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/128145
3IJ YEARS ABO_. MAllCH 21, 1972 Yamaha's Don Emde graced the cover of Issue 1110 after winning the Daytona 200. The race was hampered by various crashes and mechanical failures by many ci the front-IUnnel'S, but Emde r/ICed through it all to the victory. Following him across the stripe were Ray Hemp· stead and Dave Smith, who also both rode Yamahas... The Yama· ha domination continued into the Daytona Speedway Winter·AMA Motocross event, lIS Jim Weinert won the event on a tuning· fork machine... The top 10 finishers in the 76·mile Novice road race were all on YamahllS, and John Long took the checkers first... TIm Allen rode his Maico to the 500cc Expert-class win at the Las Vegas Motocross Club in Nevada. BOI Greiner (Yam) and John JIlaIone (AJS) topped the 125 and 250cc Expert clllS5eS, respectiveIy. ErIc EUzondo (Yam) topped the l00cc Expert event. 2tI YEARS ASIJ... IlAIIt:II 24, 1l1li2 KIng Kenny Roberts was photographed for the cover ci Issue flO, announcing our Grand Prix Preview. The head· Hne asked, ·Can King Kenny come back?" Nobody really knew, although most hoped. His chief competition was expected to come from the Honda duo of defending champion Marco LucchlneUI (who won said championship for Suzuki) and teammate Freddie Spencer, along with Roberts' newest telIm· mate, Barry Sheene ... Eddie Lawson (Kaw) topped round two of the AMA Superbike Championship at Talladega. Motocrosser Steve Wise (Hon) finished second In the event, ahead of K_asakl's Wayne RaIney. At that point, Lawson led the points with 29, ahead of a tie for sec· ond between Rlllney and Wise. eacb with 23... Scot Harden (Hua) topped round two of the AMA National One· Day Trials Series in Post, Texas. Second overaD, and first 250, went to Larry Roesaler (Yam) ... BIVCe PenbaI and MIle Bast split Speedway Spring Classic wins at Costa Mesa and San Bernardino, respectively. Bast won the points championship. 111 YEARS AIlIL IIAIIt:II 16. 19B2 Muzzy Kawasaki's Scott RusaeU dragged his knee across the cover of Issue flO on his way to winning the Daytona 200 after drafting past second· place finisher Doug Polen (Duc) at the fin· ish. /llllke Smith (Hon) finished third... Honda's Jeff Stanton stopped the Damon Bradshaw juggernaut at the Daytona Supercross by winning it for his fourth consecutive time. Bradshaw still finished second, while defending champ Jean·/illchel Bayle (Hon) took third. The 125cc Eastern Regional main was won by Brian Swink (Suz), who had won all four of his races so far, includ· ing the East/West event. DCiY Yamaha teammates Jimmy Button and Doug Henry rounded out the top three ... Southwest Motorsports' IS-year-old Colin Edwards (Yam) led every lap of the Daytona 250cc Grand Prix race, beating teammate ChrIs O'A1ulsio by 1.16 seconds... Team Harley· Davidson's Chris Carr won the Grand National Champjonship Dirt Track Series opener at the Dayton Short Track. If I am glad of anything, it is that I did mention the vagaries of the weather and of nutty riders when I recently wrote that the two-strokes were pretty much certain to get blown into the weeds at the first confrontation at Valencia, Spain, during the recent IRTA test. There was plenty of both of those things, plus a few other factors. And instead of the expected triumph, the unfortunate Marlboro Yamaha team was left with egg on its face. Which at least served to conceal some glum expressions. The best its four-stroke could manage was third fastest, behind a pair of their own old pensioned-off two-strokes. Is that the taste of egg on my face, too? Wouldn't know. Lost my taste buds the last time someone (probably Mick Doohan) tried to force humble pie down my throat. Which makes me impervious. But I have to say that I haven't changed my view, just because the stopwatch said different. It was cold and early in the year, and only Yamaha and Aprilia were there, the latter in only its second track outing. I still think that the lawnmowers are headed for the grassy verge during the course of the first MotoGP season, and the diesels bound firmly for victory lane. Might not happen quite as soon or as decisively as we'd all thought, but 220 horsepower vs. 185 or 190 is the bottom line and will not be denied. The real message of the first lRTA tests has been the soundtrack. And the cries of encore were not for the Yamahas. The noise of their in line four is, for one thing, just too familiar. The star of the fascinating new concert was the zinging, soulful April· ia triple. And never mind that it was 2.7 seconds slower. All the more time to listen to the complicated bluster of its back-shifting and the anxious surge of on-throttle trill. During the winter, Dorna won an important battle about noise. Somebody said they'd obviously been reading this column, which is nice. But, to be fair, Doma has known all along that the noise will be a crucial element - it was the manufacturers who imposed a 110dB limit when they first drafted the new regulations. Yamaha brought forth its Ml at Catalunya last year, only to meet a barrage of criticism because the bike was too quiet. pro~:ea sound, as been • louder of a trill. This rather dismaying reaction clearly missed the point they were trying to make - about how exciting the new machine is. And, of course, it is . a state·of·the·art four·stroke that is still many people's favorite to win, if only because of the extensive testing already completed. Well, if you want to excite, you have to shout, at least in motorsport. And that's what we did, comparing the whispering new generation to the limit-free noise of Formula One cars. If they can duck their social responsibilities and force everybody in pit lane to wear ear-d~fenders or rapidly go deaf, then why shouldn't the bikes? To the manufacturers, noise is already a sensitive issue where motorcycles are concerned. Another sticking point was because noise restrictions often apply at their own test tracks, rather limiting the possibilities for open-pipe specials. As is often the way with motorcycles, however, the voice of sanity did not in the end command attention. Doma won and the noise limit was raised to 125dB - a considerable increase, because noise levels rise not parallel with the decibel numbers, but geometrically, in the same way that wind resistance rises with the square of the speed. It was a comfort to hear the new 60-degree V·four Suzuki, albeit only over the telephone at its early tests. No such dereliction of duty there, apparently. Blipping in pit lane, it sounded like a pack of angry dogs. And, like the similarly still rather young Aprilia, the lap times suggest we might have that much longer to enjoy that one as well, as they battle to catch up a full year's development on Yamaha. The Honda? We will have to wait and see. But it was already fairly throaty at its first appearance at Motegi last season, and I believe that Honda, too, has stabbed a few extra holes in the silencer since the rule revision. I hope so, because the sound of a 72-degree V-five promises new and unique levels of aural complexity and delight· howl and back· beat and thrum and throb all at the same time. As well as overfamiliarity, Yamaha's other weakness was still in volume. I learn that it has not gone all the way to 125dB, stopping off about halfway there (numerically) from 110. Engineers say that increasing it further will not yield any more power, so why should they? Because if you don't, guys, you've missed the point. You're out there to entertain the crowds as well as to win races. eN • DaytDna 200 • DaytDna SIIpercross • DaytDna SIIort Track • Okeecbabee &ICC cue I • n _ ..., so; • MARCH 13, 2002 111