Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO••• JUNE 15, 1971 Artist J im Robe rts on's untitled work of art depicting a jumping mo toc ro ss racer was shot for the cover of Issue #22, even though it wouldn' t a ppe a r in the paper until the follow in g week . The sculpture was made entirely of welding rod and sh e et metal a nd was ext reme ly detailed... Dave Seh l race d to victory at the Louisville Half Mile AMA National Dirt Track for the second yea r in a row after leading 16 of the 20 laps. Larry Darr finished a close second. When Sehl's younger brother Doug asked Dave if he'd see n him win his heat, Dave Sehl replied , "Yeah, I was right behind you."... We went to Don Vesco 's shop to interview him and his rider Kel Carruthers about their road racing victory at Road Atlanta . When asked what was modified on the ir mach ines upon reception from Yamaha , Vesc o s imply replied . "Everything. " Then when asked why they chose to ride Yamahas , Vesco responded. "Because they're cheap. " 20 YEARS AGO... JUNE 10, 1981 Captain Plastic Preston Petty kneeled for the cover of Issue #22 as he announce d his return to the aftermarket plast ic market. Before Petty's origina l fora y into the market, Japanes e dir t bikes use d dangerous aluminum fenders, while the Eur opean com pa nies com mo nly us ed fiberglas s, which us ually explode d upon impact with the ground... Freddie Spencer (Hon) rode to his first-ever National road race victory at round nine of the AMA Grand National Championsh ip/Winston Pro Ser ies in Elkhart Lake, Wiscons in. Mike Spencer (Hon ), in his first Formula One road race outing, finished se cond to Freddie Spencer. Mlke Spencer also took second in the Superbike event, behind winner Eddie Lawson (Kaw )... Jim Filice becam e the second -ever rookie Expert to win the Louisville Downs HalfMlle National when he topped Terry Poovey and Randy Goss in the main event. The flrst rider to win the event as a rookie was Jay Springsteen, who finished sixth on that day ... Bruce Penhall swept the Los Angeles Coliseu m Worid S peedway Qua lifier with a perfect sco re of IS. 10 YEARS AGO••• JUNE 12, 1991 Kevin S c hwa ntz graced the c over of Issue #22 after narrowly defe ating Wayne Rainey for the 500cc Grand Prix.. victo ry at Hockenheim, Ger man y... After winning the first three 125cc MX GPs of the season, defending 125cc World Champ ion Donny Schmit crashed at round four of the series, breaking his thumb and collarbon e. The injury handed Stefan Everts a five- point lead in the series over Schm it, with American Bobby Moor e in th ird , 22 points back... We profil ed the Vohland brothers, Tallon and Tyson, followinq their impres sive 'rides to finish first (Tallon) and third (Tyson) at the Houston 125cc Supercross • the first-ever pair of brothers to finish on the podium together in.AMA competition... It was reported that the battle between Jeff Stanton and Da mon Brads ha w was so good at Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, that event promoter Dave Coombs paid both riders an ext ra $ 1000 for provid ing the spectat or s with a n exce ptio na l show. Coombs even gave Stanton's me chani c. Dan Betley, a $500 bonus. y ing Rick Miller s c ore a maximum at Memorial Da y holiday , walki ng into a o u know that o ld saying . "Wha t re va m p e d arena , co m p le t e with a the la s t American F in a l ever to b e goes around comes a round?" he ld at Long Bea ch Veterans Memoripermanent bar - that's right, a bar We ll. then if you're a speedwa y fa n al Sta diu m , to th e da y th at I le a rne d located ju st o ff turn o n e . The p la c e who lives in South ern Cali fornia - or wa s so pa c ked that yo u could hardly that I ha d been a ccepted for a su man y p la ce e lse for that m a tte r - ha ve I find a se a t , a nd a n nounce r Ter ry mer inte rnsh ip at Cycle World mega got so me gr eat ne ws fo r yo u. "Ike " Clanton was doi ng a n a wesome zine in the summer of 1992 - a nd that I cam e upon thi s little rev el a tion mean t that I could bring m y speedway jo b of dr iving 'en:' into a fren zy . The whil st su dd en ly find ing m ys elf with a n ra c in g was aweso me, with severa l b ike and ra ce the So Cal ci rcu it. un expected free weekend just before F ra n k ly , the bra keless , methanol new ride rs that I' d n e ve r h e a rd o f the b ig Me mori al h o lid a y . A s y o u burn ing beasts a re partly res ponsible mix ing it u p with so me o f th e t rue m a y ha ve read in our Ital ian Su p e rfor who I a m , and I a m gra tef ul for the legends in the sport. Th er e was a ton bike tra c k te st story in this issue, I'm of dirt on th e tra c k, making th e a ction numerous la st ing fr ie nds h ips t hat I c u rre ntly inju red , wh ic h mea ns m y ha ve formed with folks in bot h North fa r fro m p re di cta b le as th e rid ers we e ke nd wa rrio r rac in g a c t ivi ty in wr estled their m a ch ine s aro u nd the Gene Rom er o ' s West C o a s t Flat ern a nd S ou th ern Cal ifornia thro ugh pla c e , th rottles wid e o pe n, p assing m y involvement in s pe edwa y. Track Series has been seriously cure ac h o the r with re ck less a b a n do n . Bu t t im e pas s es , and s eas ons ta iled . A lo ok a t the Progres si ve Th e s ide c ars wer e a wes ome a s usua l, cha nge , a nd ju st prior to my unexInsu rance U.S . F lat Track Champip e cted reti re m ent as a rid er , o n ly and they eve n h ad Ha rle y rac e s! I ons h ip Series rev e a led no ev ent to jet to ok it all in, pra ctically not be liev ing brought on by a promotion to the fulloff to . What to do? what I was s eeing . I had red iscovered Tha t' s when it hit me : Why not use time -plus gig as resident d irt t rac k speedway , and it had rediscovered guy at Cy cl e News in th e winter of the c om pa ny speedway passes for an itself, to o . Costa Mesa is a happening 1994 , I cou ld se e that th e 90 0d sh ip economy night out with the wife at spe edway was heading toward the place to be again! Co s t a Mesa Speedwa y (la di e s , m y In fa ct, the wife and I were so roc ks. Th e re ality was that promoters wife happens t o love the ra c e s , so st o ke d that we de c ide d please don 't think of me as EI Ch e a po )? After all , I m a g i n e my surprise, VIIhen attending to make the trek to despite living with in five Costa Mesa just a VIIeek before the Charlie Vene ga s' new Arrowhead Mot o r m inu t es ' drive of the Memorial Day holiday, VIIalking into a S pe edway on t he O ran ge C ou n t y F a ir revamped arena, complete VIIith a permaOr a nge Show Fairgrounds , we h adn't been nent bar - that's right, a b ar - located just grou n ds in Sa n to Costa Mesa Speedway on turn one. The place VIlas s o packed Be rn ar d in o (a nyon e in ove r t wo ye ars , an d that you could hardly find a sea t ... remember IMS ?) , on the t he la st time we di d go , followin g Th u rs day, th e ente rtai nm ent was, in were b ickerin g at e ach other, riders w he re it was m or e of th e same . my opi nio n , hard ly wo rth the price of Despite the fact tha t Venegas a nd his we re b ickering a t e ach othe r, rid e rs ad m iss ion . And remember, my t ick were b ickering at promot ers , s om e cre w h ad to ba ttl e a fa ulty s ta rti ng ets wer e free! p romoters weren't acting as promotgate a nd fre t over a surface that wa s Yo u s ee , hav ing b een a fo rmer c o mi ng apa rt here and there , you ers, the tra cks were all hard- pa cked rider a t th e t ra ck , I believ e that m y blue groove s - the politicall y charged could see th e potential of the place, o p in ion - and I know what they s ay and th e racing wa s nothing s ho rt of c lim ate of s p e e d wa y wa s in an all about opin ions be ing akin to that porfantastic fo r a ve n ue that didn't time low- pres s ure zone. ta l in your derrie re ; e ve ryone has on e It got e ve n ·wo rs e , as first Pe rris ev e n ex ist thre e weeks b e fore the and they all stink - at le a st carries th e season o pener. Pro ps to Veneg a s and Spe edwa y , th en Glen Helen Spe ed perspective of someone who has seen way , th en Victorvill e Sp e e dw a y , all his c re w fo r a gre a t night of action. the s port from both sides of the fen ce. close d th e ir d oo rs , le avi n g C o st a with m ore to come each Wedne sday Speedway is th e s p ort th at g ot me Mesa as the on ly s peedway venue left night through the end of Augu st. from the positi on of som e guy wh o in S outh ern C a lif orni a . With out a Of cou rse, it would be nice if a few lov e d motorcycl e s a nd d idn 't k now so lid j unio r s pee d way p ro g ram in mo re of the p lanets cou ld ali g n s o what he wa nted to do with his life, to p lace , new blood was hard to come that we could the sport could ta ke full the pos ition of some guy who lov es a d va n tage o f a G P-s t y le Na t iona l b y , t he b u lk of youn g t a lent s wa lm otorcycl e s and now writes for the S p e edw a y C h a m p io n sh ip S e rie s lowed up by the mote-craze that concoolest motorcycl e n ew s source on tin ues today. Th e ride rs themselves both on the pages of Cy cle New s a nd the plan et. I have always loved s peedin o ther ways - but that cou ld sti ll way, from th e t im e th a t I first 's a w were ju st going thro ug h th e m ot ions, ha p pen soon . The p o int is t h a t, at and with ma ny of the fa m iliar na m es gu ys like Mike Bast and Rich MacMurleast in S outhe rn Ca lifornia , the spo rt in the sport reti ring , the same four o r ray at th e Ren o Fa irgrounds wh e n I five gu ys cou ld be co unted to s how is climbing back into the conscious of was 7 years o ld, to th e t ime t ha t I motorcycle fa ns everywhere. up in t he S c ra tc h main each we e k . live d in So Cal an d ditc hed ha lf my S o if you ha ve n 't be en t o Costa S peedway s urvi ve d a t Co sta Mes a , S eni or prom in 1986 bec a us e I he ard Mesa or San Be rd oo in a whi le, th en but it wasn't the same s po rt that I fell th at S a m Ermol en ko was goi ng to be in love with so many yea rs ago. It jus t yo u ou g ht to go and get tu ned back ma king a ret urn ride from the Britis h in to what you've b e en m is sing , seemed like th e fun wa s gon e . Lea gue - o ne ni gh t an d one n ig h t because speedway's co mi n ' arou nd Imagi ne my surp rise , whe n attend only, to m y first Divis ion Th re e ride at again. eN ing Cos ta Mesa just a wee k before th e the Napa County Fai rg rounds , to see> LOOK/Nil Coming up in Cycle News .a7!i. . ~ a (DIDO! > • Mugello Road Race GP • Ohio ISDE Qualifier • Test Ride: Aprilia Caponord c ue I e n e _ S • JUNE 6, 200 1 107

• Cover