Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO••• SEPTEMBER 25, 1973 --_ .._Ism '13 ~lli i~~ _ ._-.. ".-~ A c over honoring the 1973 ISDT fe atured no photos , just gigantic lette ring , was p lac ed on Issue 1/37. Inside , we previ ewed t he 1973 ISDT , "T he world's toughest motorcyc le competit ion . " Th e . 19 7 3 Ameri c an t eam cons isted o f Ja ck , J eff and J oh n Penton , Dan e L eim - bach , Bull Uhl and Carl Crank e... Mit ch Mayes (Hus) won his second desert race in a row in Lucerne, California . Tom Smith (Yam) and George Walker (Cl) rounded out the top three overall... Super Joe Einhorn came out to j ump a bunch of cars at the Stockton Scrambles, and the scram bles riders left the event somewhat upset by the smalli sh course and poor organization ... Eddie Mulde r (T ri) won the Labor Day Hal f Mile at th e Santa Clara Fairgrounds, even though there was a National running in Terre Haute, Indiana, the same day. 20 YEARS AGO•.• SEPTEM BER 28, 1983 We rod e th e 19 8 4 K aw a sa k i ZX750 E I Tu rbo across the cover of Iss ue #37 . We thought that an addendum should ' ve been considered for the defi nition of the word "fast" in Webster's New World D i ctionary , wher e it could 'v e sa id , "Th e Kawa saki lX750El Turbo.".. ; Jimmy Filice ( H-D ) , Scott Pa r k er ( H- D ) and Jay Spr ingsteen ( H·D) scored the pod ium spo t s at the Ken ny Roberts ' Yam ah a Country San Jose Mile. Filice passed Parker at the line for the win... Wayne Rainey (Kaw ) won both legs of the AMA Superbike Champ io nship at Willow Spring s Raceway in Rosamond , Californ ia... Bernie Schr eiber to pped the Michigan Nati onal Enduro, round seven of the AMA National Trials Series... Danny Chandler (Han) won the Open Pro class at the Mammoth Mounta in Motoc ross over Ron Lechien (Yam ) and John Whelchel (Yam) . Lech ien won the 250cc Pro class over Johnny O'Mara (Han) and Jeff Hicks (Han) , and O'Mara won the 125cc Pro clas s ove r Lechi en, Bri an My er s c ou g h (Han) and Doug Dubach. 10 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 22, 19 9 3 K evi n S chw ant z ( Suz ) led Mi c ha el Do oh an (Han ) and John K oci nski (Cag) down the Corkscrew on the cover of Issue #37 at the USGP at Laguna Seca. Kocinski won the race and Schwantz the cham pion shi p. Kenny Robert s Jr. (Yam ) finished 10th in his Grand Prix debut in the 250cc class at the event.. . We ro de th e 1994 Honda CR125R and found it to be even faster than the 1993 model , which is saying a lot. It ha d power aplenty... Randy Hawkins (Suz) won round eight (of nine) of the AMA National Enduro Champi onship at Caney Creek. He held an l l-point lead over Steve Hat ch going into the last round... Dave Schultz won round eight of the NHRA Pro Stock Bike Series in Indianapo lis , Indiana.. . Spud Walters (Suz) won both the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at the CMC Trans -Cal opener in Temecula , Californi a. Don Upton (Yam) and Mike Metzger (Suz) rounded out the top three in the 125cc class, while Larry Brooks (Yam) and Upton did lik ewise in the 250cc class. The r itain ha s anot he r W orld Ch amp ion . The li st th at sta rt ed w ith the first -ever 500cc W or ld Champion Les Graham and runs o n through G eoff D uke, John Surtees, Mik e Hailwo o d , Ph il Read , B a rr y Sh e en e an d Ca r l Fogarty (to name bu t th e 500c c and W o rld Sup erbik e Ch amp i on s ) i s ex te nd ed by one . C on gratula t i on s , N e il H od g son . You we re t h e best of th e yea r, b y a b ig margin, an d you deserved to wi n . It wo u ld b e a gra v e disservice to point o ut that Ho d g son also ha d th e best b ik e, by an eq u all y b ig m ar gin , i n a th in se ries d e v alu ed b y d e fe c t io ns o f rid er s and factory teams, and t ha t hi s o nly real c halleng er was up and -d o wn t e amm at e Rub en Xa us. And pesky Brand s wild c ard Shakey Byrn e. Th is w as Ho d g e' s m isfortun e, to w in in a ye ar th at loo k ed easy . N eil Ho d g son is no t alo ne in thi s. In fact , h e is in disti ng uishe d com pa n y . Th e same co m m e n t cou ld be ap p lie d to M ic k Do oh an ' s fiv e 500cc t i tl e s i n a ro w. And e ve n t o B a r r y Sh e en e ' s pa ir o f 500cc w in s in th e m id- ' 7 0 s. Both of th es e wou ld res pond in th e s a m e w a y , sho u l d a nyo n e d ar e to bro a ch the t opi c : th at th ey 'r e n o t r esp on s ibl e f or th e q ua l i ty of t he o p po si t i o n and th at the m ark of a c h am p io n is t o beat wh o ev er is t here. Hodgson c an h av e rec o u rse t o th e same resp onse. Sh eene w a s d ispla c ed b y th e m ighty force o f K enny Rob erts, plus a few o the r c i rc umst ances, but iron ical l y e no u g h g ettin g bea te n gave h im the opportunity t o sho w th e fu ll d epth o f h is t al en t a n d de te r m in at io n . He earne d much m or e admi ra tion in t he later ye ars o f his career. D o ohan ne v er d id g e t b eat en, th ough hi s su p eri or ity w a s so c o m p l ete that h is ta le n t w a s n e v er in q ue st io n . Yet th ere ar e st ill th o se w ho suggest that th e NSR Hond a m ad e him and th at h e w ould h av e p ro ve d mu ch m or e if h e had s wi tched t o Ya ma ha o r Suz uki an d conti nued to beat every one. H o d g s on' s imm e d i at e f utu r e seems m app ed o ut along p rom isi ng li nes , al thoug h at first g la nce sw itch i ng f rom an eas y W orld Sup erb ike season to th e hu g el y competitive and c h a lleng ing M o toGP s er i es m ight seem d aunting. Hod g so n will h a ve a fac to ry De sm o sed ici , t he b ik e all th e to p rid ers wo uld wan t , if th ey cou ldn 't get a f acto ry Hond a RCV . A nd t h is w ill reall y test h is t alent, com m it ment and so o n - as h e is d oubtl ess full y aware . W h y woul dn 't he be? Ho d g so n, as many might hav e forg ott en , i s a B Gra nd Pri x vet er an an d ca n be under no il l usions abou t th e lev el of co mpetit ive ness. He did, afte r all , rid e in t he 125 c c c la ss fu lly 10 yea rs ago , wh ic h is a p roper ho tbed. And in th e 500 cc class for th e n ext two years , where h is performan ces on th e W CM Roc Yamaha we re prom isin g enoug h fo r Kenny Rob erts to lend him a sp are fac to ry bike fo r t he closing rou nds . In A rg en t i na , h e qual ified o n th e fr on t row . alo n gsi de Do oh an . I r em emb er i t w ell. N e i l w a s a bri ght kid, full of intent and promise and a m ajor h op e for Brit ish rac in g . A nd I remember w hen he le ft GPs for Worl d Su pe rb ike, sure h e was maki ng the r ight m ove to p ro gress his career, w it h th e aim o f ulti mately getti ng ba ck to the top class . He co u ld have had n o idea it w ou ld take so lon g and t hat there would b e several yea rs of apparent ba ckward progress in Wor l d Sup e r b ike w ith Du cati an d t h en K aw a sak i , until h e b ottom ed o u t , r et u rn in g t o B r itish Super b ike in 1999. In a way , he w as starting agai n, and he 's bee n m o v ing forward ever si nce. It's o f co u rse o f vita l imp ortan c e fo r Britain to ha v e a t op r id er - j u st lo o k at the list o f n am es up t op t o ass es s ju st h ow im po rt ant Britain h as been to Grand Pri x ra cin g . And rec all In an upcoming Issue of Cycle News t ha t th e l a st Briti sh c h am p i o n wa s Sh een e in 19 7 7 - a q ua rter o f a ce ntury ag o. It's im p ortan t not ju st fo r Brita in, but a lso fo r M o t oG P. Wh ich is w h y D orna h as s u p por te d J er em y M cW i ll i am s and C haz D a v ies in recent yea rs . N ot enough , i n McWill iarns ' case , to p ut him in li ne for th e ti t le , pro ba b l y b e c au se t he re w a s alw a y s a re serv at ion abo ut hi s age. Wh i ch , as 3 9 - y e ar - o l d M cWill iams p roves week en d after weeken d, is n ot a va li d o bjection. S a d l y , h o w e v er , t ha t's the wa y th ese t hings w ork , and with Ho dg son assum ed to be a sh o e -i n for a fa ct or y D u ke in a sec o nd tea m , h e i s the Chosen On e. No w we wi ll really see w hat he is ma d e of. And I am sure he w ill w el co me t h e c h anc e to show us, in the real top c lass of rac ing . Okay , okay .. . before W or ld Super bi k e fa ns d a mn m e y et aga i n f or undervaluing th e produ ct ion-based class , consider thi s. On the day that D u cat i w on t he W or ld Champio ns h ip, w h ere w ere Fed er ico Minoli and Clau d io Domeni c ali , bo sses o f Du c ati and D u c ati Co rse? At th e M otoGP meet ing in Portugal , th at' s wh er e . M a ybe t h e y f eel th e sa me wa y . But th en ag ai n , what d o th ey k no w ? eN French World MX Finale Romanian World Supermoto Nevada Hare & Hound cue I e n e _ S • S EPTEM B ER 1 7 , 2003 95

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