Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Cycle News 2004 03 24

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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The To ughe st There Ever W as 3D YEARS A6D••• March 26. 1974 Desert racer Mark .."."."r:n;~'T7'iii1 Adent stood astride his DKWand his girlfr iend on the cover of Issue # I I. We profiled the desert newcomer, and du ring his fi rst Expert District37 desert-racing year ( 1973), he won the 2S0cc class overall. In 1974, he was going for the overa llchampionship... After two days' worth of racing inside the Houston Astrodome , Jim Po meroy to pped the 2S0cc class, and Tim Hart (Yam) won the SOOcc class during the Yamah Internatio nal a Motocross Series event. Tony DiStefano and Gary Semics rounded out the top three in the SOOcc class, while Pierre Karsmakers and Rich T horwaldson did likewise in the 2S0cc class... Yucca Valley High Sc hool held its first motocross on school grounds . Over 300 spectators showed up to watch the 3 I riders do battle. 2D YEARS A6D.•. March 28. 1984 We rode the new Hon da CB70 0SC Nighth awk S across the cover of Issue # I I in honor of the test included inside. We found it to be a capable and comfort able road bike. It reta iled for $3398... Jeff Ward (Kaw) dominated the Talladega MX, round three of the AMNBel-Ray Grand National MX Championship Series. Teams Yamaha and Honda didn't show up, so David Bailey (Hon) finished fourth on a box-stock CR2S0Rwith Bevo Forte tuningfor him. Mark Barnett (Suz) and Scott Burn wo rt h (Suz) rounded out the top three ... De nnis Siga los won both the Scratch and Handicap main at the SpringClassic Speedway Finale in Long Beach, California. 1U YEARS A6D••• March 23. 1994 MuzzyKawasaki's Scott Russe ll came from the 16th row to win the Daytona 200 ByArai, and fo r that he was given the cover of Issue # I I. Troy Corser (Due) and Eddie Lawson (Y am) rounded out the podium... Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) chased down four-time Daytona Supercross winner Jeff Stanton (Han) to win his second Daytona Sup ercross in a ro w. Stanton finished second , while Mike LaRocco (Kaw) fin ished third, and Jeremy McGrath (Ha n) and Doug He nry (Han) rounded out the top five. jimmy Butto n (Suz) won the 12Scc main over Ezra Lusk (Suz) and Tim Ferry (Hon)... Chris Carr (H-D) wo n the Daytona Short Track over Terry Poovey (Rot) and Brett Landes (Rot). his is one of my favorites, and I'd move 'e m over a little bit." it's a story that I've to ld often . In fact , pe rhaps t he most famo us O ne day several years ago , I Markel st o ry ever involves such a move. was with a group of journalists Du ring an indoor short track race in the at the Daytona Short Track, Sou th , the story goes, Markel was seeking and t he inevita ble convers atio n came up a payche ck on his way to t he next whereby the top dirt -track racers from varNational, and he fo und himse lf in a battle ious eras came unde r the microscope, each with a local hots hoe d uring t he main scribe offe ring his thoug hts on wh y this event. Markel chase d the local for 24 laps rider or t hat rider was the best, the most before simply knoc king him down in the talented, etc. Somehow t he conversation last turn of the last lap and taking t he win . t urn e d into a debate over who was t he Booed in Victory Lane, Markel was grilled to ughest dirt-tracker who ever lived. I sat as to why he had to knock the leader silent ly as t he group delibe rat ed , unanidown to win. mo usly agreeing that the lege ndary Dick "N eve r saw him," was t he reply. Mann was tops in the category. T hen they " I know Dick Mann like to tell that asked my opinion. one," Markel laughs. " No quest io n in my mind," I said, "Bart His to ugh-guy w illingness to partake in Markel is the toughest there eve r was ." on -t rack violence tends to create a legend 'And why do you say that?" one of the that Markel the boxer was also a thug off de bators quest io ne d. the track, th oug h. Not t rue, says Markel. "Why?" I answered. "Beca use Dick "I think I really only got in one fight," Mann to ld me t hat Bart Markel was the Markel claims . "It was some Mexican kid to ughest, and unt il Dick to ld me t hat, I thought that Dick Mann was , too." Bart Markel sits a top h is factory Ha rley fo r a Markel has certainly earned photo with t he la te Roxy the right to wear the toughRoc kwood a t As co t Pa rk . guy crown, even if he doesn't Ca lifo rnia . necessarily feel th at he deserves some of his reputat ion. Just look at the examp le. " I d id n't even get started racing unti l I was 21 ," Markel says. "I had done some bo xing when I was younger, and I was in the Marine Corps for a couple years. Then I got out, and a couple guys t hat I knew were run ning scram bles , dirt tracks and stuff like that. I tried it, and I found out that I was pretty good at it, so I ended up doi ng it." Markel's scra mbl es tale nt in California. He just wanted to prove bro ught him immed iate success at t he Peo ria Tf where he scored his first AMA how to ugh he was , so I had to prove that National win in 1960 and backed that up he was wrong. I took care of him." w ith a repeat victory in '6 1. Everywhere W here Markel 's to ugh persona was else, determination made up for any lack ev idenced, however, was t hrough his abilof talent or equipment. Markel gained ity to ride through injuries t hat would noto riety fo r his on -track ro ughneck have sidelined most others. style . The "Black Bart " moniker qu ickly "I always rode hurt, because I crashed fo llow ed. a lot ," Markel says. "I spent a week in the "I don't know why I got that," Marke l hospital in Gol de n, Colorado, after I says. " Maybe because I fell off a lot and brok e my pelvis once. Th at took me be cause I refused to lose . I know that I fe ll about a month to heal be fore I was bac k off a couple times wh en I was runn ing in racing. Man, I can't even remember w hen second place just because I hated to lose . that was ." When I d id t hat, that was usually the end Wh atever the mystique, Marke l was of t he race fo r me t hat day, but I never let also good. Damn good. Good eno ugh to falling worry me any." earn a factory ride w ith the Harle yPerhaps then, it was because he wasn't Davidso n racing team, and good enough afraid to trade paint with others, someto win t hree AMA Grand National thing he will admit to. Ch am pionship titles , in 1962 , ' 6S and '66. " I was a pretty rough ride r," Markel T hat first one, Markel says, came after says. "Wh e n I ca ught somebody, if they four -t ime champ Carroll Resweber was we re in the spot t hat I wanted to be , then injured at Lincoln, Il linois, just one race T www.cyclenews.com be fore the series finale. "We w e re kind of tied fo r first place when he got hurt," Markel remembers. "Th e re was only one race left after tha t: Ascot [Califo rn ia]. I t hink that I w o uld have beaten him anyway, because I was bett e r at Asco t t han he was. " But his three titles notwithstanding, pe rha ps Markel's crowning moment cam e at the Columb us, O hio , Ha lf Mile on June 27 , 197 1, when he rode t he Harleym uch -maligned iro n- barrel Davidson XR750 to his 28th career Gra nd National victory, eclipsing Joe Leo nard 's record of 27 wins to make Markel t he w inningest of all t ime . "Joe had won 27, and the day I won Columbus, I went ahead of him," Markel says non chalantly. "It just happen ed t hat way. I remember that I pretty much ra n away w ith the race." But Marke l says that he also knew his time had come. " I we nt to a few Nationa ls after t hat , but I could see that I was losing something, so I phased myself o ut of it," he said . " But I'm glad th at I raced in the t ime that I did. My first bike on ly cost me $650 . Now they 're over $30,000, and you have those over-$IOOtires th at you bum off in 10 laps. Our tires were $15 each, and they would last for four or five races anyway. These kids today have it easy. Most of t hem have their own mechan ics, and t hey have t he se $ 300 ,000 motorhomes to go to . You've got to have quite a bit of dam ned money to get into t his racing now." Nowadays, it takes Markel a little bit longer to heal up . At 68, he has currently had to m uster up the toughness to batt le th rough serious liver trouble. " I feel pretty good right now," Markel says. "I can't walk very far without getting really tired . But I don't think it's going to kill me ." Having ret ire d fro m a job w ith General Motors - a pos ition he held throughout his factory racing days - arou nd 1994 , Markel has enjoyed a 45-year marriage to his wife , Joanne, raised a son, Bart , and a daughter, Stacy, and now enjoys spend ing time w ith his six grandchildren. Like many racers of his era, he has no reg rets about the life he chose. "Racing was the first t hing I eve r did that seemed easy to me," Markel says. "I cou ld win a lot . I don't know. I guess I had so me thing that t he other guys didn't have . I just hated to lose ." eN Scott Rousse au CYCLE N EWS • MARCH 24, 2004 109

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