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/128178
30 YEARS ABO.•• NOVEMBER 11, 1972 A helmetless Greg Hartwell was featured on the cover of Issue *43 as he transported his road rllcing rnllchine on the sldecllr of his Hllrley-Davldson. Apparently, it used to be that everyone hauled their bikes that way in England, but Hartwell said it was beginning to get too cold to be doing it anymore... The Los Angeles Times threw an ACA road race at Riverside Raceway, and Pat Evans ran away with the victory. George Kercher finished second on a stock bike. Rumor had it that after the event Evans was offered a race-car ride for his performance that day... Jim Fishback (Cl) got his fifth overall desert win of the season in Stoddard Wells, California ... The Tonto, Arizona, State Championship Enduro featured six full-on river crossings. Actually, 'the start/finish line was under more than two feet of fast-moving water. There were 50 finishers. 20 YEARS ABO••• NOVEMBER 10, 1982 Honda teammates Danny Chandler and Steve Wise power across the cover of Issue *43 on their way to first and second, respectively, at the Superbikers IV event in Carlsbad, California. Perha ps most impressive of all at the annual event was Jay Springsteen, as he finished third on a factory Harley-Davidson XR750 twin ... Husky-mounted Dan Ashcraft topped the 1DO's MC Hare 6- Hound in Lucerne, California. His teammate Dan Smith fmished second overall, and in the Open class... Heading up Yamaha's 1983 lineup was the new TT600, which featured a 585cc four-stroke, four-valve engine and Monocross suspension ... We profiled road racer Sam McDonald, who hOd just clinched the AMA Formula Two Road Race Series Championship. McDonald was offered a factory Honda Superbike to ride for a race, and he accepted, achieving a fourth-place flOish in his debut - much to the delight of his fiancee Pocahontas. 10 YEARS ABO••• NOVEMBER 4, 1992 Cycle News European Editor Alan Cathcart bent Doug Polen's World Champlonshipwinning Ducatl 888 Superbike across the cover of Issue #43. The championship was the bike's third in as many years... Team Honda's Scott Summers finished off a perfect GNCC Series by winning the final round in Elkins, West Virginia. He won every race for a perfect-season score of 160 points... Erik Kehoe (Hon) won the 125cc Pro class at the Perris, Califomia, round of the OFI Fall Series. Shaun Kalos (Yam) beat Kehoe for the 250cc Pro win, while the 500cc Pro class was won by Donald Upton. The 60cc (9-11) class fell to Jonathan Shimp, followed by Bryan McGavran... Brits Carl Fogarty and Terry Rymer teamed up to clinch the World Endurance Championship after dominating the penultimate round of the series in Phillip Island, Australia. They won the championship aboard a Kawasaki. T he price of one of the happiest times of my life is exactly $1500. That was the going rate for my used, Weslake Mk. 5 short rod, in a PJ frame, with all the good stuff Talon hubs, Dellorto carb, NEB clutch. It was the last of three speedway bikes I bought - purchased from one of my Northern California buddies, a very good speedway rider by the nam~ of Tommy Hedden, in the summer of '93. If you ever met Hedden, or someone like him, then you'd know what I mean when I say that it was a typical "Hedden deal." The price was good, but you also got what you paid for, and after spending another $900 to get the Weslake dialed in, I figured I'd have a great bike for the tight bullring at Costa Mesa every Friday night during the 1994 season. My career at Cycle News was in its infancy then. I was an assistant editor in charge of the Events section. There were no dirt track Grand Nationals, no motocross shootouts, no street testbikes, not much in the way of major feature stories to write. I was merely dismissed as the "locals guy" with "speedway on the brain." It suited me just fine, because speedway was all I really cared about in the motorcycle world then. Sam Ermolenko won the World Final at the end of 1993, becoming the first American to pull off the feat since Bruce Penhall had won his back-to-backs in 1981 and '82. And still I remember haVing to bitch loudly to get the more motocross and road race-oriented associate editors to relent and put a small image of "Sudden Sam" on the cover. Then came the 1994 season, and I was in speedway heaven. You could still ride speedway four nights a week in Southern California back then, starting with the big fifth-mile at Glen Helen Raceway every Wednesday. Then it was on to the more Costa Mesa-like Perris Speedway on Thursday, followed by Costa Mesa, then Gene Woods' Speedway USA on Saturday night. I was better-equipped than most Support-class hackers like me, pulling into the pits with two bikes my PJ -framed Godden and thi PJ/Wesiake. The Godden only got ridden on the big track at Glen Helen, the Weslake was used for the other three venues, and the drill went like this: Work Wednesday, leave right at 5 p.m. and sit in traffic from the 91 East to the 15 North, then break free and haul ass in time to clear the back gate at Glen Helen. Ride, get back home around 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning and pull the Godden apart for servicing. Work, suffer through the same 91/15 traffic ritual to make it to Perris, ride, get home around midnight and tear apart the Weslake. Come Friday, I could go home and then get the Weslake ready just in time to turn around and head to Costa Mesa. Saturday was easier, as there was plenty of time to pay attention to both bikes before heading up to the high-desert town of Victorville to run Speedway USA. With another talented Nor Cal speedway pal, Dustin Schroeder, spending the summer of '94 with me so that he could sharpen his chops on the Southern California circuit, speedway ruled the universe. And for me to get the chance to be on a firstname basis with So Cal legends such as Bobby Schwartz, Mike Faria, Lance King and Steve Lucero - let alone just to meet them - was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Come October, I was privileged to be able to cover the U.S. National at Costa Mesa for Cycle News for the second year in a row. It was a far better experience, because I knew everybody by then. "Sudden Sam" won the National for the second straight year. As a rider, I took out a half-page ad in the program - complete with a message that was more en cryptic than Don McLean's American Pie, thanking all who had helped me get through my best year of speedway. Momentum was on my side, I felt, and I promised to return with a vengeance in 1995... It never happened. A promotion to a new position as one of those jerkweed associate editors that I despised so much during my early days at CN brought with it some new responsibilities. Among them was the responsibility for reporting the AMA Grand National dirt track events, which meant a different airplane to a different town every Friday morning, seriously wounding my dreams of riding speedway at Costa Mesa and Victorville. That dream was killed completely when Glen Helen and Perris closed their doors as mid-week facilities. The Godden was the first casualty of this lifestyle change, sold off through Cody Racing Products to some collector in Ohio who later called and begged me to tell him that someone famous had ridden the bike. "Nope, sorry, just me. But I think Mike Faria sat on it once in the pits." The ai' Weslake just sat dormant, making the move from garage to garage. I hemmed and hawed about selJjng it for years, and when a former employer of mine, Rich Thorwaldson of BVH Motor Sports fame, warned me a' month ago that he was going to come to Southern California and buy it from me, I didn't even take him seriously. After seven years, I didn't even think that the stupid thing would run. But after cleaning it up a little, oiling the top end and charging up the hot box, my wife and I pushed the thing six feet before it coughed and fired to life, sounding just like it was getting ready to challenge that bullring at Costa Mesa on a warm summer evening in June. Excited, I called Bobby Schwartz, a person that I am now proud to be able to call a longtime friend, and asked him to come over and listen to it "just in case you hear something wrong," I told him. In reality, I was praying that he would find something that would give me an excuse not to let it go. Schwartz pronounced it good. Then Thorwaldson showed up the next day, and he didn't even need to hear it run - although I did, one last time. After that, he slapped the check in my hands and was on his way before I was really aware of what I was doing. As that damned bike turned the corner and vanished from sight, I literally had to fight back tears. Since then, all I have been thinking about is speedway. I have dug out all the old videos, spied the old photos and read my new Turn One speedway magazine cover to cover ... three times. I don't know, I guess that part of my life is over - or is it? I'm far enough up the ladder at Cycle News now that I don't have to be gone every weekend anymore. Those laydown things scare me, but if I found a good-running Godden for the right price, maybe they could find a spot for me in the Support class once in a while... eN Lucerne Hare & Hound Rnale 2003 12500 MX Shootout cue I ... n _ _ os • OCTOBER 30,2002 103