Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127851
AVIEW FROM THE FENCE
BYERIC JOHNSON
he rum ors of Stefa n Everts coming
to the United States in order to confron t the A mericans on their own
turf were actually initia ted last Sept ember in the pits of the Jerez circu it in the
south of Spain . It was there tha t Jeremy
McGrath, Jeff Emig and Steve Lamson
ha d just delivered a serious bu tt-kicking
to the best motocross riders of Europe in
the annual Motocross des Nations. From
the looks on those rid ers' faces and the
words from the ir m ouths , an d fro m
their tasti ng of glory the previou s tw o
yea rs, it was obvi ous that the y weren't
very happy abou t it.
Team Bel gium - the de fendin g
ch a m pi ons prior to th e shellack in g had howled and complained aU weekend to anyone who would listen that
the jump-filled hillsid e circuit was created purposely to suit the high-flyin g
American s. Moreov er, their best rider, .
Stefan Everts, had to do the 125ee class
- a class he despised but competed in
nevertheless, in ord er to bolster the Belgi a n effort. "N ex t year Stefan Everts
will take on Jeremy McGrath on a 250 then we will se e who is t he bes t:'
they cried. "Th e empire will s trike
back!"
Cut to the parking lo t of the Los
Angles Coliseum some four months
later: Dave Grant, Stefan Everts' manager and overl ord of Honda's Europeanbased Grand Prix team , motioned me
o ver to the Team Honda big-rig. He had
something he wanted to tell me.
"Eri c," he said, "Cliff White a nd I
have been talking, and we want to let
everyone know that Stefan will rid e the
Gainesville National this March. "
As fate would have it, Ga ines vill e
came and went, and the much-anticipated American showing of Everts nev er
materialized. Word had it th at Everts
and Grant , opera tin g their o w n race
team for the first time , were attem pting
to ge t th eir G P program so r te d out
before the gate dropped on the series'
T
30 YEARS AGO...
A GUS 17, 1967
U T
first race in Spain . Racing in America
wou ld be out of the question.
A month la ter, in Ap ril, I s po ke to
Everts over the phone, an d he informed
me that he would - barring any injury or
misfor tu n e - show u p at the Una dilla
National to battl e the Americans in their
own backyard.
Just prior to the Unadilla race, I got
Stefan on the teleph one at Jeff Stanton's
hou se in Michigan. He and Gr ant had
just flown in from an impressi ve backto -b a ck GP swee p in Bra zil a n d
Vene zu ela, and were ha ngi ng a t Stanton ' s a bode to rel a x a nd g e t th eir
h ea d s to geth e r be fore h eadin g to
Unad illa.
"I' m jus t trying to rela x and have
fun," Everts said, "but I know this race
(Unad illa) is a big d eal because a ll of
Europe is behind me. I su re hope I d o
well at Unadilla, both for myself and for
all of the European riders, who deserve
more respect."
A few days late r at Unadilla, Everts
and Grant rendezvoused with American
H onda's big red 18-w hee l ma chine .
Parked outside wa s a brand-new factury-p repared H onda CR250 , complete
with a n arm y o f su p po rt personnel.
co m ma n d e d by Cliff White; Wess
McCoy and Eve rts' mechanic for the
weekend, Shane Drew . All of the pieces
were in place .
The buzz abou t Stefan Everts' American premiere began o n Satu rday during th e quali fy ing races . Everts,
requ ir ed to ride a qualifyin g race in
order to place himself in the field , took
to the rough, sweeping Unadilla circuit
and immediately put on a rid ing clinic.
Smo oth, stylish , confident, and oozing
immense na tural a b ility, Ev erts d espite a fla t front tir e - d isappeared
in to the d is tance, win ni ng th e hea t
without reall y breaking a sweat. It was
now full speed ahead .
That night , Everts was calm and confident, w hile Gra nt was in knots. "W e
"i;;&o-;aK':::o-.. b l e r, a bike "g u a ra n teed to
crank off 90-plus quarter-miles
and bring home the trophies for
you," if you were the lucky pers o n to win Cycle News' N ew
Subscri ption Contest.
Photo of a tightly
bu nched gro up of
A
riders from a Ven-
tura Sc ramble s race
w as featured on th e
rover of Cycle News 30
years ago. Th e photo
s ho wed
John ny
Isaacs tagging th e
rear w heel of Clut ch
Cargo' s w inning
BSA.. . Skip Van
Leeuwen passed
Eddie Mulder to
win a 15-lap IT main eve nt at Ascot
Park.. . Harley- David so nmou nted Cal vin Ray b o rn
emerged vic torious at the
Indianapolis Race wa y Park
Championship Road Race,
topping Dick Hammer an d
Mert Lawwill. Defending
champ Bart Markel suffered
another D F, p ro mpting
him to say, "I don't know
wha t I'm doi ng wrong, but
I guess l ' m not pu t ti n g
them togethe r rig ht a nymore." Gary Nixon won
the 2.SOcc race... You could
win a brand-new Norton ~
P-ll D ual- Purp os e Scra m-
20 YEARSAGO,••
AUGUST10,1977
e tested the n ew Suzuki
RM2S0C mot ocr osser a nd
feat ured it o n the co ve r,
with Team Yama ha's Mike Bell at
th e co nt ro ls. The headline of the
RM test pretty much said it all: 'The
best 250cc motocrosser you can buy
n-; e:.::S: zuki RM250c:· ... Sha ring
is:.:th~ u
the cover wa s a photo o f
Mike Bast aft er winning
an International Motorcvd e Speedway Qualifying
round in Sacram ento, Californ ia .... H ond a introdu ced th e CM18 5T Twin
Star, a mo torcycle designed
to "a ppe a l to no n-bikers
a nd introduce them to the
enjo ym ent of travel on two
wheels ." ... Jay Springsteen
topped the Ca mel Pro Series'
DuQu oin Mil e a nd mov ed
into the GN C series point s
le a d . Garth Brow was th e
rli7iilr..:..
w
really wan t to win:' he told me over dinner. '1 really care abo ut that kid, and we
know that if he wa nts to be known as a
tru e World Champ ion, he has to take on
all comers. That's whv we're here. All of
Europe is behind hinl. In fact, the president of the AM has asked me to call him
immediat ely after the race tomorrow . I
think he will do very well and surprise a
lot peo ple tomorr ow."
Sunday morning dawned su nny and
clear, and one could feel the interes t and
intri gu e in the air . The World Champion
was there to tak e on the Yankees, and
everyone wa s well aware of it. After a
qu ick qualify in g ra ce - which Everts
wa lked off with - the excitemen t began
to build . As the 125