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/127974
TEARDOWN BY PAULC ARRUTHERS n yea rs past , th is colu m n sp ace has been devoted to tellin g yo u jus t how , difficult it was to choose our Rider of the Year. This year I can't do that. When we sa t d own to talk abo ut our fina l no mi nees for our ann ual Rider of the Year award, there were really on ly tw o nam es that came up: Dou g Henry and Matt Hi nes . H enry is an o bv ious cho ice , bu t Hines? In what was just the third season of his young drag-racing career, Hines d id w h at no othe r rid er had d on e before him - not even his team ow ne r, Terry Van ce. Hi nes went out and dominated, winning 10 of 14 races en route to taking th e N H RA Pro St o ck Bik e Champions hip - his second stra ight title. Alon g th e w a y, h e clicked off a 7.24-second run, the best of the season. Pundits will sco ff a t th e m ere thought of a drag racer being considered for our Rider of the Year. "He doesn ' t eve n have to turn, he only goes straight, blah , blah, blah." It isn 't reall y a good argum en t. If yo u thin k it' s easy, go throw yo ur leg over a 280-horsepower mot orcycl e, co ntro l th e th in g off th e launch and then run down the qu artermile drag strip at close to 190 mph. Then co me ba ck a nd tal k to me abo ut how easy it is. The Hi nes story is a good one. Matt ' s father, Byron , is a legend ary eng ine bu il der a n d th e m a n behind Vance's lon g list of racin g acco m p lish me nts. It used to be the Van ce & Hin es d uo w ho went out and d ominat ed NH RA d rag ra cin g; n o w it' s H in es & H ines, th e fa ther /son team tra ve li ng across th e cou ntry a nd re tu rni ng almos t eac h and every time to their Colorado home with a victory. It' s un fair to judge Hines negatively just because he's a drag racer . Think of it this way: Hines exposes more people to professio nal m ot orcycl e raci ng than probab ly any othe r motor cycle racer in the country. This is a good thing. If the hot -rod freaks a t the drags su ddenly take an interest in what Hi nes is doi ng (and they have ), perhaps you'll later see them at the motocross or road race or d irt track. The bo ttom line is simple: This Hines kid d id a hell of a job, so d on 't be surprised to see him mentioned here again I if he goes ou t and wi ns his third stra ight title in 1999. Of course, ther e were others who factored into the Rider of the Year search. Mick Doohan was again on top of the world in 1998, win ning his fifth 500cc Wor ld Championship in what is still the pinnacle of mot orcycl e racin g. He had hi s s tro nges t cha llenge in years from teammate Alex Cr iville and the pe rsistent Ma x Biaggi - but it d id n't matter . Wh en pu sh ca me to s hove, w hen th e two-minute wa rning be gan , Dooha n was the master, and he left th e othe rs beh ind. He'll be back for titl e number six in 1999, and anyo ne who bets aga inst him ge tting it is an id iot. Each a nd ever y ye ar, Dooh an ge ts cons idere d for our Rid er of th e Year, and la st year h e captured th e honor. Another w ho is a lways co nsidere d is Jerem y McGrath . Th e m an w h o put su p ercross on th e ma p wen t ou t an d won the se ries in 1998 a fter many had started to cou nt him out. If he'd stayed h ealthy e no ugh t o fini sh the 250cc Nation al Motocross Series and wo n that title, he wo uld have been a shoo-in for Rider of the Year. Unfortu na tely, he su ffered an inju red wrist tha t kn ocked him out of the series and u ltima tely ou t of our minds by the end of the yea r. Come January, th ere is little d ou b t th at th e McG rat h nam e w ill soar to the fron t aga in as th e Supercross series ge ts und er way in Anaheim. The n the re's Ricky Ca rmicha el. He also could have earned this aw ard. After all, he won everything he was su pposed to - th e 125cc Eas tern Supercross titl e an d the AMA 125cc Na tional Motocross Cha m pio nship . But wh a t hu r t Carmichael the most on ou r ba llo ts is the fact that every one worries abou t the fu ture : We actually thi nk to ourse lves , "This kid could be Rid er of the Year for the next five years; perhaps we'd better , hold off a year." 11 may not be fai r to judge him now on what we expect him to do in the fu tu re, bu t we do. Trust me, he 'll ge t his fair sha re of these awa rd s. Soon. Ben Bostrom went out and wo n the AMA Superb ik e N ationa l Cham pionship in 1998, besting Doug Chandler in a bat tle that went to the wi re. When 1 w ent to in terview Bostrom recen tly, he pulled out an envelope filled with old . ph otographs. Am ong them was an au togra phed photo to a you ng Ben - fro m a then-dirt-tr acking Doug Chand ler. Thi s ki d is not fa r remo ved fr om ha v in g p osters o f C h a n d le r on hi s b edroom wa ll, yet he was ab le to mu ster u p the ta le n t to run with Cha ndler a nd ultimately beat him for the title - while still bein g so mewhat in awe of his rival. Tw o thi ngs th at w ent a ga i ns t Bostrom in 1998 were his brother Eric and Nic ky Ha yd en . Thos e two stormed onto the scene so qu ickly that it made Ben seem like a veteran - and he wasn' t. Bostr om w on the su p erbi ke crown in 1998 - just thr ee years after his first road race. And just two years after his su perb ik e raci ng d ebut. Maybe ne xt ye a r. We'll see. Sco tt Pa rke r is so good tha t he no longer seems that good. This is a man who ea rn e d hi s n inth AMA Grand N a tiona l Championship in 1998 - his fifth in a row. He is a walking record boo k. His fifth straight title eclipses the four-in-a-row record that he shared w ith Carroll Resweber; his 91 Grand National victory tally has more than doubled Jay Sp rings teen 's total of 41. (Re me m be r how gre a t Spri nger was a nd .JlOw w e thought his records would never be broken ?) We kn ow how grea t Scott Parker is and we kno w his records won't ever be broken. (Call me at Leisure World in 20 years if I' m wro ng.) , There were also a few ot hers . Tho se w ho always keep their feet on the pegs w ill also be happy to kno w tha t World Trials Champion Dou g Lampkin was on our list. Ditto for factory Suz uki off-road rid er Rodney Smith, who was also considered and who cou ld have becom e the second off- road rid er to ever w in th e award . (Ty Davis ea rned Rid er of th e Year hon ors in 1995.) But let's talk abo ut Doug Hen ry . First, let me take care of the naysay-. ers , We've see n the lett ers, we've hea rd the com ments: Henry rod e a YZ400 in the 250cc class and that's not fair. I don' t want to hear that cra p. While the YZ400 may have helped ca r r y H enry to t he 250cc Na tio nal Champio nship, it w as Henry who carried the YZ400 to the successes it has earn ed in the 250cc Supercross Series. I . remember seeing him ride to victory in th e Los Angeles Su percross la st ye ar. Well , it w ou ld ha ve been a victor perh aps he wasn't on the YZ400. 1 re him leading the race, only to cras h bike and st ruggle to ge t it started. ยท P hap s bein g on a YZ25 0 woul d h a allowed him to still win tha t race. have to rem emb er these thin gs., I thi riding the 400 in the ou tdoo rs ma y h Henry at tim es; 1 think riding it in t su perc ross .races hurts him mor e oft than not. Let's call it a wash and not the em phasis for Hen ry's success on so mew hat controversial four-stroke. bike is fast becau se Dou g Henry rna it fast. Also, remember th at he 's be down this path b ef ore and ha s w Nati onal C h a m pi on s h ips - and th didn't come on a 400cc four- stroke. Le t's a ls o rem emb er that it Henry who was riding the YZ400 in infancy back in 1997. Remember whe w as unreliabl e? Rememb er when won the Las Vegas SX on it? Remem when he cras hed it and broke both I arms? And breaking both arm s isn't t on ly adv ersity th at Henry ha s co ba ck from. If you recall seeing him over Jerem y McGrath's head at Bud Creek in 1995, you' ll also recall that accident left him with a badly brok back and a shattered future. But He came back and somehow willed hims int o the compe titive shape necessary ea rn ano the r National Championsh Nobody laid down and let him win a thing. What more do you want? Ok ay, how about this? A man can jud ged by more than just h is acco plishments. Want more insight in to ch ara cter? Henry' s bod y isn't pier e a n d it is n' t tattooed . He a p pa ren doesn't need to lift his shirt to read I nam e in so me go thic script. He' s a fa ly man who travels on the roa d with I motorhome, his w ife a nd his chi ld r always by his side . I d on 't kn ow if thi en tirely fair, bu t someone in the kill recently told me that Doug Henry is t la s t tru e rol e m od el in the spor t motocross. That shou ld give you a cl as to how highl y he is regarded by peers . . _ Dou g Hen ry isn't bett er than anyo else, but he's no rmal. And in the wo o f motocross raci ng today, that rna h im d iffer en t. And it m ak es h im 0 Cycle News Rider of the Year. LOOKING BACK... 30 YEARS AGO... JANUA Y13, 1969 R 20 YEARS AGO... JANUARY10, 1979 10 Y EARSAGO... JAN AR U Y4,1989 hough it only boasted 48 p a g es, ou r " Vacation Issu e" offered readers a couple of int er es ting fea tures , th e m ost no tab le of w hich h a d to be o u r in terview wi th Hell's Ang e ls pres id ent Sonny Barger after he atte nd ed a Californ ia Assembly Committee a nd a r tic u la tel y v o ice d hi s opposition to m and a tory helmet laws. Legislators late r sai d tha t it wa s beca use of Barger that pro-helmet legisl at ion was a ve r ted ... Mike Patrick (Yam) too k adva ntage of a a p ullou t by J.N . Roberts to win the Pro sp ectors Motorcycle clu b event at the El Mirage Dry Lake... We showed you the art of former mo torcycle racer Billy Bengston... We also featured a little art of our own by wa y of our Action A lbllm , w hic h fea t u re d se veral arti stic photograp hs of motorcycl e racers in action. h is "Ye a r En d Wrap-Up" fea tured som e n ic e co lo r p hoto s o f m ot o r cy cl e s u pe r s ta rs Bob Han nah , Kenny Robert s, .Brad Lacke y and Jay Springsteen doi ng their thi n g. W e' a ls o fea tured r e v ie w s o f a ll four se ries in sid e as well ... In an ar ticle en titl ed "The SoCal MX m ut in y ," h ard que stions we r e brou ght b efo r e C Me's S tu Peters a n d Sa d d leback Park's Vic Wilson regard ing th e escalating cos ts of motocro ss racing in ,Sou thern Califo rn ia ... We broke th e news of th e filming of On AllY Sundai] II , p rocla im in g it to be "the greatest seque l to the grea tes t mot or cycle d ocumen tary." Som eth ing m us t have been lost in the mix. ur final issue of t h e y e a r o n ce ag a in s pi lled ov e r i n to the n e w ye a r , a n d our g ia n t 1989 Buye r's Gu ide w a s th e bi g n ew s . In s ide , y o u could fi n d photo s and specs of the a ll the new mod e ls, maki ng it wort hwhil e to keep this issu e around for use as a hand y-d and y referen ce g u id e ('Course, you keep 'em a ll , d on 't yo u?) .. . We also brought yo u in terv iews wi th MX d es N ations w in Ron Lechien as well as retirin g Eu ro motocrosser Hak Carlqvist... We tested the '89 Yam aha FZR1000, claimi that it "hits the mark," and the new Kawasaki KDX2C recogni zin g its capabilities as a serious enduro con ten and a fun pla ybike. T A B ,~ ~ 112 T O