Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GUEST EDITORIAL ByDanKnous -F or more than 30 ye ars, Am ericans hav e been jetting across the po nd , to rid e in th e In ternatio nal SixDay En duro. Despite ou r best efforts, grea t improvements in selec ti ng ri d er tal ent, mach ine prepara tion , and massive su p port, t he U nited States h a s nev er w on th e presti gious Wo rld Troph y a nd ha s o n ly co me close a few times. During this sa me period, the Six Da ys ha s been d om inated a t d ifferent times by rid ers from a number of cou ntri es, most recently Ital y. Why have the Itali ans a nd othe rs been so successful and we come u p yea r aft er yea r in the J "also-ran" column ? The answer lies in th e fact that, to most o f the Ameri can riders and, just as importantly, to their su ppurt crews , the Six Da ys is a very big dea l. T he vas t majori ty of the racers and su pport team members are n ot pro fes si onals . The money to buy the plane tickets and pa y expe nses comes out o f the ir own pockets . Vaca tions, jobs and fam ily com mi tmen ts ar e a ll jugg led fo r this a n n ual affair. Even for th e best America n rid ers, it's a once-a·yea r event. For the riders on the seconda ry tea ms, it m ay be a long-awaited "dream come true" kind of thing - sort of an "I ca n't be lieve I'm rea lly he re" affair. Tu the Europeans, an d th e Ita lians in pa rticu lar, the Intern a tio na l Six- Day Enduro is not a big deal - to the m it's ju s t a nothe r en d uro. And th a t is th e main d ifference between the Eu ro peans' success and our present status. Arnericans never achieved world domi nance in m otocr os s until a few guys b it th e bullet and dec ided to play the ga me by the Eu ropeans' rul es. Rather than fly in for the weekend races an d then ba ck home to the land of Big Macs, these riders s tayed in Eu ro p e a nd effectively beca me Eur op eans. This is the ha rd way, but the g uys w ho have d one it will tell you it's th e on ly way tha t wo rks . In te rna tiona l trave l is ha rd on the body. It takes a couple uf weeks tu fully acclimate to th e time change bet w een th e U nited States and Eu ro pe. Duri ng this pe riod of disorientation, your brain says it's bedtime w hile the sun is coming u p. And until yo ur body's clock ge ts s tra ig h te ned out, it's hard tu d u a nyth in g that requ ir es coord ina tio n a nd quick thin king - like race a mo torcycle. (That's why int ern ati onal ai rline crews a ttempt to stay on their ho me time wh en traveling). This yea r 's eve n t in Bres cia, It al y, began di sast rou sly wi th log ist ica l hass les th a t kept our tea m 's eq u ipment una vailable to the riders a n d crews un til jus t hou rs before th e race . O u r guys were s trugg ling to ge t bikes assem bled and impounded while the co mpeti tio n was rela xing and plotti ng team stra tegy. The riders and crews had virtually no time to p roperly prep the m a ch ine s . Just ask Scoll Summers, whose bike broke jus t a few hou rs into . the six-day event. Combine that with the di fferences in food , language, and just the exciteme nt of being in a foreign cou n try at such an im portant even t (usually at the riders' own expense) and the question becomes nut, "Why have we never wo n?" bu t "How have we d one so well?" - relative- Iy speaking - ove r the yea rs. Ame rica has a ha ndful of riders who are as good as any in the world. O ur se co nd a ry tea m s ha ve been s low to d evelop, becau se th e unly international expos u re th ose g uys get is a t th e Six Days itself. By contrast, the Italians have enough depth in their rid er pool to field ha lf- a-d o zen eq ually tal ented World Trophy teams. The European "Yurld Enduro Championsh ip circuit begins each spring and ru ns in to the fall. Th e Int ernati on al Six Days Enduro is jus t one of ma ny events the European teams rid e each yea r. By the time even th e mos t inexperienced Italian mak es it tu the Six Days he will have had more in tern atio nal experie nce in just one season than -most Ame rican riders get in a lifetime. Eve n th e most ex perienced Americans are only pa rt-ti me in ter natio na l competitors. The Europeans are genera ll yend uro s pecia lis ts; o u r g uys a re motocrosse rs, cross-cou nt ry a nd hare, scrambles race rs, and a few are fu ll-on enduro rid ers. . By the time the In tern ationa l Six-Day Enduro ro lls around, the Eurupean rid ers will have spen t almos t six mo nths becom ing accu stomed to a life of travel and raci ng and don't face the m ind numbing effects of jet lag . Their support crews w ill have everything d own to a rou tine science (the Italians eve n bring a team cook) , and the mecha nics will p rep the bikes with local knowledge ga ine d over the yea rs. The U.S. Club Team w in and th ird .place in the Wo rld Trophy a t last year's In terna ti o na l Six-Day End uro in Fin la nd are grea t ste ps forw ard. But the next two s te ps up th e podium will be th e m ost di ffi cult . Wi th th e d eck so serious ly stacked aga ins t u s, th e only way the United States ca n realisti call y ex pec t to wi n is if th e Itali an s ex perie nce a series of disas te rs a t th e Six Days. Like ou r motocro ss cousi ns did years ago, it' s tim e for th e In ternati on al SixDay Endu ro team to s ta r t pla ying the game b y t he Europea ns' ru le s. This m eans that we've go t to es tab lis h an Ame rican presence in Europe to comp e te in th e World End uro C ha m p ions hip. Like many o f life's endeavo rs, motorcycle racing is partly a head ga me . If the rid er feels good about what he' s doing, it becomes much easier to turn in a good performan ce. A pe rma ne nt U.S. end uro team wo uld relieve th e riders an d suppurt personnel uf some of the big deal logistica l hassles and increase the experience leve l of all in volved tre me ndously. Nex t yea r, Eng lis h man Pa u l Ed mo ndso n, a multi - ti me World Enduro Champion, plans to be based in this country and still contest the World Endu ro Cha m pions h ip . Perhaps h is exp loits wi ll inspire a few of ou r guys to join him in the fray. An American World End uro Cha mpi on sh ip Team wo uld .be an incredibly co mplex and ex pensive u ndertaki ng . But it is the only way for o ur riders and their crews to ob tain the necessar y experience, as well as to cha nge the way they th in k about the In ternational Six-Day End uro from a big deal to j ust another I~ enduro . LOOKING BAClf.. 30 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 26,19 67 ary Jones mad e the cover of iss ue #40 as he b e nt h is Bri tish tw in thro ugh a turn at Perris Ra ce w a y ... P romote r j.C. Agajanian con tin u ed to run a ds for hi s flat -track race sa t Ascot Park, whe r e Dan Haaby (BSA) took his third w in in a row at the weekly events . Amateur ri d er Phil Todd (BSA) extended h is w in strea k to six in a ro w an the sa me ni gh t... Mike Patrick rod e a Nor to n twin to th e overall wi n a t th e Nevada Sta te Cha m p ionship Ha re Sc ra mb les in Las Vegas, Nevada, w hile Phil Bowers (CZ) picked u p the 250cc cha m pions hip... Cycle News ran a bri ef in terview with broth ers Don and Derek Rickman, who were visiting Suu thern California for a press co nfere nce regard ing th ei r Metisse motorcycles ... Jim Rice was the recip ien t of th e world's biggesttrophy for being the overa ll hi gh-po in t No rthern Ca lirid er fornia 's AMA District 36. The 8-foot-2-inchtall award was val ued at $750. G .... . . . . . ..;J in 20 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER1 9,1m ary Scott (Tri) . won his fifth Ascot TT, w hile Ja y S p ri n g s tee n (H- D) cli nched his second straight AMA G rand National Cha mpionship . Garlh Brow (H-D) celebra ted his firs t Grand Nationa l victory at the season finale Ascot Half Mil e . Sp ri ngs teen was second a nd "Crazy Dave" G Aldana (Nor) was third... Montesa ra n a full-page ad on page 1 L announci ng "sale of the year" on its 77 mudels; a Ca pp ra 250 VB could be had for $1295... Brad Lackey (Hon) appeared to have the third round o f the Tra ns-A MA MX Se ries a t th e U na d illa Vall ey Sports Center in the bag until he crashed with two la ps to go, handing the overa ll victory to Roger DeCoster (Suz) ... Cycle New s ra n a tech ar ticle o n how to se t up the Yamaha YZ250/400D for the pro-level ran ks... A twop a g e pictor ial o n th e bikes o f the Tran s -AMA ap peare d o n p a g e s 24-25 . In clu d ed we re fac tory rno tocr ossers from Suzuki, Yama ha, Kawasaki, Maico, Hu sq varna, Can-Am and Harley-Davidson. 10Y SAGO... EAR OCTOBER 21, 1987 u zu ki' s all-new 1988 RM250 made the cover, as di d Suz uk i ri der Doug Pol en , who swept the Riversid e, California, round o f th e Suzuki G5XR National Cup Series... Michael Craig (Yam) po u nded his way to victory during round five of th e CMC / Dodge Tru~k TransCal Series at A rgy ll Cycle Park in Dixon, California ... Eric G e b oers, the 1987 250cc MX World Champion, was interviewed u n pag e 12... Eddie Lawson wo n the fina l rou nd of the 500cc World Cha m pions h ip Ro ad Ra ce Series in Buenos Ai res, A rge nti na, bu t was thwarted in his bid to take over seco nd for the se ries after new champion Wayne Gardner ( He n) a llowed Randy Mamola (Yam) by to take second in the race a nd in t he se ries' fi nal standings ... Ed Lojak (Hus) came fro m be hin d to w in th e Big Bea r 100 GNCC round .. . A twopage ISDE photo sp read was fea tu red on pages 29-30. '" S - .. ~ ~ ~ r-, 0\. 0\ ...... , Lf) ...... .... Q) ..0 0 ..... U 0 Brad Lac key at t he Swedish 500cc GP in 19n. 87

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