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/128152
30 YEARS AGO..• for his autograph. What do you say to someone known simply as The Man? I spent most of the day in the Blackfoot hospitality tent with my fellow Canadians. Much of that time was spent people-watching with my mouth gaping open. The stream of folks who came through the tent included Thor bigwig Bob Maynard, supercross floor-announcer Terry Boyd and the one and only TFS: photographer Steve Bruhn. In my mind, the celebrity of these people was nearly on-par with that of the riders, and all were friendly and very .cool. Watching the race from a press box with the Blackfoot management, I could glance over and see Art Eck- T he Pontiac round of the AMAlEA Sports Supercross Series is as close as it gets for us Canadians. A mere hour from the border, the race is a rare chance for Canadians to catch a glimpse of the glitz, glitter and glamour that accompany one of the most competitive race series in the world. I was lucky enough to make a trip to the Pontiac race this year. It was my first supercross south of the border, and it surpassed all my expectations. In Canada, our small population just one-tenth that of the U.S. - is spread over a huge area. Local motocross races, except in the few densely populated areas, rarely have full gates. As a result, we have a smaller talent pool. We also have a shorter riding season. We do have good riders: Blackfoot Honda's JeanSebastien Roy has been defending Canadian honor in the U.S. for nearly a decade, and Kawasaki Team Green's Darcy Lange finished second in the 2001-2002 Speedstick National Arenacross Championship. We also have good racing in the Canadian Nationals. On any given day, there are eight or 10 guys who can win, and the racing is close and exciting. But the level of competition and the sheer size of the show at Pontiac was unlike anything I had ever seen. American magazines dominate our newsstands, so we are kept up to date on the goings-on in supercross and the AMA Nationals. We love our guys, but realize there is another echelon above ours. Like others all over the world, we idolize competitors in the U.S. series that represent the absolute upper crust of our sport. Armed with knowledge gleaned , from a youth spent poring over race reports and interviews featuring the big guns of American racing, I set foot in the Silverdome parking lot at about noon on race day. Before I even began to seriously scope the area, I turned around to see Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Stanton and Johnny O'Mara walk by, chatting quietly. The star power in that 30-second episode surpassed everything I had seen in a decade of hanging around races. I'm sure any other Canadian would feel the same way. As much as we love our own racers, we just don't have the celebrity factor that I encountered at Pontiac. Upon spotting Roger DeCoster, I could think of nothing besides asking Then came the racing itself. Any racing is fun to watch if it includes good battles, even if it's the 125cc Novice class at the local track, and there are plenty of great battles in the Canadian Nationals. But the level of intensity I saw that Saturday night was like nothing I had ever witnessed. Those guys hung it out farther than I could imagine. Every move was perfect, and the race was one for the ages; six or seven different leaders with at least that many having a chance at the win, plus Carmichael's amazing run through the pack after an early-race tumble, made it an instant classic. And as the champ sliced through toward the front, the deafen- Jim Rice, aboard a BSA, leads the field at the Colorado Mile; and a Montesa rider raced past the spectators at the Elsinore Grand Prix, both on the cover of Issue # 17... Mark Brelsford (H-D) and Kenny Roberts (Yam) rounded out the top three at the mile. The Junior main was won by Steve Droste (Yam), while yet another Brelsford, Scott, took yet another second, in the Junior main ... There were 2200 riders entered in the Elsinore Grand Prix, but, unfortunately, no official results would be available for at least three weeks - ah, the good old days... Jeff Sexton (Mai) topped the TT event at Corona Raceway in Southern California, while Triumph riders Bob Greenstreet and Mike Posey finished second and third, respectively... Corona Raceway motocross saw Tom Bragdon (Yam) beat Larry Roeseier (Hod) for the 100cc Junior-class victory, while Bultaco-mounted John Hrynkiewicz (pronounce that) beat Danny laPorte (Pen) for the 125cc Expert win. 20 YEARS AGO••. MAY 12, 1982 French-Canadian Jean-Sebastien Roy (pronounced: Waah) has been representing the northem territory for many years in theAMA Supercross wars. man and David Bailey doing their television commentary. Scott goggle man Bevo Forte came in and left and came in again. Jeff Emig walked past and smiled. All this was a completely different world. I was awestruck, and to find this huge traveling circus so close to home was wonderful. The next thing that struck me was the huge volume of people milling around the parking lot, pits and stadium. As I watched practice in the afternoon, there were as many people in the stands as there had been for the night program at last year's su.percross on my side of the border in Toronto, Ontario. All afternoon, there was a sea of people outside the Blackfoot tent. JSR and Heath Voss signed autographs for well over an hour, and the line to reach Jeremy McGrath circled twice around his team hauler. Coming up in ing roar of nearly 59,000 screaming voices that accompanied his every pass certainly caught me off guard. The overall polish of the show was, again, a cut above, and let me say that a 59,OOO-strong crowd filing out of a stadium is a lot of people. Everyone got his or her money's worth that night, and I took home a heap of great memories that will undoubtedly keep me, and the usual hordes of other Canadians, coming back for as long as there is a race. Witnessing the production that is the greatest series on Earth is definitely an eye-opening experience for a small-town kid from the Great White North. Consider my eyes open. eN Associate Editor of Canadian magazine Motocross Unplugged, Bartlett will graduate from the Journalism program at Ontario's Carleton University this week. • salt Lake City 5X • World Mini Grand Prix • German World Enduro 136 MAY 1, 2002· c u e I ... MAY 9, 1972 n e vv s Steve Morehead (H-D) slid across the cover of Issue in 7 after coming up the winner at the San Jose Mile. Ricky Graham (H-D), Scott Parker (H-D), and Jay Springsteen (H-D) rounded out the top four, who all had a shot at the win coming off the last corner... Rounds four and four of the AMA 125/250cc National Championship MX Series, in St. Petersburg, Florida, saw Johnny O'Mara (Hon) win both motos in the 125cc class, while Kenny Keylon completed the Honda sweep with the 250cc two-moto sweep. Mark Barnett (Suz) and Jim Gibson (Hon) rounded out the podium in the tiddler event, while David Bailey (Hon) and Broc Glover (Yam) did the same in the 250s... Andre Malherbe (Hon) began his World 500cc MX Championship title defense well with a round-one victory in France. American Brad Lackey (Suz) went 2-6 to tie for second overall ... Husky's Mike Guerra became the first American in 10 years to win a 250cc MX GP overall at round two of the series in Spain. 10 YEARS AGO••. MAYS, 1992 Ducati's Doug Polen graced the cover of Issue #17 after winning round two of the AMA Superbike Series at Laguna Seca. Scott Russell (Kaw) and Mike Smith (Hon) rounded out the top three. After the two rounds, Polen and Russell were tied on points on top of the standings. Pascal Picotte (Due) won the SuperTwins event. .. in an eventful Las Vegas Supercross event, Jean-Michel Bayle was determined to be. the unofficial winner - unofficial because both his and teammate Jeff Stanton's frames were protested by Yamaha as being different from stock and the results weren't in as of press time. Stanton finished second in the event, while Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) finished third. Also, Damon Bradshaw (Yam) was fined $500 for a series of altercations with Kawasaki's Jeff Matiasevich. J'eremy McGrath romped away with the 125cc win, over the Suzukis of Phil Lawrence and Jimmy Gaddis ... Michael Doohan (Hon) won his third successive 500cc Grand Prix road race at round three of the series.