Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

AVIEW FROM THE FENCE B YERIC JO N O HSN ate last week, Roger DeCos ter casua lly me nti on ed to me that he had he ard a strong rum o r tha t th e Gainesville Na tiona l wo uld no longer be a part of th e AMA Na tional Cha m pions hip Motocross Series . While news of the sw irling rumor certa inly caught me off gua rd , I was n't too surprised, as a number of key pla yers in A merica n motocross hav e certainly had it ou t for Gainesville for a very lon g time. Com mo n ly refer red to as th e "Orphan Na tiona l," Gainesville was the mu ch mali gned, non -sequitur of U.S. mo tocros s. You see, for certain reason s, primarily du e to logist ics and the self- L serving interests of a certain prom oter group, the so-called "Ca torback Nationa }" was s lo tted into an ea rly Ma rch sched ule position - smack in the midd le of the AMA Supercross Series. And with that, year in an d yea r out (rig h t a rou nd th e tim e of th e ann u al At lan ta Superc ross), the howling an d com plaini ng would begi n to be heard from the manufacturers, ride rs, mechanics an d tea m managers. "W hy in hell woul d a National be held d eep in the throes of the su percross season"!" they wo u l d r an t and r a ve. "T he seco nd Na tional o f the yea r doesn't even take place until May! Ou r bikes aren ' t even close to being sorted o ut for the o u tdoor circuits!" For a ll in ten ts an d pu rposes, they were ri gh t. But th at doesn' t mean Gai nesviIIe wasn't a n intr ig ui ng a nd cool breath of fresh air for thousands of American motocross fans. Whi le no one w ill argu e that the AMA Supercross series is the most prolific and pr estigiou s off-road motorcycle .racing series in the w orld , to die-hard motocro ss enthus iasts, the true begi n-ning of the new season was marked by , the sta r ting ga te hittin g th e d irt a t Gainesville. Since 1984, when it replaced th e Sacrame nto-based Hang tow n National as the series opener, the Ca torback N ational in Gainesvi lle, Flori da, 'has laun ched the AMA Nationa l Championship Mo tocross Series in to the new season. Ou t of th e s mo ky, k lieg-li t, beersoaked sta diu m s fo r a s h o r t s pell , Gainesville took place in the true "g reat ou td oo rs." Etched ou t of a long-abandoned limesto ne quarry, the Ga torback circuit - locate d in north central Florida - had e volved over the y e a rs into an eccen tric, wheel-ea ting mix of sand, hard pac k, whoops, square-edged holes, drop-offs, ele va to r jumps a nd h igh speed sweeper turns . Wind , rain,' heat, m u d, humidity, 35-minu te motes, jerseys flapping in the breeze, and a br eathtaking 40-r id er charge into the first turn we re all part of the my st ique o f Ga inesv ille's 14-year-old Classic motocross "soul." - And perhaps more th an anything, Gainesville marked the true beginning of the s e co nd season u f A merica n mot ocross. Typicall y sla ted to ru n the first week in Mar ch, the geographically fr iend ly Gai nesville Na tio nal b ridged the ga p betw een the Atla nta and Daytona Supe rcross events w hen the stadium series ma de it s an nua l swi ng throu gh the so utheastern region of the nation. The Atlanta Supercross, normally sc he d u led as the sixt h or se ve nt h round of the AMA Supercross series , is more often than not - the harb inger of the u lt im a te o utcome of the year's supercross champio nship chase. In other words, from the perspective of the race r, if you're not doing well by the time the circus hits the Geo rgia Dome, it's goi ng to be ~ lon g-ass haul o f a season. Tha t's where Gainesville came into play. The Florid a National provided all A merica n racers with a new lease on life: a chance to start the season from a blank sheet of paper. Everyone was tied in points when the gate dropped at Gatorback. However, wh at really go t me thin king abo ut Gai nesv ille recently wasn't so mu ch DeCos ter's news, but an old mag azin e I stumbled upo n over the week end . Within were a number of pictures from the 1989 Gainesville National - a Na tional that in one afternoon sent the secu lar world of American mo toc ross spinning on its axis. So in orde r to pay ho ma ge to th e great event, despite some of the unfortunate · and un derstandable - nega tivi ty shrouding it, the time felt right to spea k of the watersh ed race that in many ways p erso n ifi ed th e un iq ue and quirky Gatorback Na tional. The 1989 Gai nesville National was, by n umerous ac co u n ts, a rgu ably the most epic and eventful one ever held in the United States of America. By the time the sun set over the north cen tral Florid a circuit tha t March afternoon , the sport's numbe r-one rider was left wi th a br oken wrist and a ruined ca reer; a Fren chman , ridi ng a basica lly stock motorcycle - with a few bolted-on Pro Circui t aftermarket par ts - had beaten the Americans for the first time in over a d ecad e; a n d tw o yo u ng rookies ha d dom inated the proc eed in g s in the rough-and -tumble 125cc class . Durin g Sund ay m orn in g ' s 250cc Nati onal practice session, Rick Johnson, who had won the first live supercross event s of the 1989 season, poi nted his factory Ho nda at a sma ll uphill ju mp and rolled on the throttle. At the sa me tim e, Texas p riv a teer Danny Sto rbeck took aim a t the jump. Somehow, somewa y, Stor beck go t c ross -r u t te d a nd launched over the jump ou t of s hape. johnso n, w ho had h it th e ob s tacle a t rou ghl y the sa me time, ende d up in the you ng Texa n's path and the two collid ed in m id air . Th e e ns u ing co ll ision . res ulted in johnson having his wrist snapped by the pri va tee r's e rrant Hond a . johnson h it the grou nd - hi s . day over on the spot. In fact , the incid en t would u ltimately sa bo tage johnso n's entire season (at w hich tim e he held a com ma nding lead in the AMA Supercross Ser ies poin ts s tandi ngs). Moreover , whether or not people are will ing to ad mit it, Johnson wa s never the same after the Gainesville crash as, sadly, he could never return to the same level which sa w him completel y dominate the sport in the year s prior. For all in ten ts and purposes, the in fam ous Gainesville incident wa s the beg inning of the end for joh nson's stranglehold on the sport. The minu te johnso n e n tered the ambulance at Gatorback Cycle Park, his new teammate jeff Stan ton was immediately cast into the role of Team Hond a's ma in p laye r. He would not let them down . However, the ou tco me of tha t morning's shockin g events led to another stunning development. Jean-Michel Bayle, a 125cc World Champion from France, who had come to A merica at his own expense in orde r to learn from the then-omnipote nt Yankees, was about to set the motocross world on its collective hea d . Supported by Ho n d a ' s Rog e r DeCos ter and Pro Circuit Racing 's Mi tch Pa yton , Bayle lined u p for the first moto eager to capitalize on R.j: s s udd en e xo d us. Meanw h ile, o n th e parade lap, jeff Stanton's factory Ho nd a was having prob lems coming to terms with its spark plu g. With just a few seconds to spa re, th e H onda technicians got the bike - and fouled plug - corrected , a nd Stanton go t out of the hole with a da z zling hol eshot. lt wouldn't la s t long. Bayle, who had ma naged a clean start, set out aft er Stanton a nd , upo n reaching his red rear fender, motored pa st to wi n the rno to by mo re tha n 30 second s. Shocki ngly, the America ns had been beaten by a relatively unk nown Fren chm an. In the seco nd moto, on ce (' 30 YE R AGO.., AS OCTOBER 5, 1 7 96 riumPh. mou nted Cary Nixon was on the cover of T Cycle Neux blazing to his first-p lace finish at the 7S- Mile National Championshi p Road Race in Carlsbad , California. With his fifth National victory of the year, Ni xon regained the lead in the AMA point sta nd ing s. Harley-David son-mo un ted Roger Reiman a nd Fred Ni x finished second and third, respectively. Yamaha swept the 250cc Lightweight final, wit h Ron Pierce taking the wi n, followed by Art Baumann a nd Dick Newell. Art Baumann won the I S-la p Ama teur Big Bike final, wit h Ron Widman and Ron Lacher finishing second and third, res pectively. Fumio Ito won the 10lap 250cc Novice final... Sh orty Seaboume won for the second week in a row at the Asco t half-mile races in California. Fellow BSA rid er Dan Ha ab y finished second and Mel Lacher finished third on a Ha rley-Davidson ... ' ,N. Roberts, St eve Hu rd and Larry Bergquist finished first th rou gh th ird , respectively, at the Smoke Benders MC Hare Scrambles nea r Palmdale, California. . th e pa ck sorted itself out, jeff Ward waltzed off in to the distance with a clea n, co nvincing mo to win. War d wou ld cross the line ahead o f Stanton and French impo rt Bayle - whose th irdplace finish ass ured him the ove ra ll victory . While the magn itud e of the day' s events ha d not ye t bee n full y comp rehende d and d iges ted. john son's serio us injury coup led wi th Bayle's astou nd ing, u ne xpec ted overa ll victory would ultimately leave ind elible mar ks on the history of Ame rican motocross. No t to be ou tdone, the 125cc class was also a thri ller. In the first moto, 16year-old Yamaha rookie Dam on Brad shaw too k the measure o f the division's old gua rd of Guy Cooper, Erik Kehoe and George Holland , blitzing to a hugely im pres sive mot o win. Mo reover , a cast of agg ressive and talented yo u ng racers chased Brad shaw all the way home. Larry Ward , Mike LaRocco , jeff Matai sevic h and Mike Kiedrowski also garnered s triki ng resu lts in the first moto at Gatorbae k. To many insiders, the rise to promin ence of the afo rementioned g roup of youn g riders was a sign of the times that the guard was abo ut to cha nge in American mot ocross. In the seco nd moto, Mike Kiedrowski and his number-762-factory Ho nda stomped off wi th th e moto victory, a nd w ith it his first overa ll National win . As fate would hav e it, the tw o outst anding rookies , Brads haw a nd Kiedrowski, would fight each other to the biller end for the '89 125cc ch ampions hip. Ult im a te ly, th e "MX Kied " wo uld claim the 1989 AMA 125ee National Championship nu mberone p late - to repl ace h is m is lea di ng number 762 - at Unadilla in mid-October. If the rumor of Gai nesvi lle's de mise is, in fact, true, it's a sad state of affairs when a venue that has staged such epic mo me nts in the history of A merica n motocross is boarded up and closed down for business. While the true story of wha t has led Gainesville to the brink of doom may never be told (word has it that it may be repl aced by a supercross event in either New Orleans or Tampa), I'm going to go ou t on a limb here and pro claim that, co me the first w eek in March, if the Gainesville Nati onal is not on the sched ule, a number of people are go ing to be very bummed tha t the U.S. motocross circus won't be setting up the big ten t in the hallowed and funky rock quarry. Too bad . Sometimes it's hard to face reality . 1':\ LOOKING BACK j ... 20 Y SAGO EAR .., SEPTEMBER28, 1977 10 Y ARSAGO E .., SEPTEMBER 30, 1987 ce n es from the fi rs t Mo torcycle Ol ympiad in Orange Co un ty , California, were on the cover . Kent Howerton won the overall wit hout a class win. D ick Burl eson won the drag race competition, M ike Bell won th e IT eve nt, Bob Hannah won the cro~s co untry / trials and motocross cl asses, Marty Sm ith won the road race final , and Rick Ho cki ng !yon the short track event... Tom Pen ton and Dick Burleson were the on ly America ns to earn gol d medals a t the Intern ationa l Six Days Trial in Czechoslovakia, 'where rain the last tw o da ys kno cked man y Americans off gold status. Zundapp won the manufacturers' title, follow ed by [aw a and DKW / Hercu les... Gra nd Na tional Champion j ay Springsteen took another ste p toward keeping his title by win ning the AMA Grand National C hampionship /Camel Pro Series Half-Mile in Louisville, Kentucky, while Gary Scoll, Ted Bood y and Kenny Roberts watched from the sidelines or the back of the pack. onda's Bubba Shobert, who had clinched his third consecutive Came l Pro Series titl e the previous weekend, mo ved closer to his third straight AMA Grand Nat ional Championship by win ning the San jose Mile over Ha rley-Davidson teammates Scott Park er and Chris Carr... Sam Ermolenko watched helplessly as the 1987 Wo rld Speedway Champion ship slow ly slip ped from his grasp and into the hands of defending champion Hans Niel son in the only two-d ay World Final ever held in Holland. Ermolenko had the lead on the first day but slipped to third behind Er ik Gunderse n on the second dav... Marlboro Yamaha's Ed d ie Lawson won a close race over Rand y Mam ol a and his Lucky Strike Yamaha at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Kevi n Mag ee rode his Yamaha we ll eno ug h to deprive se ries point lead er Wayn e Gardner of the third-place points . Anton Mang won the 250cc class, Pao lo Casoli won the I2Scc '0\ class and jorge Mart inez won the 80ec GP. S H 71

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