Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~.III)aa.·lff}!3 3D YEARS AGO••• JULY 11, '972 F our different proposed new racing motorcycles, three of them at least partly British, and what a difference between them all. The first was the Petronas Sauber GP1 triple first seen at the Malaysian GP late last year. It was greeted by some dubious head shaking - even though it is the only one of the four that has actually been seen to run under its own power. Rough-andready construction, dodgy styling and car-specialist engineers undermined a definitely breathtaking exhaust echo. Second came the Ducati GP Sedici, launched to a credulous and excited mob at the Italian GP. They willingly overlooked that the display bike was a mockup, because of the factory's proven track record. Then the Foggy Petronas, in London a couple of weeks ago, where the credulous. if rather smaller and more select, mob (I wasn't invited, for example) were willing to overlook the dubious readiness of the engine and the unlikeliness of meeting homologation deadlines, firstly because the force of Foggy's personality and his achievements so far. Secondly because the bits of the bike you could see were so beautifully wrought that you just had to take it seriously. Number four is still supposed to be a secret, but Kenny Roberts is too excited about his forthcoming V -five Grand Prix bike to keep it under wraps, showing computer mock-up drawings to inquisitive pressmen at the recent Catalunyan GP. All these new racers have quite a lot in common - Foggy's Superbike and the Sauber GP bike even share an engine, or at least the basics of an engine. Most importantly, none of them is Japanese. It is debatable whether this is a strength or -a weakness . .probably a bit of both. So far, the three new MotoGP Japanese four-strokes have massively outclassed the low-budget Aprilia triple; while there is a strong feeling that Honda is just playing with the opposition. This will be tested in the forthcoming weeks, as Yamaha and seemingly also Suzuki gather strength. Honda's reputation has convinced everyone that a tweak to Valentino Rossi's ECU will unleash enough power to redress the balance whenever they like. The only reason they haven't done it already is to avoid destroying the class they created in their image in its first year. Better to win by only a little. (Left) Left to right: James Haydon, Troy Corser and Carl Fogarty show off the Foggy Petronas Superblke In London. (Below) Ducati's new Y·4 MotoGP contender. Will these motorcycles strike a blow to the might of the Japanese factories? 20 YEARS AGO••• JULY 14, 19S2 The key word is "reputation," and how much everyone is swayed by it. I'm not sure if I am on Foggy's famous list - of people who didn't believe he would be able to get the Petronas together in time. To be honest, I didn't, and I am How much has it been undermined by the lack of success of the Mode- still convinced that they won't have nas/Proton three-cylinder two-stroke? the required number of production Quite a lot, probably, but also rather bikes ready in time to meet the letter of the rules concerning homologation. Then again, this didn't matter for BeneJli, who were allowed to race anyway last year as "a special case," and who continue to race without this status having either been reconfirmed, or indeed tested in any way. If anyone or anything is a special case, it is Foggy and his new motorcycle, so I expect to see it out on the track, rules notwithstanding. Where his reputation won't matter anymore, and the strength or otherwise of the rather unlikely engine will be put to the real test. (Unlikely because the best starting point for a production engine is the drawing board, rather than trying to turn a pure racing engine into a serious road-going prospect, without needing a fuJI rebuild every 600 miles.) So how about Kenny Roberts and his V-five? His reputation rather outstrips that of Foggy, being based not only on serial racetrack heroism but also on two decades of very successful team ownership and management. unfairly, at least in my opinion. The design may not have come up to expectations since it first appeared in 1997, but campaigning a bike designed and built in-house has not only given his enterprise a lot of hard-won information, it has also positioned Roberts as the only person in the world other than the factories with the capability of designing, building and then racing a complete racing motorcycle from scratch. It is no surprise that much of the impressive Foggy superbike has arisen out of Team Roberts: the chassis comes from people who cut their teeth doing the same job for Roberts, and indeed looks rather similar in detail; while team boss Nigel Bosworth spent several years at Team Roberts, learning how it can be done. Both strike a blow for independence from the Japanese giants. Both will add to the joy of the world if they achieve success. Here's hoping. • Assen MotoGP • Brainerd AU SBK • Uma AU Dirt Track • Deep Creek GNee 104 JULY 3, 2002· cue I • Triumph-mounted Gene Romero won his first AMA National Dirt Track of the year at the San Jose Half Mile, and for the feat he was placed on the cover of Issue #26. It was Romero's second win in a row at the event... At the Inter-AMA MX event in Washington state, the top five in the 250cc Intemational class were all internationals, with Torsten Hallman (Yam), Arne Kring (Hus), TorUef Hansen (Hus), Gunnar Unstrom (Hus) and Hakan Andersson (Yam) completing the first five finishers, in that order. The first American was Bob Grossi (Hus), in sixth... Cycle News posed the question of how a track inside the Los Angeles Coliseum should be designed. Also, it was noted that the Coliseum isn't the best place for a motocross race (Indoors? That's just crazinessl) because of its size . unless, of course, you want to be able to seat 100,000 people to watch. n _ VII !IS CN Kawasaki's rising road-race star Wayne Raioey was interviewed for Issue #26, and he said his goal was to race in Europe because "if you want to really make money, I'm told, then you have to race there.·... Bubba Shobert (H-D) won the Indy Mile, round 14 of the Grand National Dirt Track Series. Randy Goss (H-D) finished second... Mark Barnett (Suz) beat Jeff Ward (Kaw) for the 125cc overaD at the Red Bud National MX io Buchanan, Michigan. Danny Chandler (Hon) won the 500cc overall, over Mike Bell (Yam) and points leader Darrell Schultz (Hon) ... After a 45-minute battle with Donn.ie Hansen (Hon) for the 250cc win at the Mammoth Motocross, Ricky Johnson (Yam) came away with the win, saying, "I think 1proved to myself thot I'm as good as I thought.' Johnson also won . the 125cc ciass, while David BaUey (Hon) won the 500cc event... Franco Uncini (Suz) topped Kenny Roberts (Yam) and Barry Sheene (Yam) to win the Dutch 500cc GP and take over the points lead from Roberts, 63-60. '0 YEARS AGO••• JULYS, '992 The start of the Road America AMA Superbike event was placed on the cover of Issue *26, and Jamie James (Yam) came out the winner. James came out on top of a three-rider battle with Scott Russell (Kaw) and Freddie Spencer . (Hon), who finished second and third, respectively... HarleyDavidson's Scott Parker also graced the cover of the issue as he took a win at the Lima Half Mile and extended his points lead to 20 over Chris Carr, who finished fourth at the race... Scott Summers (Hon) topped the Blackwater 100, round eight of the AMA GNCC Series, for the second year in a row. Larry Roeseler (Kaw), seeking his first Blackwater win, finished sixth after dumping his bike in the soup ... Robert Phillis (Kaw) and Doug Polen (Due) split wins at round five of the World Championship Superblke Series in Spain. Phillis led Polen by seven in the championship chase ... Steve Hislop (Nor) topped the Senior TT at the Isle of Man, averaging 121.28 mph. earl Fogarty (Yam) finished second but set a new fastest-ever lap of the course at an average of 123.16 mph.

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