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/127944
ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
BY GEOFF MEYER
t's a funny thing how a little bit of
good luck can propel a sport. Sometimes a legend appears out of the
oodwork and takes his chosen sport to
other level. Whether it be a Michael
rdan, a Mike Tyson or a Jeremy
cGrath, particular sports 'lave risen d/ or sunk - to new levels just because
a name - or just plain luck.
Tn Europe, motocros~ is now in its
ost important year ever. In 1998,
otocross on the cold shores of Engnd, Belgium, Holland, France and any
er great motocross nation should be
an all-time high. New television deals
e taking motocross to more homes
an ever before, and it is anticipated
at this year's viewership of the World
Dec Motocross Championships will
ach well over the 50-million mark. •
In 1997, with not a lot of live
otocross, the viewing audience was
,704/000. An amazing 20 million peoe watched the Indonesian round of the
s and more than a million watched
unds in Spain, Holland and France.
If you're stunned by the television
verage, then have a look at the
ount of press coverage, as a whop·ng 16,294,200 people read about each
c GP and an overall yearly amount
260,707,200 people keep an eye on the
rand Prix season. The numbers are
ggering.
Add to the live television coverage
e facts that there are many new prooters and that race fans are getting
tter venues and more access to the
ders. Yes, 1998 is going to be the year
r a huge upturn in the motocross
ene over here in Europe.
Think again.
Typicall y poor wea ther in the
oaths of March and April have sent
e GP crowd numbers into a downard spiral as knowledgeable
tocross crowds are keeping away
ue to the availability of the television
verage. Let's face it: Who wants to sit
the rain watchi\lg 40 guys in mudvered clothing doing their best to
ep their machines from being swept
to the next country?
But, then again, the rainy weather
as also hurt the television ratings.
Looking at this year's opening rounds
on television wa anything but mindblowing. Take for our firsJ example the
opening round in sunny Spain. Torrential rain turned the World 250cc
Motocross opener into a joke. Such riders as Stefan Everts and Pit Beirer blasted around the Talavera track with a
style akin to Mike Tyson doing ballet. (It
was ugly.) For motocross followers, it
could not have been any worse. The
sport we feel is equal to any other was
being seen by large (really large) numbers, and we.aLI knew many were
switching the channel on their televisions as soon as the first few laps had
been completed. Even for motocross
lovers, it was boring.
What came next was Portugal, more
rain and another seriously uninteresting
show. Amazingly, the following round
in the Netherlands (where rain is the
country's pastime) would bring magic
racing and no rain, but what followed in
round four in France one week later was
Stefan Everts walking away with two
motos and showing the world he is the
man.
Even Everts himself told the story.
"It must have been boring to watch. I
hope the crowd liked it, though," said
the Belgian legend after his monopoly.
Making Everts' win all the more boring
was the fact that overnight rain had
turned the hilly French track into another one-lined procession.
At least the French event was
smartened up a little with some supercross-style (European, anyway) dancing
girls, and rock 'n' roll music blasting out
of huge· speakers.
Rounds of the World 125 and 500cc
Motocross Championships were also
lacking any color. The opening two
rounds of the 125s, held in Brazil and
Spain, attracted great weather, but
unfortunatel}" the overzealous promoters watered the tracks at both events far
too much in early-morning preparation
(this does not only happen at the
Motocross des Nations) and both
rounds prod uced one-line racing. In
fact, watching the weekly motocross
update on the television, one could have
been excused for thinking one was
YEARS AGO...
HE 13,1968
ee-time AMA Grand National Champion Bart
Markel (H-D) was our coverboy after earning a
victory at the Richmond Half Mile. Markel used a
. rdtail KR to beat Californian Dan Haaby (H-D) and
ed Nix (H-D)... Desert ace J.N. Roberts (Hus) tested
. skills at the Carlsbad Raceway motocross, and came
ay the victor in the 500cc El