,500 riders. Suzuki-mounted Rich Thorwaldsen raced with Roberts early on, but a flat tire and an empty fuel tank ended his hopes. George Walker finished second on a Kawasaki Bighorn followed by first Amateur Jim Stovie in third overall on another Bighorn ...The Trans-AMA Series moved to northern California and Suzuki's Roger DeCoster won the 500cc International class over Husky rider Andy Roberton, and Maico's Adolph Weil finished third. In the 250cc National class, West German Werner Schutz, who had been residing in Southern California for a few months, won the class over Jim Wicks and Doug Grant in third...Evel Knievel signed with a major H 1:'-.' N '"' Q) S ~ o z 64 15 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 2, 1981 Y amaha-mounted Greg Zitterkopfwon the Open class at the AMA CaJifor.nia State MX Championships held at Saddleback Park in Orange, California, followed by Bill Keefe on a Husky and Jim Ellis on a Yamaha. Jim Tarantino won the 250cc Pro class with Jim Anderson taking second and Juan Benavidez closing out the top three. Suzuki's George Holland won the 125cc Pro class over secondplace finisher Ron Lechien and Dean Cates in third...For the first time since the award's inception in 1976, the AMA Professional Athlete of the Year title was given to multiple recipients: U.S. and 5YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 4, 1991 F rance's own Jean-Michel Bayle captured the King of Bercy (250cc) crown by winning the three-day Paris Supercross. Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw finished second and Suzuki's Larry Ward got third. Jeremy McGrath won the Prince of Bercy (125cc) crown over Yamaha's Jeff Emig and Yves Demaria on a Suzuki in third ... Cycle News ran a Riding Impression on Honda's 1991 Gold Wing SE... Larry McBride topped Brian Johnson in the EBC Brakes Top Fuel Classic final at the concluding round of the ProStar Nationals, held at Desoto memorial Dragstrip in Bradenton, Florida...Cycle News ran a pictorial from the Baja 1000 with photos by Kinney Jones (who also rode the event) titled, "Down Mexico way."

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