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/128115
T h i s colu mn has sc o r ed a h it or two re cen tl y - m ost n o tab ly as " Ex h ib it A " in a k an g aro o co u rt held aft er the Italian Grand Prix d isaster , p it sto p s ca n be a r r a n ge d befo re arr ival. S ounds qu ite fun , re all y - r i d er s nursing th eir b ikes around in t he rai n, s houti n g i n to th e ir hel m et m i c r op h on es. t rying to ma k e some se n se of what Control is telling t he m . Some body once told me th e bes t t r aini ng fo r r aci n g was to do d ispatch rid in g around London . Now it a ll sta rts t o m ake sense. Opponents c ite sa fety as the main objections. After all, an unscrupulous team manager might calculate it'll be qui cker to circ ulate slowly for th e rem a i n ing laps t han to pit for t ires , and k eeping his hapless r ider out when tw o- ho ur ra in d ela ys meant th e 500cc GP m issed its TV slots. The outcom e was t o do wh a t I (a nd, to be fai r , a chorus of others ) were suggesting : enshrine the time of the 500cc rac e as sacred , even if it does mean inconvenienc ing r iders in th e lesser classes. O bv iou s, really . B ut the problem of Wet Races has n ot gone away, and remains th e subject o f fu rious de bate. The current system sta tes t hat th e Ra ce D irec t o r decides when the red fl ag goes o ut . In practice , it t end s to be the riders who dec ide, w hen the l e a d e r s h o ld up t h e ir ------ hands. A s a cons eq u en c e , even th e hint of a cl oud can t ri g ger a race with in a r ac e, in which the d ire c t o r ( E n gli s h m a n Pau l Butler) must try to get th e fl ags out before t h e r iders r ea ct. It' s a m atter of sh o wing wh o is in cha rge. Hence the uns eem ly haste at Assen , halting a r a c e tha t V a l e nt i n o Ross i said , " p r o b a b l y could have g on e on fo r on e or two more laps ." It wa s o ne of t h ose r a re occ as io ns w he n Butler m an ag ed to beat the rid ers to it . Th e c urre nt d eb ate, howev er , see ks to strip the riders of t his influ enc e. A ll races shou ld be d e cl a r ed officially " w et", ru n s a sugges tion in si de IRTA , in any we ath e r . Result - no stoppages, and t he race will ru n full distanc e come what may (wi t h ob v ious exceptions fo r s n o w, e a rt hquakes, etc ). Of course, it is still up to the ri de r whether or not he continues racing: u neasy lies the hand that tw ists the th rottle, when he finds h imself on sli ck s and carbon brak es on a we t tra ck . Here comes part two of this partic - th er e, r isk ing h is ne c k on t he wrong t ires . Cr ashes never hurt th e manager , yo u k n o w . T h ere are r a t h e r m o r e practical safet y questions. A d r y bike i s not on l y d is tin guish ed by its sl ick tires . It also has ca rb on brakes , st iffer suspension set t ing s , and differ en t g e a r i ng fro m a ste el- b raked, softer-sprung and slow er w et bike. The rider c an li ve w ith u lar plan - pi t stops. Yes , just li ke Form u la One. And here 's pa rt three. Thanks to th e new sh ip-to-shore radio commu n ic at io ns already b eing tested , these the suspension and chassis and ge ar ing , but not with the bra k e s . Th e y must be changed - carbon s s impl y don 't wo rk unless they're h ot eno ugh . Now a GP, li k e a W orld Superbike race , is a sp r int of 45 odd m inutes. Time lost in the p its counts for more th an in a t wo- hou r F l rac e. And now m ec h an ics fi n d themselves chang ing n o t only wheels , bu t a lso b rake cali pers and the handlebar lever, or else f id dli n g with hydrau l ic snap -fit dry con n ecto rs, to link the lever with the new c ali p ers. All ve ry well if you hav e t im e to check all the co nnec t i on s, and pum p the brakes up to m ak e sure they're okay , but there is room for costly er rorstrylnq to do the same job in the s hortes t p o s s ibl e time, with a pu mped -u p rider b reath ing down you r neck. T h ey seem to m an age a lr ig ht in endurance rac ing , I h e ar yo u c ry . Yes, but wi t h o u t th e brake c h a nge. C ar bon bra kes a r e banned , as they are in World Superbike. W ell th en , w hy not ban them from GPs as w ell? It would be th e w o r k o f a moment to put GP b i k es bac k o n st e e l br a k e d is c s c l o sely rel a te d to thos e on y o ur r oad b ik e. T h ey 're h e av ier , but th ey work in aII w eathers. Tr oubl e is , th i s app ro a ch le ads o nly b ac kward. If n ot ro ad - t yp e b rak e s , wh y n ot t he n a lso tr e ad e d ti res ? A n d w hi le we 're at i t , ho w abo u t a p r o d uctio n -chassis r ule? A n d so on un t il GP b ik es b e com e like Sup e r bikes ; g lorified production ra cers. Don 't go there, guys . Rather let's enjoy e n o u g h sugg estion , mad e quite o bvio u s ly - b y a team wit h p l enty of r e so u r c es , r at h er than a st rugg ling privateer outfit, and e ven t aken seriously in some quarters. I n s te ad of chang i ng t h e b i k e over , j u st c h a n g e ov er b ikes. Slosh in on slic k s , l ea p onto y o u r spare r e ad y warmed up , fit t ed for the w et. And v i c t o r y wil l go not to th e b e st or fa st e st rider , but t he o ne w i th th e most sp ar e bik es t o c hoose fr om . eN • Brainerd AMA Superbike • Washougal MX National • Charfotte AMA Rat Track • Michigan AMA Hare Scrambles • New York National Trials 112 A UG UST I , 2001 • cue e nevvs 30 YEARSAGO_. AUGUST 10, 1971 Mark Brelsford led Jim Odom across the cover of Issue 1130 at the Corona Half Mil e National. Odom made the pass for th e w in . while Jim Rice finished third. Gene Romero led the points stand ings after the Corona event , 6 I 9-603 , over Dick Mann. Gary Scott won th e Junior final over Kenny Rob ert s.. . Hooker Headers bought ad space in the newspaper, advertising th eir new Hooker Exh aust -tuner , whic h was an expansion c ham ber made for two-stroke motorcycles, com prising a heat guard with a heart -shaped cut -out.. . Jo dy Nicholas top ped the 15 -lap Expert final at Ascot in Gardena, Califomi a. Gene Rom ero wa s supposed t o challe nge Nicholas for a $200 bonus, but he didn' t show. The promoters still paid Nicholas the ext ra $2 00, though. Tom Rockwood and Dave Sehl finished second and third, respectively. Gary Scott won the Junior fina l over Ken ny Robe rts , while Sco tt Brelsford won the Novice final over Steve Nichols. 20 YEARS AGO... AUGUST 5, 19B1 Belgian defend ing 500cc World Motocross Champion Andre Malherbe graced the cover of Issue 1130 after he was interviewed abo ut his chances for a repeat in 1981. He felt his chanc es were rather good, mainly because the person whom he saw as the fas t est , Hak an Ca r lq vi st , always set the fastest qualifying time but crashed a lot in the rac es... Am ericans St eve Wise and Donnie Hansen split mota w ins at the Una di ll a 250cc USGP of Motocross, but England' s Neil Hudson won the overall with a 2-2 tally... Mike Kidd (H-D) won round 17 of the AMA Grand National Championship /W inston Pro Series at the Du Quoin Mil e in Illinois. The win moved him closer to points lea der and second plac e finish er Gary Scott (H-D) ... Marco Lucchinelli (SUI) won his third consecutive 500 c c Road Race GP in Im ol a, It aly , ex te nding h is lead in t he ser ies points st andings after hi s Ame ric an t itl e rival s suffe red more bad luck. Randy Mamola (SUI) fini shed fourth afte r ex perienci ng transmission problems and Kenny Robert s (Yam) did not start after coming down with food poisoning. 10 YEARS AGO••• AUGUST 7, 1991 Ronnie Jon es hoisted the checkered nag on th e cover of Issue 1130 after winn ing the Oklaho ma Ci t y Half Mile . He scored h is popular hometow n win in front of more than 10,000 spectators . Larry Pegram and Dan Ingram completed the Honda sweep of the pod ium .. . Round six of the AMA 125/250cc Nationa l Motocros s Series ran at Troy, Ohio, and Jeff Matia sevich (Kaw) scored the overall win via 2-2 mota finishes. Jeff St ant on and Damon Bradsha w both crashed out of the first mota on the first lap in separate incidents, both suffering injured wrists. Larry Ward (SUI) won the first mota and finished second overall. Mike Kiedrowski and Guy Cooper traded mota wins in the 125cc class, with Cooper getting the nod with a 3 -1 score. Kiedrowski went 1-3 for second , whil e Jeff Emig had an unusual finish, going 2-2 for third... Wayne Rainey (Yam) won the pole and the race at round lOaf th e World Champi onship Grand Prix Road Race Series at Paul Rica rd in France. Michael Doohan (Han ) and Eddie Lawson (Cag) round ed out the podium.