Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128351
Doing the Family Proud 3D YEARS AIiD•. • November 26, 1974 Brad Lackey showed up on the cover, splashing through the mud at a Trans-AMA race. Harry Everts won the muddy race that year, which was held in Puyallup, Washington , while Roger DeCo ster took second and Y okio Sugio rounded out the top three ... We tested the Carabela Mar · quesa MX 12S. Many peop le called it the "Elsinore Replica." We test ed it back to back with a Honda Elsinore and found the Carabela to be almost as fast... The oncea-year Class-A race at the Ascot Speed. way was held in Gardena, California. The big winner of the evening was Billy Gray. 20 YEARS A6D••• November 28, 1984 On the cover, Eddie Michett i styled for ou r camera aboard a hopped-up 11I'iOOR:.JI,...I!'l!!.... 1984 Ho nda CRSOO. We decided to try to A ril 18, 1999 did not exact ly mark a coronation ceremony but rat her a rite of passage on the way to that coronation for membe r of American motorcycle racing 's royal fami ly. That's whe n, at 25 years old and in his debut ride a bo a r d his new fact o ry Suzuki , Ken ny Roberts Jr. score d a do minating victo ry at th e World C ham pio ns hip Road Racing Series-opening Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepa ng Circu it in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Until that time , Roberts had been, at best, an unkno w n quantity in Europe, having slogged arou nd in the 250cc class befo re acce pting a ride aboard his leg. endary father's Modenas KR3 racers and making the move to t he 500cc class in 1997. Right then, t here were so me who argued that he co uld not have gotten a 500 ride a ny other way. But after two years of growth in the class, "Junior" must have showed well enough that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree bec ause Suzuki hired him as its man to go up against the domi nant duo of Mick Doohan and Honda fo r the 1999 season. Right from the start of t he weekend, Doo han and Honda app eared to be on the ropes, struggling w it h tractio n, wh ile another American, john Kocinski - whose promising re turn to the GP wars after winning the factory a World 5uperbike title now seemed to be in great pe ril due to lack of finances · proved he had th e stuff by tak ing the pole. Roberts Jr. also showed that he was a playe r, posting the th ird-fastest time , just behind former 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi. D oo han's seventhfastest time meant that he woul d start on the sec ond row for t he Gp, but th e tough Austral ian coul d never be coun ted out. Kocinski jumped into the lead as the field zipped off the grid for the start of the squeeze even more power out of the bike to see if it co uld get any faste r - it could... Ron Lawson won the 125-intermediate class at De Anza Raceway. Lawson is the current ed itor of Dirt Bike Magazine... Yamaha rider Mike Bell took both of the Pro-class wins, 125cc and 250cc, at the Black Cat Grand Prix at Perris Raceway in Perris, California... We too k a closer look at the 1985 Can-Am motorcycles and liked what we saw... Team Hammer too k the WERNDuniop National Championship Endurance Road Race Series Championship, again. In the final round, the team took second, which was good enough for the championship. to YEARS A6D... November 23, 1994 We test ed a ve ry coollMS Kawasaki KLX6S0 dual-sport bike. We loved the bike and found it to be far better than OEM dual-sport machines... Doug Dubach won the White Brothers Vet World Championships held at Glen Helen Racewa y. Since then , he still co mpet es in 2 1-lap race , w ith Honda's Alex Criv ille and Rob erts Jr. giving ch ase , w hile Doohan was mired in I Ith place. Criv ille took t he lead from Kocinski, but it was short-lived as Roberts Jr. wasted no time in making his bid for t he lead. He moved past Kocinski and then Criville on lap three, and he imme d iate ly started to pull clear of the field. "Whe n I saw the gap was opening, I just con centrated on being smooth and do ing what I knew I could do, " Roberts Jr. told Cycle News then. "I knew I could pull away from Criville, but thought somebody else , like Mick, might get past him and close up , so I wa nted to get a cush ion." Doohan never really came. Instead, Yamaha rider Carlos Checa came fro m seve nth place to pick his way past the Hondas afte r Biaggi's Yamaha gave up under his own intense rid ing and forced him out of the race. Checa mo ved into sec ond on lap eight , and he stayed there until the finish. But there was no catching Roberts Jr. On the last lap , he peered over his shoul der, only to find that there was no one in sight. Shaking his head in disbe lief as he crossed the finish line, he claimed his first career Grand Prix win · not his first 500 cc w in, but first win, period - by a whopping 4.279 seconds. It was the first fo r Suzuki since t he German Grand Prix of 1995. It was the first time since t hat same race in Germany th at a Honda had not finished first or second. It was the first w in by a rider w hos e fath e r had also won a 500cc GP since Alberto and Nello Paganan i, and th e first win by an American since Kevin Schwantz at Donington Park in 1994. It was a dream com e true . " I can st ill hard ly bel ieve it no w," Robe rts Jr. to ld Cycle News after th e event. " It has always been my amb ition to be the best motorcycle racer in the wo rld - and tod ay I was." T hat dream rep eated at round tw o of th e se ries just a fortni ght late r, w hen Robe rts claimed the po le and won again in a driving rain at t he Twin-Ring Motegi Circui t in Mot egi, Japan . He would go on to wi n two m or e t imes en route to a runner- up finish to C riville in th e champ ionship chase. A yea r late r, thou gh, he wo uld fulfil l t he ultimate dream of winning th e SOOcc World Road Racing Cha mpio nship, making fo r the first father/son pairing ever to accom plish such a feat. Ke nny Robe rts, th e 2000 Wo rld Champion , is still there tod ay, th o ugh the "Jr." atta ched to his name is long gone. Instead , people refe r to his father as "Senior," proof e no ugh th at Little Kenny has earned his place . the eve nt and has w on it num ero us ti m es. This year he took second, behind Ryan Hughes... Scott Plessinge r won the final round of the National Hare Scrambles Series in Lynneville, Indiana. Taking second in the race was Steve Hatch, while the series champion, Rodney Smith, took third... We did an inte rview with Pro Circuit owner Mitch Payton. This year his supercross/motocross team w ill again be com peting for even more champio nships SCOTT ROUSSEAU to add to its collection. www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • NOVEMBER 24,2004 11 7