Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• Final Mota BYCHRIS JONNUM ,o ne of th e bes t perk s of rela ti onships is the op po rtunity they provide to stop thin king about oneself and to learn about someo ne else, parti cul a rl y if th e pai rin g is in te rc u lt ura l. When my Italian fiancee an d I decid ed to marry, I immediately scheduled a trip to her sma ll hom etow n. We've kn own each other for years, bu t th ere' s something intangible I'm acqu iring by wa lking the route of her bicycle ride to grade schoo l, laugh ing wit h her friends at an outdoor disco, eating pasta at her mother's table. Standing in fron t of Gazzaniga's h u mble-but-o rderly ospeda/e last week, it hit home (50 to speak): So this is where Viviana was born! Of co urse, fro m her poin t of view, such interest can be viewed as nosiness, and after a full- fledged d ose o f Latin w rath, it was crystal-clear that a bit 'o f mu tual privacy was in order. I opted for a br ief so lo train trip to Bolog na (tha t th e ci ty was where my future bride earned her humanities d iploma was, of course, mere coincide nce). As has by now become evide nt to the reader, mushiness joins egocentrism and nosiness on my list of personal faults, but eve n I have my limits: After a day and and a half of gaz ing u pon Michela ngelo scu lp tures and an cient campuses, I fel t tha t any fur th er ba ckgro u nd research on my partn er cou ld wait. It was then that my eye fell on a previously unnot iced en try nea r th e bottom of the Bologna city highlight gui de: Ducati Museum - the kind of culture for w hich I'm always in the mood . "We opene d thi s pl ace because we , felt there was something missing in our relation sh ip with our cus tome rs," said Livio, our bilin gu al gui de . "The mu seum is a way for fans of Ducati motorcy- cles to feel a deeper connection with the company." So m eh ow , this "getti ng to k now" concep t seemed familiar to me. ''It was then tha t my eye fell on a previously unnoticed entry near . the bottom of the Bologna city highlight guide: Ducati Museum the kind of culture for which I'm always in the mood." On display are the typewriters, electr ic s havers a nd ca meras t he Ducati br other s go t their s tart manu facturin g back in 1926. Their breakt hrou gh, howeve r, came 20 years later wi th the Cuccio/a (" Pu p py" in English) m otori zed bicycle, an d the mu seum's focus is on , th at an d other subseque nt contraptions o f th e two-wheel ed varie ty - raci ng motorcycles in particular. Six "spoke" rooms arranged arou nd a circular cen tral hub show everything fro m th e ' 50s-e ra Ma r ian na sing lecylin der r ace r to Ca rl Fogarty 's '98 World Superbike Cham pions hip-w inning fou r-valver, In between are Mike Ha ilwood's tw in, Ed i Orioli ' s ParisDakar-winnin g off-rea der and Mar co "Lucky" Lu cch i-nelli' s belt-engined TT 2. W it h th e exce p tio nof a goo d washing, th e bikes ar e all in iden tica l condition to w hen they were rolled off the race course. Orioli's road book is still r oll ed to t he e n t ry The Beach Bravo! Also d ispl a y ed a re vi ntage black-and-white p hotos a nd footage,' engine bluepr ints, pos ters, Ducati literature, raci ng paraphernalia, and even the d rafting table of legendary Desmo engineer Tag lioni . Visits to the Italian motorcycle manufacturer's museum are normally preceded by a correspondi ng tour of the factory, and mine was led by Simonetta, who s tarted the job severa l yea rs ago while still a st uden t at Bologna 's u niversity (the oldest in the world). Outgoing and pe rky, she spends a good portion of he r time fielding salutations from enamored mechanics and looking at pho tos of female lineworkers' grand children. (As with m a ny fac tories, a large percentage of Ducat i's workers are women; the only difference here in Italy is that the lady insta lling left-rear tu rn s ignals looks like a runway model .) Amo ng my tour com pa nions were a you ng It ali a n ma n nam ed Alessandro, w ho dragged his pare nts along and w ho see med ben t on es tablishing a pe rsona l friends hip wit h each , and every Du cati emp loyee; and a Troy Lee T-shirt-w ea ring, ro adburn-scarsporting, all-th ings-Italia n-lov ing Belgia n named Step hane, wh o had d riven wi th his girlf rie nd a ll the way fro m No rthe rn Europe in his Alpha Rom eo. (Tourist nam es have been cha nged to protect the innocent - and becau se I forgot to ask.) I've seen severa l m a nu facturing pl ants as a journali st , and Du cati 's is fairly typical : assembly lines, automated machining tools, huge crates of brandnew forklegs and fende rs, etc. This visit, howeve r , was made as a n average motorcycle aficionado, and as such, I appreciated Duca ti liter ally letting th e p ublic in on thei r ma nufactu r ing process. Any ini tia l worries of my tou r is t guise lacking in coolness we re quickly assuaged by the spectacle of a Euro pean journalist picking up a test bike: As the curious onlookers crowded eagerly around , snapping photos, raising eye brows and elbowing each other in the ribs, the stone-faced scribe coolly pulled on his helmet and gloves - only to execu te a forklift-avo iding swerve /stall upon his grand exit. I say the Ducati plant is typical, but I must admit that I did note an ab normal level of cama raderie among the employees. Back slapping, belly laughing, and Popsi cle munching all seemed far more prevalent than at any of the other companies I've seen. At first the friend ly atmosphere impressed me, but then Simonetta explai ned that it was the las t day of work before the plant shut d own for the an nual August va ca tion. Such things have a way of brightening up a work atmosp here. All told, we tourers came away satisfied, even if Alessandro wasn't allowed to ta ke ph ot os in th e factory, a n d Stepha ne was d enied a sou venir rocker arm. I could empa thize wi th their pu shiness , especi ally whe n Step ha ne exclaimed, "So this is the section wh ere the m o tor for m y 900 Mo nster was buil t!" The author hereby begs to be spared any Latin wrath for comparing his fiancee to a motorcycle. eN Looking Back 30 YEARS AGO... AUGUST 26,1969 i ck Mann (BSA) was d efinitel y th e m an in the mo nth of August, as he rebounded from his seaso n of bad luck to claim backto-b ack wins at the San ta Fe Short Track a nd Peo ria TT Nationals. The wins d id little to change the series po ints pictu re, excep t th at G e n e Ro m ero (Tr i) m ov ed up to th ird in th e points race, and Mann m oved up to six th .. . Gary Bailey (Gre) discovered a new Sen iors cla ss foe in Jim West (Yam) at the Bay Mare motocross. After torrid battles with West, the man who wo uld later be known as "Th e Professor of Motocross" claimed the class victory... Evel KnieveI was gea ring up to jum p his American Eagle over 16 cars at the Evergreen Motor Speed way in Sea ttle, Was hing ton ... Jerry Wilmon (Mail came from the back of the pack afte r getting cruddy starts to catch and pass Robert Pa xton for bo th mo to wins a t th e Dead man's Point MX in App le Valley: California . D N e w York , ro u nd of th e AMA 125cc Nati onal Cha mpionship MX Series. At the same race, Mike Bell (Yam) needed only to be consistent, with 4-3 scores, to claim the 500cc class overall win... Dan Mahony's Greatest Hits was a tw o -p ag e spread of dirt tr ack ph ot os from days past.. From the looks of some of them, it would be easy to believe that some of those race tracks were in wo rse shape than they are today. 10 YEARS AGO... A UGUST 16,1989 ou g Chan d ler ~ Ka w) becam e only the fou rth n der In AMA history to comp lete a'gra nd slam - ea rning a vic tory in mile, half-mile, TT and D short-track di rt eve nts, and a National road race - when he wo n the Mid-Oh io AMA Su perbike event... Scott Parker (H-D) blitzed the field to win the Al b uq uerq ue, New Mexico, Grand Na tional Mile. Chris Carr (H- D) was second, a nd Steve Morehead (Ho n) was thi rd ... Dan' Smith won the 85-mile d ash to the checkered flag in the Wells-to-Jackp ot Na tiona l Har e & Hou nd race. The event was . roun d four in the AMA Na tional Championship Hare & Houn d Series... Belgian Stephane Mertens (Hon) and Italian Giancarlo Falappa (Bim) took a win a piece in the two legs of World Superbike racing held at Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Cas tellat, France... Honda released ph otos and details of its 1990 Ho nda CR motocrossers. The com pany favo red revision over revoluti on with regard to the '90 models, althoug h their whi te chassis and all-red plastic and sea t gave them a sharp, factory look. eN 2 0YEARS AGO... AUGUST22, 1979 he Latest Poop brought word that th e AMA had elec ted to continue its present formula for dirt track racing equipment, and that meant having no carburetor restric tors for the Experts. Juniors, however" would have to race with 27mm restrictors in their carbu reto rs, and their license classification would have to remai n the same for the entire year in which they began wi th it. In other words, a Junior could not tum Expe rt u ntil the follow ing season, even if he had enough advancement poin ts... Mark Barnett (Suz) charged to 3I moto placings for the overall win at the Binghamton, T Former Team Honda factory teammates Jeff Haney (28) and Freddie Spence r (19) do battle at the Ascot Half Mile, circa 1982. 75

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