Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By ~. I(lI!IIZ & t J1:l> 30 YEARS AGO.•. OCTOBE 2 , 1973 R The ISDT impound was photographed for the cover of Issue #38. The Czechoslovakian team came away the winner again, this time in Dalton, Ma ssachu setts . The home team fini sh ed fi ft h i n t h e World Trophy hunt, but the American team led by Dick Burleson won the Silver Vase... Marland Whaley won yet another round of the AMA Tri als Series in Orange, Califo rnia, and took the championshi p alo ng wi th it.. . We inte rviewe d Kenny Roberts, who was look ing forward to going road racing on a more permanent basis in 1974. The new National Champi on said he finally felt as comfortable on a road racer as he did on a dirt tracker... Jim Rice (H-D ) won the Golden State Mile in San Franci sco, Cali forni a, ove r Randy Scott (H-D) and John Hateley (Trl). 20 YEARS AGO.•. OCTOBER 5, 198 3 We rode the Cagiva 125WMX a cros s the cover of Issue #38. We found that the Italian tiddler was competitive with its Japanese coun- terparts in ju st its first y ea r. It retail ed fo r $ 1960... Ricky Graham (H-D) topped t he 20 lap final at Ascot , and with it th e records for speed for both one, lO and 20 laps around t he tr ack. Jay Sp r i ng st een (H- D) and Randy Goss ( H-D) chased him hom e... The American team of Broc Glover, David Bailey , Mark B arn ett and Jeff War d t opp ed th e Trop hee des Na ti on s in Czech oslova kia... J ohnny O 'M ara (Hon ) won th e 125 c c Pro class at th e CMC Trans-Cal opener in Santa Maria, Californi a, ove r Da nn y Chand ler ( Ho n) and George Holl an d (Suz) . The 25 0cc Pro class was won b y Brya n Mye rscough ( Hon) over Je ff Hicks ( Hon) and A .J . Whiting (Yam) , and John Whelchel (Yam) topped John Finkeldey (KTM) and Peter Snort eland (Yam) to win th e Op en Pro event. 10 YEARS AGO•.. SEPTEMBER 29, 1993 J eff Emig , Er i k Kehoe and Ezra Lusk all r aced ac r o ss t he cover of Issue #38 in a changing of the guard announcemen t of how th e c h am p i on sh i p s were wa n. Th e surpris- es of the year were the emerge nce of D oug He n r y as t he 125cc Eastem Regional Superc ro ss an d 12 5 c c Nati on al Moto c ro ss Cha mpion in h is fi rs t ye ar with Te am Honda and rookie Jeremy McGrath' s dominating th e 16 -round AMA Supe rc ro ss Series with 10 wins to take that title... The U. S. T eam of Jeremy Mc Grat h, Mike K iedrows k i and J eff Emig topp ed the Mo tocro ss de s Nati on s fo r t he 13 t h straight year, this time in Aust ria. Belgium and Sweden rounded out the top thr ee... Carl Fogarty (Due) won both legs of the Assen World Sup erbi ke ro und 10 ove r S co t t Russell ( Kaw) bo t h time s out. Russell still held a seven-point lead after the event. STEVE COX Perhaps eo p le id ent ify with th e u n d erd o g . F a n s l o v e t he un d e r d o g . T h a t' s at l e a st p a r t o f t he r e a s o n Ri cky C arm ichae l gets t reated with suc h li t t l e r e sp e c t f ro m so me o f th e m ore v o c al race fan s - h e' s ba si call y never b ee n t h e und erd o g . He w in s eve ryt h i n g . I t h e o r i z e th at Ri ck y C a r m ich ael f an s are also fan s of t he Ya n - P kees, L ak ers , M ic h ae l S ch u m a ch er and J eff Go rd on , and there 's n ot h in g w ro ng wi t h t h at as far as I c an tell. Bu t un derdogs are ve ry p opu lar in t h is day and ag e, an d Ry an Hug h es h a s b e en an un d erd o g it see ms fo r hi s entire c are er. Ry no is almo st un ive rsally lo ved . If he slams a guy in a corne r, he g ets c heers. If Carm ichael does it , he gets b ooed . I ca ll ed a f rie nd of mine o n my way h o m e fr o m w ork t h e d a y t h e T roy Nationa l was c an ce led, and he actuall y c rie d when I to ld him th e 125c c Nat ional C h ampio ns h ip wa s o ve r, a n d H u g h e s ha d co me up se ve n po ints short . A grown ma n... c ryi ng. It co uld b e th a t th ou sand s o f p e opl e wer e ri d in g al on g with Ryno at every Nat ion al , cheeri n g hi m on and h op in g bey ond hope th at he cou ld p ull it off. Pra y in g t hat Rya n Hu g h es c o u ld b e the 2003 12 5 c c Nati onal Motocross Ch am pio n. Hu gh es we n t t h ro ugh a lot to get within se ve n points of h is te ammat e Gra nt La ng sto n. Ry no broke h is leg at Southw ic k and st ill f inishe d bot h m o t o s i n th e poi n ts. Th en he was f o rc ed to si t out t h e ra c e a t B ud d s C reek . at least in p art du e to a blatant takeo u t move h e was the vi ct im of d u ring pra c ti c e from rival M ike B rown . He rod e through ex haustion from o ve rt ra in in g , b ad starts , f a ll s , b ike prob lems, an un inten tio nal ru nin w ith B row n at Washougal , and a ha rd crash at Steel City t hat basi cally ru ine d hi s b ik e, and throu gh it all, th e 30 -year-o ld v eteran just kep t showing up and sco ri ng p oints. And even thou gh Hugh es wou ldn 't ag ree w ith m e , maybe , j us t m a y b e, th is is ho w it's supposed to be. Maybe Ry an Hu gh e s is nev er su p posed t o wi n a cham pi o ns hip. Maybe he ' s th e guy w ho tr ain s h ar d , ri des hard , n ever gives up th ro ugh a ri d icu lo us amount o f ad versity , and ye t still always h as something go wro ng to rob h im of his f i r st N a t i on a l C ha mp i on s hip . This ye a r , whe n it l o ok ed lik e h e j u st might ha ve had all of th e m omentum an d d et ermination he n eed ed to wa lk aw ay th e 12 5cc Nati on al Ch am pi on , M o th e r Na tu r e stepp e d up t o hol d LCD . I~'s Fi~~ing h im b ack. I mean , wha t can a guy do against Mothe r Na tu re? No w I don 't wa nt any body to thi n k th at I be lieve Gran t L ang st on i sn' t d eserving o f t he t it le. There ' s ne ver, e ve r b ee n a c ha m p io n wh o wa sn 't deserv ing o f th e title. La ng ston ro de a s mart seaso n, an d h is d e c i si on t o rac e t he 12 5 cc Na t iona ls less th an a week before th e f irst race o f t he year should go down in t he hi sto ry books as one of th e g re ates t ga m b les ever. A nd reme mber , Lan gston h ad b e en " ro b be d " o f a na tiona l titl e already, when h is rear w heel ex p lo de d at t he last rac e of t he yea r in 2 0 0 I . Perhaps tu rnabou t's fair p lay. A n d thin k about t hi s: A ssu ming th at Hu gh es coul d've ra ced B udds C reek if he w as n ' t taken out by Brown before the rac es eve n start ed , c h a n ce s a re p retty d e c en t that he cou ld' ve scored at least seven p oints be t wee n th e two moto s , b ut B ro wn ' s q ue st io n ab le m ove in pra c ti c e m ay h av e o pe n e d t h e d o or ulti m at el y f o r hi s 200 1 a r chr i v al to score a Nati on al Cha m pion sh ip of hi s own . He' s broken h is left t ib ia and fib u la, he suffe red a c o m p o u n d fr acture o f h is righ t t ibi a and fib u la , he d oesn 't have an AC L in his r ig ht knee and ha s had it sc op e d t w ic e, h e h a s a screw in h is rig ht w rist and h as h ad th ree surger ies o n that, he suffe re d a co mpou nd fr actu re of his r ight thumb and t ore t he te ndon the re tw ic e (wit h two surgeries there), he' s br o k en hi s co llarbo ne three ti m es , h ad a screw i n h i s l e ft w rist ( tw o m ore surgeries), a p late a nd fou r sc rews in hi s jaw, bro ke n s i x r ib s , coll aps ed a l ung, lace r ate d h i s li ve r , h a d may be eight concussio ns and broken a couple of vertebra e and throu g h it all retu rn ed t o rac e this y e a r' s 125cc Na tio na l C hampio ns h ip , w in ni ng a fe w m o to s and an overa ll. A s far as I' m co nc ern ed , h e' s th e King o f Underdogs . "If I'm going to come ba c k, I'm go ing to g ive it everyt hi ng I have," he said in a Cycle News inter vi ew before the Nationa ls bega n . "I don't und ers ta nd p eo ple who ca n just go out t here and half -ass it . You onl y have one c ha nce at d o in g t his , a nd th e y 're g o i n g t o find t ha t o ut w he n t hey 're ret ir ed . You o nly ha v e o ne c han ce , and yo u're n ev er g o in g to g et another c h anc e agai n , so you migh t a s w ell p ut ev erything you h av e into it , and w h at comes out of it is w ha t comes out of it. If you do good, you do good . If you d on 't , well, life go es on. A t least you ca n't sa y th at you di dn 't t ry ." He alre ad y held a lege nda ry spot in m o t o cro ss lore afte r pus h i n g h i s KX 12 5 acro ss th e finis h l in e in th e last mota o f the 19 9 5 season with a broke n c ha i n, ev en tho ug h h e h a d rea li stically a l read y l o st t he 125 c c Nationa l Champ i onsh ip eve n if h i s bike had held t ogether. He c o u ld' ve j u s t dropped h i s b ik e and walked back to t he p its , as I'm su re so m e of toda y ' s st ars may h ave don e, bu t he d idn't. He fini sh ed th e rac e. He perso ni fies drive, h eart an d d et ermin a t io n. Bu t ma ybe. 10 y ears from today , Ryan Hu gh es w ill b e remembered as t he ultim at e underd og . A m oto c ro ss legend beca use h e n ev er won a c h am p ion sh ip, not in spite of it. O r maybe , j ust m aybe , he ' ll b e cel eb ra ted a s among t he m ost d et er m in ed and deserv ing c h am p io n s in th e h ist or y of t he sport after winn in g th e 2004 125c c Nati onal Motocross Champio nship. eN Ryan Hughes got up from a gnarly spill at Steel City and rode h is bike t o the fi ni sh like this , losi ng on ly on e spo t . Ul t imate ly, though , it w as a ll for naught, as t he cha m p ion ship was over · eve n thou gh nobody k new it yet. In an upcoming issue of Cycle News Rio MotoGP Columbus AMA Dirt Track Kentucky GNCC eye I e n e _ S • S E PT EM B ER 24, 200 3 103

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