Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By Final lVIoto CHRIS JONNUM 30 YEARS AGO.•. MARCH 28, 1972 Malcolm Smith, Mark Blackwell, Bob Grassl and a voluptuous spectator filled the four comers of the cover of Issue 1/11 from the Mint 400 in Nevada. The motocross-racing team of Rolf Tlbblin and Grossi won the event overall, "beating all the desert rats: The two split $6000 in prize money for the win. Smith and teammate Blackwell were the first 250 across the line... Big four-strokes dominated both the Expert and Amateur classes at Polka Dots Motocross in Dixon, California. In the Expert class, it was Alex Jorgensen (BSA) doing his best to "keep the breed alive," and in the Amateur division, Charlie Marshall (BSA) did the same... Brad Lackey (CZ) beat Tom Rapp (Bul) to the line in the 250cc Pro class at the Pacific-AMA race at Saddleback Park. Jim Wilson (CZ) won the 500cc Pro class, over Lackey (CZ). 20 YEARS AGO... MARCH 31, 1982 Our test rider jumped the 1982 ~CLBNBW~ Suzuki RM250Z across Giant test the cover of Issue il11. ~,_l.S~'_'.:!, We reported that the ,\) - ~.'~. {;~~~.~~ '82 250 was the perfect mating of a 125 and a 500, in that it felt light like a 125 and had power like a 500. It sold for $2099... Mark Barnett (Suz) topped both days of racing at the Houston Doubleheader Supercross. Donnie Hansen (Hon) and Warren Reid (Suz) rounded out the podium on Saturday, while Broc Glover (Yam) and Jeff Ward (Kaw) did the same on Sunday. After the events, Hansen still led the points, 161-152, over Barnett after seven rounds... Terry Vance topped the Gatomationals Pro Stock Bike drag-racing event. .. We attended the Harden/Roeseler Desert Racing School and we found the school, taught by Scot Harden and Larry Roeseler, to be informative, fun and grueling. 4:. .. 10 YEARS AGO..• MARCH 25, 1992 The 60cc class gets under way on the cover of Issue 1/11 at the Lake Whitney, Texas, ONC MX Finals. Some of the big winners at the event included Matt Walker (Mini Mini Senior 9-1]). Ricky Carmichael (Mini Bike Stock 7-11), Kevin Windham (Mini Bike Open 7-16, Mini Bike Stock 12-13, Mini Bike Senior 12-13), Greg Schnell (125cc Stock Novice), Craig Decker (250cc Stock Intermediate), and Robbie Reynard (125cc Stock Intermediate, 125cc Intermediate, 250cc Intermediate, 250cc Open) ... Round eight of the AMA Camel Supercross Series, in Charlotte, North Carolina, was won by Honda's Jean-Michel Bayle, with his teammate Jeff Stanton finishing second. Suzuki's Larry Ward finished third. The 125cc class was won by Jimmy Button (Yam), over Ezra Lusk (Suz) and Brian Swink (Suz) ... Nathan Ramsey (Suz) topped the 125cc B class by leading from flag to flag at the AMA Southeastern Regional MX Championship MegaSeries opener in Blountville, Tennessee... Danny Hamel (Kaw) topped the Saucer Run in Lucerne Valley, California. Ty Davis (ATK) finished runner-up. rules if you're not going to enforce them. It's not that the AMA has been completely wont to hand out penalties. For a couple of the aforementioned incidents, fines have been handed down. The problem is that the fines are often paid by the teams andlor are less than the bonuses gained by performing the action in question. In order for the penalties to have teeth, they must include both monetary fines and either the taking of championship points or the application of a suspension. That way, they'll be taken seriously by factory rider and privateer alike. Lest this start to sound like yet another AMA slam-session, I should say that I sympathize with the sanctioning body. Just as I was as a teacher, they're essentially forced to periodically be a hard-ass, and that's not an enviable position. There's intense pressure not to follow through on penalties, but to instead let it go "just this once" (unfortunately, it's never just once). There's even the sticky civil-litigation issue: If the AMA were to suspend a rider for long enough to cost him the championship, it's not inconceivable that his team would sue for damages. Which leads to another point: Assuming the AMA actually goes ahead with more an" more money an" its own series next year descended on the class- ,.res~lge accompany'ng s~rong "n'slles, (not a safe assumption at ~lIere's more an" more pressure ~o room, and I was able to all, if the recent rumors actually focus on more perrorm . .e", an" '~'s lIum.n na~ur. ~o are anywhere near accugo a ~oo 'ar 'n Me lI.a~ ba~~'•• important things than rate), there's pressure to discipline - like teachkeep the teams happy ing. At the end of the appropriate penalty when called for, enough that they'll seriously consider year, my students had not only they were happy as clams. This expegoing with that series (sounds like a become the most well-behaved at the rience showed me that while it's not conflict of interest, but that's fodder for school, but they had advanced further especially difficult to police a stationanother column). And on a related in our lessons than I could have ary boundary, it's harder than you note, there's the expense aspect: I'm hoped. And to my surprise, my own can imagine to move it back once it not sure what the AMA's sanctioning popularity among the kids had has been displaced. fees are, but a sanctioning body soared. People, I learned, like order, As the series' sanctioning body should get enough compensation from even if they don't realize it. (we're back to motocross now, a promoter that it can properly perI'm reminded of this by several thank goodness), it's the job of the form its services. incidents that have occurred in the AMA to create (and update) regulaThose are just the big problems. AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series tions that are relevant and fitting, There's also the very real aspect of a this year. While basically made up of and to consistently enforce them. common lack of clear right and good kids (just like my former stuThough it could stand some fine-tunwrong in these incidents, and the dents), the SX field has been getting ing, the AMA's rulebook is generally aforementioned fact that you're deala bit rambunctious of late, and there acceptable, but in my opinion, the ing with genUinely nice people. Still, have been several occasions when organization has fallen a bit short this is not a popularity contest or enthusiasm has pushed behavior over when it comes to enforcement. even a democracy, and the AMA the line, into the area of "unacceptWhether it be drug-testing, checking should err on the side of being overly able." Harsh block-passes, doubling motors, or applying penalties for strict. Once the riders see that the under red-cross flags, post-race ramunsportsmanlike conduct, the AMA AMA is consistently and actively ming, punches thrown - it's starting has failed to show me that it is willenforcing its boundaries, they'll to look more like WWF than a legitiing to follow through on its own adapt. Not only that, but they'll rules. And there's no point in having mate sport. respect them for it. CN ot too long ago, I taught English and World History at a junior high school for two years. It was one of the biggest challenges I've ever faced, and I'm fairly certain I learned more than did my students. Probably the most important lesson I picked up was discipline, and how to enforce it. Wanting to be liked, I took a fairly hands-off approach the first year, hoping that the students would show their appreciation by behaving well in return. Bad plan. By the end of the first month, the classes had slipped from my control, and by year's end, I realized with dismay that very little of what I had taught had actually gotten through. The following summer, I decided that something had to change, so with help from my boss, I devised two simple-but-detailed lists - one of the rules that I saw as being important, and another of the consequences for breaking those rules. On the first day of class, I explained the lists and had the students write them in their notebooks, and the first time that a rule was broken, I quickly enforced the appropriate penalty. Any fears of being perceived as a hard-ass were assuaged by the results: The kids were so great that I had to hide my shock as I saw the new system working. An fIII'~1I atmosphere of calm N It's not exactly an epidemic, but unsportsmanlike conduct is damaging to supercross, and much like the horseplay in my first-year classes, it distracts from the whole point of the event - in this case, the racing. That's a shame, not only because the racing has been so good, but because the people doing it are such nice guys. Talk oneOil-one to any of the parties involved in these incidents, and you'll see that they mean no harm. In some cases, you'll even start to side with them. I'm not sure what the reason is for the recent increase in such incidents, but the best I can tell is that it comes down to the stakes being so high. With more and more money and prestige accompanying strong finishes, there's more and more pressure to perform well, and it's human nature to go a bit too far in the heat of battle. The same held true for my unruly students. Without exception, every one of them was a nice kid (many of those first-year hell-raisers were the exact same people as those secondyear saints). but the pressures of adolescence prompted them to push the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Once I clarified where those boundaries were and showed that I would dispassionately apply the 0' bn LOOK/.' ....a .a~ Coming up In Cycle News • New Orleans 51 • Glen Helen SIx-Hour • Oakland AX GUlli I e n e _ S • MARCH 20. 2002 127

• Cover