Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I 30 YEARS AGO••• APRIL 28, 1970 Dirt tracker Jim Rice (BSA) was on the cover of Issue #15 in recognition of his second National Championship win of the sea· son. The win came at the 5/8 mile Holiday Downs racetrack in Atlanta, Georgia, where Rice would pass early leader Dick Mann (BSA) at about the halfway point and never look back. Mann and Norton rider Jack Warren would round out the top three... In Bay Mare motocross action, Swede Gunnar Lindstrom (Hus) .took the glory and the money in the 250cc class ahead of John DeSoto and ·Jim O'Neal, both riding CZs. DeSoto came back to win the Open class ... Bultacomounted Toln Poteet took the victory at the Antelope Rambler's M.C. Hare and Hound from Hi Vista, California. His closest competitors were Mike Patrick (Yam) and Tom Smith (Hus) who finished second and third on the day ... An agreement was reached between the International Speedway Association and the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, that wouJd assure the fans and racers a full season of speedway racing. 20 YEARS AGO••• APRIL 23, 1980 On the cover of Issue #15 was the brand new. water-cooled, shaft-driven Honda Vtwin dirt tracker. The new motorcycle made its debut in the pits at the Sacramento Mile in Sacramento, California, with its racing debut scheduled for the San Jose round of the Camel Pro Series... Hank Scott (H-D) took home the victory when the Camel Pro Series visited the Sacramento Mile. Mike Kidd (H-D) and Ricky Graham (H-D) chased him to the checkered flag in the Harley Davidson-dominated event... A mere 31 riders finished the Tecate 500 Enduro out of the 240 that started the event. Team Husqvarna's Bob Popiel won the event with an amating 82 points over second-place finisher Malcolm Smith who, in tum, had another 80 points on third-pJace finisher Chip HoweD (Hus). Just finishing was a victory in itself... The Transatlantic Trophy Match Races were run at three British road race circuits. Team U.S.A. trounced the Brits on their home soil with a points totai of 442 to England's 370. Kenny Roberts achieved the most points of anyone with a combined score of 92. 10 YEARS AGO••• .APRIL 18, 1990 The World Championship Road Race Series visited Laguna Seca Raceway and the American's dominated on their home turf. On the cover of Issue *15 were race winners Wayne Rainey (Yam) and John Kocinski (Yam). Rainey defeated Honda's Michael Doohan and PierFrancesco ChUi in the 500cc G.P. while Kevin Schwantz (Suz) threw his title hopes away when he crashed while challenging Rainey for the lead and broke his wrist... The Camel Supercross Series visited Dallas, Texas, for round nine of the national series. Jean-Michel Bayle (Hon) passed a wide and erratic Damon Bradshaw (Yam) about six iaps into the main event and pulled away for the victory. Bradshaw finished second. Denny Stephenson won the combined East/West 125cc main event ahead of Kawasaki's Michael Craig and Jeremy McGrath... We tested Suzuki's new DR350L and RMX250 together to show. that the more things change, the more they stay the same, as both machines were very good for off-road use. It should be noted that you could purchase a DR for $3299, and the RMX was a costly $3999. eN By Final ""010 , CHRIS JONNUM ~U . __ ' I Tho would you guess has the most VY Cycle News cover appearances? That's a difficult question, considering that we're a weekly that has been publishing since October 14, 1965. Counting this issue, that's 1685 Cycle News covers (and more cover appearances, since some covers feature multiple people). It makes you wonder, doesn't it? We were recently wondering the same thing, which is why we decided to do something about it. And we had just the man for the job in Editorial Assistant Steve Cox, a moto-trivia junky who not only sat down and leafed through every single back issue in his tabulation of CN cover history, but actually enjoyed doing so! Upon receiving his orders, Steve immediately began pulling out tome after tome from the back-issue morgue that lines one wall of our editorial office, and we barely saw him for a week straight, though periodic surprised exclamatiolils could be heard from deep within the growing mountain of huge volumes. "Wow, Dan Smith and Malcolm Smith each have five covers." Neither (unrelated) desert racer, however, compares with King Smith - motocrosser Marty - who has 10 covers (though that's barely one-eighth the total of the CN cover monarch). Prince Smith is GNCC champ Rodney, with seven, while several Smiths - Mike, Butch and brother off-roaders Drew and Chris have each made a single appearance. Other common last names on CN covers are Davis (23), Edwards (24), Johnson (34), Jones (17), Russell (38), Scott (20) and Ward (45). Speaking of shared last names, last week's cover appearance by Kenny Roberts Jr. inspired Steve to chirp, "That's just five for him, while his dad has 52" - a (growing) record for family appearances, though even that combined total pales in comparison to our single winner. Another father-son road racing combo is Vvon and Miguel DuHamel, with 33 between them, while motocross father-son teams Gary and David Bailey, Hanry and Stefan Everts, and Sylvain and Eric Geboers have 13, four and nine, respectively. There are several other father-son combos (including road racer Kel Carruthers and his son Paul, our editor), along with quite a few brother-brother teams (the Haydens will no doubt add to their two), but motocrosser Heath Voss and his trophygirl sibling Heather are our only brothersister duo thus far (each has one). I could tell you from which field our cover king comes, but it wouldn't help much, since acquiring his astronomical total required not only a long career, but a multifaceted one. That's probably what limited Supercross great Jeremy McGrath, who is the king of the MX world with 56, but who will have to take up road racing if he wants to challenge the title-holder. Roberts Sr. is not only the family king, but the king of the road racers (even when you don't count his dirt-track covers). Scott Parker holds the record in that field with 39, while Ty Davis is the off-roader with the most appearances. You don't have to be a talented rider to appear on a Cycle News cover (heck, even I've got a few). For example, former president Jimmy Carter has grabbed the front page, as has fellow politician Pete Wilson. Both lose out (at least in CN appearances, if not in royalty as well) to the Earl of Snowdon, who has appeared twice. Uz Taylor no doubt has her Cycle News cover framed and displayed prominently in her mansion. Don Vesco, John Buckner, Skip Van Leeuwen, Bill Riley and Clay Jacobson: the first-ever CN cover boys. That's primarily because those riders are not American, as our editors are rather ethnocentric when making their cover picks. Our top foreign cover boy is Scottish-born motocrosser Jeff Ward with 3D, but he doesn't really count since he has spent most of his life in the States. Australian road racer Mick Doohan is the top legitimate for- Other non-riding celebrities to have appeared on CN's prestigious front page include actor Dick Smothers and chef Wolfgang Puck, while riding celebrities to have appeared include Steve McQueen and Malcolm Forbes. It might not surprise you to hear that athletes from other venues have been on our cover, with the Rams' "Fearsome Fearsome" being the best example of the stick-and-ball variety. Personal watercraft riders are also eigner with 26 cover appearances. In addition to being American, it helps to have a last name that starts with the letter B, as no less than 83 different people with B names have appeared on our cover (Damon Bradshaw is King B with 23). C and S are close seconds with 81 people each (Chris Carr has 24; Jeff Stanton has common, with racers Victor Sheldon and Clay Cullen having appearances, along with Personal Watercraft I/lustrat- ed editor Jeff Hain. Neither will you be shocked to hear that motorcycle team personnel other than racers have made the cover. Team owner Terry Vance, Yamaha manager Keith McCarty and Honda mechanics Eric Crippa and Skip Norfolk are just a few such folks (a couple of Roger DeCoster's 15 covers are as a team manager). As you might have noticed from our on-line poll a couple of weeks ago, you don't have to be real to make our cover. Santa Claus is the king of the fictitious figures with eight covers, but Father Time and the New Vear Baby 33), and H is fourth with 71 people (Bob Hannah has 27). The last name of our Cover King, however, starts with none of these letters, nor does it begin with X. No X name has ever been on CN's cover, while Dale Quarterley (2) and Aaron Yates (4) are the only representitives for Q and V, respectively. Scott Zampach (1), Greg Zitterkopf (3) and Steve Zoll (2) all represent Z. All in all, Steve was able to identify 819 people to have appeared on Cycle News covers over the years, and while over half of them share last place (with just one appearance each), there's only a single number one, and his total thus far is 77. Do you know who he is? If so, send me his name. On April 20, I'll take all of the correct answers, put them together, and draw a single winner, who will receive a Cycle News cover autographed by the king himself. eN each have a pair, and Elmer the Pig, the Statue of Liberty, and the Motocross Cat have all made the front page (Mickey Mouse never has): These last appearances particularly irked moto-purist Steve, especially in light of the fact that there are some very deserving riders with relatively few CN covers. For example, motocross great Joel Smets and offroad legend Stephane Peterhansel Write your guess on a postcard and mail it to Cyc'le News editorial, attn: Cover King, 3505-M Cadillac Ave., Costa Mesa, CA, 92626, or e-mail your guess (type "Cover King" for the subject) to gonnum@cyclenews.com. each have only one, while Mike Hailwood - perhaps the greatest road racer ever - has never been on our cover. In next week's Cycle News • First-Ever Triple-Header MX GP • New Orleans Supercross • Off-Road: World Trials & National Enduro eye I e n e _ s • APRIL 19, 2000 95

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