Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

The Last Medal Heroes T hre e w ee ks before Se attl earea grunge rock band Nirvana burst int o th e co ncio usness of roc k-music fans eve rywhere , the ir hard-driving dirges of disco ntent sinking the good ship "Hair Metal" wit h a single plaid torpedo , four young Americans rocked and rolled their way to the top of the charts in the Olympics of offroad motorcycling, the Internatio nal Six Day Enduro, held in Septemb er 1991 . In fact, the U.S. Junior World Trophy team's victo ry at the 66th running of the ISDE , in Povazska Bystrica, Cze choslovakia - try saying that fast 10 times - was not unlike the miracle o n ice t hat took place w hen the U.S. hockey team took down the Russians for th e gold medal at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. Only this time, there was no ho me-co urt advantage , something that the previous Silver Vase-winning (later replaced by the Junior Wor ld Trophy) team of Malcolm Smith, Ron Bohn, Ed Schmidt and Dick Burleson had enjoyed, enviro nme nta lly speaking, in Massachusetts during th e 1973 ISDE. This time , t he young Junior World team of Steve Hatch, David Rhodes, Ch ris Smith and Jimmy Lewis (junior World Trophy team ride rs must be under 23 years of age to be eligible) were st rangers in a st range land. No surprises, then, w he n host co untry Czechoslovakia sto od ato p the Junior World standings at the en d of day one, wit h 142.45 points, followed closely by France , o n 154.98. The United States was t hird, however, w it h 2 18.77. Any hopes t hat the Americans had for victo ry were nearly derailed o n day tw o, by a chain. Smith's KTM 250 EXC pitched its chain duri ng the grasstrack special tes t, ben ding t he chain guide in the process . "I cou ldn't bend the guide back and get t he chain on, so I had to unbolt the guide and take it off: ' Smith to ld Cycle News race rep o rter Kit Palmer back t hen . "It too k me about five minutes to finally get the chain on the sproc kets ." Smith' s tro ubles dr o pped the team to eighth for the day and allowed Swede n and Spain to pass them in t he overall stand ings. Th ere was a long way to go yet, but alrea dy th e situa tion was looking grim fo r America . Day t hree bro ught a co mplet e reversal of fo rtun e , how ever, as t he Fren ch, Swedish and Spanish tea ms all lost at least one rider w hile the Czec hs were not as rock solid as t hey had been during t he first two days. Lewis, Smith, Rhodes and Hatch co ntinued to ride we ll in the crucial special tests, moving t hem back to within str iking distance of the Czechs. On po ints, the United States t railed , 1690.47 to th e Czechs' lower 1004 .S3. By day four, most of Team USA:s reso urces was devoted to the Junio r Wor ld team, as the Wo rld Troph y team had 94 already dropped we ll out of the hunt. And once again, fortune smiled on the Juniors, as Cze ch rider Jaroslav Beran crash ed his Gas Gas 80 in th e day 's grasstrack special te st and suffered a bro ken collarbone. The Czech te am 's loss effectively knocked them out of contention and vaulte d the Amer icans into th e lead, w ith Holland way back in second. An uneventful day five, in w hich the Amer icans protected their lead by taking it easy on their equipme nt, led to a rather fateful day six. A sho rt 2S-mile t rail sect ion connected the riders to the final MX special test . Howeve r, once they arrived on the scen e, the riders complain ed that the t rack had not been prop e rly wa tered, creat ing a severe visibility hazard due to the d ust. Lame attempts were made to wate r the trac k, but ultimately it was det ermin ed that while the special te st wo uld be run, it wo uld not be timed . The decis ion effectively e nde d the even t right ther e , meaning that the American team of Lew is, Rhode s, Hatch and Smith had pulled off t he dre am as ISDE w inne rs, w ith Hat ch also co ming throu gh as top American. "That was a life-changing event," Hatc h says now, re flecting o n the eve nt . "It was a real Cinde rella sto ry. It was my second Six SEPTEMBER 29, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS Days, so I still didn't rea lly know w hat I was doing, but I felt like I had been the re befo re . I don't think any of the four of us thou ght we co uld w in it, but we th ought we could be top-three becau se we had done that befo re . Then , after day four, w hen we we re in the lead, I think that the next tw o days were the scariest for us, trying to maintain the lead and go fast . But afte r the final moto and after w e wo n, going down to the closing ceremonies and hearing our national anth em played , tha t's w hen it really sunk in for me - 'Hol y co w, we won for the United States of Americ a: which was really coo l." "Y u know, it's funny, but we were just o ta lking about this other day," Hatch said. "I was watching the O lympic s, and my so n was asking me why, because he tho ught it was kind of silly I had to tell him my story, . and tell him how these people work their whole lives just to get that o ne chance for 30 seconds, o r like us, for six days, to win a gold med al. I know that dream . To achieve that is so mething that nobody can ever take away from you . It really boosted my career and shaped my character as an individual as we ll." Scott Rousseau Rocket Rex Staten showed up I on th e cover of this issue aboard a Hond a 410 fou rstro ke . He was racing the motocross race held in conjun c~.:o.~__,;oiI tion with Evel Knievel's canyon jump...At the District 37 Desert Vipers Hare and Hound A.C. Bakken chalked up anot her win. It was his 74t h ove rall victory at a desert event...1 nside this issue there was some supple mentary reading abo ut the AMA. It w as the association's 50th anniversary, and to commemorate it there was a 30-page history about how it all began...The champ ionship decid ing, Yamahasponsored BMX race was held in the Los Angeles Memori al Colise um. David Clinton and Bobby Watts became champions that night. 'ttlll!Jl~ 2U YEARS A6U. . . UctDber 3. 1984 O n the cover was t he first look at Yamaha·s new FZ750. It had five valves on each cylinde r and was highly anticipated by everyone...Alex " Jo rgy" Jorgensen too k the win at round 29 of the AMA Grand National Championsh ip Series. Taking second was Bubba Shob ert , and in th ird was Ricky Graham. There was also a Jr. Nat ional that same night, where Chris Carr came in first.. .The U.S. Team got the w in at the Trophee des Nations in Varb erg, Swed en. The team · made up of Jeff Ward , Johnny O 'Mara, Broc Glover and Ricky Johnso n - flat-o ut domin ated the even t...Brian Manley won SCORE's 12th annual Off-road World Championship, held at Riverside Raceway. Manley won bo th motos over Ho nda rider Chuck Miller. 1U YEARS A6U••• September 2B. 1994 Troy Corser just won t he AMA Supe rb ike title after taking a res pectable fourth -place finish in the final ro und at Road Atlanta. Winning the race was Scott Russell, who was making his return to AMA racing afte r being on the World Supe rbike circuit...After I3 straight years of winning the Motocross des Nations, Team USA finally lost; they we re beate n by the British team on the rough Roggenb urg, Switze rland, circuit...Ca r l Fogarty dom inate d the Holland ro und of the World Superbike Series. He won both races in co nvincing fashion ...Danny Hamel and Ty Davis teamed up to win the Best in the Desert Tonopah 300. The tw o riders were a ste p above the rest that day and were never challenged. 40th Anniversary

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