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/128205
30 YEARS AGO... MARCH 27, 1973 A sidehack silhouette was pictured as the riders took off into the sunset on the cover of Issue il11, above a headline that read, "Motorcycles Banned in L.A. Basin?" According to the issue, the federal government had concluded that motorcycles caused more pollution than cars ... Neil MacDannald (Hon) won the La Grange Scrambles in Northern California... Mark Adent took his less-than-250cc DKW to the overall win at the Sled Riders MC Hare & Hound in Red Mountain, California... Kawasaki showed up in Daytona after the 200 in an attempt to set AMA and FIM motorcycle speed records on the high banking of the speedway. Yvon DuHamel was its principle rider, and Kawasaki set records varying from 160 mph to 106 mph. 20 YEARS AGO•.. MARCH 30, 1983 We railed the new 1983 Kawasaki KX250-Cl across the cover of Issue il11. Inside, we found that the bike steered quickly and had plush suspenders. The "Prestone-pumper" retailed for $2219 ... Bob Hannah (Hon) won the first night of the Houston Supercross Doubleheader ahead of David Bailey (Hon), Broc Glover (Yam), Mike Bell (Yam) and Johnny O'Mara (Hon). Mark Barnett (Suz) won Sunday's event, ahead of Glover, O'Mara, Rick Johnson (Yam) and Ron Lechien (Yam). Hannah led the points by 19 over Bailey after seven rounds... Terry Vance (Hon) won the Gainesville, Florida, NHRA Pro Stock opener with a time of 8.403 seconds and 156.79 mph ... The Russians swept the top two podium spots at the Hoiland Ice Speedway, with Sergei Kasakov and Anatoly Bondarenko beating Erik Stenlund to the line. 10 YEARS AGO... MARCH 24, 1993 The participants in our 1993 250cc MX Shootout raced across the cover of Issue illl. Three of our four testers chose the Honda as their favorite, while the other chose the KX. The bikes retailed from $42994449 ... Jeff Gibson won the 65cc (7-11) and Junior Mini classes at the AMA Scutheastern Regional MX Championship Mega Series opener in Blountville, Tennessee. Mike Brown (Hon) won the 125cc A class, while Jim Neese won the 250cc A class... Michael Young won the 80cc Novice class at the GFI North/South Showdown. Bobby Bonds won the 60cc Novice (0-8), while Casey Johnson won the 125cc Intermediate class. Brian Manley beat Mike Metzger, Spud Walters and Donald Opton to the finish in the 250cc Pro event... Robbie Reynard (Kaw). at 15 years of age, wrapped up the National Arenacross Championship in Denver, Colorado, with room to spare. I 'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes probably wasn't all that concerned with motorcycle racing when he jotted down the following passages: "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace." Yet for some reason, I was reminded of these scriptures - or the musical version recorded by the '60s rock group The Byrds, if you will - while in Daytona to witness the 40th and final running of the Daytona International Lightweight lOOk for the 250cc Grand Prix bikes. Watching as Rich Oliver stormed away from rival and protege Chuck Sorenson to earn a fitting sixth Daytona victory aboard his Yamaha left me with mixed emotions over the fact that this was the end, no matter how fitting Oliver's win was. On the other hand, I can certainly understand the anti-250 camp, which argues that the two-stroke's time has come as a viable formula in what is a decidedly four-stroke-slanted domestic series. You can't buy the things with license plates on them. They're not for the inexperienced, they're expensive and maintenance-intensive, and there are only a handful of teams who can really make them fly. Geez, come to think of it, it sounds like I'm talking about HarleyDavidson XR750s, doesn't it? No less than seven different Inter- for the past four decades. At one o time, winning the thing took a back- national Lightweight 100K winners either already won or went on to win the Daytona 200: Dick Mann, Gary Nixon, Steve Baker, Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and seat only to a win in the Daytona 200 itself. Look at the names in the factoids below, and you'll understand where I'm coming from. Freddie Spencer. o Of these men, three of them won Where I was coming from was Daytona when I took the free time that I had while flying home to peruse the past International Lightweight results in the 2003 Daytona 200 By Arai souvenir program. And I jotted down a few notes. So this one's for you trivia buffs out there. It goes something like this: o Everyone knows that Rich Oliver is the all-time International Lightweight winner, with six wins, including three in a row ('95, '96, '97) but did you know that nobody else has won it more than twice? Or how about that all of them bagged their wins back to back. Riders doing the deed include Dick Hammer ('63, '64), Yvon DuHamel ('68, '69), Kel Carruthers ('70, '71), Kenny Roberts ('75, '76), Eddie Lawson ('80, '81), John Kocinski ('88, '89), Jimmy Filice, ('93, '94) and John McGuinness ('99, 2000). o Yamaha is the all-time winningest brand in the Daytona International Lightweight lOOK, with 29 wins. Another no-brainer, you say. Okay, but I'll bet you didn't know that the brand has also finished second 29 times, third 28 times and swept the podium 16 times. o Honda did the best job of raining on Yamaha's victory parade, the brand putting the pinch to Yamaha's dominance for three straight years during two different decades (Freddie Spencer - 1985, Anton Mang - 1986, Kork Ballington - 1987; Takahito Mori - 1998, John McGuinness 1999, John McGuinness - 2000). These account for all of Honda's six wins. the International Lightweight lOOK and the Daytona 200 in the same year. Gary Nixon did it in 1967, Steve Baker did it in 1977, and Freddie Spencer did it in 1985. o Eddie Lawson is the only man ever to win the International Lightweight lOOK on two different brands. He rode a Yamaha to victory in 1980, and he was on a Kawasaki when he repeated in 1981. o The late Gregg Hansford is the only other rider besides Lawson to win the race on a Kawasaki. The Australian did it in 1978. o Chuck Sorenson wasn't the first rider to win the Lightweight lOOK on an Aprilia. That honor falls to Harald Eckl, who won on the Italian brand in 1991. o Harley-Davidson won the first two International Lightweight lOOKs in '63 and '64 with Dick Hammer, but the Harley-Davidson name actually appeared once more on the podium, in 1975, when Gary Scott followed Grand National rival Kenny Roberts across the line to finish second. o Surprisingly, a Suzuki never won the International Lightweight 100K, but even more surprising may be the fact that the brand only saw the podium once in 40 years. Two-time winner Dick Hammer finished second on a Suzuki in 1967. o Along with Suzuki, Parilla, Ducati and Rotax only earned one podium finish apiece in 40 years. Well, those were just a few of the items I spotted. There are probably a lot more interesting tidbits to be mined. Hey, 40 years of history is hard to condense into a single page. But history is a great thing in that it shows us where we've been and where we need to go. It's not something to be ignored, regardless of the subject - whether we're talking about World Wars or 250 wars. And I'd hope that you would agree that the International Lightweight lOOK had a hell of a good run at Daytona, adding to the flavor of the Daytona experience. Its time has come, but what a time it had. RIP, lOOK. Still, what the Harleys and the 250 GP machines do have in common is history, and with the 250s, that history is especia lIy golden in regard to the role that the International Lightweight lOOK has played at Daytona Six-time Daytona International Lightweight 100K winner Rich Oliver. Georgia GNCC Greensboro National Enduro Denver Arenacross cue I e n e _ so • MARCH 19,2003 115