Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

etworks, networks, networks. Seems Hke these days, nobody can get by without being networked somehow. There are TV networks, radio networks, the Net (also known as the World Wide Web, which seems to entrap more and more pe0ple every day). Can't get by without a network. Gooottaaa have a network... So my newfound love is old motocross. Yeah, what Jeremy and the boys are doing today is flat incredible, and no matter how much I agree with Kit Palmer's column about the overabundance of doubles and triples on many of today's local motocross tracks, it is hard to argue against the impact that supercross is having on motocross, and that motocross is having on the rest of the motorcycle world. But it ain't old. I mean, man, where is the romance? Can you tell me? [ don't mean doing what you love and loving what you do. I~s deeper than that. Has motocross lost its soul? I don't know, but I can tell you that if it weren't for Trampas Parker, Ryan Hughes and Mike Brown, [ wouldn't even follow any of the motocross in Cycle News other than to look at the pictures. See, I'm in love with old motocross, romantic motocross, European motocross. Maybe its because I'm over 30 years old now - [ don't know, but this epiphany just happened to hit me one day while [ was sitting at a stopHght on my way to ·work. A sudden wave of nostalgia blew through me like a nuclear shock wave, and I started thinking about motocross. Old motocross. About the time before the factory big rigs and the high-buck clothing contracts. Before "Oh, Billy Bob's not sure if he's going to stay with Yamazuki because he would have to wear Bullpucky Gear, but he's in the second year of a two-year deal with He-Man MotoClothes, and they have a first right of refusal on him, so it looks like he'll end up over at Cowashocky." I read what the "Hurricane" said in his recent magazine interview, and he's right l00-percent right. And DeCoster is still The Man, too. Do you think those guys were in it for the money? How about Brad Lackey? ow there's a guy who lived in a house not much bigger than the siZe of a porta-can in Europe just so he could fulfill his dream of becoming the first American ever to win the N . 500cc World Motocross Championship. Finally, he did, God bless him. Is it just me or was motocross SOOO much better when the Euros were kicking our ass on a regular basis? Didn't it give us something to root for? Hasn't American dominance since cost us the chance to see GPs on a regular basis in the States? 1 can't wait for the U.s. GP at Budds Creek. Can you? Anyway, do motocross the old way is what I decided I was gonna do~ So I did. But first I had to get networked. See, there's the great vintage-racing deity known as AHRMA (715/842-9699), a swell gang to be sure. And in that group are guys like Speed & Spo~ s Matt Hilgenberg (562/490-0012), a guy that you really ought to network with if you want to do the vintage-motocross thing. That was just a Httle bit too early for me, though. Wrestling around a portly Triumph twin with the suspension quality of a rock on a bumpy, dusty track might be some folks' idea of a hoot - at least the romance is there, especially when you smooch the ground and look up only to see tha t big twin coming down, like death from above, to give you a love tap. I wanted to do old motocross on a bike with a little more suspension than that. I didn't see much fun in bashing the bejesus out of my kidneys to the point of blood urination. Besides, I'd already done the vintage thing before, and it was cool, it just wasn't me. So I got networked with Rick Doughty of Vintage Iron (714/694-0066). Besides being a vintage guy, Doughty is way into this Evolution of Motocross deal, which is designed for bikes that don't fit the AHRMA mold. I'm talking about those machines that came afterward, the ones with the longer travel and lighter weight - the ones like I vividly remember seeing Hannah aboard when he caught a rut, flopped around like a wounded duck, gassed it, splattered the ground like a fresh cow pie in a crash that would have killed a mortal, picked it up and won the race anyway. Or the kind that 1 remember seeing Lackey race around in Europe to a second-place finish after he had to pull over while leading by a mile, bend down, spot the problem, kick the hell out of the problem until it wasn't a problem, and continue to the finish after Mikkola went by. Those bikes. It just so happened that Doughty had a few pristine 1981 Maico 490s in his shop, and he was soon going to be heading up to Shane Trittler's Gorman motocross track (805/29«1020). So'[ used the Jedi mind trick on him, convincing him that he needed me to ride one of them, and he agreed. The Gorman track was just about the ultimate facility for old motocross. It reminded me of sOme of the few other tracks in So Cal that I like to race or practice on, such as REM's (619/484-1441) new facility at Glen Helen Raceway or their old place, the venerable Carlsbad Raceway, which is now being handled by CMXR (888/550-MOTO). What was really cool was that this round was being promoted by the Southwest Vintage Racing Group (760/744-8052), a club that heartily embraces both vintage and Evolution motocross racing. One of the nicest guys in the club is John leFevre, who owns Vintage Husqvama (760/744-8052). Anyway, after Rich Smith, to whom Doughty affectionately refers as "pit bitch," showed me that, yes, you can start a Maico with a Bing carburetor by holding in the compression release, "you moron," I headed to the starting gate for my first taste of old motocross - in the EvoLution Novice class, which I was gonna own, baby. Of course, that first taste left me choking in a purple rage when the "factory prepped" Mega dragged its clutch and sucked me into the starting gate like a Hoover upright just before the gate fell and clamped down on my front wheel like a vice. l~s hard to dig in your heels and hold back an Open-class motocross bike with 12 inches of suspension travel when you're 5-foot-6, but my boots left the damn skid marks on the concrete pad to prove that I had tried. So we were off to a great start, but it wasn't long after leaving the starting line that I caught a rhythm and started enjoying the ride. Every once in a while - or so it seemed - 1 would catch a guy, dice with him for a lap or SO and then zap him, heh heh heh. But overall, [just preferred to be caught up in the moment of riding, the race itseli, not the race to the finish. I reveled in the elevation changes, the tabletops, the big downhill jump. It was the most fun I've ever had on a motorcycle. . When the first moto was over, I cruised back to the pits, only to find the guys that [ 30 YEARS AGO... JUNE 24, 1969 20 YEARS AGO... JUNE 20, 1979 red Nix (H-D) was the top man in our fron t-page story on the Laconia 100-mile AMA National Road Race in New Hampshire, but the Southern California Trials Association was the group that styled for the cameras in our cover shot. The club was performing as the warmup act for Evel Knievel during the Cycle News/Carlsbad Motorcycle Circus at Carlsbad Raceway in Southern California... There was a photo feature of the Ace of Clubs High Sierra Tour to Lone Pine, California... Gary Bailey (Gre) swept the competition to win at the CMC Golden State Series round held in conjunction with the Carlsbad Motorcycle Circus at Carlsbad Raceway ... Mike Lane rode a 500cc Suzuki to the win in the AFM 3OO-mile road race at Carlsbad Raceway. In speedway, Rick Woods Uaw) went down in history as the first rider ever to win a Scratch main event at the Orange County Fairgrounds speedway opener. Kenny Brown OAP) won the Handicap main. errit Wolsink graced the cover of this issue #23, the Dutch dentist having taken his fifth (and last) U.s. GP 500cc motocross win at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California. England's Graham Noyce (Hon) finished second overall, and Chuck Sun (Hus) was the top American, finishing third overall. .. Randy Goss (H-D) was the boss at the Middletown, New York, half mile National, scoring his first career Grand National win over Hank Scott (H-D) and Garth Brow (H-D) ... Jack Johnson (Hus) soloed the 403-mile SCORE Baja Internacional course outside Ensenada, Mexico, for the overall win in the event... We interviewed the hot-riding desert duo of Scott Harden and Brent Wallingsford ... We also showed you .the training techniques of top MX'stars such as Team Suzuki's Mark Barnett and Kent Howerton, who made good use of Nautilus weight-lifting equipment... A riding impression of Dick Burleson's factory Husqvama 390WR could be found on page 34. F G was with - Doughty, Smith and fellow editor Kit Palmer, who had corne to Gorman to ride an Evolution bike of his own - applauding my efforts. "Man," [ lamented as I pulled my helmet off, "if I could have gotten a start, I could have run right with those guys." "What do you mean?" Kit said. 'fYou smoked them." IlCom,e again?" "You smoked them," Kit repeated. "You caught the leader about two laps from the end, and left him." "Yeah, well, if tllose factory guys come looking for me, tell them I'm not signing for anything less than six figures." In the second moto, I got a great start, led practically from start to finish, and wound up going I-Ion !;he day. That was okay, but ultimately it was th.e riding that counted the most. For I had done motocross the old way, and enjoyed motorcycles the way that I did when I was a kid, which is why we all end up going back there sooner or later, if only for a moment, and maybe if only to remind some of us how bad it was. But we still go. ['m going to go again. Now I want a whole garage full of old motocross bikes, and I'm not going to stop until I get them. I'm going to name them in such a way that they remind me of the era. My first one, 1979 Suzuki RM400, is now known as "Wolsink" in honor of the Dutch dentist who should have the U.s. GP renamed after him. [ha,:e space in my garage for a 1976 or 1977 Husky big-bore CR model, which will be appropriately named "Lackey I." I want a 1979 Maico 440 that will be called "Shultz." Get it? Anyway, when it comes time to buy a bike, ['ll probably end up calling my newly found pal Clyde Williams, purveyor of the Old Dirtbike Warehouse (619/231-

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