Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By 3IJ YEARS ABO••• FEBRUARY 10. 1970 Although disco was still a few years away from being in vogue, that djdn't stop this hapless Husqvarna rider from tripping the light fantastic with his "partner" when the Continental Motorsport Club hosted a motocross at the new Perris Raceway in Southem California ... Eddie Mulder (Tri) ushered in the 1970 IT season at Ascot Raceway by scoring another main event victory, and thus further securing his reputation as king of the discipline. Skip Van Leeuwen (Tri) did okay, too, winning the trophy dash ... Cycle News also featured an interview with fast-rising female motocrosser Kerry Kleid. The 19-year-old, who was friends with New England motocross madman Barry Higgins, raced CZs for a local shop... "8speed box and 360 cubes for the Desert Fox" was the tag line for an ad that heralded the exploits of J.N. Roberts, who was already a desert racing legend. 20 YEARS AGO••• FEBRUARY 6. 1980 Destined to become Cycle News' Rider of the Century. Kenny Roberts made our cover again, this time for his battles off the race track. Hot on the heels of his second World Championship title, Roberts had organized a group of top riders and promoters in an attempt to put together a nonFIM-sanctioned World Series for road racing. History would show that the "King" eventually would concede this particular battle.., Some 20 years before the OEM's caught on to the idea, cottage-industry firms were laboring furiously to build com· petitive four-stroke motocross machinery. As our feature showed, companies like Franks Racing Products, KSI, Pro-Tec and CCM were all building seriously fast thumpers to contest the AMA Four-Stroke MX Nationals... We interviewed motorcyclist Bobby Gambill, who had logged over 100,OOO miles on his BMW streetbike, and we also ran a photo feature of the AFM road racing awards banquet. 10 YEARS ABO••• JANUARY 31. 1!I!J(J Reigning 250cc World MX Champion Jean-/lI\ichel Bayle served notice that he was going to be a force to be reckoned with during the American motocross season when he won the 250cc Pro class during the third round of the GFl Califomia Winter Series South at Perris Raceway. Bayle chalked up 1-3 scores for the 250cc win, and also finished second overall in the 125cc Pro ranks, facing a talent-laded field of factory stars and So Cal MX pros... Warren Diem (Wes) won the main event and became the first ICE World Champion during the ICE Indoor Ice Speedway Championships at the Tucson Community Center in Tucson, Arizona ... We interviewed up-and-coming motocross star Buddy Antunez, who had made a successful transition from the mini ranks to the 125cc Pro wars. Dan Ingram (Hon) melted the competition during the Saginaw, Michigan, round of the AMA Invitational Indoor Pro Ice Race Series. eN Final lVIolo CHRIS JONNUM I 'm well known for my tendency to get bored rather easily, but three rounds into the AMA/EA Sports Supercross Series, I'm still pumped on the season. Since there are 13 rounds remaining, you might not think that's much to brag about, but for me it's quite an accomplishment. The newly close points race is partly responsible, but I think part of the reason for my unabated enthusiasm is that the first three tracks have each been quite unique. Whereas the seemingly intrinsic constraints of stadiums have in recent years resulted in series-wide cookie-cutter layouts, designers are now using ingenuity and creativity to differentiate the circuits from one another. A a decade. The structure is being used Windham called the section "just brutal," and Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki team manager Bruce Stjernstrom said, "the problem with it was there was basically one good line through there, and it's a hard thing to overcome because they were kind of going single-file." McGrath liked the whoops, however, and was in fact about the only rider who appeared to get a handle at three rounds this year, primarily as a means of giving designers more options - always a good thing when you're dealing with completely manmade tracks on stadium flOOTS whose dimensions are often identical. At Edison Field, for example, the track featured gO-degree turns and multiple short straightaways, whereas the design stencil of old called for hairpin on the section all night long, though Mike LaRocco did find an inside line , that he alone was able to make work bowl turns and longer straights. The move wasn't popular with most riders. "I just think for passing, effectively. In addition to the bridge, short straights, right-angle

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