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/128123
By 30 YEARS ABO••• OCTOBER 5, '971 Tom Rockwood (Tri) and Jody Nicholas (Nor) battle it out on the cover of Issue il38 for the lead of the AMA National Dirt Track at Ascot Park in Gardena, Cali· fomia. After more than a dozen lead changes, Rockwood took the victory. John Hateley (Tri) and Nicholas rounded out the top three. Kenny Roberts dominated the Junior Main ... The 46th annual running of the International SixDays Trials on the Isle of Man had a surprise front-running team - the Americans. The U.S. finished tied for fourth overall with Holland. Czechoslovakia, West Germany and East Germany were the top three, respectively ... A new contest was featured w.here the reader must guess the name of the pro rider whose baby picture was run on the cover. Five dollars would go to the winner. Issue il38's picture was a blond-haired young boy who raced TT and half-mile dirt tracks. His name? We'll never know - the answer to that question, after much searching, could not be found. 20 YEARS ABO••• SEPTEMBER 30, '9S1 Suzuki's 1982 RM250 stood proud on the cover of Issue #38. The new RM was watercooled. with dual radiators and an engine-driven impeller, and the engine also featured a full reed-valve induction system and flat-slide carburetor... Garth Brow (H-D) won the San Jose Mile, round 25 of the AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series. The combination of Mike Kidd's third-place finish and Gary Scott's eighth-place finish resulted in a tie at the top of the points, with the two riders having 184 points apiece... Team USA won their very first Motocross des Nations in West Germany with the same all-Team Honda team that topped the Trophee des Nations the week before. The team - consisting of Danny laPorte, Donnie Hansen, Chuck Sun and Johnny O'Mara - ended up winning the event by a scant one point over Great Britain. '0 YEARS ABO••• OCTOBER 2, '99' Team Honda's first French sensation, Jean-Michel Bayle, graced the cover of Issue il38 after scoring the Binghamton 500cc National victory and moving one step closer to becoming the first rider to ever win three AMA National Championships in one season. Bayle's 3-1 m6to finishes earned him the Win, while defending Champion Jeff Ward (Kaw) went 2-3 for second and Damon BradShaw rode his WR500 to 1-5 finishesfor third overall. After entering the 125cc series after the 250cc series ended, Mike LaRocco won his second 125cc National in three starts with a two-mota sweep at Broome-Tioga. Points leader Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) and Jeff Emig (Yam) rounded out the top three, respectively ... Team USA won the Motocross des Nations for the 11 th consecutive time In Holland with a slim three-point lead. Belgium and Holland tied on points with 13 apiece . America had 10. Team USA's Jefl Stanton (500), Damon Bradshaw (250) and Mike Kiedrowski (125) took the lead in points at the end of the last mota for the win. s I perused my Time magazine this week, it struck me how much our world had changed in the few days between when the words therein were written and when I was reading them. The topics that had once seemed so important - stem-cell research, the possibility of the shrinking budget surplus forcing us to dip into Social Security - were suddenly dwarfed and made shallow by the biggest terrorist attack we have ever known. And if those matters seemed trivial, just imagine us Cycle News reporters putting together the stories for the issue you hold in your hands. One tends to feel a bit lame (not to mention shamefaced) as he tries to pen humorous anecdotes about a 24hour race while listening to NPR's reporters relating such a horrendous news event. Needless to say, my heart wasn't much in my work, and I ended up taking a vacation day on Friday rather than continue pretending that it was a typical work week. There haVing been no precedent for this disaster, no one is quite sure how to behave, and that holds true in the relatively trivial motorcycle world as well. Most promoters canceled any races planned for this weekend, though a few carried on with their events. Manufacturers called off dealer shows, and the American MX des Nations and Trials des Nations teams pulled out of those upcoming events. We are still in the midst of Silly Season (even if that unofficial moniker is now inappropriate), and companies and riders - concerned about what the affect of the tragedy on the economy might be - felt extra pressure to tie up any lose ends on unsigned contracts. Just as some people feel compelled to return to their "normal lives" in order to show the terrorists that we won't be intimidated, while others insist proper acknowledgement of the incident's misery demands that we all pause for a moment's reflection, there has already been disagreement over the proper courses of action in our two-wheeled realm. More specifically, some motocross and trials fans agree with the U.S. teams' choices to not go to Belgium and France, while others wish we would head over there and reaffirm our dominance, both lit- A Final lVIofo CHRIS JONNUM case is not even a nation, but a terrorist network, and the last I checked, even the country that is suspected of housing Osama bin Laden - Afghanistan - doesn't typically send a team. Don't get me wrong. Part of me could really go for a trip to Europe right about now, if for nothing else than to get my mind off of a tragedy over which I can't seem to stop obsessing (I was assigned to cover the MX des Nations, but without Team USA attending, it's difficult to justify the expense to the newspaper). One reason given for our withdrawal is concern for the teams' safety, but I don't buy that. Again, we'd be among friends were we to go, and sometimes commiseration can be downright therapeutic (I've been contacted by sympathetic journalist-friends from Australia, France and Italy, and I truly appreciate the gesture). A more credible motivation for not going to the MXdN and TdN is logistics. As everyone knows, air travel has been seriously altered as a result of the terrorist strikes, and although our team could probably manage to make its way over to Namur and La Bresse for the competitions, cargo transportation has taken somewhat of a backseat on the SUCC 55 airlines' priority lists, so there's no guarantee that all of the necessary equipment could be transferred in ft• • time. Of course, U.S. team personnel can be quite resourceful, and even if we were to come up short in our own transportation efforts, many of those aforemenworld's nations have pledged their tioned allies would probably be staunch support of the U.S. in our impending "war: with England playhappy to lend us what we needed in ing our national anthem at Buckingorder to compete. ham Palace's changing of the guard, No, I suspect that the real reason and the GP riders observing a we won't be sending contingents to the MX and Trials des Nations is realmoment of silence and wearing black arm bands at this weekend's ly more simple: Given the gravity of what happened, the teams just don't penultimate World Championship round in Italy. The recent (and feel like going through the motions. Frankly, as my colleagues in the admirable) American enthusiasm for flag-waving notwithstanding, there mainstream press grapple with the ramifications of what has happened has never been a time when our suc(my new issue of Time was compiled cess so mightily depended upon in the post-September 11 grave new cooperation with other nations, and at the moment, doing battle on 'the world), while I sit here opining on track just doesn't seem appropriate. such an. inconsequential matter as motorcycle racing, I can relate. eN At any rate, the likely enemy in this erally (in motocross) and symbolically (in international politics). With all due respect (I've found people on both sides of the issue to be quite civil), I've got to say I come firmly down in the former camp. Acknowledging your emotions is nothing to be ashamed of, and if now is not an appropriate time for mourning, I'd like to know what might constitute one. Anyone who wasn't affected by the tragedy is something less than human, so why should we pretend otherwise by immediately reverting "back to normal"? Admitting that we're sad is not "giving in" to the terrorists, and much more important than jumping right back on the horse that bucked us is demonstrating our sorrow in the short run, and our resilience over the long haul. I understand the impulse to kick butt, but it's silly to think that our performance in a motorcycle race has any relation to such an important issue as what will surely be a long, hard fight against terrorism. Anyhow, the Motocross des NatIons is a friendly contest, and the countries that compete there are our allies. In the past week, many of the rltere lias ..erler .'nte ..,bea our s. IItj,y de,. ee.. a nt'coo"..r.t,...,,"e... .... , ••"er '.DS. aa" •••lIe , ....e .... do'" au'e .ft .... •r.cl« J.s. "aes.·. see .,.,.r.,.r'.te. Coming up in Cycle NellllS • Spanish Grand Prix Road Race • Austrian MX GP Finale • Missouri AMA Hare SCrambles • seattle F-USA Dirt Track Due. _ n __ S • SEPTEMBER 26. 2001 91