Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By 3D YEARS AGO••• JUNE 20, 1972 Road racer Gary Fisher (Yam) dominated the 100-mile AMA road race in Loudon, New Hampshire, and was photographed for the cover of Issue #23 for the feat. Mark Brelsford (H-D) and Gene Romero (Tri) rounded out the top three. Brelsford took over the points lead from Kenny Roberts at the event. Fisher (Yam) also won the 250cc combined event, ahead of Roberts (Yam) and Yvon DuHamel (Kaw)... The Honda team of Bill Silverthorn and Gene Fetty topped the Baja 500. There were more two-wheeled entries in the 1972 race than in recent races, including a Vespa·mounted team that made it only a little past the first check... At the weekly Fremont Raceway Scrambles, 17-year-old Alex Jorgensen rode his dad's 250cc Kawasaki to the win for the third time in four weeks. He fmished third the other time... Joel Robert (Suz) beat Adolf Wei! (Mai) to win the West German 250cc MX GP. 20 YEARS AGO••• JUNE 23, 1982 We tested the new KTM 250/11 XC and placed it on the cover of Issue #23. We found that the machine was cat>able of doing pretty much everything, from motocross to trail rid· lng. One of the most interesting features was that its rear sprocket was actually mounted around the rear drum brake - both on the right side... The AMA announced that the 1983 National MX Program would be changed, and among those changes would be the naming of a Grand National MX Champion at the end of the year by combining $X and MX points... Rick Johnson (Yam) led the 250cc National MX points by 20 coming into the last race and promptly broke hls front wheel in the first mota. He started mota two tralling motoone winner Donnie Hansen (Han) by five points. Yamaha·mounted Broc Glover won moto two, with Johnson second and Hansen third. Hansen won the championship by three points. The 500cc class was won by Darrell Shultz (Han), who extended his points lead. 10 YEARS AGO••• JIIN.E 17, 1992 Wayne Rainey pumped his fist in triumph after winnir:l9 the 500cc Spanish GP of Europe on the cover of Issue 4123. Even though MIchael Doohan (Han) took his fifth straight pole position at the event, Rainey (Yam) beat him to the line to win. After six rounds, Doohan led the points 110-65 over Rainey... Damon Bradsbaw (Yam) won the ninth main event of the season, breaking the record of eight in 1991 by Jean-Michel Bayle (Hon) in San Jose, California. Title rival Jeff Stanton (Han) finished second and trailed Bradshaw by six points going ihto the last round at the L.A. ColiseUm. Jeremy McGrath (Hon) once again won the 125cc event. .. Larry Roeseler (Kaw) won round four of the AMA National Championshlp Reliability Enduro Series in Idaho City, Idaho... Jeff Gibson (Yam) won the Mini Junior class at a local supercross race in Nelsonville, Ohio. Greg Rand (SOl) and Davey Yezek (Kaw) won the 125 and 250cc Pro classes, respectively. Final lVIoto CHRIS JONNUM os s newspaper editors, we at Cycle News lead existences that revolve largely around deadlines, with our main concern in life being how quickly we can get our stories published. With very few exceptions, our policy is "the sooner, the better" hence the increasing number of races to which we afford same-week coverage (you may have noticed that now it's not only big-time events like supercrosses and road-race GPs, but also MX GPs, GNCC competitions and WORCS rounds). One of the few instances in which this doesn't hold true is with embargos. What are embargos? They're restrictions mandated by the manufacturers, placing a limit on when magazines can publish information provided them by the manufacturer. Usually, this information pertains to new motorcycle models: A company will hold a press introduction of, say, its new motocross line-up, but will make attendees sign an agreement promising not to release anything (photos or information) obtained from that meeting before a certain date. The press introductions for the 2003 Suzukis and Kawasaki KXs you see in thjs issue were actually held several weeks ago. And we've got all the info on the hot 2003 Yamaha motocrossers, but we have to sit on it until next week's issue (trust me, it will be worth the wait). Why would a manufacturer want to delay release of information hyping its new products? There are a number of reasons, actually. The most obvious one is that they don't want the public to know about their products before they've held their dealer meetings. Apparently, dealers get upset when they learn about their products from magazines. Personally, I think dealers should be happy with early hype, but then again, I'm biased. And even I must admit that I'd feel silly if I were a dealer fielding calls from customers asking me questions on bikes about which I knew nothing. There's also the idea that premature talk of new models will prevent "old" (current, actually) models from being sold, though in recent years, lines are often sold out fairly early in the season. What's wrong with embargos? Theoretically, nothing, but we all know the theory on theories: They're just theoretical. In real life, there's one big problem with embargos, and it's the same problem with many A aspects of modern life: Some people just can't be trusted. Case in point: If you read other mags, then you might have noticed the same 2003 Kawasaki KX250 that you see on this Cycle News issue's cover on the front page of the July Motocross Action - which came out a couple of weeks earlier. How did a monthly beat us to the punch? Simple. They broke the embargo. This really should come as no surprise. After all, just like us, the other magazines are in the business of publishing information, and when you let the cat out of the bag to a bunch of them all at once, it's hard to control the information in question. What are the ramifications of breaking an embargo? That's up to the manufacturer in question. Theoretically (there's that word-again), a manufacturer can pull advertisements and/or not give out test bikes (both measures that have at least been used as threats toward MXA in the past), but whatever the case, the damage has been done. Anyway, it's got to be difficult to punish a magazine for putting your new bike on their front page. It's not like MXA wrote a negative story or anything (actually, it was pretty much just photos and captions). Still, the publications Who respected the embargo (us, for example) are sure to be somewhat perturbed (we are). Why don't manufacturers simply hold the information until they're ready for it to be published? This is the only surefire way of ensuring that CtHnlng up In c,cIe IItIfIs 1y{DD1 ~ sensitive information doesn't get released prematurely, but there's one major problem: The monthly magazines' long lead-times. Whereas Cycle News can get a story to the public in as little as 'one day, the monthlies have a much longer delay at the printer. That's why the same MXA issue that had the '03 KX on the cover also has a story on the April 13 Pontiac Supercross (which we covered almost two months ago), while our KX issue has a story on the June 2 Pikes Peak Superbike race. (I'm not bragging, as I recognize that the monthlies offer a couple of things that we don't - namely, glossy paper and lots of color). Anyway, if the manufacturers were to wait until their dealer meetings to release their information to the press, it wouldn't appear in the glossies until a month or two later, by which time the companies hope to have already generated a fair amount of hype through - you guessed it - the press. Late release of information would work fine with Cycle News, but it wouldn't hit the monthlies until too late to do much good for the manufacturers. Why am I writing about this? Good question, and while I could list several altrujstic reasons for the decision, the honest answer is that I'm frustrated. I'd like the other magazines stick to the embargos, and I'd love to not have embargos to begin with. After all, when you thjnk about it, they're the exact opposite of a eN deadline. • Lausitz WSBK • Southwick NatIonal MX • Road Amertca AMA SBK • AustrIan MX GP • Washougal WORCS cue I • n • _ so • JUNE 12,2002 107

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