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/128171
30 YEARS AGO..• M otorcycle racing fans are smug about comparisons with Fl racing. With good reason. Motorcycle racers pass one another. They battle it out through the corners. It's proper sport, rather than an exposition of technical prowess, in which the faster cars circulate team by team, and overtaking takes place in the pits. Anyone watching the Czech Grand Prix on TV last weekend might be forgiven for thinking otherwise. At least 90 percent of screen time was devoted to the leading trio: Max Biaggi heading Valentino Rossi heading Daijiro Kato in a dour, follow-my-Iead parade. All were obviously waiting for the end before attacking. Then it was resolved when Rossi went into the pits with a flyapart Michelin. An interesting variation, to be sure ... but a total yawn for anyone switching on the tele for a bit of racing excitement. Just like Fl, really. Except for two important differences. The first was that the race behind this trio was desperately exciting, after a first-corner shambles radically shuffled the pack, putting some fast qualifiers at the back, and some slower ones up front to hold them up. For most of the race, the other riders were swapping back and forth desperately. And the biggest hero of them all was Jeremy McWilliams, who had qualified on the third row, dropped to almost last in the ficst ceuple of corners, and spent the rest of the afternoon charging past riders on faster motorcycles, to come from 19th on the first lap to seventh at the finish. Faster motorcycles? You bet. The three-cylinder Proton 500 two-stroke has something like 50 horsepower less than the rest, and is more than 10 mph slower through the speed traps. Its strong suit is nimble handling. And, as the superhuman McWilliams later explained, that meant he could only overtake in the middle of Brno's ess-bends. "I had a few close calls," he revealed happily. Was any of this shown on TV? Not a thing. Not one second of it. Nor any other excitements - such as why front-row qualifier Garry McCoy was bumped to the back and knocked around all race long; or other notable chargers like Olivier Jacque or Alex Barros were trapped among slower riders, bashing fairings to get by. The only one who did get a bit of air time was Suzuki-mounted Sete Gibernau, who battled through from ninth to fourth in a stirring ride. But that was only after he'd already gotten there. And he is Spanish, after all. The other difference with Fl? Their TV producers wouldn't have missed the manic McWilliams. They'd have made damned sure that this historic ride was fully exposed and exploited. Because they're proper professionals. It comes as no surprise to learn that this was one of a handful of races where the host country is not in charge of filming. It was entirely Dorna's job. And entirely messed up by Dorna. One has to wonder why, and there are three possible reasons. The first is incompetence. But this has to be measured against a general and steady improvement of Dorna's TV show over the past three or four years. Their on-bike filming in particular is often excellent. The second is sheer laziness. Well, maybe so. The third is that it was deliberate. Dorna and Proton team owner Kenny Roberts have been at loggerheads for years, and neither has made any secret of their mutual contempt. It is entirely possible that the TV directors are under instruction to ignore Kenny's bikes, unless one of them crashes (they did show Jeremy's teammate Nobuastsu Aoki, after he'd hit the Brno dirt). Which is almost unbelievably cynical. Only almost, after an earlier display of s to mac h - c h urn i n g cynicism from the Spanish rights-holders. In the weeks before, the Czech Republic had been hit by disastrous floods, with billions of dollars of damage, and deaths running into three figures. As a "tribute," Dorna assembled 22 bemused-looking MotoGP riders before the event, who each drew the name of a floodstricken region out of a hat. They would be "riding in support" of these victims, ran the spiel. Oh yeah? Why then was this never mentioned again for the rest of the weekend? Why was their no charity collection in support of the victims? Because it was just a piece of cheap-jack pre-race publicity - a televised plug for the forthcoming race, on the backs of the hapless victims of the deluge. Racing teams rely on sponsors. Sponsors rely on publicity. This is always a chancy business. But jf Dorna cynically manipulate the TV time in this way, what chance have teams got of attracting the money they need to support this expensive new four-stroke habit? As much chance as McWilliams has of being recognized for his truly heroic ride, by the watching millions on TV who knew nothing about it. eN • Estoril MotoGP • Assen WSBK • Millfield GNCC • Vernon AMA Dirt Track 112 SEPTEMBER 11, 2002 • c u e I e n • _ s SEPTEMBER 19, 1972 Gene Sullivan raced toward the camera on the cover of our 350th issue, Issue 4136, aboard his rocket- and ski-equipped Triumph. The reason for the getup was that Sullivan was attempting to ride his bike across a lake, . using the skis to plane across the water and the rockets to keep him driving forward. He essentially just splashed down at 80 mph and sunk ... We tested the new 1973 Mako 400 MX machine, which featured for the first time a radial head and an angular tank, along with Magura grips and levers... The last 250cc MX GP of 1972 was run in Wohlen, Switzerland, and Hakan Andersson (Yam) came away the victor. Arne Kring (Hus) and Guenady Moisseev (KTM) rounded out the top three... Mark Brelsford (H-D) clinched the AMA Grand National Championship after the Atlanta Mile. His 354-point lead over Gary Scott was insurmountable with the number of rounds remaining. 20 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 22, 1982 Unfortunately, Issue #36 1982 bas MIA gone AWOL. If you have a copy of this particular issue, please send it to: Cycle News, Missing Issue, 3505·M Cadillac Avenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, and you will be rewarded with your choice of a Cycle News T-shirt or baseball cap. 10 YEARS AGO••. SEPTEMBER 16, 1992 Suzuki's Rodney Smith negotiated the Australian terrain on his way to third overall, second in the 500cc class, at the ISDE. Giovanni Sata won the individual overall and 500cc classes, as well as leading his Italian team to the overall victo· ry Down ander... Scott Parker (H·D) and Chris Carr (H·D) went one-two at the Springfield Mile, round 14 of the AMA Grand National Championhips. RIcky Graham finished third... Spain won the Trials des Nations overall in Watkins Glen, New York, but it was Finland's newly crowned World Trials champ, Tommi Avahta, who set the event on fire with his blistering per· formance. The final round of the World Trials Championship was also held at the venue, and Avahla won it as well ... John Myers won the Brainerd NHRA Pro Stock National, and along with it the championship with three whole races remaining... Doug Polen (Due) won both legs of the Sugo, Japan, World Superbike Championship event, extending his points lead over Raymond Roche.