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/128160
3D YEARS AIlIJ•.• JULY 4, 1972 Mert LawwiU (H-D) completed his comeback by winning the Columbus Half Mile 20lap dirt track National, and he was photographed for the cover of Issue 1125 in honor. Gary Scott (Tri) and Chuck Palmgren (Yam) rounded out the podium at the event. Jim Rawls (BSA) won the Junior eve.nt... The fifth Mammoth Motocross went off without a hitch, and Terry Clark (H-D) won the 125cc Senior class. Greg Robertson (CZ) won the 250cc Senior event, and Bob Hershey (CZ) topped the 500cc Senior overall. Marty Tripes (Yam) actually won two of the 250cc motos, but a 26th in the third moto dropped him down the order overall... Gary Jones (Yam) became the first American to win an American International MX event and he did it with a perfect 1-1-1 moto sweep in Boise, Idaho. Torsten Hallman (Yam) finished second overall with 2-8-5 placlngs. and Dave Bickers (CZ) fmished third with a 9-6-2 score. 20 YEARS AGO.•• JULY 7,1982 The new Yamaha Turbo Seca bends through a Topanga Canyon turn on the cover of Issue *25. We reported that it had "'Star Wars' looks, with hyperdrive punch' and that was a good thing. It retailed for $4999... Johnny O'Mara (Hon) won round five of the AMA 125cc National MX Series in Center Usle, New York. His 1-2 placings topped the 3-1 of points leader Mark Barnett (Suz). The 500cc class was swept by Goat Breker (Kaw), while Darrell Schultz (Hon) finished fifth overall but still led the points by 30 after five rounds... Terry Poovey (H-D) won round 13 of the AMA Grand National Championship/Winston Pro Series in Maryville, Tennessee. Randy Goss (H-D) and Scott Parker (H-D) rounded out the top three... Dave Schultz rode a Kawasaki two-stroke triple to the Pro Stock Drag Racing win at the IDBA Darlington, South Carolina, National... Danny laPorte (Yam) won the British 250cc MX GP, which left him 12 points in arrears of Kees van der Yen (KTM) for the World title after six rounds. 10 YEARS AGO••• JULY 1, 1992 Scott Russell (Kaw) graced the cover of Issue *25 after winning the Loudon Superbike National. He left the event with a 20point lead in the championship. Jamie James (Yam) and Pascal Picotte (Duc) followed him across the finish line in second and third, respectively. Picotte came back to win the Supertwins event... Michael Doohan (Hon) won the German 500cc GP by more than 20 seconds and extended his points lead to 53 over second-pla-ced Kevin Schwantz (Suz). Former second-place points man Wayne Rainey (Yam) highsided during the event, breaking his foot... Donny Schmit (Yam) won round five of the 250cc World MX Championships in Germany, taking a 12-point championship lead along with It. Defending champ Trampas Parker (Hon) fmished 10th... Casey Johnson (Kaw) won the Mini A class at the Hangtown National MX Amateur Day... Billy Payne (Kaw) beat Sean Hamblin (Kaw) to the finish line in the 60cc (9-11) class at Perris Raceway in Perris, California. am sure, like me, you fondly imagine that the final determination of any race or championship relies at least to some extent on the skills, the sporting ability and the worth of the rider who wins. Of course, he needs luck. Even more than that, he needs a good motorcycle. But the most crucial part of the package is the guy twisting the throttle. I am continually amazed at myself that I still hold this naIve view. And angry when this misplaced innocence is yet again proved wrong. The latest demonstration of the venality and greed at the core of Grand Prix racing came last weekend in Spain, where a particularly courageous Spanish journalist blew the whistle (nor for the first time) on the blatant conflict of interests in a sport where the owners of the rights - those old rascals Dorna - also control the TV programming, take commission off some of the riders, work for various sponsors and racing circuits, own teams and cream off sponsorship money. And perhaps even meddle with the results, in the interests of their own pockets. The article, in the big-circulation newspaper EI Mundo, described in great detail not only the impressive actual earnings and expense accounts of the Dorna bosses, as well as the web of off-shore tax-haven companies some of them have founded to launder this money, but also by innuendo accuses them of the most distasteful form of match-fixing. Doma gained the rights of GP racing in 1997, by means that have never really been satisfactorily explained, especially to such unsuccessful bidders as World Superbike rights-holders Flammini. The tangle of financial dealings is of limited interest to race fans, though the Spanish tax authorities might find some questions that they will wish to have answered. More upsetting, to innocents like us, was the innuendo about how that thrilling Spanish rider Toni Elias might (or might not) have been robbed of the 125cc World Championship last year. The known facts are as follows. Elias rode for the Telefonica MoviStar junior team, on a Honda. The team belongs to and is run by Dorna men, and has the outward appearance of a thoroughly worthy attempt to raise young Spanish talent. Elias was (and still is) a thriller - l aggressive, exciting and a winner. He lost the points lead after crashing at Motegi, but it was still close with eventual champion Manuel Poggiali, with three races to go. Now things are shrouded in mystery, but the newspaper is not afraid of some innuendo. It suggests that, before the next race in Australia, Elias declined to sign to stay with the team for the next year, and was severely punished. Certainly, his bike had been very fast until that race. Certainly, it was conspicuously slow when he got there. Instead of his usual front-running position, he qualified on the fifth row of the grid. Heroically, he managed to get among the leaders from the very first lap. But every time they reached the long Phillip Island straight, he was clearly many miles an hour slower than the hordes of rivals who would come piling past him. His teammate Dani Pedrosa, on the other hand, seemed to have found new legs for his bike Was it, asks EI Mundo, because Elias' fast engine had been given to Pedrosa? True or not, Elias lost the title - a matter that Spanish fans are likely to resent very seriously if there was any skulduggery involved. And that the sponsors might not be too thrilled about either. Doubtless the facts will emerge in the fullness of time. It may be that Dorna's men are entirely innocent. We shall see, but the whole thing has a distinctly fishy smell. The real question is whether we are entitled to expect anything different. Racing is big business (the article shows how Dorna pays the FIM $7 -million annually for the rights, but earn something like $70-million). And of all the allegations, is there anything that Fl supremo Bernie ECclestone has not also done at some time in the past? I think the real resentment in the paddock is not so much suggestions of sharp dealings by Dorna, but the fact that it is done purely to line their own pockets. One thing that Ecclestone also manages is to make it easier for any other successful operative in Formula One also to make heaps of money. This incredibly rich man has enough vision to understand that, by giving them that possibility, he will make the sport grow, and in the end make himself richer. Dorna, on the other hand, gives every appearance of short-term asset strippers, with (as EI Mundo says) "dealings on both sides of the counter,· and "looking for money in everybody's pockets.· That's a pretty good way of making enemies, and Dorna has done a good job of that so far. 1:1II • Bulgarian MX GP • Swedish World Enduro • Jackpot Hare & Hound • Andora World Trials D