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/128181
30 YEARS AGO••• NOVEMBER 28, '972 Five members of the Aurora, Illinois, Fir<: Department sat atop their new Thor motorcycles on the cover of Issue 146 in a picture taken in 1914. Apparently, the department authorities were seeking a quicker way to get firemen to the scene of a fire, being that the horse-drawn fire wagons took a considerable amount of time to respond. Maybe not such a good idea was the carrying of pick-axes on the motorcycles... In the quest to test every Gold-medaJ-winning bike model from the 1972 ISDT, we tested the DKW Enduro. The bike featured a 123cc engine mated to a six-speed transmission. After approximately 20 hours of testing, the only problem encountered was the loss of a rearbrake adjuster nut... We had a how-to section concerning cornering for "Cafe road racers.' According to the article, it turns out that, by shifting his/her weight to the inside, a road racer can carry much more comer speed. 20 YEARS AGO••. DECEMBER', '982 Trans-USA MX winner Dave HoUls shot across the cover of Issue #46 aboard his Suzuki on the way to said win. Inside, we interviewed Hollis, and he pointed out that, since the factories pulled their riders out of the Trans-USA Series after a disagreement with the AMA, he ended up winning the series. The win aIso garnered him a factory KTM ride for the following MX season... Jeff Ward (Kaw), Johnny O'Mara (Hon) and Phil Larson (Hon) each came away with wins at Indian Dunes. Ward won the 125cc Pro event, O'Mara the 250cc class, and Larson the 500cc ... Doug Dubach (Suz) won the 125cc Pro class at the AME Supercross at Saddleback, which featured a $1500 Pro purse. Ron Lechlen (Yam) won the 250cc Pro class, while TIm Locey (Yam) won the 500cc Pro event... Mike Metzger (Yam) finished third in the 50cc Pee Wee class at Corona MX in Southern California. Don Burke had the same finish in the 80cc Beginner event. '0 YEARS AGO.•• NOVEMBER 25, '992 A couple happy dual-sporters cross a scenic area for the cover of Issue 146. The riders were traversing Oak Creek Canyon out of Sedona, Arizona, which was one of the many scenic highlights on Desert Only Travel's Yamaha American Raid 1992/Super Tenere West Tour dual-sport ride. The ride covered approximately 1600 miles, and sights included the Grand Canyon ... Rex Staten (Hon) earned his fourth Vet World MX Championship at Perris Raceway in Southem California. Johnny O'Mara (Hon) rode a Peak/Pro Circuit CR125 to second overall, while Mike Beier (Yam) finished third ... Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) topped his retiring teammate Jeff Ward to win the Osaka Supercross in Japan. Erik Kehoe (Hon), Jimmy Button (Suz) and Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) rounded out the top five. Soon-to-be Team Honda teammates Jeremy McGrath and Jeff Stanton split wins at the Barcelona Supercross, a part of the World Supercross Series. Another new Honda teamster, Steve Lamson, went 2-3 on the two days. I f you want to interview Valentino Rossi, if you want to know what motivates him, what it was like to switch from the NSR500 to the RC21 1V, what adjustments he had to make to his riding style, what made him successful this year, what he predicts for next year and who his greatest rivals are, you might be granted an audience. Just make sure you have eight minutes to spare. That was the amount of time his multiple handlers were allotting at the final Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, to the various scribblers of the world if they wanted a glimpse inside the complex world of the man recently voted the most popular sportsman in Italy. Rossi is so popular that Nicky Hayden, in his first GP visit, said watching him traverse the GP paddock was like watching kids play. "They're chasing him around like duck, duck, goose. They never catch him. He never stops," Hayden noticed. On the first day, the wait for an audience was two hours. A reporter from Britain's Motorcycle News and I were told we could go in with the Spanish mob, which we did, only to discover that Rossi was conducting the interview in Spanish. Who knew? The next day was an hour's wait. One of the acolytes tried to talk Rossi into meeting with us late in the afternoon, but he was flat talked out - domani (tomorrow). The man himself said he could talk then on Monday, when a group of journalists were riding his bikes. I explained I'd be back in the U.S. "Next time," he said with a smile, as he was whisked off to a meeting of his fan club. One last chance was offered on Sunday - after the race, understandably. When he crossed the line second to Brazilian Alex Barros, our hopes sank faster than Martha Stewart stock. Anticipating this might happen, I'd asked one of Rossi's attendants if he could tape a few of Rossi's eightminute audiences with a pair of German journalists. We'll call them Helmut and Gunther. Amazingly, the request was granted, and for not one eight-minute interview, but two. Surely I could divine his entire being in 16 minutes. When I listened to the tape, I was incredulous. It was unbelievable. Like nothing I'd expected. Questions you wouldn't have dreamed of. And 16 minutes' worth. Deep, insightful, probing questions? Hardly. Helmut and Gunther were friggin' idiots. Helmut, I was told, worked for a respected Germany daily newspaper. His interview convinced me the paper's standards were lower than Swedish porn. you need to have respect for him because he's the number one. I don't know him personally, so maybe he's fun. I'm not a Schumacher fan, maybe because in Italy everyone is Schumacher, Ferrari, the {lag. First question from Helmut: Michael Schumacher said he's more afraid of driving in traffic than on a race circuit. What about you? Rossi (who lives in London): On the streets is more dangerous. Second question: You drive a motorbike or a car? Rossi: I ride a motorbike in the normal traffic when the weather is good, but is more dangerous than in the racetrack. Third question: How many tickets for speeding do you have? Rossi: With the car. With the bike never, with the car, I don't know. Five. having sex or winning a race? Rossi: Having sex or winning a race is always difficult, but anyway, winning a race. And then there are the girl questions. Helmut: (Would you prefer) Now we're getting to the crux of it. Helmut: Would you join your girlfriend if she's driving a motorbike? This question was so insipid it required the help of a translator. Rossi: Never. With the bike you need to go one, more free, and especially if they don't ride. For sure no, and especially behind a girl, because they're very dangerous. I don't like the girl also with the car. Also with my friends, with the men, if I go inside the car, 95 percent I drive. Helmut: Who are the greatest motorcyclists ever? Three questions into the interview and we know that Rossi agrees with Michael Schumacher that streets are more dangerous than racetracks and that he has five tickets. That's an average weekend for an AMA dirt tracker. Finally a question with relevance. Not an especially insightful question, but one, at least, that has something to do with the fact that the German is interviewing a motorcycle racer. Now Gunther: When you have free lime, do you slitl like to go with your bike? Rossi: Yes, always. I ride the bike in the street. Gunther: Do you have problems with the traffic in London? Rossi: Normally the traffic is a nightmare, also the weather. Very much like bike anyway in London. Gunther: Have you ever gotten a ticket for speeding because you drove too fast? Rossi: For me, maybe Mike Hailwood, Rainey, Schwantz. Gunther: You like the Londoners. Rossi: Yes. Very strange, but anyway I like. I think I've got just about enough for my story on the life of the fourtime World Champion: My Elghl Mlnules with ValenUno Rossi By HENNY RAY ABRAMS (Is there an echo in here?) alentino Rossi may be the world's greatest road racer, but he's undisciplined in a car, getting five speeding tickets, but none on the motorcycle, which he rides around his adopted home of London, where the weather is awful, the people strange, and the traffic hazardous, doubly so if you ride pillion on a motorcycle piloted by a female, which Rossi wouldn't do, because female riders are very dangerous, and, besides, he doesn't want to have sex with her anyhow, he'd rather win a race, like his hero Kevin Schwantz, who might not answer the sex question in quite the same way, at least not now that he's retired, though I could be wrong. I'll let you know in eight minutes. CN V Rossi: With the bike, never. With the car, yes. Sometimes. One per year. Usually when I'm at the motor show in Bologna. When I stay in Italy, I need to start from my home to go in Bologna; always I take the ticket. One lime a year, so five or six since '97. Right on cue, Gunther asks his Schumacher question: Do you like him? Now to me, he's an overrated robot who makes way too much money for loitering in the world's fastest car for an hour and a half every other summer weekend. Sorry, you want to know what Rossi thinks? Rossi: I don't know. Yes, I think Schumacher is the number one, so In next week's Cycle News 250CC MX Shootout DUD I • n • _ & • NOVEMBER 20. 2002 7S