Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Bv 30 YEARS AGO.•. JANUARY 30, 1973 Two photos of John Hateley laying over motorcycles seemingly to the point of hip dislocation were placed on top of each other for the cover of Issue #3. One photo was of Hateley on a speedway bike, while in the other he was aboard a flattrack machine... We road-tested the Honda Trail 90 on a commuter basis. We found that the machine was practically bulletproof and that first-gear wheelies are part of life on the street... Jim Fishback (Cl) won the Cactus Cats' Hare Scrambles in Lucerne, California - without the aid of his left footpeg, which fell off early in the race... Rex Staten made his first appearance on an American Motocross Maico 400 at CMC Motocross from Saddleback Park a memorable one with the win in the Pro class. 20 YEARS AGO... FEBRUARY 3, 1983 Defending AMA Superbike Champion Eddie Lawson celebrated on the cover of Issue #3. Inside, we interviewed the champ and found out that Rob Muzzy was the difference in his bike's performance achievements and that he wanted to leave to win the 500cc World Championships soon... Brad Lackey (Suz), Donnie Hansen (Hon) and Johnny O'Mara (Hon) won the 500, 250 and 125cc Pro classes, respectively, at the CMC Golden State Nationals in Huron, California ... Kenny Keylon (Hon), Keith Oelerich (Yam) and Chuck Sun (Hon) respectively won the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro classes at the Florida Winter-AMA MX Series in SI. Petersburg, Florida... Dan Smith (Hus) won the Desert MC District 37 Hare £. Hound in Lucerne, California. 10 YEARS AGO•.. JANUARY 27, 1993 The Yamaha GTSlOOO graced the cover of Issue #3. The bike featured a single-sidedswingarm front end, a 20-valve, 1003cc, fourcylinder engine, and a host of amenities. It was almost $13,000 ... Damon Bradshaw (Yam) began to make good on the predictions that he would dominate the AMA Camel Supercross Series with a win at round two in the Houston Astrodome. Guy Cooper (Suz), Jeff Stanton (Hon), Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) and rookie Jeremy McGrath (Hon) rounded out the top five. McGrath ran as high as sec·ond. Jimmy Gaddis (Kaw) won the 125cc main ahead of Phil Lawrence (Suz) and Doug Henry (Hon) ... Scott Summers (Hon) opened up the AMA National Hare Scrambles Series with a win in San Antonio, Texas. Rodney Smith (Suz) and Kent Howerton (Hon) rounded out the top three overall. HOIIII' DENNIS NOVES r It T he FIM has just announced a new system for resuming racing after rain interruptions in the MotoGP class of the World Championship Road Race Series. Now there will be a pace car (called a "safety car"), the (theoretical) elimination of "corrected time" and rolling restarts. It is difficult to understand as it is written, but I have talked to some race officials and can help you understand it, not just how it will work, but why the change was made in the first place. The old saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," might well be applied because, at least in terms of safety and fairness, the procedures that have been in place, with slight variations, since 1992, are very clearly not "broke." The old system worked (and will continue to work in 250 and 125) like this: If conditions are dry (dry track) at the start of a race, before the beginning of the final warm-up lap, the Race Director causes the "dry race" board to be shown to the grid. This means that if it starts to rain appreciably during the race, the race will be red-flagged and all riders brought in. They will be given the opportunity to change tires and then restart from a new grid determined by the order at end of the last lap prior to the red flag's being shown. This second start will be determined automatically to be a "wet race," meaning that the race will not be stopped again merely due to normal rainfall. As an added complication, the time from the second segment laps will be added to the time from the first segment to determine "corrected time," meaning that the first man to cross under the checkered flag may not be the race winner. All machines carry transponders, of course, and "corrected time" standings are shown on all timing monitors and fed into the live TV signal, which means that the teams know exactly where their riders are and can signal them accordingly, and anyone with access to a screen, including spectators if giant TV screens are on site, knows who is leading at the end of each lap. The system is fair, manageable and has proven to be foolproof and glitch-free, but it doesn't ring true to fans because it just doesn't look right to see a race order on the track that does not correspond to the "corrected" race order. In order to preserve the TV schedule and to avoid confusing finishes, Dorna, the FIM and the MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association) tried to work out a new system. Both Dorna and the FIM favored "flag-to-flag" racing which would mean that racing, in case of rain, would nol be stopped, and riders would either continue racing in the wet on slicks or enter the pits to change tires and return to the track with the clock still running. The MSMA argued that the tire manufacturers say that slicks are only for the dry and that the new rules would force riders to continue racing when conditions were unsafe for the tires they were using. They also objected to the expense that would result from fitting all machines with quick-change hubs, expenses that the manufacturers would pass on to the teams. In spite of these objections, the new "flag-to-flag" rules were printed in the FIM regulations last year and said to be applicable in 2003, but the MSMA reared up, saying that they had never accepted the proposal and that they could not accept the proposal. In theory, Dorna and the FIM - with two votes to the MSMA's one - could have insisted, but, in the interest of seeking a consensus, the three parties went back to the drawing board and came up with something completely different for the premier class, deciding to leave the old rules unchanged for 125 and 250. Now, in MotoGP, when the permanent Race Director decides that rain requires a "dry" race to be interrupted, it will be neutralized. (A race can be neutralized for any reason deemed urgent by the director and can be neutralized "several times.") White flags with diagonal red crosses will be shown motionless at each marshal post to indicate neutralization. A "safety car" will be dispatched to the track and do one lap during which time the pit lane exit will be closed by red lights and red flags. Riders can either come straight into the pits or do an additional lap but cannot overtaklO the safety car. At the end of this lap, the safety car will come in, and all riders still on track must follow it in and stop at their pits. The safety car will continue through the pits and stop 50 meters beyond the exit of pit lane. Teams are allowed to change tires and make adjustments. The Race Director will announce a time that the safety car will begin its lap, and by In next week's Cycle News that time all riders must be on their machines and in a single-file line behind the car in an order determined by the provisional results from the first segment. The safety car will do one lap with the single-file field following and then pull into pit lane as the field continues toward the start line, where the race will be resumed by a rolling start indicated by green lights and waved green flags. This will be a straight race with times from the previous segment now meaningless other than to determine the restart order. If three laps or less are remaining, the final sprint will be for three laps; otherwise, the number of laps will be the difference between the number already run and the number scheduled, but never less than three. I recall the AMA experimenting with rolling restarts in dirt track (without a pace car, of course) during practice for the 2000 Peoria TT and eventually discarding the idea because the field just gets too spread out due to the accordion effect. (Dirt track uses a single-file standing restart that works well.) To compensate for this accordion effect and any other possible irregularities, the FIM rules allow the Race Director to impose time penalties during the resumed racing on any rider: (1) who is not behind the rear wheel of the motorcycle in front of him (or her); (2) who is in a higher position than the provisional race classification; (3) who is more than three seconds behind the rider in front of him (or her). Real quick then, this means that we will have the same sort of delay when the there is a "neutralization" caused by rain and that there is also the possibility that time penalties will be introduced which will reintroduce "corrected time" results that confuse fans. So you are the team manager, and one of your riders is leading and the other is second. Would you ask your second rider to hang back and balk the enemy in third? Does a swine defecate in the forest? It seems to me that the Dorna and the FIM should either stick to their guns and use their two-thirds majority power to impose "flag-to-flag" racing or, if they are convinced or cowed by the MSMA, revert to the old system, obviously still good enough for the 125 and 250cc World Championships. eN Anaheim II Supercross Memphis Arenacross cue I e n ID _ S • JANUARY 22,2003 79

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