Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~ .1"1~f!I> 30 YEARS AGO••. OCTOBER 30, 19 73 A " fut ure skindive r" grac ed the c over of TIlt Qow ClI'dt -.lllMt TwIt Issue #42 as he worked to swap out his Yamah a m otoc r oss bik e's shocks... We ran a feature on ma k ing yo ur High School MX team , where the writer claimed t hat mot ocr oss would soon become the nat io nal spo rt, as it was taking over high schools across the country ... A prot est against the Bureau of land Management was held in Riverside, California, with over 3000 people driving their vehi cl es repeatedl y past the office wit h signs on their vehicles. In a phot o of three young children holding protest signs, one sign read: "So the 3 -toed frog needs room - what about us kids?..... Ado lf WeiI (Mai) went 2 -1 to win the Georgia round of the Trans-AMA Series. Arne Kring (Hus) made hi s U.S. debut with a mota -one romp to th e win but cra shed while goin g fo r the lead in mota two. :~~_ ~ l¥;; ----- - - 20 YEARS AGO... rGo? H e c alls h im sel f t he D o c t o r. And just to p rove it, fo r severa l m onths now Val entino Ro ssi has been trying th e patien ce. Of Honda . Of Yamaha. Of m o st of th e o t he r rid ers . A n d of Grand Pr i x racin g . Last weekend h e p roved ju st w hy he is abl e to do it . For a fi fth time , th e thi rd in ra cin g' s p re mier cl as s, Rossi p rov ed h im self unbeat able. Th e el fi n -faced It ali an , at j us t 24, h a s m oto rc ycl e ra c i ng by the n o se . And he is cl early enj o y ing giving it a prolon g ed tweaking . Ro ssi' s prog ress towa rd th e World Champion shi p w ou ld ha ve been li ttle sho rt of majestic but fo r tw o t h ings . O ne i s t h a t th e a djec t ive s i mp ly d oe sn 't fit a fun -lov ing, hi gh -f ash ion b ik e m ani ac w h o lik es t o larg e it in NOVEMBER 2, 1983 Ib iza o n hi s ho liday s . T he ot he r is th at Suzuki's Geo rge Holl and (Suz) grabbed the l 25cc Pro holeshot on th e cover of Issue a.-.. ',..&. . r# 42 o n h i s way to swee ping bot h motos at ro und fiv e of the CMC Trans - Ca l MX Ser i es at Carlsb ad . - - ~ ----Ch r i s He is ser ( Ha n) fi ni shed seco nd ov er M ik e B eie r (Y am ) in third. Rick John son (Vam) won the 250cc Pro cla ss over Bryan Myerscough (Han) and Jeff Hicks (Han) , while John Whelchel (Yam ) won the Open Pro cl ass... Terry Vance topped the field in his Kawasaki Pro Stock debut at the Irvine, California, NHRA event , beating out Randy Mason in t he final... Ricky Graham (H-D) won the Pontiac TT over Mickey Fay and Scott Parker. Randy Goss finished seventh but clinched his second National title... Jimmy Button won the Junior Cycle Modified, 83cc Stock Novice and 83cc Modified Novice classes h e d id h av e to c o m e t hrou g h so me ~ '.1'T, ---- at Canyon Raceway in Phoenix, A rizona. sort o f a mid seas on slum p . In t h e w a y o f th i n g s , t ha t m e an t fo r a spe ll h e d idn 't win every r ac e. So bad ly d id h is p erfo r m an c e d et er iorate t hat he actu all y dropped to th e second or eve n th e t h ird ste p of t he Ros si mu st h av e n o t ic ed as we l l. Rig h t now, less tha n 2 4 hou rs after Soo n a fte rwa r d, h e m ade a d ete r - h is t it le win , it is no t c le ar w he t he r he mi ned effo rt t o return to hi s teen a ge w ill stay wi t h HRC or go to Yama ha . ways: hair d y ed all co lo rs of t he ra in - Dep end s w ho you last spoke to . I' m bow, tiresome po st rac e amate u r t he - t ol d that Yam a ha has o ff e red an a trics , th e cac k li ng la u g h d ep lo y ed un pr e c e d e nt e d ni ne mil l i o n e u ro l i b e r a ll y in ina p p ro pr i a te circum- ($ 10 .5 mi ll ion ) . p l us hal f t h e fairi ng stances . A n d so o n . A ll th e th ings for him to se ll to th e h ighest bid de rs. t hat m ade hi m l ov e ab l e w he n I'm t o ld t hat Ho n d a is do i ng eve ry- you nger. t hi ng in its power to m eet h is te rm s. He fac to red the sam e b rav ad o int o I' ve eve n heard t ha t Ma rlb oro D uca ti In Brit ain , th e d ow ntu rn h ad a b it h i s r i d i n g . T r e at i ng t h e f ea rs ome has come bac k int o th e p ictu re w it h a of help from a belated dec ision by t he V - f ive Honda l i k e a t een a g er ' s t o y , la te bid . inc reasin g ly no to ri o us Rac e Di rec t ion a b an d o n ing t h e sort of ta cti cal ri d - M an y are conv inced he w il l make ( the same peo p le wh o in J ap an dis - i ng th at had l e t him down at t h e a m o v e. I hope he w ill, to o , for all th e qu alified Makota T am ad a fr om t hi rd Sachsenring , g oin g for b rok e. And b y r ight reason s. A s I'v e sa id befo re, it p lace afte r he and Sete Giberna u c o l- j im in y it did the t ri ck . ros t ru m . w ill b e th e b est w a y o f pro v i n g t he l ide d in a ha rd -n o sed o ve rt a ke, an d Ro ssi st arte d w inn in g rac e s aga in tr u e d e p th o f h i s a bil it y . A s o t h e r d isq u alified Joh n Ho pk in s for c rash - w ith the al m o st co n te m p t uo us e a se rid er s will po int out, green w ith env y , ing in th e first co rne r. Both had bee n th at had serv e d h i s yo u t h so w e ll . a nyo ne ca n w in on a Ho n d a RCV . t rying too h ard , an d ap p arent ly t h is is Marvelo us . no long er see m ly in GP racing ) . Lon g E v e n Gi b ern a u . You c a n i m a g in e w hat a rid er like Ke n ny Roberts Jr. or T o t h e di sm a y o f h i s empl oyers, after th e Do n in g t on race , Ross i w as h e b ro ug ht th e sa me ap p roa ch to hi s Gar r y M c Coy wo u l d d o , e q ui p p e d 10 YEARS AGO... retro sp ec t ively p en alized fo r failing to c o n t r ac t n e g o t i ati o n s . He sto p ped wi th a V-fiv e Hon d a rat he r th an th ei r OCTOBER 27, 19 9 3 see so me y ell o w fl ag s. He c ro ssed t he t ak in g t hem too se rious ly , in spite of d o wn -b eat Su zuki and Ka w asak i. A nd line first b ut w as de m oted to t h ir d. the how abo ut Jerem y M cWillia m s? T h e new 1994 Suzu k i RM250 was ph ot ogr aph ed for t he co v er of Is sue # 4 2 shredd ing a Sout hern Cali f orn ia berm. We found that , although it looked almost identical to the 1993 mod el, the ' 9 4 had mu ch m or e p lea san t suspensio n, and th e cra zy - fa st engine of the year before was toned down a bit. It retailed for $4749... We interviewed U.S. National and World Speedway champ Sam Ermolenko , who said he hoped th at the AMA and speedway would be able to More sig n if ic ant ly, soon afte rwa rd , big -m o ney n umbe r s bei ng bandied abo ut. Bu t I s h a ll awa it h a rd e vi de nce , h e was b ea t en fai r an d sq ua re i n a H o n da , un su rpri si n gl y , i s a c cus - w h ic h w ill now no t be lo ng in co min g . la st - lap showd own w ith Gi b ern au in t o m ed to b ei n g t r e a t ed w it h t he Bu t u nt il th e m atter is set tl ed , you 're G er m an y . Thi s a fte r h a vi n g giv en respect du e to th e world's bigg est and n o t g oin g t o ge t a straight answ er away a mid ra ce lea d o f a lm ost tw o m o s t s u cces s f ul m ot or c y c l e a nd f r om a n y o f t h e pa rt i e s i nvo l ve d . second s beca use h e wa s so con fide nt m otorcycle rac in g co rp orat ion . Now it Each ha s his o w n ag end a an d is try - th at hi s o wn la st - la p t a ct i c s w oul d was being led a m erry dan ce in ste ad . ing to stee r o p inion t o support it. prev ail. And it wa s ob v io us a m onth or m o re It w as one of fou r t imes that Giber - Instea d , le t' s all ta ke a less on from ag o th at Ho nd a didn ' t like it. Ro ssi. nau beat him. And thi s on e esp ec ially But Ross i had r ead th e si t ua t ion d id n 't s it co m fo rt a b l y wi t h th e b o y r ig ht. Hond a put up w ith it , all th e com e to terms soon on a new ser ies ... w onder. It wa s now that pe op le st art- sam e. Ro ssi co ul d ge t awa y w it h what If y ou 're go od enou gh , and h e Todd DeHoop (Han) won the 125cc class at round three of the AMA Fall Classic MX Series in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania, while T i m Ferry (Ya m) did t he same in th e 250cc class... Guy Cooper (Suz) won the Sw edi sh Supercross, ro und one of the World Supercross Series, over larry Ward (Suz), Buddy Antunez (Han) and Jorgen Nilsson (Han). ed to notic e that th e c arefr ee kid -h a v- he liked, it seemed - incl uding laugh - clearl y is g ood eno u gh, that is all you in g -fu n mask slipped . ing out loud at the cont ract terms. need. In an upcDmlng Issue of Cycle News Wh en th e g o ing gets toug h , just be yo urs elf. eN Australian MotoGP French WSBK Finale Indiana Hare Scrambles Finale Indiana GNCC Finale cue I e n e _ S • O CTO BER 22 , 2003 95

• Cover