Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO JANUARY 27, 1970 Tim Hart was featured on the cover of Cycle News 30 years ago. The photo was taken during a local CMC motocross race in Fontana, California. Mechanical problems denied him wins in two of the Expert classes run that day, but he did manage to keep his Montesa running long enough to win the Open Senior class... Sacramento International Raceway unveiled plans for the most complete motorsport complex in Northern California, and a spokesman said that motorcycling would playa large part in the overall use of the facility ... Cycle News featured a report of Cycle-Rama '70, held in Chicago. Accompanying the story was a photo of a brand-new Hodaka Super Rat with a beautiful model standing behind it, which prompted us to ask, "Why should such a pretty girl have to pose with a bike with such an ugly name?"... The Castaic Saddle Club was challenged by the Viewfinder Motorcycle Club in an all-day event that pitted horse and rider against bike and rider. The seven competitive classes were taken straight from the rule book of the American Horse Show Association. The horses won. 20 YEARS AGO JANUARY 23, 1980 A classic Charles Morey photo of Mike "Too TaU" BeD graced the cover of Cycle News 20 years ago. CN editor Dale Brown interviewed the factory Yamaha MXer after Too Tall finished the 1979 season in the top three in Supercross and the 250 and 500cc National MX Series... We reported in "The Latest Poop" that both Lany RoeseJer and Jack Johnson had left Husqvama to join the new professional Yamaha off-road team; Kawasaki signed Eddie Lawson to ride their machines in Superbike Production races; and that Scot Harden had won the Moapa-toVegas Hare and Hound... We tested the allnew Kawasaki KDX 175 and predicted 1980 could be the year that green grabs the gold at many enduro and hare scrambles events... Rick Johnson, Lany Wosic:k and Rex Staten won the CMC Golden State Series classes at Lake Madera (Califomia). 10 YEARSASO JANUARY 17, 1990 The Florida Winter AMA MX Series at Gatorback captured the cover 10 years ago. Damon Bradshaw was the star rider that day... Some of the things making news that week included Cycle News contributor Alan Cathcart becoming the fIrst motorcycle writer to be awarded the Pierre Dreyfus Award; an excise tax. ranging from 1 to 2.5 percent, on off-road vehicles, recreational vehicles, pleasure boats and camping equipment being proposed by the Bush administration; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco once again. opting to back the l8-event Camel Supercross Series; MXer Erik Kehoe changing teams from Suzuki to Honda; Kenny Roberts announcing there would be a Roberts-owned AMA 250cc GP team; and Senator Alan Cranston, author of the California Desert Protection Act (SII), canceling plans to get married, citing he didn't want his wife-to-be to get caught up in the swiri of criticism being thrown his way... We race-tested the new KTM 250E/XC at the Tecate 250K Enduro in Mexico and reported that it was one of th best out-of-the-crate off-road bikes we had ever ridden. l:N I recently read a news item that at the same time both puzzled me and left me with a great deal of optimism. The news item was about a new book, "We Americans: Celebrating a Nation, Its People, and Its Past," being published by National Geographic. The book deals with a massive survey conducted by National Geographic on a dizzying variety of subjects in order to give readers a glimpse of where Americans are at the tum of the century, and where we might be heading in the future. The item that caught my eye was one of the factoids, which stated: "89 percent of Americans have never been to an auto or motorcycle race." Could this possibly be true? I was more than a little skeptical about this statement until my wife smugly pointed out to me that the sport that consistently garners the highest television ratings is figure skating. Thanks a lot, Tanya and Nancyl Those of us who prefer fast motors and have great admiration for those who have the talent to harness that power are apparently in the great minority. Thinking positively, I say 89 percent of Americans don't know what the hell they're missing, and many of them will eventually discover what a great sport motorcycle racing is. When that occurs, there will be a large growth spurt. I'd like to see that happen in our lifetime. The time is ripe for growth. Many things are in place: The economy is good; motorcycle sales are the best in nearly 20 years; money from corporate America is coming into the sport; and the explosion of Internet media and television coverage is making the sport more accessible to fans. While, overall, things have never looked better, there are some troubling . undercurrents that could slow the growth of the sport - namely the nonproductive feuding between PACE, the largest motorcycle-racing promotional company, and the AMA. The relationship has often been a bit shaky between the two entities. Most of the contention boils down to one thing money. Big surprise, huh? PACE does not like the idea of AMA Pro Racing being a for-profit company and having the marketing and television rights to its racing series (something that PACE controls in Supercross). PACE feels AMA Pro Racing should stick to sanctioning races and leave the marketing and television rights to promoters. After all, it is the promoters who take the financial risks and should be the ones rewarded if promotions are successful. And now that AMA Pro Racing has found significant success marketing the series to companies such as Chevrolet, PACE believes that the promoters have the right to a major portion of that sponsorship money, since it's the promoters who en opportunity. If PACE were to put these resources into promoting the top road-racing series, the sport would likely grow in a substantial way. As it stands now, PACE is bound to spin its wheels promoting a second-tier series, while at the same time the AMA will miss a chance to see real growth in a series that has declined in recent years despite growth in the industry as a whole. PACE claims to be open to making its races AMA Superbike events, and the AMA also claims it is open to having PACE promote AMA Superbike events. Yet there seems to be no active communication between the two bodies on this subject. There are two likely scenarios that could play out - and both of them are bad. 1. PACE goes ahead with, racing its series and spends millions. It is successful and we have a CART/IRL-Iike situation, with two competing professional racing series. Depending on the degree of PACE's success, the very future of AMA Superbike could be in jeopardy. This is a very ugly prospect indeed. 2. PACE spends its millions and makes little progress in road racing. SFX stockholders tire of losses and PACE pulls out after a few years. This would also be a terrible blow to the future of road racing, since the country's best promotional company would no longer be involved in the sport of road racing. There is a win-win scenario, however: PACE and the AMA actually sit down, with independent mediators if necessary, and work out an agreement to have PACE promote AMA Superbike events. This would be good for all parties. PACE could actually be profitable in its first year of promoting AMA Superbike races, and the AMA would see growth in Superbike and additional value to its sponsors. This would be good for the racers, since PACE would certainly up the purses, as it has in Supercross. This would be good for the manufacturers, since their products would gain valuable exposure in new markets. And last but not least, this would be very good for us, America's fans of motorcycle road racing. More people in different regions of the country would get to see Mladin, DuHamel, Chandler and the rest of the gang do what they do best. There is also little doubt that PACE would bring in new fans to the sport. Have you checked out the average attendance at a Supercross lately? This is a very exciting prospect for the future of Superbike racing that we shouldn't let pass us by. After all, 89 percent of Americans are out there just waiting to discover one of the most exciting sports in the world. Please, AMAI Please, PACEI Make it happen nowl CN have to make room for signage space and other properties they normally sell to take care of the AMA's sponsor. In addition, if an AMA National comes in with a national sponsor, the promoter theoretically loses some ability to sell sponsorships of its own. For example, a promoter may want to sell sponsorship to Dodge, but could be hampered because of the conflict that would take place with the AMA's Chevy Truck sponsorship. These conflicts can be a real problem. A few years ago, MBNA (at the time the AMA Superbike Series title sponsor) was prevented from setting up its booths at Mid-Ohio because of that facility's exclusive agreement with Huntington National Bank. Conversely, AMA Pro Racing feels it is better that sponsorship and television rights be handled internally. This model is much like that of NASCAR. This is logical, if you think about it. It's easier for a television company or sponsor to deal with one entity rather than a conglomeration of promoters. Sharing of these sponsorship moneys becomes very complicated. In order to retain sponsors, the AMA has to spend a ton of money in supporting that sponsor. This entails hiring additional personnel to oversee rider appearances and other sponsorship demands. Equipment is needed to transport these oftenlarge amounts of marketing materials: new logos, stickers, reams of stationary, uniforms and so on. All of these things required by sponsors can eat up a major chunk of the sponsorship dollars, not to mention riders' points funds and bonuses. Unfortunately, the amount left to distribute to the promoters is often quite meager. So having a major series sponsor is not always a cure-all, although it's certainly better than the alternative. I mention all of this to point out what may be a missed golden opportunity. PACE has recently announced a new professional road racing series. In a recent conversation with PACE CEO Gary Becker, it became apparent that PACE is going to pour millions into this new business venture. It's worth noting that PACE is a division of SFX Entertainment, the world's leading promoter, producer and presenter of live entertainment. Needless to say, PACE has substantial resources. PACE is bound to lose money trying to promote a road racing series that does not feature the top riders and teams. Becker conceded as much, but added that with the money his company is going to spend on "branding" its road-racing product, he predicts it will become a profitable venture in the near future. It's a shame that these moneys will not be working toward promoting the AMA Superbike Series. This is the gold- • Anaheim Supercross: Part II • Sportblke Special Issue • Troy Bayliss Interview • Riding Yamaha's new R1 In next week's Cycle News c U a I e n e _ s • JANUARY 19, 2000 63

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