Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128113
30 YEARS AGO... JULY 27, 1971 Th e cover of Issue #28 featu red the start of the Pikes Peak HIDclim b, at whi ch Gary Myers won t he Open Motorcycle class... Also on the cover was a picture of Eddi e Mulder, Dave A ld ana and So nny B urres racing around a turn at the Castle Rock IT in Castle Rock, Washinqton, The trio traded the lead numerous times before Burr es ended up winning the event by mere inches over a late-charging J ohn Hateley... Marty and George Tri pes sent in a letter expressing their apology for lying about Marty's age in order to compete in professional AMA Motocross competition before his 18th birthday. It's their contention, however, that the age should be 16, and they said that the proposed rule change was currently being introduced to the AMA Competition Congress... Rich Thorwaldson (Suz) took the Ramblers/Invader MC Dual European Scrambles victory in Hi Vista, California, by 50 feet over series rival J.N. Roberts (Hus). 20 YEARS AGO..• JULY 22, 1981 Team Suzuki's Mark Barnett roosted across the cover of Issue #28 after clinching the AMA Super cro ss Champ ionship at round 11 of the series at the LA Coliseum. He won the race , his sixt h of the series, while erstw hile defend i ng cha m pio n Mike Bell (Yam ) fi nished second in the race, and in the points standings... Italian Marco Lucchinelli (Suz) passed American Kenny Roberts (Yam) in the final com er on the final lap of the Belgian GP to take the vict ory... At the LA Coliseum Amateur Supercross, Mouse McCoy (Yam) beat Jeff Ernlg (Yam) and Shane Trittler (Yam) for the Junior Cycl e Expert -class win, while Emig came back to finish second again in the BOcc Novice class, behind Joe Lozano (Yam) . Will ia m Su rr att (Kaw) won the 80cc Intermediate class and Rick Hemme (Suz) won the BOcc Expert class, ahead of Larry Brooks (Yam) ... The 59th annual running of the Pikes Peak Hillclimb ran in front of 30,000 spectators and the overall fast-tim e winner was Open Semi -Pro-c1ass winner Brian And er son... Bob Hannah (Yam) won the 250cc Pro class, ahead of J im T ar antin o ( Ho n), at Sadd le back Motocross Park. The 125cc Pro class was won by Jeff St anf ord (Yam) , ahead of Micky Dymond (Yam). 10 YEARS AGO.•. JULY 24, 1991 Honda hero J eff Sta n ton ( Hon) was photogra phed for the cover of Issue #2B after winning his second US 2 50 cc MX GP at Unadilla in New York . Ameri cans act ua ll y filled the top two spots on the po d i um , as Stanton took 1-2 moto scores for the win, while Mike laRocco (Suz) finished with a 3 -1 for second ... Also on the cover was La rry Pegram, wh o was pho tograp hed while celebrating on his victory lap after his first-ever National win at Hagerstown. Ronnie Jones and Will Davis filled out the top three... The fastest time at the Pikes Peak Hillclim b went to Brian Anderson in the Open Pro class. His winning time was 13 minutes, 24.B2 seconds aboard a flattrack m achine... The 14th annua l Good Time Amateur MX National in Lake Whit ney , Texas , featured som e well-known class winners. Am ong them were John ny Mar ley (Teeny Mini Stock , Teen y Min i Modified), Justin Buckelew (Mini Mini ). J ac ob Mar ti n (Mi ni J unio r 7 - I I , Mi ni Stock 7-1 J) , Kevin Windham (Mini Senior 12- 13, Mini Stock 12-13). Robbie Reynard (Mini Senior 14-16, Mini Stock 14-16, Mini Open) and Jeff Dement (125 Stock Intermediate, 125 Intermediate, 125 Open). A s a ru le of thumb, Mike Tyson , " t he f o rm er World Ch a mp io n boxer, sh ould have been the greatest H ea v y w e i gh t Champion the world h as ever se en . Tyson 's on ly limita tions we r e hi s anger and deceitfu l mana ge ment. Jeremy McGrath in the sam e vein h as g on e o n t o becom e the g reatest Super cross ri der in t he h i sto r y o f t h e sport. A r g u a bl y , no other ch am pi on has displ ayed such p o is e , gra c e a n d s a v o i r -fai r e as " Kin g Jerem y " . ..an d this is off th e t r ack ! His phenomenal techn iqu e and re su lting d om ination in t he unique offshoot of our spo r t ha s b e en well chronicled . Supercros s i s not for th e faint of heart o r t he lacking in w ill. E zra Lu sk i s the e p i to me of t oug hness of sp iri t and body . " Yogi" ha s been broken up more times than he cares to remember in h is pursu it o f v ic t ory ov er Je r em y . Although Ezra is on a very short list of people who can lay claim to beating " M C" when he i s upright and charging , thos e t imes wer e f ew and f a r betw een . McGrath, like T yson before him, only had one rea l enemy... time. T im e is th e greatest en em y to an y top -flight profess ion al athle te , for alt hough th e warri or w ith in still burns w ith a fire and p assion as bri gh tl y as in y o u t h , ev en t h e b est mu st f ace t hem selv es in the mirror an d ask the q uest ion: " Is it ti m e ye t?" It's 2 0 01 now , and in steps the a mazing Ri c k y C arm ich ael who is i n a b ig h u r ry to an swer that qu es t ion for Me. If RC 's 200 1 Sup er cr o ss seas on is any indi cati o n, we now ha v e the answer to th e qu esti on MC is li kely asking hi mself. M cGrath has at least t wo or three good ye ar s ah ead of him, but un li k e in t he past, he will h av e to fight like hell for every inch of trac k sp ac e. Is he up to th e task? Well , y o u don't win seven Super cross titles just by wishing and hopi ng ; MC is v er y much up t o th e ta sk . The re al question is, does he want to pu t up that k ind of fi ght and risk en di ng his ca reer on a note less th an stell ar o r less than his cons iderab le ex pecta tions of himself? A ll of the greats ha ve been wher e McGrath is right now. Ali had to do it; A lbe e had to do it . The great Roger DeCost er did it in fi ne cha m pionship fa shion - afte r wi n ni ng th e Germ an GP bac k in the day, he ca ll ed it quit s and went out on to p. His p rid e wou ld accept no le ss th an that. Times have ch anged, ho wev er, and how he w ill c om e to his de cision is not just up t o Jerem y al o ne . H i s v ery name i s a h ug e m arketing com m o di ty and he di sp laced had to bow out gracefully and let t he " new kid " have his day in the sun . It 's a changing of the gu ard , and no ch ange comes wi th o ut great st rugg le and sac rifi c e. RC is t he one who has put up t he great strug gle, and now we, t he fans, press and rac e rs a l i k e , must d e a l w ith the in evi ta ble sacrifice : a world wi t h ou t Jeremy McG rath in iL .at least on the t rack, anyway . " If I k no w MC , he w ill likel y ta k e on a supporting role o r manage h is o wn team . T hi s seems to be t h e direct ion our champ ions w ith no interest in fou r have w h eeli n g ta ken. As a writer , I will give Ric ky all the credit, adula tion and pres s that m y editors can stand. He now g ives us something to write about, and his cl ean-c ut , downto-earth p e rso na l ity g ives us as mo tor cy c lists s o me t hi n g to brag about as we ll. In a wo rld " of d ru g p lagued, overpa id (c o m p a r e d to motocross ) p rofess i ona l athletes , Ca rmichael, like J erem y before him , is a breath of fre sh air. He is the k ind of k id you wouldn't m ind your daugh ter dating; the k ind of guy you wou ld want y our so n to ha ng out w ith. He is unpreten t ious, t ho ughtful , and gen er ous wi th his ti m e. Can y ou say that of t he so -ca lle d super st ar baseball pl ay ers w ho cha rge yo ung fa ns $20 for a si m p le a u to g r ap h o r who b low off fans because they are t ired? I w ou ld pe rs o nally kic k the snot o u t o f o n e of thes e prima d o nn a s if I e v e r wi t ness e d a sn ub of a littl e k id . They d on 't know t ire d . . .t i red is run n in g tw o g ru el ing 3 5 - minu t e m otos , d e al in g wi t h th e pr ess fo r an oth e r h ou r and t he n sign ing a u togra phs f or tw o mo r e ho u rs afterwar d . These st i ck-and ba ll pla y ers ne ed t o c o m e t o so me N ationals and see w hat fan appreci ation i s a ll ab out. Long li v e Ricky Carm ich a el a n d m a y h is le g e n d g ro w t o f antast ic p roport ions. And , three cheers for th e m an who led t he way t o th e fantast i c suc c es s that motocross and all of its offshoots are e njoyi n g t oda y - J eremy McGrath. Long li v e " T he King " and lo ng li fe t o "The Pri nce" of moto cross . I;N Time is the greatest enemy to any top-flight professional athlete. You don't Ullin seven Supercross titles just by Vllishing and hoping. m ust take in to c onsid erat io n the j obs that will be lost w he n he ret ires. For a de c ad e, he wa s the r eason j ourn ali sts like m y self had somethin g t o w r i t e about. How i s this sam e ofte n- fickle press go ing to t rea t MC now that he is t he under dog again? I rea d so mew he re another column is t ask ing t h e p r ess to b e k ind to MC a nd n ot mak e him l ook bad . Although i t w as w el l m eant , MC needs n o such t r ea t men t. Wh en he st o rm ed onto t he sce ne , the rider s he Coming up in Cycle News • Unadilla MX National • Oklahoma City F-USA Dirt Track • French MX GP • French World Trials cue I e n e _ "" • J ULY 1 8 , 200 1 115