Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ACROSS THE ATLANTIC BY G EOFF M EYER . merica has lon g bee n th e World C ha m p io ns in Supercross - th e events themsel ves are the best in the world and the qu ality of riders that compete in the U.S. Supercross Series are genera lly the best in the wo rld, as well. With the Jan ua ry 1998 w in by Sebastien Tort elli a t t he Los Angeles Memoria l Coliseum, how ever, it suddenly became obvious that Europe, or more specifically, France, has taken anothe r huge step forward when it comes to p rod ucing supercross talent. Last month, on a wet and muddy track in Paris, the French took another important step, this time, toward p roducing a ma jor su percross se ries .perhaps one that will so me day rival that of the United Sta tes' series . The first round of the World Su percross Cha m pions hips was played out in a' stad iu m that could ma tch anv ve nue on the pres tigio us American scene . And with 50,000 screaming supercross fans, this year's World Supercross Championships look li kel y to be every thing Europeans had all hoped for. But let 's get back to the France vs. America thing. Back in the ea rly 1980s, Parisian people were introduced to the famous Bercy Supercross - a three-night event tha t has yet been ma tched for its excitemen t or glamo u r. Names like Rick John son , Jeff Wa rd, Jeff Em ig, Jere my McGrath, and Johnn y O' Ma ra ha v e at o ne tim e o r ano ther graced the famous Bercy Stad ium in Pari s, and even today the event is co nside re d b y man y as the g re a test supercross in the world . . Whil e Bercy will never be re p laced for pure s ho w b iz , a n e w ki n d o f Pa ris ia n s u perc ross even t w a s introdu ced on tha t October 24 date. . H eld in th e sa me s ta di u m w h e re Fra nce won th e 1998 World Cu p Football match, better known as World Cup soccer in the United States, the op ening A rou nd of the 1998 FIM World Supercross Champonships was unfortunately no t all we exp ected. Early in the year, names like McGrath , Stefa n Everts, Sebastien To rte lli a n d Jeff Emig were men tio ne d for th e s how, but, in th e e nd, no n e of th ese grea ts s howed . Everts, Tor telli and Emig we re all ou t with an in jury, w hile - d ependi ng on w ho you talked to - McG rat h did not want to ride or was pa id not to ride. So with Larry Wa rd, Robbie Reyna rd, Steve Lamson an d Ryan Hughes as the top American names, and David VuilIemin and Mickael Masehio the top Euro peans, this was not going to be wha t we had all expec ted. Ad ded to the downside was tha t rain began on Satu rd ay morning. and did no t stop u ntil Sunday morning. As a res ult, the track brou gh t back mem ories of the recen t Motocross des Nations, and anyone wh o has seen pictures or was at the e ven t w ill tell yo u it was o ne o f th e wo rst mo tocross races or all time - condi fh:ms-wise. So, with no major names a nd poor weather, we all sat back and hoped for something special. And despite it all, we got it. At a 9 p.m. p ress conference, Ricky Johnson, who is one of the all-time favori tes in European mo tocross his tory , told of his thoughts on what was about to happen. "This is the first time you guys will ha ve th e cha nce to w it ness w h a t we hav e in Am erica," Johnson sai d to the hu ge cro w d . " I a m rea ll y imp re ssed with wh at you 'v e don e here." While t h e r a in m ade co n d it io ns impossible, the hu ge crowd - the biggest eve r for a su percro ss race in Europe we n t wil d, as Fren ch yo u ng ster Da vid Vuillemin wen t and blit zed the likes of Ward , Hugh es andReynard . Aft er his big acco m plishme n t, Vu ilIemin told of his love of supercross and his than ks to the man y spec ta to rs for th eir am azing su pport. When the s how was over, so me o f the America n press in a tten da nce we re amazed at the leve l of cro wd response . As has been the case in the Bercy Supe rcross (w hich only ho lds aro u nd 12,000 spectators) it was atm osp here at it's best. And , just as Bercy had introduced some yea rs ago, the dancin g gi rls and laserlight shows were bri llian t. It tu rned ou t to be a grea t even t afte r all. It seems somewhat ironic that in Las Vegas , only a co uple of weeks ago, European-style supercross (Bercy sty le) was b eing introduced to American Supercross fans, just as American Supercross was being shown in Europe. Jus t as in Las Vegas, however, there were hitches to the new American concept in France. Races did no t run as quickly European supercross fans had been used to, and rid er introduction s .wer e far too long and, qu ite sim ply, boring. O verall though it was hard no t to be impressed with the 50,000 peo ple all sit ting in the . rain and wa iting for Vuillernin to show his worth to the American supercross s tars . To make matters worse for the Yanks was the fact that Maschio (also a French rider) finished in second . Third-placed Robbie Reynard, the rider who had won the opening night of European-style Supercross in Las Vegas, showed he can ma tch the new breed of European cham pions. What fo llo ws in th e four-round Worl d Su percross Se ries is a nyone's guess. O nly days before the Paris event was run, one of the rou nd s to be held in Belgium was canceled. This wa s the secth o nd round to ge t " e cho p, a fte r th e Japan ese round had gone under. Suddenl y, on ly four rounds of the exp ected six- rou n d se ries remain . While the names lik e Ward , Hu ghes, Reynard , Vuillemin, and Lams on continue to race fo r t he World Su perc ross Ch ampi ons hi ps, the qu est ion s will continue to be answered. But looking at the faces of :" . .'.~' the SO,OOO rain- soaked people.at the Stad de France, the FIM Wo rld Supercr oss Champions h ips m a y well be fi na lly maki ng some progress. The 1999 World Su percross Series is expected to visit places such as Ame rica, Brazil , Italy, Fran ce, Spa in , Ge r ma ny an d Sou th Africa. Word ha s it that the American eve n t will ge t live television (whic h is the case with mos t of the 1998 series in Europe). . So m a yb e , jus t maybe , Eu ro pe is starting to move out of the small indoor stadiums tha t a re capable of ho ld ing on ly a round 5000 to 10,000 people, and instead are now looking far ther a nd higher at the new footba ll stadiums for supercross even ts. If World Supercross promo ter Giu seppe Luo ngo has his way, th e World Su percross Se ri es w ill be everything th e Am eri can series is, a n~, more. "My drea m is to have a ll lar ge ou td oor s ta d iu ms, races th rou gh ou t th e world, a nd all the top rid ers," Luongo said . "We knew the first year wo u ld be difficult to ge t the top names. We have been u nlucky with inju ries to To rtelli, Lusk, and Emig - they we re all go ing to do Pa ris. Overall, the firs t ro u nd was very impressive." As fa r as PACE Motor Sp or ts (the promo tors of 14 of the 15 Ll.S, Su percross Series rounds in the Uni ted States) b ein g in vo lve d w ith th e Am erican rou nd s of the World Su percross Series, Luongo said : "I don't think so. They are very careful of w hat they have in th e American series, and to be honest, I see a lot of im p rove men ts th at need to be don e in the American series. I think we can do much better." After watching th e Stad de France ro u nd of th e World Su percross Series, I'm sta rting to w onder if Europe is, in fact, fina lly ca tchi ng on to the sport of su percross. If the y are, thin gs could get interes ting. C:'l LOOKING BAC1t"' 1 30 YEARS AGO... D ECEMBER 26, 1968 ho tos o f th e starting li ne u p a t th e Barstow-toVegas Har e & Hounds and the act ual sta rt of the race at th e Carlsbad International MX were accompanied by a caption tha t assureJ "at least 1100 people go t th eir p icture on the fro n t page of Cycle News!" J.N. Ro berts (Hus) won th e desert race, and Bengt Aberg (H us) won the motocross ... Meanwhile , in Z illa h, Washi n g ton, Norm Kopp (Mai) took th e ove ra ll wi n and the 500cc class win at the Zilla h Run, which drew 414 rid ers... Some 200 rid er s took par t in the Braw ley Ca ttl e Ca ll and M otorcycle Ro ad-E-O mo torcycle run in Brawley, Ca lifornia. A good tim e was appare n tly had by a ll, as th eir were no "in cidents" to speak o f. .. Two ridin g mem be rs of the Southern California Trials Association were inju red in separate crashes while demonstrating their ridi ng "skill" at th e Escalona Elemen ta ry School carnival. One rid er suffered a frac tured leg an d the ot her a fra ctured finger. P 2 0YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 13, 1978 ur cove r photogr aphy showed off bits and snippets of the new 120-hp , 1286cc Kaw asaki KZ1300 that w ou ld be av ail ab le for 1979. Th e machi ne was powered by a behemoth six- cyli nd er eng ine and utilized sha ft drive... Til the Willd carri ed a small news item ab ou t a desert racer na me d Mitch Payt on , who had suffe red para lyzing inju ries abo ut a year earlier, but was ge tting on with his life via the purcha se of a Hu sqva rna sho p called An ah eim Sportcycle Shop in Anaheim, Californi a . Renam ed Anaheim Husqvarna, it was O the fou ndation for an empire. Who knew? .. Tom Webb (Yam) wo n the Dese rt MC 0-37 Enduro af ter Jay Tullis (Ho n) b urned the las t secret check, costing th e Tea m Honda rider a sure win ... We interviewed AMA/NATC Trials Champion Bernie Schreiber, and took a ride on the bike - Bob Hann ah's all-conquering works Yamaha OW39B-810... Hi -Point Pro MX boots we re such the rage tha t few people even paid attention to the name on the boo t below the big "dot." It read: Alpinesta rs. 10 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 7,1988 he cove r photos on ou r "Pearl Ha rbor" issue said it all, Bruce Ogilvie (Ho n) was the ki ng of the 1988 Barstow-to-Vegas. Eric Hallgath (Yam) blistered the course, finish ing fourth overall on a YZl25 ... Italian -mad e GM engines swept the podium at the U.S. Long Track Speedway Champion sh ip at Ascot Park. Sam Ermolenko, Bobby Schwartz and Lan ce King finished 12-3 in the event., We tested the 1989 Honda CR250RK , noting that small improvements equated to a big d ifference over the previous mod el... A two-page featu re told of the new dual-eompound Bridgestone Spitfire bra nd of touring, spo rt-tou ring and sport tires that would be ava ilable for 1989... And finally, Hi-Point Pro MX boots wer e still the rage, as ev ide nced by their inclusio n in our 1988 C'l Chris tmas Gift Guide. T 00 0\ 0\ ,..... 0\ l-< III .c E A young Ricky Johnson prepa res to race In the Castle Rpck (Colorado ) round 01 the AMA 250cc National Championship MX Series In 1982. Johnson lost the title in that last round when the Iront wheel 01 his works Yamaha collapsed, han ding the title to Donnie Hansen . Photo by Mark Kariya. III U III c 51

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