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/128142
30 YEARS AGO..• FEBRUARY 29, 1972 A picture of a trials rider dropping down into a pit in perfect nohelmet style graced the cover of Issue #7. Inside, we featured part two of our E-Z Trials how-to segment, which showed how to get over rocks, through water, ~I and master the doublehop... An ad featuring Mr. Universe Arnold Schwarzenegger - hoisting a 135-pound, bikini-clad woman, who's holcling a doctored muscle magazine that now reads "Cycle News," with his left arm - promises that, if you read said newspaper, women just won't be able to contain themselves... The Cow Palace Indoor Short Track in San Francisco, California, featured Kenny Roberts (Yam) dominating the main event over Dave Hansen (Suz) and Joe Henry (Bul) ... CMC Motocross at Saddleback Park in Irvine, California, saw Jim Beauchamp (H·D) take the 125cc Expert victory, while Tom Rapp (Bul) topped the 250cc Expert class, and Tim Hart (Mai) topped the 500cc Experts. 20 YEARS AGO••. MARCH 3, 1982 Suzuki's Brad lackey got in some presea~CLENEWS son practice by dominating the 500cc Pro class at the CMC Gold-'I. en State !"IX Nationals, and for his feat, he was @ placed on the cover of ,.?," Issue *7. Donnie .... Hansen (Hon) topped the 250cc Pro class at the finale, ahead of Rick Johnson (Yam), while Johnny O'Mara led a Honda sweep of the podium ahead of Danny Chandler and Ron Turner... The World Team Speedway event at the Ahoy Indoor Stadium in Rotterdam, Holland, showcased the skills of the American team, who won the event. The U.S. team consisted of Dave Sims, Dubb Ferrell, Dennis Sigalos and Gene Woods ... Steve Wise (Hon) was interviewed about how his !"IX methods worked on the IT turf (he finished third in the Houston TT without the aid of a rear brake). It was Wise's first-ever Winston Pro Series race, and he felt he was representing all motocrossers, saying "A bunch of those guys probably had their feelings hurt because of what I was able to do.' ~ 10 YEARS AGO••. FEBRUARY 26, 1992 Cycle News European correspondent CYCLB NEWS'I Alan Cathcart rode . , Eddie Lawson's Cagiva V591 road racer -~~ across the cover of o • "'.::. Issue Jt7. Cathcart reported that the 286pound motorcycle offered easy steering and brilliant braking ... "_' ,... , .._,-'.Team Green's Larry Roeseler and Ted Hunnicutt swapped the lead several times at round two of the AMA National Hare 6Hound Series in Ridgecrest, Califomia, with Roeseler coming out on top of the defending champ in the end... Cycle News correspondent Davey Coombs interviewed defending 125cc World Motocross Champion Stefan Everts about his first few races .in America, and the reason why he hadn't come sooner. Reportedly, all Belgian men must put in 11 months of service in the military, and Everts was no exception well, at least not really. After a month, he was made an intem, and since his service wasn't needed as such, he spent the latter part of his service time racing supercross in the USA. --1 ---_ _."~N"'_"""_ ~ S tudents of modern history will doubtless concur that the Spanish civil war was an important prequel to the Second World War. Without wanting to be too flippant, history seems to be repeating itself. The Spanish conflict involves (of course) Grand Prix bosses Dorna and the hated World Superbikes. The world war is brewing already between factory teams with a new sense of serious purpose. The rather chummy atmosphere that prevailed at the end of the two-stroke era has already been forgotten with the arrival of the new four-strokes. Grand Prix racing is rather more serious nowadays, it seems. The shooting has already started in Spain, where the well-established IRTA test schedule was interrupted because major reconstruction work at Jerez is so far behind schedule May's Spanish Grand Prix might be in jeopardy. Jerez was just one of a series of IRTA tests, organized originally by the teams themselves. It was generally the first - and it was always the big one, that all the factory teams, all the press, all the tire and suspension people and everyone else came to. The loss of this landmark was just another opportunity for Dorna. It shifted the main focus of the pre-season period to the final test in the European series, at the third Iberian circuit on the IRTA trail, Catalunya close to its TV headquarters in Barcelona. It would have been the fourth, after Jerez, Valencia and Estoril. In the absence of the first, however, the final European tests have been chosen for the major launch of the new MotoGP four-stroke series, with all the fanfare and TV time that Dorna can muster. This makes sense. For one thing, of the factory teams only Yamaha planned to attend the first tests in Valencia. Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa will find their new M 1 fourstrokes among a small gang of twostroke satellite 500s, including Loris Capirossi and Alex Barros on the West Hondas. Suzuki and Honda are going to give the next test at Estoril during the following week a miss as well. The IRTA tests clashed with their own private program. Honda is not even certain for Catalunya, but Suzuki will be there, and hopefully also Aprilia. This becomes the first confrontation of the four-strokes. And when will it take place? During the opening World vs. Will race fans watch the World Superblke men race in Valencia, Spain, March 9-10, or will they take In the action when the Honda V·flve squares off against the rest In the IRTA test session In nearby Catalunya? i ••• Superbike round at Valencia, challenging the rival series for TV time and attention, and doing its best to push it to a far corner of the news pages as well. To this end, Dorna is encouraging teams to make their own launch plans for the same weekend. Suzuki was already planning to do so - others may follow. It's an aggressive tactic against the World Superbikes all right. Just how deliberately aggressive is clear from the fact that these tests were originally scheduled for the Monday and Tuesday after the superbike race. Dorna changed the dates in order to make it a direct clash. Well, the public will decide for themselves. The Spaniards love bike racing anyway, and they're steeped in GPs. My guess would be for good crowds at both venues, with the balance of numbers probably tipped toward the real racing. Certainly, few British fans will waste time watching the testing when Neil Hodgson and the gang get going on the other channel. Then again, the same would be true in Britain even if it were a Grand Prix race and not merely a test. How about the larger conflict? In the past, the major teams were only too pleased to all go pre-season testing together - on the grounds that CDmlngupln Cye/eRews e ,~ you might as well all know in advance exactly what you're going to be up against. That's how the IRTA tests began. This time around, however, the old Japanese love of secrecy has prevailed. Honda and Suzuki are leaving it to the last possible moment before they show their hands. This indicates a change in atmosphere that, sadly, will make racing less enjoyable for many. This season, for the first time in years, there will be real technical innovations, of real relevance to the motorcycling world at large (let's face it, how much did the exhaust power-valve or the Big Bang firing order ever do for you?). Just as it happens, by no coincidence of course, a veil of increased secrecy and security is drawn across proceedings. If nothing else, it will make it more fun as well as more frustrating, to ferret out the few technical details that will emerge. Perhaps it's for the better. Racing can only survive if it succeeds as a show. This puts all the participants in the same showboat, where they have in the past found it easy to get along together. But racing can only be good if it's competitive, and if chumminess is the first casualty, then goodbye, old pals. CN • Minneapolis 5X • Indy Trade Show • HoII~ HIls Han Scrambles DUD I • n • _ S • FEBRUARY 20, 2002 79