Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC By.Geoff Meyer Rumors. It's a di rty word we all love to use, nd for any journalist it's the drug that rets us all w o rking into the small hou rs o find o u t that a ll-im po rtan t truth (if here is any tru th ). In Eu ro pe ':It the moment , rumors ar e u z zin g a r o u n d li k e w ild fi re. T h e ig ge st o f th es e rum ors is t h e n ew o nda fou r-s tro ke we' ve been hearing o mu ch a bo u t but ha ve not ye t se e n, nd more importantly, w ho w ill rid e the ed beast ifthere is one? Dave Gran t - the ever-quotable man1ger of Stefa n Eve rts - has been heard to e sho pping for 500cc GP rider s with a ondness for ha rd charg ing an d winni ng orld Cham pi ons hip s. "I'm going 5005 next year, and I want o wi n," Grant told Cycle News reporter lex Hod gkins on a few w eeks ago. Th e ider G ra n t wa n ts is Joel Smets , the cc efending SOO World Cha mp ion from e lgi u m, a n d th e p ast few weeks in urope it ha s been sa id that Smets is es ting th e new Honda four-st oke in Beliu m eve n as you read this . Of cou rse , his is o nly a rumor and, to be honest, ts hard to imagine Smets te sting a o nda w hen he is a hea d , a lbe it slightly, f the World 500cc Motocross Champims hip points table racing his Husaberg. mets, of co u rse, deni es a ny wrongoi ng , a nd Grant d en ies an y co n ta ct vit h Srne ts, but, he y, a good st ory (or mor) is alw ays worth pursuing. Then comes the news that Grant's top TALLON VOHLAND BACK TO KA WASAKI? JOEL SMETS TESTING THE NEW HONDA FOUR-STROKE ? guy, Stefan Everts , is going to Yamaha in 1999. Th is li ttle s to ry is an o th e r good exa mple of wh a t coul d be. Yamah a has been m issing a top rider for a few years now, and whil e Tallon Vohland is capa ble of w inning a Worl d Champions hip, his luck is as bad as yo u could ge t. Injuries have plagu ed Voh land the last few years. Yamah a is willing to pay big do llars for Everts, and w ith Pit Beirer now ge tting man y of the special parts from Honda those sa me par ts Everts has always had for himself - you have to wonder w here Honda is look ing for their futu re. Bu t you d on' t hav e to wonder too hard . Vohl and , on the ot her hand, ha s bee n rumored to be tal ki ng to Ka wa sa ki' s race-team manager, Jan d e Groot, and a n yone w ho kn o w s a nyth ing a bout mo to cross k n o w s d e Groo t' s m a st er pupil , Se bas ti en Tortelli, is h eading Sta teside in 1999, leaving a hu ge space to be filled . Not to mention that de Gr oot's aim to bring Yves Demaria back to form ha s turned bad after th e Fre nc h rid er claimed he could not rid e aga in soon . Demaria's hunger is looking very much in qu estion. Dem ari a will leav e Kawasaki in 1999, and his pla ce could be filled b y Vohland . Vohland , as y o u might remember, rode for d e Groot in 1996. Th e other place in the Kawasaki facto ry te am co u ld be fill ed b y any one from 125c c cha ll e nger Ca rl Nunn to 30YEARS AGO... AUGUST 1, 1 968 D irt trac k was bo s s , bab y, a nd Cycle N ews ' cover fea tured a grea t s na ps h o t of t h e openin g lap at the Ch arit y Newsies Cham pi onship H alf Mile Natio n al in Columbu s, Ohio. Fre d Nix (H-D ) grabbed the lead off the start and led most of the race befo re reigni ng AM A G ra nd National C ha mpion Ga ry Nixo n (Tri) bull dozed h is way past for th e w in ... Ou t we st, M el Lac h e r (H- D) conti nue d to keep 'em beggin' for mercy as he grabbed his sixth st ra ig h t Expert m ain- ev ent victo ry at Ascot Pa rk... Se xism and the '60s?: Page 7 featured a sto ry o u tli ning the un fairn es s tha t Eld o rado Raceway in Sacramento, California, had levied ag ainst fem ale racer Debbie Jackline. lt seems that [ackline had worke d her w ay u p to second place in th e 100cc Ama teur/Exper t standings before she w as no tified tha t she woul d no lo nger be allowed to rac e in men 's classes, and w ould instead be force d to race on ly against o ther women ... o rste n H allm a n (Hu s ) was tile ma n a t Saddl eback Raceway' s Firecrac ker Int ernatio na l Motocross... A '55 riumph T110 wa s for sa le in the Want Ad s for $4SO. Ne w Zea la n d 's former 500cc World Champion, Shayne King . But these a re just more rumors. Kin g, w ho se KTM co ntrac t is up a t the end of this yea r, cou ld be loo king a t go ing to the 250cc class. " My ai m is to w in a 250 cc Wo rl d Cha m pionshi p for sure; w e hav e to w ait and see ," said King of a possible cha nge. That brin gs us to the new KTM fourstro ke pr esently being test ed in ltaly by form er World SOO and 250cc rider Kurt Nicol l. H ow a bo u t good , ol d retir ed Nicoll himself? If he feels he has the bike and the backing, he may well come out of retir em ent and race the new KTM . Suzuki , having h ad th e .se rv ice of Marnicq Bervoets for the past seven sea so ns, has now tu rn ed on the m u lt ip le W o rld C ha m p io n runner-up a n d is loo king very seriously at his contract for 1999, w hile A merica n- based Fre nc h ri d e r M ickael Pi chon is loo king very ca refull y a t a top factory ride in Europe (again a big rumor in Eur ope). Pichon 's rar e ap pearance at a Fre nch Internati on al in June set the press gallery talking, an d h is 2-2 -2 r esults b ehind fellow Frenchman Sebastien To rt ell i ga ve th e im pression he was here to show somebody something . So , in a nut shell , we h av e World 500cc Mot ocross Champion Joel Sm ets going to Hond a, World 250cc Motocro ss Ch ampion Stefan Everts go ing to Yama ha , recent American N ational winner SHAYNE KING MOVING TO THE 250CC CLASS? Micka el Pichon going to Suzuki Europe, Am er ic an Ta ll on Vo h la n d go ing to Kawasaki , Marnicq Bervoets being se nt to the 250cc scrap heap, and KTM looking for a rid er if Shayne King goes to the 250cc class. Wh at is true is imposs ible to kn ow, but he r e a re th e r ea s on s fo r d o u bt : Ev erts a n d H o nd a h a v e form ed th e g rea tes t fa cto ry team seen in Eu ro p e, an d Ever ts seems happy eno ugh to race th e red machines again; Pichon is now s ho w ing th e for m in A me rica that can give him far m ore mon ey in th e United Sta tes tha n in Eu ro pe (a nd life is a ll a bo ut m oney, is n ' t it ?); Joe l Smets is Husaberg born and bred, an d a move to H onda se e ms unlikel y ; Honda ha s d enied any new four-stroke; and despite the talk, w ould a World Champion actually ste p in to the rol e of possible te st rider? So now we can all sit back and look forward to 1999. If onl y half the chan ges occ ur, the next se as on will bring some needed manges to our European season. Any on e for some serious be tting? ,~ 20 YEARS AGO... JU LY19, 1978 10 YEARS AGO... JULY 13, 1988 R cott l'arker (H -D) ba rely ed ged ou t Chris Carr (H- D) a t th e M iddl eto wn , New York , AMA Grand ationa l round , putting Parker at the top of the series poi nts lis t . Da n In g r a m (H - D) was third ... J e ff W a rd ( Ka w ) earned a hard-fought victory a t the Red Bu d 500cc Mo tocross ational, an d Guy Coo per (Han) con tinued his ri se to th e to p of th e 125cc Natio na l ranks by cla im in g his third wi n of the seaso n... Wayne Gardner (Han) scor ed his first 500cc win of the season after passin g Eddie Lawson (Yam) at th e midwa y point of the Du tch IT in Assen, Holland . Christian Sarron (Yam ) was third ... Larry Roeseler (Kaw) was unstoppable a t the 18th ann ual Tra sk lSDE Qu alifier in McM innv ille, Orego n... We gave you a look at the 1989 Honda CR motocrossers, the first of Big Red ' s pr oduction di rt bike s to feat u re u ps id e-down forks ... Rick Johnson (Hon) turn ed a "working vacation " into wi ns in the 250cc and Open Exp ert cla sses at th e Mammoth MX in No rthe rn California. Johnny O'Mara (Suz) won the 125cc Expert class. ,~ i ck Burgett (Yam) inc he d closer . to AMA 5 00cc MX N a tio na l Series le a d e r Tommy Croft by s coring th e wi n at th e Mount Morris, Pennsvlvania, Nation~J. Burge t t 's 3-2 s cores bested Marty S mith (Hon) and Mickey Boo n e (Suz )... Jim my Ellis (Hon) won the 250cc National at Mount Morris o n the same day... Jay Springsteen (H- D) w o n the Castle Rock IT and too k over th e A MA G ra nd Na tiona l C ha mpions hi p Ca mel Pro Se ries p o ints lea d in Was hing ton . 01' Springer beat St eve Ek lun d (Yam) and Brad Hurst to th e chec kered flag aft er running in the top six all race lo ng ... Ken ny Roberts won a nd regained the points lead in th e 250cc cla ss, but he fini sh ed second to Johnn y Cecotto (Yam) in the 500cc class at the Du tch IT in Assert, H oll a nd ... Cycle News co nd uc te d a ca nd id int er view wi th Gary Scali, d u ring the most turbul ent .days in the former AMA Grand N ationa l C hampion' s ca re e r. Sco ll had been vilified fo r cla im in g seve ra l motor cycl es an d ma kin g accu sations of drug abuse by fellow ri d ers on th e Camel Pro circuit. In this in terview , he cited his reasons for doing both ... Part tw o of our Na tio na l Ch ampio nshi p MX Eq ui p men t fea tu re focused on the AMA Na tion al 250cc mach ines . S fA 8 en ~. ~ 83

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