Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IN THE PADDOCK BY MIC AEL SCOTT H t was not ve ry long ago tha t Gra nd Prix racing an d Am eric an rid ers went hand in hand. Ther e see med to be an in exhaus tibl e s u p p ly of ta len t, and wh ile not every w inner at that time was from the United Sta tes of Ame rica, most of them we re , and most of the rest were fro m Au s tra lia . When Christia n Sarron wo n in the wet in Ge rman y in 1985, it was the firs t victory for a non American rider since 1982. And so it wen t o n, u n t il Ke vin Schwantz's titl e in 1993. The nam es on the U.S. roll call of cha m p ions d em arca te a p eri od of ra cin g hi s tory fro m 1978 u nt il 1993, th e ye ar of Wa y n e Ra in e y ' s careere ndi ng cras h: Rob erts, ," Spe nce r, La wso n , Rai n e y , Sc hwan tz . A d d in Ma mola , th e perennial ru nner-u p , ...'.,. and you ar e looki ng , "at a gen uine galaxy of Lalent. In 1997, the Arneri- .' can Dream h a d run ... out of time. There were···. . just two U.s. riders on .'. the entry list. In 1998 ... there are no t likely to , be many more. .. What on earth has . happe.ned? W here .:.h a v e th e y all gone? t; And will they be com- I ing fans. Afte r all, if this is so, maybe it w ill be Br i ta in ' s tu rn aga in in th e futu re. But if the cyclica l mod el does wor k, i t does n o t do so under its o wn mo men tu m. It mu s t be d ri v en a n d stee red , th ou gh it tak es p lanning a nd long-term initiatives to do so . Th e America n ri se to promine nce, af ter all, d id no t happen by chance . It was fo rced a head by a gene ra tio n o f steel-shoed ex-dirt trackers, an d it was held as an arti cle ' of fait h fo r a long time that it was the ab ility to race those bu ck in g , s li d in g 750cc Ha ri e y s e t al. that gave the Americans the wher e- th umping fou r-stroke V-twin sideways a t mo re tha n 100m p h on a bi g loose mile or half mile ova l. So me thing s imi la r drove a ge ne ratio n of Australia ns, whose ba ckground was m in ibik e raci ng o n rough-a n dready d ir t tra cks. The commo n ingredient wi th th e Un ited Sta tes w as not so mu ch th e co n tro lled slides - for th ese ci rcuits had left s and righ ts, chica nes and jumps - bu t an int ensi ty of com petition that tran scend ed the natural tendency to ride wit h both wheels in line. An atti tude of mind. O ther ex tre me form s of mot or cycl e competition d em and a similar atti tude. '~~~~~; ing back? Las t yea r's m a i n.'~ . .. . surv ivo r, fit ti n gl y :-" :<- ' .' ;'. enough, was another Ke nny Roberts th e othe r America n rid er last season was hi s yo u nger brother Kurti s, riding a 250 in a p r ivateer effo r t. But Junior has a long way to go before he too w ill be ca lle d "King Ken ny" - the way th e Mod en as p roject is go ing ju st now, even "Prince Ken ny" wo u ld be good. All of w hich p ut s even mor e pres su re on John Koci nski, w hose return from th e superbike w ilderness spans the current era an d the one befor e. There is an easy way to explain why Americans came and we nt in this way tha t na tio na l success seems to go in cy cles, and it's n o lo nger America's turn. Aust ralia is also ap parently abo ut to run out - a fter Mick Dooh an , w ho? Inst ead, as we have observed in these pages befo re now , it see ms it is abo u t to be Jap an 's tu rn . This doctrine ca rries so me weig ht, a nd is comforti ng for British roa d rae- Where have all the dirt trackers gone? Randy Mamola was one of sev eral American race rs who turned from dirt tracker to Grand Prix star. wi thal to slide around on the 500s of the time. That was an ove rsimplification, how ever , as illustrated by Schwantz, the exce ption to the rule. Kevin had n't d one th a t d irt track stuff too mu ch , comi ng instead fro m a background riding trials and motocross. "Whe n Kevin d iscover ed a way to go racin g w ith out ge tt ing mudd y, he never went back on the dirt," his fa ther, Jim, once smi ling ly explained to me. Of course, the oval-track techniqu es of slid ing and steeri ng with th e th rottle did help - especially so d uri ng the '80s, w hen engi ne power so far exceeded tire gri p. Ju s t as important , however was the dirt track mind-set, an attitu de that goes hand in hand wi th throw ing a Je a n -M ich el Ba y le has ma de some p rog ress in prov ing th a t h igh-fly in g su percross migh t be one of them . The Japanese, mea nwh ile , who seem to stand on th e threshol d of a p eriod of p re-eminence in a ll three GP classes, have go tte n to w here they are tod ay by delibera te ly followin g the Am erica n model, in the mo st ty pi cally litera lmind ed wa y . They se n d th eir rid ers over for a spell as U'S, d irt trackers. A s teady strea m of rid ers, from No rifu mi Abe onwa rd , ha ve spent a season or two h on ing th eir di r t tra ck s k ills in America. The practice con tinues - a regu la r h andful of them a re to be seen eve n today, at pl a ces like Lodi a n d Sacramen to, in the heart of the crucia l Californian valley dirt track sce ne. If Japa n can forge this link between the ovals and th e G ra nd Pr ix circ u its, why has it been lost to the Am ericans? It see ms, in ret ros pect, th at th e AMA th rew it away carelessly, even will fu lly. Until the ' 80s, th e Ame rica n Gra nd N a tio na l cha m p io ns h ip h ad b e en a combined affair, taki ng in road racing ro u nds along w ith the d irt tracks . The bal ance was skewed toward the latter, but round s at Da y tona a n d La gun a Seca , a nd p oi n ts in betw een, co unt ed toward th e p oints total, and the truly dedica ted rider w ou ld s trive his utmost to excel in bot h d iscipli nes. Then, u nder co m mercial ....p re ssure fr om s po nso rs "'a n d m anu fa cture r s , th e .r AMA gave road raci ng -. th eir ow n set of t itl es, - , which evolved in to the f imp or tan t AMA . , Su p e r b i ke C ha mpi~. onship of today , while , ~ the dirt trackers we re ;: . giv en the Grand Nation,.•.:. al title all to themselves. • The connection between •. .."'. dirt and tarmac, so valu. ;: able to the GP superstars, .... h a d been los t, and with , .' -" . the incen tive of champi)~ on s h ip points the dirt .:.track fra ternity retu rn ed .~ to th e in w a r d -lo ok in g ~ . pu rsuit of turning only ,·Ieft. . Ch uck Aksland, manager for Tea m Rob e rts a nd a member of one of Ca lifornia n racing' s fi rst fam ilies, offers another reason as we ll. "As superbi ke ra cing grew in the States, riders cou ld mak e a goo d living at it. It by far beat struggling for mon ey in the GPs." Ano ther incentive was lost. The resu lt now is of se rious concern to any bo dy a nxious to see Americans b a ck where we have b ecom e accustom ed to seei ng them: on th e rostrums. The supply of American road racing ta lent has d ried u p to suc h an ex ten t tha t their thrivin g National series now relies increasi ng ly on foreigners to keep the s ta nda rd hig h. After Troy Co rse ca me and won the title, fe llow Aus tralians Mat Mladin and now Antho n Gobert are now AMA warriors . It looks like it will be a long tim befor e ano the r ge nera tion of America ra cers co mes a lo ng to ri val th e las one. l~ 30 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 2, 1968 20 Y ARSAGO... E FEBRUARY1 ,1978 10YEARS AGO... JA U Y27, 1988 N AR od y Nicholas made the cover a fter his successfu l return to road racing at Ca rlsbad, California, where he won the Open Class Spo rts man division ab oard Don Vesco 's BSA 650. The race marked Nich olas' first ride in two years, as he had been on hiatus while serving his country in the U.S. Navy... Ben Fakk eldy (Tri) w on th e Open Expert cla ss, and " Big " Jim Hunter (BSA) topped the combined 350-500cc class at the Hilltoppers Scra m bles in Perris, California... M ike Patri ck and Steve Hurd ga ve No rto n a 1-2 finish at the Desert M.e. Hare Scra mbles in Lu cern e Valley, Cali forn ia... Seventeen -year-o ld Don Emde (Suz) won th e 250cc Novice class at the Dehesa Scram bles nea r San Diego, California... Cycle News too k a fu ll page to list the 1968 desert Heavyweight earn ed numbers. Steve Hurd had nu mber one, followed by J.N. Roberts, Jack By ers, Larry Bergquist an d James Marti no. s p rom ised, Bob Hann ah was back with the first insta llmen t of his "How to rid e lik e the Hurri cane" series. Part one dealt with preparing the motorcycle for racing or practice... Brad Lackey (Ho n), Rex Sta ten (Yam) and Danny Tu rn er (Ho n) were the big winners at rou nd two of the CMC /Suz uki Golden State Series in Sacra me nto, Cali fornia. Lackey was the class of the Op en Pro s, while Staten and Turner wo n the 250 and 125cc classes, respective ly... Roxy Rockwood fea rlessly pred icted th at the Camel Pro Series ra ce wo u ld come down to four men: Jay Spri ngsteen, Ted Bood y, Ga ry Scott and Skip Aks la nd ... Bob Balentine was still waxin' em in the desert. Balentine piloted his KTM to the overall w in at the CRC Ha re Scrambles in Californ ia City, Califo rnia... Pat Jacob sen (Suz) and Jim Anderson (Suz) sp lit a pair of w ins in the 125cc Pro class at the Puyallu p Raceway MX in Washington state. Jacobsen took the overall wi n. ycle News interv iewed Joanna Brownell, who wa the top fema le desert racer in District 37 befor retiring to become the LAPD's first female mo tor cycle patrol office r... Bob "Hurricane" Ha nnah (Suz blew 'em away in the 250cc Pro class at rou nd three 0 the Florida Win ter AMA Motocross Series in Dade City Florida. Todd DeHoop (Suz) wo n the 125cc class, an Ke ith Johnson (Kaw) won the 500cc class ... Alan Ca th ca rt delivere d a riding impression of th e Yama h FZ750-powered Bim ot a YB6... Garth Brow (Han) wa the ma n to bea t at the ope ning round of the Invita tiona Pro Ind oor lee Race Series in Danvi lle, Illinois, on [anu ary 8. Bryan Hardin (Ho n) wo n round two on the ve . next even ing ... Governor Pete Wil so n went on a fact finding tour in the Mojave Deser t, and later took a "no p osition on Ll.S, Sena tor Alan Cra ns to n's Californi Desert ":rotection Act, the infamo us 57. J 68 A C

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