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/128212
By TEllRDOWN PAUL CARRUTHERS 30 YEARS ABO••• MAYtS,1973 had a pretty good Sunday. It started And when you're finished, you'll have (talk about announcers who didn't early with a motorcycle race at Glen a pretty good idea of what happened know their subject matter), you had I Helen Raceway in San Bernardino, in a motorcycle race held on another two chances of seeing motorcycles California, and ended with me sitting continent. And that's pretty cool in on your television set: slim and none. on the couch watching hours and itself. Now we have ESPN doing super- hours of motorcycle racing in the But it gets better. Later that morn- comfort of my own home on televi- ing or afternoon, you can sit down sion. and watch the entire race unfold right We have an entire Tuesday on It made me wonder why we con- on your television. Tell me, what Speed Channel devoted to nothing stantly get letters to Cycle News with exactly is there to complain about? A else but motorcycles. Who cares if our readers complaining about the Brit with an accent that doesn't sound you think the color commentary lack of motorcycle racing coverage like yours? Give me a break. stinks or if you think the producer cross and Speed Channel doing everything else. Enjoy it. on television. Or they complain about And many thanks to TiVo! I was the quality of the shows that we do able to come home from racing in the era shots. Or not enough on-board get. In fact, without doing the math, I local Grand Prix, unload the truck camera shots. Enjoy it for what it is - think our TV complaint letters far and and sit down and watch the real motorcycle racing on television. away outnumber our AMA complaint Grand Prix from South Africa. That's letters. Now that's impressive. hard to beat. racing fans getting a little bit spoiled. Grand Prix, I took a break to catch up Let's back up a little bit. Although on some yard work, then returned to many of us can't remember the days TiVo and watched both legs of the before same-day television, websites World Superbike Championship from and e-mail, it doesn't seem that long Sugo, Japan. ago to me that I would spend Sunday And if this would have been a nor- morning waiting by the fax machine mal weekend in which there was an (remember those?) for result sheets AMA Supercross round from the from the Grand Prix or World Super- weekend prior, I would also have had bike series to get spit out. When they both the 125 and 250cc Supercross did arrive, that was basically it. A list rounds to watch at some point over of results, with margin of victory, the course of my weekend. Ditto for average speed ... and not much else. any AMA road racing. Call me a simpleton, but I found those exciting at the time. Using the We also get the occasional complaint about the fact that we give When I was finished watching the I think it's a case of us motorcycle shows you too many on-board cam- Yet many complain. That part I results on our websites prior to races being on television. People whine that it ruins their TV viewing experience because they already know who won the race when they sit down to watch the race. Well, that's not going to change. It's our job to get results and stories online as quickly as possible. If that causes you pain, then don't log on - at least not before you've watched the event. I can tell you that even though I know every single race result prior to watching the race on television, it does nothing to diminish the experi- don't understand. little bit of information you could Most of our complaints come from ascertain from the results sheets, you the supercross coverage, but it's fair- ence. Asking us to not post the stories and results as quickly as we get them would be like telling any other then had to rely on your imagination ly widespread that we get complaints to figure out exactly how Wayne about all of the television coverage at news agency to hold off on posting Rainey beat Kevin Schwantz, or vice some point throughout the racing season. They complain about the on TV. Ain't going to happen. If that call from overseas filling me in on announcers, the camera angles, the offends you, then I'm sorry. 20 YEARS ABO... MAY 1B, t9B3 Jay Springsteen shot across the cover of Issue 118 on his way to winning the Ascot Half Mile. It was his 34th National win. Randy Goss (H-D) and Scott Parker (H-D) rounded out the top three... Larry Roeseler (Hus) won the overall at round four of the AMA ISDE Qualifier Series in Spur, Texas ... Mark Barnett (Suz) won the Kansas City Supercross, round 14 of the AMA/Wrangler Super Series. Johnny O'Mara (Hon) and Jeff Ward (Kaw) rounded out the top three... The U.S.A. and England split wins between the two Speedway Match Series Openers in England. Chris Morton was the top Englishman both times out, while Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwartz were each the top Americans once ... Micky Dymond (Mai) won the 250cc Pro class at the Orange County International Raceway motocross season opener. Doug Bowers (KTM) won the 125cc Pro class, while Craig Canoy (Kaw) won the Mini Expert class. their news until the stories have aired versa. If I was lucky, I'd get a phone Bart Bast and two other speedway racers slid in close formation across the cover of Issue 118... The first Carlsbad Christmas GP ran with great success under the sanction of the CRe. Jim FIshbeck won the 250cc Expert class... Kenny Roberts topped the Ascot Half Mile over Gary Scott and Dave Aldana ... Rex Staten won the 500cc Expert class at CMC Saddleback MX and Randy Myers did likewise in the 250cc Expert event. Danny LaPorte won the 125cc Expert class, while Marty Smith took the second-molo win after breaking a chain in the first moto... We rode a SpecIal Noguchl Modified Yamaha 12Scc MXer, which featured magnesium drum brakes and special forks and shocks, among other things. It cost $1095. features the producers choose to As motorcycle racing fans living in Now on a Sunday morning, or Sat- show us. I'm not going to sit here and this day and age, you've never had it urday night if the races are in Aus- tell you that I never disagree with better. You can read about the races tralia or Japan, you can get live what the announcers say or never online on a Saturday night or Sunday results on the World Superbike or cringe when they say or do some- morning, you can watch them either MotoGP websites, and tons of e-mails thing stupid, but none of it irritates live or delayed right on your televi- come from the teams. What we would me enough to ruin it for me. If it starts sion, and you have good old Cycle prefer, however, is that you log on to to annoy you, just try to remember News to backfill what you saw by giv- cyclenews.com and get your informa- 10-15 years ago. It should be easy: ing you every single detail about each exactly what happened and why. tion in one tidy package (how's that You weren't watching motorcycle rac- and every one of those races later in for a sales pitch?). Wherever you ing on TV! Because there wasn't any. the week. choose to go to get the information, With the exception of an occasional though, it's there for you to decipher. race being aired on network television In an upcoming issue at Cycle Mews There has to be something else to complain about. Las Vegas Supercross Finale Ryan Hughes Intenrlew National Motocross PreYlew Genaan MX GP seers Point AMA Hoed IIlIce Lucerae Hare & Heulllll 124 MAV7,2003' cue' e n _ vv s eN 10 YEARS ABO... MAY 12,1993 Doug Polen, Mike Kiedrowski and Chris Carr were each featured on the cover of Issue 118 - Polen for winning the Charlotte Superbike National, Kiedrowski for winning the Southwick 250cc National, and Carr for winning the Sacramento Mile ... Colin Edwards II (Yam) finished second at the Superbike National, while Dale Quarterly (Kaw) got third. Jimmy Filice (Yam) won the 250cc GP... Jeff Stanton (Hon) won the first 250cc moto in Southwick, but he had to settle for second overall. JIIlike LaRocco, John Dowd (Kaw) and Phil Lawrence (Suz) rounded out the top five overall. Doug Henry (Hon) dominated both 125cc motos while Ezra Lusk (Suz), Larry Ward (Suz), Jeff Emig (Yam) and Ryan Hughes (Kaw) rounded out the lop five... Scott Parker (H-D) and Kevin Atherton (H-D) filed in behind Carr at the Sacramento Mile.