Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o nd a ' s disma l start to the 2000 Grand Pri x season has had statisticians reaching for the reco rd books. W hen was t he last tim e, for instance, t ha t Honda di dn 't win a single race in any class at the first GP of the year? Wh en was th e last t im e Hond a w en t six r a c e s (a t the ti me o f w ri tin g , befo re th e Sp a n i sh GP ) without a 50 0cc class win? A nd ho w lo ng will it t ake th em fina ll y to beat MV Agust a' s to tal o f 13 9 5 0 0cc -c1ass race wins? The an sw ers are: 19 94 , 1993, and don 't k now. The y 'd b een po ised o n 138 win s s i nce la st yea r, wh en Tadayuk i Okada luc k ed into th e Austra li an GP after K enn y Roberts Jr.'s Suzuk i popped a ti re w he n he led by m iles. The next Hon da wi n will come so o n e r or la ter by sheer weig h t o f numb e r s . Th e p uzzle H re mains - ju st wh at has gone wrong with the m o st suc ce ssful road -racing b ik e in history? There is a quick a nd easy an swer - fo r th e first t i m e s i nc e 1989 , they haven 't had Mick Doohan's input a t th e d ev el opm en t st ag e . And it is t he right a n swe r , b ut n ot f or the obvious reason s. Doohan' s inp ut was nev er to improv e the NS R . It w as t o st o p HRC's numerou s eng ine ers from m essin g it up. This he achieved by shee r st rength of character , for HRC is an engi neering driven company , and ha s a lo ng history of let ting th e d ynamometer o ve r -r ule t he rider's in stin cts, of letting d esign con cepts ove rcome co m mon sense. How far ba ck do you w an t to go? Honda has engin eer ed th emselves to d om ination in all sorts o f w ay s o v er the past 3 5 y ears, but they have also en g in eere d t he mselves in t o several h oles, going all the way b ac k to th e d a y s wh en Mike H a i l w o o d j u m p e d on to t he fo ur - cylinder 500 only to d isc over tha t it s su perb motor com p letely overc ame t h e abil ity o f the c hassis to co ntain th e power. More r ec en t ly ca m e the fiasco o f th e NR5 0 0 - a g orgeous bu t u ltimate ly hu g el y i mp r act ic al f o ur-stroke , d esigned to ove rco me t he res iden t tw o - st ro k es bac k in th e ' 70s. It failed very expens ively and with m uch loss of f a c e - t he n ew b i k e d id n 't eve n qua lif y first ti me it cam e o ut, a n d n ev er sco r ed a si ngle p o i n t . But it wasn't fo r lack of good eng in eering. Honda was reluctantly o b li ged to b uild a two -stroke of their own, and in a n in t erl u d e of se ve re pra c t i c ality they dug out so me o ld mot oc ross cylind ers and b eat Ya ma h a's V - four with the ir simpl e and a g ile thre e cy li nder N S , ridd en by Fr eddi e Spen c e r. Fo r on c e the y made th eir rivals look over-engin eered - a si tua ti on that cou ld n ' t las t, be ing basic all y al ien to HRC's driving philosoph ies . T h e an swer was the N SR V-fou r which w as , in it s first incarnation , a machine o f frig htening co mplex ity see mi ng ly fo r its own sake. For o ne thin g , it ca rr ied t he fue l ta nk under n e ath th e e ngi ne , comb ining b ad engin e accessibility (t he ex h austs ran o v er th e to p, incidenta lly also cooki ng t he rid er ' s c hest ) with st r an g e effects to t he center of gravity as fue l w as b u rne d off. Then, in pra ctic e fo r th e first race, t he all -new ca rbon -fiber w h e e l s n ap pe d a s poke, wit h th e re s ulti ng c r as h b r e a k ing Fr e d d i e Spenc er' s ankle. Honda , bein g Hon d a, perseve red, bu t by mid -season F red di e h a d h a d enoug h , an d d em an d ed that t he o ld triple be b rought o ut of m othball s fo r th e r est of th e yea r. But it w a s t o o lat e to prev ent Ya maha 's E dd ie Law son from winn in g th e ti tl e. So it w ent o n, seeming ly fo r alt er nate ye ars - on e season HRC w ou ld run off on a flight of technica l fantasy and lose, the next ye ar they 'd come down to ea rth , and w in i t a g ai n . W ayne Ga rdner w as the cha mpion in 1987, but h e cam e down to earth all too lite rally the n ex t y ear , when an in novative HRC c ha ssis engineer tr ied a radi c al n ew swi n g -a rm p ivo t p os i t ion , d esign ed to raise the rea r of th e b ik e u nd er accele r at io n, to b a lan ce out th e inevitab le lifting of th e front. Poor Wa y ne h ad a series o f p r an gs until they fixed th at on e. Then came th e f ue l - i njec t e d ma chin e o f 1993 . Si g ni fica n tly , Do ohan wa s an ear ly v ic ti m , fa ili ng to fi nis h a t h om e i n Aust ra lia after a ve ry rar e breakdow n . He p ut h is foot Cycle News cue • e p us he d t h e tech n ical bou ndaries , an d it's wo rth point ing out t h at Itoh m an aged a l an d mark 2 0 0 m p h t h rough the sp e e d tra ps at H o c k en h e im , a fe at never si nce equaled . Honda h as always h eld t he h ighest re ga rd fo r horsep ower an d speed , all too often at th e expen se o f rida bility . Do ohan ' s st u b born in siste n ce on th e lat t er set the ton e fo r h is fiv e y ears of dominatio n . He di d it on a bi k e little chan ged f r o m 199 2 o n wa r d s , no t beca use HRC d idn ' t wa n t to cha n ge it, b u t si mp ly b e c au se h e w ou ldn 't h ave it cha nged . Th i s yea r , i n h i s en fo rced absence, Honda has b e en b a c k o n the d y n o , un l e as hi ng yet more powe r f rom t heir a l r e a dy mar v el ousl y pow erful V -four . Bu t wh en th e bike g o t to th e tracks , up agai nst t he o p position , it was fo u nd In next week's 100 MAY 3 , 2000 · d own, m oving st raight back to carbur etors . Fa cto ry r id er Sh in ichi It o h , however, was obliged to sti ck wi th th e flawed te chni cal tou r d e force . B e c au se it was a to u r d e fo rce , e ve n if it didn' t work o ut rig ht. It n e'lN's • • • • w anting . "The t hrottle resp on se m a k e s i t v e r y har d to ri d e ," sai d a d i sma y e d A le x Cr iville. We ca n onl y im ag in e th e defend ing c h ampion's tru e feel in g s as h e w atc he d L oris Ca pi ros si, on la st ye ar's m otor, out- qua li fy and o ut r ace h i m b y m i l e s a t t he f ir st round in South Africa. N o w the H RC r i de rs - C r ivill e, Okad a and Sete Gibern au - are b ac k on l ast year's b ik es, or at least some sort of a h ybr id incorporati ng c ruc ia l 1999 eng ine p a r t s , a n d th e story m ight w ell be rath er different for the r est of th e year. M e anwhil e , r iva l s m ight do w e ll to rememb er th at if Hon da has a habi t o f e n gi nee ri n g themse lves i n t o t r o u b l e, th e y als o h a v e a h i st ory of eng i nee r i ng t he ir wa y o ut aga i n, soo ne r o r l a t e r , t hro u gh s heer d et er m ina tion and ap p l icat io n - n o t to me nt ion va st re so urces. Hon da i s l e a d i n g t he way i n t h e d r iv e t o w ards fo u r - st r o k e 5 0 0s, and th e o t her factories are r ight to wo rry abo ut th eir c ha nces, in a n ew game tha t will cost plenty, and need all th e resou rc es that c an be mu st ered . On p ast performance, Honda might ea sily screw up b ig -time with thei r f irst GP " diesels." But in th e end, they' re likel y to be more or less u nbeatab le . CN National Motocross Preview 500cc Spanish MX GP First-Ever Joliet Supercross FUSA Willow Springs Roadrace ' 30 YEARS AGO... MAY 12, 1970 Reign in g Grand Nationa l D i rt Tra ck Champio n Mert Lawwill was p ict ure d o n t h e cover of Issue # 17, honoring his victo ry at the Cumberland National in Maryland. Lawwill's victory came via a last-lap pass around the outside of a too-cautious Dave Aldana... Also inside this issue it was announced that, after a year of reliability testing, the LAPD had placed orders for 85 Moto Guzzi s and 11 speciall y equipped Honda 750s to add to their existing fleet of more than 500 Harl ey -D av idsons... A rt Baumann (Suz) flew to victory in the ACA road race competition at Riverside lnternationaI Raceway In Riverside, Callfomia. He won the premier 500cc Senior class... Sylvain Geboers (Suz) took on all comers and beat them soundly at the Belgian 250cc MX GP. Finishin g second was fellow Suzuk i rider Joel Robert and in third was a young CZ rider, who had been brought down from the 500cc class to try and defeat the Suzuki squad, named Roger DeCoster... In Tulare, California, short-track Action, Dave Hansen took the Expert main-event victory, John Hateley took the Ama te ur vic to ry and Ken ny Rob ert s raced to victory in th e Novice class. 20 YEARS AGO... MAY 7, 1980 Draq -racinq legend Ru s s Co llins gr ac ed the cover of Issue # 17 and inside he was inter- vi ew ed abo ut his c aree r , h is bu sin e ss and hi s suc cesses in both. On an interesting no te , Co lli ns m ad e mention of a couple of "kids" that had worked under him and had been tau ght by him for nearly 10 years who had left his company a few mo nth s before this interview took place. The kid s' na m es wer e Terry Van ce and By r o n Hines... The Pontiac Silverdome hosted a Sup ercross doubl eheader (rou nds eight and nine), with Mike Bell (Yam) taking the w in on Saturd ay o ver Ke nt Howert on l) (SU and Broc Glover (Yam) , and on Sunday, Howerton took the victory over Mark Barnett (SUl ) and Bell. Bell held a 34 point lea d o ver Chuc k Sun (Hon) and Ho wer t on , wh o we r e tied fo r secon d pl ace... Mik e Klin ger , who is now Cycle New s' publisher, covered a race at Saddleback Cycle Park where notable pros such as Jeff Ward and Ron Turner raced to victories in the 250cc and 500 cc Pro classes, respect i vely. Ward DN F'd bot h m ot os whil e Tu rn er wen t on to finish seco nd. Micky Dymond (Mai) won the 500cc Intermediate class. 10 YEARS AGO... MAY 2, 1990 Issu e # 17 was t he Na ti on al Roa d Ra c e Series preview edition, with Fast By Ferra cci Ducati's Jamie James an d Van ce S Hi ne s Yama ha ' s Thomas Ste vens photograp hed for t he co ver. Insid e, we not only disclosed the ins and outs of the AMA Nat ional Cham pio nship Super. bike Series, we also disclosed the fact that we didn't have the first clue who would win the title ... The Pontiac Silverdome hosted yet another Supercross doubleheader, and Team Suzuki's Denny Stephenson won the 125cc ma in bo th ni gh t s to ex te nd h is po ints lead t o 16 o ver Mike Jon es . In 250cc action, Yamaha's Damon Bradshaw took the vict ory on Saturday night, ahead of Jeff Stant on (Hon) and Mike LaRocco (SUl) . On Sunday, Honda 's Jean-Mich el Bayle took a decisive victory over laRocco and Jeff Ward (Kaw ). Not surpris ingly , LaRocco charged to the front from a 10th CN place start or worse on both nights.

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