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/128355
By PAUL ".ARDO WN CARRUTHERS One Year Later t 's a little strange that in. loo king back on w hat I wrote in this space a year ago, I had a hard time remembering just how differen t the oldschoo l Cycle News looks and fee ls when compared to the publication that is to day 's Cycle News. It's a bit odd t hat while the old one now feels like a com plete stranger in my hands, it still seems like only ye ste rday that we made the switch. How quickly we forget. Witho ut hesitation I can say that making the changes to the size, fo rmat and allcolor design (actually, nearly everything has changed) is the best th ing we 've done in the almost 20 years that I've been here . And I'm happy to report that our readers com pletely agree. Initially, there were a few w ho resisted the change, but they were always the minority. And it didn't take long for them to adjust, and most even got back to me to let me know they'd changed the ir minds. Yes, changing the publication after nearly 40 years was a big risk, but it was a risk that has panned out rather well. The I readers like it better, and so do the advertisers and vendors. And from the editorial and prod uction side of things, I can tell you wh oleheartedly that it's a lot more satisfactory to produce every week. But enough about us. This year's Cycle News marks the 13th time that we've named a Rider of the Year (Wayne Rainey was the first!), and it seemed like a no-brainer to go with Valentino Rossi. Even though it would have taken a brave soul to bet against Rossi in his ques t for a sixth title.. not many would have wagered on him winning as often as he did in his first year on the Yamaha MI. But he won , and he won often , and in the end the title was his and Yamahas, for the first time since Rainey had last done the deed . The pairing had beaten the hordes of mighty Hondas, and that in itself was quite a feat. By no stretch of the imagination did Rossisave Yamaha, because Yamaha didn't need saving, but he definitely rejuvenated the racing department. And that had a trickle -down affect on the entire comp a- ny. Unless you were the compet ition, it was hard not to pull for Rossi and Yamaha in their first year together. As for next year, well nobo dy wa nts to see t he same guy win too much (even if he is as hugely popular as Rossi), so how about o ne of the Americans stepping up and meeting his challenge? Whether one of them can step up or not remains to be seen, but one thing that should get everyone's blood racing is the fact tha t the series will finally be back to Laguna Seca in 'OS, and that's exciting no matter the outcome. The 2004 seas on also saw Ricky Carmichael again prove that he is witho ut a doubt the fastest motocrosser in the world . One perfect season is hard enoug h: Two perfect seasons should be impossible. But not ifyou' re Carmichael. I was fortunate enou gh to be in attendance at the final ro und at Glen Helen and it was a rush to see just how much faster Carm ichael was than his competition. And he did it all year long - without so much as a hiccup. With Carmichael and James "Bubba" Stewart garnering most of the motocross world 's attentio n at the end of the se aso n, it was easy to for get just what Chad Reed did in 2004 . In fact, the AMA appa rently did. As heinous as it seems , our sanction ing bod y co mpletely igno red its Super cros s Champion w hen it came to nominat ing the Speed Channel Athlete of the Year. How short their mem o ries must be. Think back to early last year. Think back to just how good Reed was in the THQ Supercross Series. He's the cham pion for God's sake. Also, remember the improvements he made in the outdoor Nationa ls, turning fro m factory also-ran into a legitimate threat . Put it this way: If it weren't fo r Ricky Carmichael, Chad Reed wou ld be the THQ Supercross and AMA 2S0cc National Champion . Ponder that for a minute. Can you say Rider of the Year? With the Superc ross Series almost upon us, it would be oh-so difficu lt to try and predict a series champion. Carmich ael, Reed, Stewart, Windham... just to name a few. Picking a cham pion from that lot should prove more difficult than fi nding the exit at lkea. But if the racing lives up to its hype, it's not hard to imagine that this space next year will be filled with accolades abo ut the individual who earns that title. The Supercross Champion from 200S and the Cycle News Rider of the Year from 200S... highly likely that it co uld be the same man. AMA roa d racing produced some hard -fought battles in 2004, but one man stood tall at the end of it all - Mat Mladin. Our Rider of the Year from last year won his fifth AMASuperbike title in '04, but he was pushed the entire way by Honda 's Jake Zemke and Migue l Duhamel. If Ducati, Eric Bostrom and new recruit Neil Hodgson can step it up, the 'OS season shou ld be a dandy. Chris Carr gets a mention in th is column every year. And rightfully so . All he does is w in more races than anybody else, and that ends up earning him the AMA Grand National Championship. Year after year afte r year. After year. And you still won't find a more profess ional racer than Mr. Carr. Associate ed itor Scott Rousseau thr ows a drag racer's name on the table every year whe n we discuss our Rider of the Year candidates . But this year the entire Vance & Hines team sho uld be com mended for what its members did for that segment of our sport. Together with Harley-Davidson, the V&H boys injected a w hole bunch of life into the NHRA ser ies, and we 're really only beginning to see the start of just how big the motorcycle portion of the progr am can get . Then there are the pure off-ro aders w ho race in places most of us never see, guys like Rodney Smith, Destry Abbott, Jason Raines, Nathan Wood s and Randy Hawkins. They all put it out there in 2004, and they all came away with titles. Any of them could be ment ioned in the same breath as our Rider of the Year. And let's not forget little old Jeff Ward. At an age when most are happy to make it through the night without urinating more than once, Ward went out and won the AMA Supermoto title. And that 's im pressive . Othe rs who shou ld get ment ioned here (and som e of whom are interviewed e lsew he re in this issue) are World Superbike Champ ion James Toseland, a definite long shot to win the title this yea r: Australia's World Speedway Champion Jaso n Crump: zillion-time World Mo tocross Cham pion Stefan Everts: and first-time Wor ld Trials Champion Takeshi Fujinami. They all made 2004 memorable. Bring on '05 .