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/128134
2002 Open-Class Four-Stroke Motocrossers Cannondale X440S VS. Honda CRF450R KTM 520 SX vs. Vertemati C500 VS. VS. Husaberg FC550 vs. Vor 530MX Continued from page 12 Editors' Picks Chris Jonnum 33, Vet Intermediate 1. Honda 2. KTM 3. Yamaha 4. Husaberg 5. Vor 6. Vertemati 7. Cannondale Blake Conner 32, Vet Novice I. Honda 2. KTM 3. Yamaha 4. Vor 5. Husaberg 6. Cannondale 7. Vertemati THE BEST IF WORST 01= CN·S BIG-BoRE FOUR-STROKE SHOOTOUT .. Scott Rousseau 33, Vet Novice 1. Honda 2. Yamaha 3.KTM 4. (Tie) Husaberg & Vor 6. Cannondale 7. Vertemati (Above) Sprenkel airs the big KTM out over the top of Honey Lake's uphill, The 520 SX is the holeshot king, (Below) Thanks to animated benchracing, our all-day drive back in motomome went by quickly. Best crash: Blake Conner (executes textbook roadrace high-side on a dirt bike) Worst injury: Blake Conner (ruptured ego) Best near-crash: Chris Jonnum (one more inch and the high-speed loop-out would have commenced) Worst riding gear: Eric Crippa (needs donations - badly!) Worst misuse of RV's lavatory: Chris (Oh my God!) Worst misuse of Chris while he was in the RV's lavatory: Scott ("Hey Rousseau, quit swerving") Worst starting technique: Matt (2) and Kit (7) (obviously need help.) Chris Sprenkel 21, Pro 1. Yamaha 2. Honda 3. KTM 4. Husaberg 5. Vor 6. Vertemati 7. Cannondale .. lJD1J® W~ ITO ITO®crs []i CDITO cr1J caJ CC [Q [f 41 as CD [Q Matt Bussel 24, Pro 1. Honda 2. Yamaha 3. (Tie) KTM/Vertemati 5. Cannondale 6. (Tie) Vor/Husaberg Dana Legere" 25. Pro 1. Honda 2. Yamaha 3. KTM 4. (Tie) Cannondale/Husaberg 5. Vor Best luck in Reno: Nobody (we arrived broke and left broke) Best quote: Terry Beal ("One more Springbuck!") Best shootout hosts: Larry and Lise Wosick (Thanks guys. Can't wait to come back. Is this weekend too soon?) THANKS1 Steve Cox· 24, Intermediate 1. Yamaha 2. Honda 3. KTM 4. Cannondale 5. Vor 6. Husaberg FOR PLAYING IN OUR SANDBOXI GET TO THE GYM AND COME BACK SOOII Scott Freeman * 'III SCBDlIGlICIOSS AT lIS BEST" 47, Senior Expert 1. Honda 2. Yamaha 3. KTM 4. Vor 5. Husaberg 6. Cannondale DIE_ IleClIS1lII • Did not ride Vertemati DECEMBER 12,2001 • Yamaha YZ426F .... Worst gas cap: Tie; Husaberg (too small) & Vertemati (under seat) Best fuel tank: KTM (you can actually see through it - nice) Worst fuel tank: Husaberg (very wide) Worst gearbox: Husaberg (notchy, and hard to find neutral) Best looking: Tie; Husaberg & Vertemati (Vor's right there, too) Best sounding: Honda Worst sounding: Tie; Yamaha (too loud) & Cannondale (ditto) Worst clutch pull: Yamaha (too stiff) Best clutch pull: Honda (way light) Worst throttle pull: Husaberg (too stiff) Worst engine cradle: Vertemati (it's frame isn't horizontal under the motor, so it slides forward when sitting on a bike stand) Best holeshots: KTM Worst welts: Whoever was behind the KTM Best after-shootout shot: South African Springbuck Lip Shift (you had to be there) Best pool team: eNs Blake Conner/Cannondale's Steve Meslanic (11 wins out of 12 games) Worst pool team: Scott Rousseau/Doug Dubach (still in denial) Worst hangover: Diane Garland (undisputed winner) Best rebound from hangover: Diane Garland (simply amazing) Best lap time: Doug Dubach (shouldn't last long) Best determination to break best lap time: Chris Sprenkel (came close) Best Doug Dubach impersonation: Three-year-old Chezney Wosick (she was tearing it up on her PW50) Worst Doug Dubach impersonation: Honda's Eric Crippa (good effort though) Worst photo model: Vertemati's Derek Lucchesi (kept cheating on the start-line shots, forcing use of starting gate) Best photo models: The Honey Lake Honeys, Cashel Hackland & Diane Garland (too bad we can print them. Well, we could, but... ) Worst photo: Blake Conner (we asked him to shoot tight, but not this tight.) Kit Palmer 40, Sr. Intermediate 1. Honda 2. Yamaha 3. KTM 4. Husaberg 5. Vcr 6. Vertemati 7. Cannondale 14 VS. cue I e n e _ :s Surprised? Neither were we. After all, everyone, us included, has been raving about the bike ever since it was debuted a few months ago, so we had a pretty good idea going into our seven-bike shootout that the Honda was, at the very least, going to stack up very well against the other six bikes. So it came as little surprise to US that, when all was said and done and the votes were tal)jed, the Honda emerged at the top of our 2002 Big-Bore Four-Stroke MX Shootout. But the Honda didn't just completely run away with it. In fact. we actually mulled it over between it and the Yamaha, albeit briefly, because a couple of our testers, one a Pro and the other an Intermediate, still liked the YZ better than the CR, saying that they enjoyed the Yamaha's more aggressive and exhilarating feel. Yet they hardly put up a fight when the votes came in and the majority of our test riders chose the Honda as their favorite big-bore thumper. The Yamaha voters just shrugged their shoulders and said, "Okay, we can go with that.' So, as you can see, it was actually a fairly close battle between the Honda and Yamaha for top honors. Even the KTM's name got mentioned a few times, but the Honda got the nod, a lot of which had to do with its light weight, light controls, electric-)jke powerband, stable handling and "no-brainer" starting. SHOOTOOT PODIQM Honda