Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ACROSS THE ATLANTIC BY G OFFM Y R E EE - '"" ho is the bes t? The battle between Europe and Ameri ca is part of m ot orcycle racing's folklore, and it's a d ebate th at has raged for decad es. Who cou ld ever forget those TransAtla n tic roa d ra cin g battles fro m the past? The tough British road racers, John Coo per, Barry Sheene, Paul Smart a nd Mick Grant, taking on the likes of Kenny Roberts, Dave Ald ana and Gary Nixon. It was compe titio n at its best, and very often the winning team onl y wo n by the slimmest margin . Then we had the motocross version. This wa s a little more in the favo r of the Euros, but s ti ll th e Americans never gave up. In the go ne- bu t-no t-forgo tte n Trans-Am Series, it w a s th e li kes of Rog er De Cost er , Joel Rob ert, Garrit Wolsink and Bengt Aberg vs. the likes of Gary Jones, Jim Pom eroy, Marty Smith and Bob Hannah . Ag a in, o n ly the st ro ngest su rvi ved . Those grea t battles are now a thing of the past, bu t how we all long to find ou t what th e ou tco me would be if these great institutions were still run toda y. Jus t imagine it . Jeff Emig vs. Stefa n Everts; Jerem y McGrath vs. Se bastian Tortelli; Joel Smets vs. Dou g Henry; and Marnicq Ber voet s vs . Jo hn Dowd . It' s mouth wa tering stuff , and we have only scra ped the su rface of the talent ava ilable in the motocross wo rld . Of course, road raci ng 's top riders s ee m to co me fro m Aus tralia a t th e moment , bu t how does this sound : John Kocinski vs. Max Biaggi: Doug Chand ler vs. Alex Crivi lle: Scott Russell vs. Ca rl Foga rty; an d Miguel DuHame l vs. Luca W Cad alora . Perhaps it's not what it used to b e , but it is s t ill m outhwat eri n g eno ugh to wis h a GP or two co u ld be thro wn out of the calendar to make way for suc h a con test. Of course, the biggest q uestion to be a nswere d wo u ld be , who wo ul d w in? Does Am er ica s ti ll have th e po wer to win on the int ernati onal scen e? Here in Europe, we think not. lt seems to me that the America ns are still the best in the world wh en it comes to su perc ross, a sport Eu ropea ns w ill not learn. but. in my o pin ion. motocross - in its tradition al for m - is a d ifferent story. The past four Mo tocr oss des Nat ions (the only event even remo tely similar to the old Trans-Atl antic forma t) has pr od uced onl y one win for America (1996). The great domination of th e '80s to mid'90s for Ameri ca is over. Belgium, on ce the grea test nation in world mot ocross, ha s won two d es Na tio ns in th e past fou r years ('95 and '97), and, of cou rse, Eng lan d pi cked up the remaining win in 1994. America without a doub t still has the greatest depth in the motocross ranks. Just look at this, for example - here are America's possible top 20 riders (in no particular order): Jeff Emig, Jerem y McGrath , John Dowd, Ricky Carm ichael, Doug Hen ry, Ezra Lusk, Larry War d , Mike laRocco, Steve Lams on, Kevin Windham . Dam on Bra ds haw, Rya n Hugh es, Robbie Reynard, Jimm y Button, Scott Sheak, Damon Hu ffman, Craig Decker, Mike Kiedrowski, Tim Ferry and Mike Craig . Now here are Belgium ' s top 20 : Stepha n Everts, Ma rn icq Bervoets, Joel Smets, We r ne r De wit, Pe ter Iv en ... Okay, so the names are already ge tting a little thin , so I'll just stop at five, but you get my po int. Onl y Fra nce, with ma ny of its ride rs now resid ing in America, has any thing like the firepower of the America ns. H ere a re Fra nce's lo p rid ers : Sebastien Tor telli, Yves Demaria, Frederic Boll ey , Fed eric Via li e, Davi d Vuille mi n, Stephane Ronc ad a, Micka el Pic hon, M ic ha el Ma schi o and Luigi Seguy . In fac t, ev en Fr a nce o nly ha s arou nd nine int ernational-standard rid ers . Ame ricans are still nu mb er o ne in numbers. Th en ag ai n, wit h the large po pulation Am erica has, is it any won d er? Okay, we've wor ked ou t tha t America is cha mp whe n it comes to d ep th and Belgi u m is the cha m p io n of the Mo toc ross d es Na tio ns , bu t wha t we still need to decide is, what can be do ne to get this Trans-Atlantic or Trans-AMA thing going again, to decide the true world cham p io ns? Let s face it ,· a oneda y Mot ocross des Nations, ofte n held in th e European-biased Europe, is no wa y of getting a fair res ult . How d oes th is sou nd ? Let' s scrap a few of the World Mot ocross Cham pi ons hip GP rou nds, a few of the American outd oo r Na tio nal Cha m p io ns h ip round s, and wi th the spare d ates restart the grea tes t rivalry ever wi tnessed in m otocros s hi sto ry - th e Trans -AM A Series . ,. Look a t some of th e s tatistics a nd you ' ll s ee severa l W orl d Moto cr os s round s are struggli ng to get crowds, and it's somewhat the sa me in the Unite d States a t s o m e venues . C a n yo u imagine crowds not turning out in huge numbers to witness America vs. the rest of the world? My head is already spining . Six rounds held between August and September . Rounds on th e West Coas t could be held at Glen Helen , Wash ougal and Mammoth Mountain (jus t for interes t). On th e Eas t Coas t, we could hav e Unadilla, Sou thw ick and lludds Creek. I' m not an ex per t on American motocross tracks, but these are some of the few tracks I hav e seen and hav e had heard many good things abo ut. Now for the European tr acks: In so u the rn . Eu rope, we could have -Maggiore, Italy (We cou ld even bring Johnny O' Ma ra for th is o ne; O' Ma ra ra cing a 125cc m achin e in th e 1986 Mo to cro ss d es Nations and lead ing hom e every Europ e an r id er, in cluding World 500cc Champion Dave Thorpe, will forever be a majo r piec e of Europea n motocross his tory ), and Jer ez, Spa in (the s ite of Ameri ca's last des Na tions win ). In the north, Lo rnm el, Belgium (th e s ite of America 's first Motocross des Nations win), and Foxh ill, Engla nd (the site of the 1998 Mot ocross d es N at io ns), a re possible sites. All of th es e Eu ropean tra cks ar e crowd favorites, not to mention a nice mix of track surface to favor no team (same as the America n tracks). So there it is: a ba ttle p lan royal. The only ques tion left would be, could the FlM an d the AM A come to the party? Bu t, th en again, we already kno w th e answer to that o ne. My wa tering mouth is now d ry and I've come back to rea li- ty. Still, perhaps there' s hop e. '" LOOKING BACK... rid e r to d o so since Jack M cLan e (Ho n) in '11ij~~~~:;J;~.1 Sta te Parks and Recreation Departill men t.; Bob Balentine (KTM) wo n 1970... Cycle News int erviewed Pro Twins GP class co nque ro rs J i m my A da mo and Reno the Ope n Expert class at the CRC over m od el Sho rty Gra nd Prix in Ca lifor nia City, CaliLeoni... Page 12 carried a ph oto feature of the S e a b ourn e a p pea re d as fornia ... Marly Smith (Ho n) wo n his 1987 AMA Award s llanquet from Long Beach, thuugh he was strain ing just Califo rn ia... Gary Roach (Kaw} p ulled off a n second Trans-AMA motocross of the to put his foot on the grou nd as he upset victury at the Taren tu m , Pe nnsy lvania, ye a r i n Puya ll up, Wa sh in g ton . slid his BSA throug h 0 co rner at round of the AMA Gra nd Na tional Cross Cou nSmith won the 500cc In tern a tion al the Ascot 20·!ap Sta te Cha m pi try Series ... We tested a revised but non etheless class, and Warren Reid (Hen} wo n onship. Seabourne wo n the event improv ed 1988 Yamaha YZ125... An immaculate the 250cc Nationa l class... CN also in his final rid e as 47R. .. Internafeatured an interview w ith HusqvarTriumph 650 lion neville was for sa le in the Wan t tiona l MX s ta rs D a ve Bicke r s, n Ads for a "paltry" $1800. . .. . .. .. .. .. . . .~ n~ p riva teer Chuck Su n... A test of Joel Robert, Ro ge r DeCosler Bengt Aberg 's a nd T o rste nH al lm an w ere o n Hallm a n /Ya m oh a han d fo r th e s econd a n n ua l In te r n a ti o na l 500 cc thumpe r Mo tocr oss, held in co nju nctio n wi th the Dirt Diggers co u ld be fou nd on Grand Prix at the Hopetown Track in Sim i, Ca liforni a. page 24. The eve nt d rew a huge crowd of 25,000, who wa tched CZ rid ers Robert and DeCoster clea n hou se, as Robert 10 YEARS AGO.., won on Saturday and DeCoster on Sund ay... Mal co lm Smith and J.N. Robe rts (Hus) wo n th e Mexican 1000 NOVEMBER 18,198 7 Rally in Baja Ca liforn ia, Mexico , posting a class record M W un veiled time of 28 hou rs, 48 minut es... Jim Rice (BSA) won the its 1988 stree t Lodi Benefit Scra mb les. Mark Brelsford won the 250cc bike lin e, Expert class ... Cycle News track-tes ted a 100cc Mo lo Bela wh ich m arked the with fav orabl e results. retu rn of the 1000cc 'ii':7i1'r::JI~~.,."",~ box e r t wi n , a m od e l th a t h a d 2 E RSAGO... 0Y A b e e n ou t o f th e N OVEMBER 16, 1m lin eup si nce 1985. he Dirl Diggers' G ran d It ha sn ' t be en P ri x w a s s ti ll go ing since.., Larry Roest rong. the 19th running se ie r (H us) wo n of the event taking place in the Bad Mo untain Trabuco Ca nyon, Ca li fo rNational End uro in nia . Goa t Br eker (H us) Luce rne Va lley, won th e 250cc Pro race on Ca lifo rn ia, but Sunday, w hile Larry RoeKe v i n Hi nes seier (Hus) won the 500cc (KTM) clinched the Exp ert race... Cycle NtWS cha mpionship and ran a n exte ns iv e i n terb e came t h e fi rst view wi th Russell Cah ill , no n -Hu s q v arn a (Left to right) AMA Nationa l Enduro Champions Mike Melton. Je ff Russ ell. Dave Bertram (Reliability di rector of th e Ca liforn ia 30Y AR E SAGO... N V M R23,1967 O E BE C B 1 r-, 0\ 0\ """' """' .... QJ ('.l' .0 E QJ > o z 72 T champ) and Terry Cunningham at the Bear, Delaware, National Enduro, In 1984.

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