Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HOWL BYD ENNISN S OYE wo of the wo rld's longes t-ru nn ing and most pr estigious motor cycleracing cha mp ionships - th e FIM Occ O Grand Prix Road Racin g Cha mpins hip and th e AMA Gra nd National irt Track Championsh ip - are simultaeo us ly co nside ri ng m aj or rul es han ges. In both instances the govern ing di es know that they cannot affor d to nake a mistake but , likewise, they cano t rest on the lau rels of their p resent uccess. How ever , after reading Michael ott's colu mn "In the Paddock" (Issue 29, July 29), in which he su ggests that e, and, indeed, the rest of us, ha ve been ed by the nose by the mysterious perperators of so me vast four -stroke conspircy, I felt myself getting a little paranoid especia lly. when he sug geste d some form of collus ion between Octa gon, the ew ow ners of World Su pe rbike , a nd VC , th e majority s h a r e holders of Dorna, th e Spanish co m pa ny whi ch o lds th e commercial" ri g ht s to FIM ra nd Prix racing. I feel my British colleagu e is voicing incere concern for the future of Grand r ix racing, but I a lso fea r th a t he is eing spoo ked by scary shadows on his all that are reall y only caus ed by the vinds of cha nge s tirring the bra nch es utside his office. Mike, although a few ears my junior, will rem emb erfhe last 'me racing's status quo was threatened y a change be tween two-stroke a n d our-stroke domination. FIM World hampi on sh ip Grand Pri x racin g which began in 1949 ) su rvived that hange and we 'll survi ve this one - just s AMA Grand ational racin g over the ears (si nce 1946 ) ha s wea thered its storms. I When I wa s living a n d racing in Spain and England in the late '60s and early 70s, there was a strong anti-twotroke sen time nt am ong traditionalists. ' Blood y two -stroke s" w er e lethal hin gs, apt to seize at any moment, and heir nasty chain-saw bu zz wa s considred u ns p ea ka bl y ugly co m par ed to fou r-s tro ke thunder. It was also said that two-stroke development w as going to elevate costs and th at sma ll teams would be dri ven from the paddock. No w, just abo u t 30 yea rs lat er, th e su ggestion of a chan ge in G P ru les is causing a simi lar, conservative reaction agai nst fou r-strokes. The powers tha t regu late Gra nd Prix racin g - the FlM, Dorna, IRTA an d the GPM A - are responding to req u e s ts from th e m o to r cy cl e m a n u fa ct urer s themsel ves to s tu dy th e a lternatives . The business of Grand Prix racing is in the hands of the above-men tioned organizati ons, wh ich have good reason to be aw ar e of the sacred tru st that they hold in the nam e of racing fans. Ultimat ely it is specta tors com ing through the gates, tu rning on the TV and buying the bikes and merchandise that keeps the racers racing. Th e AM A' s Proj ect 2000 in it iative a nd th e FIM ' s fled gl in g 500cc four stroke proposal (for the momen t still at the GPMA committee stage) have a lot in c~ mon . Both Gra nd Prix racing (on a glooal scale) and Grand National Dirt Track racing {on a national scale) ar e working to get the industry on board in order to e nsure a s u ccess fu l future . Right now, Honda has a stranglehold on 500cc Grand Prix racing , as does HarleyDa vi dso n in Grand National racing . Both Honda and Harley, in their respective areas of domination, are encouraging changes that. will bring more manufacturers in to play. This is based more on goo d business sense than on altru istic motives. lt is a rule of business that anytime you find yo u rself in cr e a s in g yo u r s h are of a d ecr easing market , you a re , in effect, beginning to circle a drain. There may ha ve been a time when Honda thou gh t it was good to own the entire fro nt row and to take the top 10 p laces in a race. An d there certai nly was a ti me w hen Harley had undue in flu en ce over th e J\MA's Grand National rul es - but bot h no w see m to reali ze th at to truly w in, you have to do mor e than just beat privateers wit h factory riders. It ma y be that the AMA will decide that th e move to implement a chan ge toward 1000cc p rodu ction e n gi nes needs to be postponed for a year or so to allow for a transition period - with existing XR750s running aga inst the d evelopm ent Project 2000 ma chines li ke th e al rea dy ve ry pro mising F&S TU OOO Su zuki or the Land es VTRI 000 Honda or 1000cc Harleys (like the ones bein g d e vel oped b y Pa t Maroney , G ary Stolzenburg and others). It ma y be that the F1M will introduce a transition period with GPMA member factories competing with large-capacity four-s tro ke d evelopment bikes agains t ex is tin g t w o-s tro ke 500s in th e y ear 2001. If Project 2000 bikes can beat the old warhorse XR750 Harleys, and if there are enoug h P-2000 bikes to keep the racing close, the AMA w ill be able to impose the change witho ut pu tting the Gra nd at io nal s tructure (p ro mo ters, teams, riders, factories ) a t risk. Likewise, if large-capacity four-stroke d eve lop ment bikes can beat Ho nda's old warho rse , the NSRSOO, and if there are enough big four-strokes and teams financially capable of running them, the FIM will be able to make th e b ig cha nge in Grand Prix raci ng . (It shou ld be rememb ered , in sp ite of all the talk abou t the pow er of th e GPMA , IRTA and Dorna, that th e ultimate power in Grand Prix racing still rests with the FIM.) Here in Ameri ca, I th in k we all un d erstand w here the AMA is coming from in a ttempts to in trod uce changes in Grand National Dirt Track racing. The AMA Gran d Na tional Championship is a part of our American motorcycle-racing heri tage, and all of us who love dirttrack ra cing realiz e that w e cannot expect the factory Harley -Da vidson XR750, first presented at the Houston Show of 1970, to carry us for another 30 years. But some Grand Pri x jou rn alists and fan s se e m s u s p icious and e ven frightened of th e id ea of leaving the two-stro ke engine behind - eve n when the manufac tu re rs are open ly saying tha t th e two-stroke n o long er ma kes much comme rcial sense. Rem emb er, 30 years ago virtu ally all GP racing was four-stro ke racing. Two- . strokes first achie ved success at the GP level in th e sma lle r classes, bu t di d n' t take the SODcc title until Giaco mo Agostini, on a four-cylinde r Yama ha, eventually bea t h is fo rmer te amm ate, Phil Read , a nd his former employers, MV Agusta, in 1975. But , like the Ghos t Dances, there was a brief but d oom ed revival of the most fea rso me of th e old four-strok e tribes. Hond a had won all five manufacturers' titles in 1966 with a twin -cylinder 50, a five-cylinder 125, six-cy linde r 250 and 350 machine s, and a fou r-cylinder 500. (Agostini had w on the 500 rider's title on an MV, but Honda ou tscored MV in th e manufacturer sta nd ings .) In 1979, H o nd a wen t o n t he wa r p a th w ith a four-stroke... the Quixotesque machine, kn o w n as t he N R500, t h e infamous Never Ready Ho nda. The bike never scored a point and, in fa ct , t he only r id er to eve r give it s d es igners a momen t's pl e asure was Fre d die Spe nce r, w ho ea rned et ern al H ond a g ra tit u de by b eating Kenn y Robe rt s (o n a Yamah a ) a n d Rand y Mamola (on a Suzuki) in a qualifyi ng hea t for th e Laguna Seca 500 International of 1981. It blew up in the race, but Freddie was given a second NR ride at th e British GP at Silverstone that same season. He was runnin g fifth at abou t one-thi rd dista nce when th e Hon da pu ked its expensive gu ts yet again. After that, Hond a enginee rs fina lly agr eed they were beating a dead horse. The NR would, in fact. Never be Read yHonda had announced prior to lau nching the NR in 1979 th a t th ey would never build a two-stroke SOD. Never fi nally ca me in 1982 whe n they fielded a three-cy linde r two-strok e 500, ridd en by Spencer to two w ins and third pl ace in th e cha mpions hi p. Th e next sea so n he won th e title tha t no Honda rider had ever taken w hen he defeated Kennv Roberts (on a Yama ha) by just two poin ts after 12 races. The only fly in the ointme nt was tha t they had do ne it w ith a two-s troke. It is suggested that the driving force beh ind a move to fo ur-s trokes in GP racing come s fro m Hond a. who, by wi nn ing the "500" title wi th a larger-capacity four-stroke, could achieve their final GP objective. The fact that the first industry spokesman to spea k openly of the mov e was from Yamaha, and that Honda has remained officially cool to the idea, only co n fi r m s m y hun ch that th e prim e mo ver in all this is really Hond a. The notion, how ever, that somehow Octa gon and CVC a re co ns p iri n g to bring a bo ut this cha nge for , a s Mike om inous ly suggests, "reasons that have n othing to d o wi th m otorcy cl e s o r spor t," seems far-fetched. Missi ng from th is Da llas multipl eshooters conspiracy theory is the han d of Bernie Ecclestone. Until someone contrives a way to bring Bernie in to thi s mix. the best I can d o is close with a silly conspiracy theory of my own. H er e goes: Neither Do rna, no r the GPMA, nor Sito Pons , nor Octagon and . CVC , co m bi ned in con n ivance, a re a t te n di n g moo n li g ht meet in g s, safe fro m CIA sa tellite cameras, a t Libyan training ca mps wh ere th e cons pira tors plot to bring back the four-stroke. The w hole thin g, I fear, ma y be even more devious. Perhaps all us God -fearing journalists ha ve been led by the nose into a vast conspiracy to restore Sideca r racin g to World Ch ampionship s ta tus via the reintroduction of the four-stroke engine . This BMW-insp ired plot, eve n tu ally invol vin g s u per-cha rging, is intend ed to bring the reu nited Germany back to its state of prewar racing su periority - a ll cleverly launched throu gh r e v erse psyc hology b y H enn y Ra y Abrams' "Chicanery" col umn in Issu e #2 6 of Cycle News, ou tragin g sidecar fans a n d preparing th e s tage fo r th e return of the chairs. (He nny wa s probably unwittingly led by the nose by blind men through a fishy house, or wh atever it is that Michael Scott said is bein g don e to him.) N o, I think that just as th e AMA is see king to make th e right move at the right ti me fo r the good of the Gra nd Na tio nals. the F1M and its commercia l p a r tn ers a re acti ng because it has become clear that the two-stroke racing engine has fallen from favor with the very Japa nese who made it all-conquerin g . Th e moot ed move to four-stroke power is simply an old idea w hose time has come back aro und a nd (to paraphrase William Butler Yeat s, or Aaron Yat es, o r so mebo dy) is lurchin g o n toward Bethleh em or Geneva or Ham 0 mam atsu , there to be born aga in. 30 Y SAGO... EAR SEPTEMBER 5,1 968 20 YEARS AGO... AUGUST 23,19 78 10 Y SAGO... EAR AUGUST 1 1 7, 988 he Muskego n Na tional Championship Hillclimb was featured on the cover of Cycle N= 30 years ago. Earl Bowlby was the day's big winner and was rewarded with $4000... DeWayne Keeter put the skids to Mel Lacher' s half mile win strea k at Ascot Park in California... For the second year in a row, Mike Patrick raced to victory at the Nevada State Championship Hare Scrambles, held near Las Vegas... Dave Scott edged ou t Steve McLaughlin to win the 250ccGP class at an AFM road race meet in Orange County, California... A TT race was held in Tijuana, Mexico, and Yamaha rider Roy Spiker topped R.W. Ring for the 250cc Expert-elass win... Sammy Tanner topped the A class at Trojan Speedway in South Gate, California. ocono Cycle Jam road race winner Mike Baldwin ' graced the cover of Cycle News 20 yea rs ago . Baldwin topped Gene Romero in the GNC /Camel Pro 'Series 27-lap final at the Poco no International Speedway cou rse ... In St. Jose p h. Missouri, at Agency Motocro ss, Broc Glover clinched hi s second 125cc Nationa l MX Championship with a pair of wins. In the 50Dcc class, a Yamaha-mounted Rex Slaten carded the overall with a 2-1 tally... Don Ves co failed in his a ttempt to break his ow n land speed record a t the Bonn eville Salt Fla ts in Ut ah . Ves co co u ld only sq u eeze 274 mph out of hi s Kawa saki-powered st reamliner. He was hoping to surpass 303.812 mph... P ik e Harth of Tea m Su zuki was fea tured on the cove r 10 years ago . Harth, along wit h team members Wes Cooley, Jamie James and Russell Paulk, wo n the Ne lso n 24-Hour WERANa tional Enduran ce Road Race in Ohio ... Bubb a Sh ob er t wo n the AMA Ca me l Pro /Superbik e Seri es round a t th e Mid-Ohio Spo rts Ca r Co urse in Lexingto n, Ohio. John Kocinsk i won th e 250cc GP at M id -Oh io , while D o ug Po len topped th e 600cc Su pers port class... In Sa n Marin o, American Billy Liles shined above all o thers at the Wo rld Championship SOOcc MX. Liles went 1-3... Cycle N etos published the first photos of the all-new Suzuki RM motocrossers. t~ T M

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