Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

RIDERS MEETING BYD SPANGLER ALE t' s a mazi ng to me how the seasons go b y so q uic k ly . Ju s t y es te rday, i t see med like Jerem y M cGrath h ad clinc he d th e AMA Supercross title and the o u tdoo r season was set to begin . Now the ou tdoor season has come and go ne, C h ristmas is around th e co rner and the 1999 Supercross Season is only a short time away . • With the motocross silly seaso n now over, as well as the off-season European Supercross races, the qu estion comes to m ind : Who w ill be th e man to be a t in 1999? Th ere' s no arg uing th a t the 1998 season was an exciti ng yea r for both supercross and motocross. With Jerem y McGra th m akin g his way back to th e top of th e supercross pod ium and the ins p iring AMA 250cc Na tiona l Championship won by everyone 's hero, Doug He nry, racin g as a who le was exciti ng. Ahd , o h yes, let's no t forg et about Ricky Ca rm ichael: two fu ll seasons and two AMA USee Na tiona l Championsh ips an d an East ern Re gional Supe rcros s title. What a year 1998 was. So w ho will be the rid er to beat come the o pe ni ng AMA Su per cro ss ro u nd in Anah e im o n Januar y 9? Th e list of , potential wi nners is mind-boggling, and 1999 cou ld pro ve to be the best yea r to date . Bes id e s the rid ers an d teams , su pe rcross as a w hole has a lo t going for it at the mom ent. With the first round of the series sc hed uled just next mon th, let's take a look at w ha t's in store for the 1999 AMA Supercross Season and its racers. If yo u look a t the off-season Europea n races, Team Suzuki is looki ng very good at th e mom en t. La rry Ward , of cou rse, is a lw avs the m a n to beat in European supercross, and this yea r was no differ ent. He added th e King of Bercy title to his large list of Europ ean su percro ss wins, as well as a third stra ig h t Fastcross win this year . Ward is always a threat for the title . Greg Albertyn h~s another year remaining on his con tract, I and he will again be competing aboa rd his familiar factory Suz u ki. How abo ut Robbi e Rey nard : thoug h? The new ly sig ned fa ct ory Suz uki pil ot ju st wrapped up the World Supercro ss title and was the dom in ant rid er in the series - w innin g four out of th e s ix m a in events. If I had to pick one rid er who is carrying the most momentum at the moment, it 'Y0u ld have to be Reynard . Either w a y, Team Su zuki is lo okin g good . Of course, McGrath can never b e counted out. His European off-season wa s a lit tle up-a nd-down, bu t when the Ana hei m ev ent ro lls arou nd, you can rest assured he will be rea dy for ba ttle. He will be back a board his ' now-familiar C hapa rra l Ya ma ha , with fo rmer Honda tea mmat e Steve Lam so n no w on boa rd . With jeremy's supe rcrosson ly d eal , you ca n be sure he w ill be going a ll out in 1999, w hile La m son wou ld like to pu t h is last few yea rs ' behind him w ith a fresh start on a new tearn . Look for Team Honda to be back with a ven geance in 1999. Ezra Lusk will return for a se cond year on his CR250 a n d ca n nev er be co u n te d ou t fo r a main -ev ent win. The surprise, how ever , is the signing of new teammates Kevin Wind ha m, Sebas tien Tortelli and Mickael Pichon . Th ere is no sho rtage of talent here, and it seems like H ond a ha s pulled ou t all th e stops for next yea r in an a llo ut effo rt to regain th e su percross titl e they h a ve lost in th e las t few yea rs . Betw een the four of these rid ers, there is the po tential for a lot of red on the pod ium in 1999. In the Kawasaki cam p, naturall y, Jeff Emig will be back, as will Dam on Huffm an . Both w ere pl agued with injury problems this year, but yo u can 't cou nt either of them ou t. Emig rebounded in t hi s year's outdoor sea son with th e sp eed that took him to both the 1997 Supercross a nd Na t ional MX titl e s . Huffman r e tu rn e d to action , most rece ntl y wi n n ing the ina ug u ra l Ll.S, Open of Supercross, and he is still one of the smoothest riders on the track at an y give n moment. Th e big news at Kawasaki , t ho ug h, h as to be hotsh ot Carmicha el. Carmichael is slated to race th e fir st few ro u nds of th e 1999 250cc Supercross Series, and if his tra ck record to date is anv indication, look out, vet er ans, because there could be a new kid on the block. Th e Yamaha camp Seems to be the team tha t suffe red the most in regard to its prospects for the 1999 season. He nry su rprised everyone by saying he will rac e only in selected su pe rcross and o utdoo r r aces in 1999, an d Win d ha m jumped ship to Hond a in a move that is still being d isp uted in cour t. Jo hn Dowd w ill be back, a nd if anyone d eserv es to be th ere, it ' s th e 1998 Weste rn Region 125cc Supercross Champion. Wh ether o r not it will be in the 250cc class, where he be longs , rema ins to be seen. A new addition to Yamaha is former Chaparra l rid er Jim m y Butto n . After the n e w s re garding Henry, Yama ha w a s s e n t sc ra m bli ng for a ride r for th e YZ400 fou r-stroke . In a sh owdown with M ike Brown for the rid e, Bu tt on was given the job . Th e trend of European rid er s racin g in th e ser ies seem s to be g a in ing m om entum as we ll, w i t h Se bas tie n To rtelli join ing th e serie s full time in 1999 an d ho ts hot David Vu ill em in retu rn ing in a pa rt- ti me ro le. The bi g news, however, is the possibility of tw oti me 125cc Worl d Champion Alessio C hio d i co mi ng o v er to ra ce a few ro u nds of th e USee West ern Regi on al series. Th e popular Ita lian Husqvarna factory rid er ha s always wanted to race in America n Supercross and may ve ry w ell be th e rid er to sta rt an Italian assault on Ll.S. Supercross racin g - m uch as the Fren ch have done in the past few ye ars. With all thi s talent , it becomes m ind-boggling to think about who will be th e man to win in Anaheim. Did I sa y Anaheim? Th at' s ri ght, 1999 will See the o p e n in g round returning to Southern California, and the riders and teams seem excited abou t it. o t only will the raci ng be exci t in g fro m the point of view of th e riders, but supercross in 1999 will be special for a lot of reasons. One of th ose reasons is tha t this is the 25th ann iversary of Supercross racing . Judging from th e acce pta nce of the 1998 series, this could be th e start of the ex posure the spo r t has always deserved . This past Season saw the first major televisio n appearance of su percross racing o n ABC, a nd the ra ti ngs we re good enough to provide th e possibility of tw o even ts bein g te lev ise d on the net w ork in 1999. This cou ld truly be the year of supercross - and w ha t better timi ng tha n on the 25th anniversary of its origin? Series sponsorship is a lso up, and Toyota Trucks will be returnin g as th e h eadline s p o nso r, a lo ng w it h Part s Unlimited . Combin in g its effo rts with th ose of the AMA, PACE Mot or Sports ha s done a grea t job of taking supercro ss to th e ne xt le vel , a n d with th e way things are go ing, the sky is ihe lim it. So w ha t d oes this a ll mea n? Simple: Thi s w ill be th e most exci ti ng yea r to d a te in A MA Su percross ra ci ng, a nd co me [anuary 9, rai n or shi ne , all th e gossi p will be over . Th e tea m rost ers will be se t and the series spo nsors will be lined up. Th e gate " ill d rop a t Anaheim for th e start of the 25th season of supercross racing, and I know I wi ll be anxious to see who hits the first turn in the lead - as will all those in a stadium packed full of cra zed su percross racing fans. So w het her yo u' ve got the best sea t in the house or you 're sit ti ng at you r computer , st ayed tuned . Supercross '99 . l~ is just around the corner. LOOKING BACK... I 30 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 26, 1968 20 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 20, 1978 10YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 14, 1988 ensman M anu el Burton picked up n ot h er $ 10 as a ep e a t w inn er o f .h e Cycle News ph oto co n te s t. his time, Bu rton aptured a slidi ng t e ve Sturgill , ho w as Yamaa-m ounted .. . h e Inle r-Am olo cro s s eri e s was vi nding to a lose, and t he ina l round at addl e b a ck ar k dre w a ealthy crowd f 22,000 fans. A dolf Wei! . Mail was th e man to be at in both th e 250cc and OOcc cla sses; the German rode to an incred ible sweep. ut p er haps eve n more interesting w as th e fact th at eve ra l top names from othe r facets of th e sport were n hand to co m pete. Di rt tr ack a nd ro ad race g uys uch as Jo h n H at el y, D ick Man n and D ave Al d ana ere suited up and tr yin g th eir darned est to u p hol d meri can hon or agains t th e Europea ns . Factory Mon esa rid er Ron Nelson was th e top-placin g American th e 500cc ranks, how ever, finishing fourth. u r " M e rr y Christmas " is s u e featured a cute litt le sna psho t of factory Yam ah a motocrosser Mike Bell parked on 01' St. N ick ' s lap w ith a long Chri stma s list. We ca n onl y guess that Bell w as asking for a National title or two... G oa t Brek er (CCM ) didn't have much practice tim e o n h is m ot or c ycl e w he n he went to th e CMC FourStro ke N a ti onals a nd blew a way th e P ro class. Tim Lu n de (Suz) was second , and Marty M oates (Hon), w ho w as d estin ed to have a real good d ay a t Carls ba d in th e su mmer of 1980, finished third... Bernie Schre ib er (Bu l) won the ATA's ninth an nual EI Trial d e Espana a t Sad dlebac k Park... Jim Tara ntino (Su z) was also makin g ne ws at the Saddleback MX, as the loca l pro waxed 'em in the 250cc Pro ranks during the CRC-sa nctio ned event. lo r id a was a pparently the p lace to be in the winter, a s th e F l o ri da Win t er Ol ymp i c s m ot o cross even I. drew so me 24 00 entrants from 37 s ta te s . Rid ers such as Greg Rand , Bu tc h Sm i th , Robbie Re y nard and Kevin W indham Were dicing it out for a ma te u r- and m in i- cl a s s s u premacy .. . Kevi n Schwantz (Suz) d est royed th e compet itio n en ro u te to vic tory at th e Macau 500cc Grand Prix... Damon Bra ds h aw (Ya m) pulled off a shoc k victory at the O saka , Japan, su pe rcross, and Jeff Ward (Kaw) w on in Tokyo seven 'd ays later... Honda took ou t a nice four-color wi n ad, celebrating the Barstow-to-Vegas victory of team ride r Bru ce Ogilvie... Approxima te ly 300 d ua l-s port rid er s assem b led a nd pl otted thei r co u rses durin g th e fift h annual Los Angeles-Barstow -to-Vegas d ua l-sport ride . It wasn' t a competitive eve nt, but if it had bee n, you can bet tha t Cycle News wes te rn a dvertising m anager Mar k Thome would have won it. l~ O F 00 0\ 0\ ,..... --D ,..... l-t Q.l . ,.n E Q.l U Q.l a 59

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