Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Dan Of All Trades e ss t han a month afte r Brad Lackey becam e the first American to win a World Motocross Champ ionship tit le, Team Y amaha's Danny laPorte became the first American to win one o n the first try. At Vimmer by, Swed en, on August 29, 19B2, laPorte's dream of being a World Champion became reality when he put together 4-2 mot o finishes fo r second overall, be hind anothe r Ame rican, Do nnie Hansen , who made it a stellar day for America after storming to a clean sweep of bot h motos for the overall w in. According to laPo rte, now 47, the acco mplishme nt stands as one of his tw o most me morable moments in racing, the other being his co ntribution to the winning Ame rican MX and Trophee des Nations teams. World do mination was always a part of his makeu p. "When I was racing, the ultimate thing was to be Wo rld C hampion , to have that title ," laPorte says. "1 was rea lly focused on winning a title in America (laPorte was 1979 AMA500cc National Champ ion), but t he goal was always to go to Europ e. At the time, no on e American wo n a title yet, so that goal was st ill there, so I went for it." laPorte's title race shared one significant parallel to Lackey's in t hat it was an epic battle that came down to the final moto of the season. Belgium's Geo rges Jobe trailed laPorte by 15 points heading into the series finale. On e bad moto by laPo rte , and the to ugh Belgian was waiting in the wings, ready to pounce. If th e first rnoto wasn't bad for laPorte , it was less than average, as he struggled in tra ffic early, w ork ing his way to fou rt h place while Jo be and his facto ry Suzuki battled with KTM 's Kees van der Ven, the KTM-mo unted Dutchman having an unrealistic outs ide shot at the title as we ll, for second place. laPort e's chances very nearly took a turn for t he w orse as he was frant ically chasing the pair down late in the first moto. Misjudging his approach to a right-hand corn e r, he went off the track. As he reentered it, he co llide d with a backm arker coming thro ugh and nearly went dow n. laPorte wo uld also be hampered by a broken wheel before the rnoto was ove r, but he wo uld soldier on. Hansen we nt o n to win the moto by some I5 seconds over Jobe , w ho had another four on van der Ven . laPorte finished fourth, 27 seco nds beh ind the Dutchman. Th e momen tum shift after moto one was o bvious, as Jobe was clearly relaxed and confident while laPorte appeared to be mo re tense, serious ly conce ntrat ing o n the task at hand. He still held an I I-point advantage over Jo be going into the final moto. "It was like serv ing for the match in t he final at Wimbledo n," laPorte recalls. "T he ne rves kind of get to you, and you start to do uble fault. There was a lot of pressure L 106 connected to winning t hat title." Anything could happen in moto two, and it did, to Jobe , not unlike the miscue that destroyed Andre Vromans ' chances to steal the title away fro m Lackey. Jobe was knocked dow n on the opening lap of mo to two afte r mak ing contact with He inz Kinigadner. Jobe rem o unte d and charged from last to 15th by lap five. Before t he mo to was over, he wou ld pass a total of 32 riders to finish third. LaPorte was not one of them , however. More re laxed on the track than he had been befo re the start of the final mot o , he moved into seco nd place on lap 12 and ro de co nservatively, doing the job t hat he had come to do. "1knew t hat ali i had to do was stay near [obe," laPo rte says. "1 knew that he had nothi ng to lose, and I t hink that he just got over-amped, trying to crea te som eth ing." Although laPort e finished some 19 seconds behi nd Hansen, it didn't matter. laPorte was America's first 250cc World Mot ocross Champion. As he crossed the line, Yamaha team manager and fo rmer World Champion Heikki Mikkola blaste d laPo rte wit h cham pagne, blessi ng t he mom ent w ith both gravity and levity. With the tit le, laPorte joined road racer Kenny Roberts as the only American eve r to win a Worl d Championship title o n his fi rst try. He may not have been the first in his sport, but ever the team player, laPorte says he has no regrets about that. "Wha t was really cool is that Iwas the re to watch Brad win his championship, and t hen I wo n mine:' laPo rte says. ':o\nd the mon ey didn't matt er." Always in searc h of another goal. laPorte JULY 28, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS actually stayed in Europe longer than he would have liked, defending his 250cc title the following season before taking a brief fling in the 500cc GPs aboard uncompetitive factory Yamaha 500s in 1984. "1 did go back and defend the title in '83, and I had some mechanical problems and a few DNFs that were real critical, but Istill feel like I had a better year that year," LaPorte says. "1won more races. In 84, the goal was to be 500cc World Champion, but I didn't reallyget the support from Yamaha They had a lot financial difficulties at that time." laPorte retu rned home to Ame rica to finish his motocross career as a me mber of Team Husqvarn a in 1985. He lat e r switc hed to off-road racing, partneri ng with off-road lege nds suc h as Larry Roesele r and Paul Krause to win the Baja 1000 aboard a Team Green Kawasaki in 1988. With Ted Hunnicutt and Roese ler, laPort e we nt on to win the next three Baja 1000s in a row, 1989-9 1. He also scored a gold medal at t he ISDE in Germany in 1989. He also co ntested the Paris-Dakar off-road rally five times, his best finish be ing seco nd overall, and he wo n the Pharoahs Rally. Today, laPorte holds a positio n with FMF Racing. li ke a lot of his pee rs of the era, laPorte has don e a lot in t he sport of mo torcycling. "W hen I was a kid, Malcolm Smith was my hero," laPorte says. "The reason I even we nt over to Europe was because w hen I was a kid, I wanted to be the best dirt bike rider in t he wo rld." It wou ld be hard to argue against him. Scott Rousseau Daredevil Evel Knieve l appea red on the cover of this issue. That same year Knievelwas planning to jump the Snake River Canyon aboard his custom "Rocket Motorcycle"... A young Mike Be ll won the 125 Pro class at a local CMC race... We tes ted the Penton 400. The all-new frame that was on this bike allowed it to be o ne of the best turning bikes available... There was a big featu re do ne abo ut speedway raci ng in Southern California. O ne of the popular tracks of the time was Costa Mesa Speed way. Today that same track still holds regular races on Friday nights... Appearing in the back of the issue was a small ad wit h a picture of Malcolm Sm it h sweeping his sho p, with a capt ion that read , "Malcolm Smith sells moto rcycles too!! He do esn't just ride 'em." i!O YEARS AGO... AugU!.t I, 1984 Austria's Heinz Kinigad ne r was on to p of the 250cc World Champ io nship points sta ndings, and because of that he was chosen to be on the cover of this issue... Road racer Kenny Roberts wo n the Laguna Seca round of the AMA Grand National Champ ionship. Befo re the race he had said t hat it wo uld be his last, and with the win he said farewell to racing... David Baile y won his 13th 500cc moto of t he year at the Broo m-Tioga Spo rts Ce nter ro und of the AMA Grand Natio nal MX Championship Series. Jeff Ward won the 125 class that day, while Rick Johnso n wo n in the 250 class. 10 YEARS AGO..• July er. 1994 Colin Edw ards was o n the cove r for his AMA Superbike win at Mid- Ohio - it was the first of his career... In the fron t of the issue there ~\,;;.,......;;:~ was a small sto ry about Je ff Ward co mpeting in a =l:li:I:l::=iilil downh ill mou ntain bike race down Mammoth Mount ian's Kamikazi hill. He was entered in t he Pro class and finished 20th ove rall in a field of 120 riders ... Ryan Hughes swept bot h motos in the 12S class at t he Unadilla round of the AMA Nat ional Motocross series: Mike laRocco did the same in t he 250 class... We did a featur e o n how to build a re plica of Damon Huffman's factory Suzuki RM125. That year he wo n t he 125 Weste rn Region Supercross Championship. 40th Ann iversary

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