Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO•.• MAY 19, 1970 Photographer Den nis Greene ca ptured a picture of so me great So ut hern Ca lifo rni a s pee d w a y - rac i ng act ion for the cover of Issue #18, as Bill Cody was ca ught "nudging" Don Haw ley as they raced for the lead of a local speedway event.; Rich Thorwaldson (Ric) took home a victory at the Red Dots MC Hare Scrambles in Mojave, California . Early le ad er J . N. Robert s (Hus) developed gearbox trouble and fell back to 10th overall... Mark Brelsford (H-D) led a whole lot of Triumphs to the checkers as he won the weekly IT event at Ascot Park. Gene Romero (Tri) finished second, ahead of Eddie Mulder (Tri) in third. In the Novice final, a young Kenny Roberts (Mon) took the victory , ahead of Gary S cott (Bul).. . We interviewed young motocross racer Bob Grossi about his racing ca reer, his style and his plans for the future. 20 YEARS AGO•.. MAY 14,19 8 0 Hank Scott grace d the cover of Issue #18 as he rode his HarleyDavidson to his second consecutive mil e victo- ry of the year a t t he Sa n J ose Mile in San J os e , Ca lifornia . Jay Springsteen (H-D) finished second and Alex Jorgensen (H-D) fi nished third... The AMA Supercross Series held a doubleheader in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a combined total of 20,300 people showed up for the weekend . On Saturday, 15,600 people showed up and on Sund ay only 4,7 00 spectators appeared. 'The slim crowd saw so me good racing , though, as Mike Bell (Yam) and Mark Barnett (Suz) took home victo ries onth ewe ekend , Bell led the c ha m p ion s hi p by .3 2 points afte r 11 rounds... Brad Lackey (Kaw) won both motos in Sittendorf, Austria , ah e ad of Hakan Ca rlq vis t (Ya m) and Roger DeCoster (Hon). Lackey led by 10 points after two rounds ... Ronnie J ones (Yam) won the Cow Palace Goid Cup by defeating Wayne Raine y (Kaw), among others, on the indoor short track. 10 YEARS AGO••• MAY9,199o . Team Honda 's Je an-Michel Bayle was featu red on the cover of Issue #18 after winning the Tampa Super cross in Tampa , Flori'da , Also gra cing the cover was Jordi Tarres for his victory in Arizona ' Wo rld Tria ls Cha mpionship com petition ... Finishing behind Bayle in the Supercross was 250cc points leader Jeff Matiasevich (Kaw) and defending Champion Jeff Stanton (Hon). In the 125cc main event, Kawasaki rider Tallon Vohland took his first-ever victory, ahead of Jeromy Buehl (Suz) and points leader Denny Stephenson (Suz)... Tarres was seeking his 13th co nsecuti ve World Cham pionsh ip ,Observed Tria ls victory and got it as he tied on points with Diego Bosis but had more cleans for the victory. Tarres led Bosis by nine points after three rounds of competition... The 19th annual Kawasaki/NMA World Mini Gran Prix went off without a hitch in Henderso n, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. Damon Huffman defeated Craig Decke r and Ezra Lusk , among ot he rs , to win the p res tigio us Kawa s a ki Race of Cham pions. Brian Swink (Kaw) swept the 250cc Stock and Modified Pro cla sses , ah ead of Jeremy McGrath (Kaw) and Phil Lawrence (Yam) in both classes . Ryan Hug he s (Kaw) swept the 125cc Stock and Modified Pro classes. CN e 're about finished with my first fu ll-tim e Supercross series her e in t he States , and th ings are g oing pretty we ll. All the races are p retty fu n, ,a nd wha t' s good is that every weekend th e tracks a re different. Th at makes me fe el goo d b e c a u s e you ha ve to find new line s a nd everyt hing . Th e serie s is good because there are a lo t of fast rid e rs . I've b e en d o ing good so fa r, so for me it's a very pos itive yea r. I didn 't know when I ca me here what I could do, and after a few ra ces we saw that I coul d get s om e good pod ium s and some win s . I' m getting s ome mor e fans e ve ry weeke nd , a nd that's good for m e . I was ma yb e a li ttl e tight th e firs t co u p le o f ra c e s bec ause it was so br and new a nd I wa s on a new te am . And a lso whe n Ji m my Button got hurt, I wa s a lo ne o n t he team . Th at put a lot of pres sure on me because the who le tea m stru cture - the sem i and five or s ix people - is moving around the country jus t for me. It was k in d of to ugh after m y Ph o en ix wi n; it to o k a 10n g t im e to g et ba ck on to p. I do n 't know why - m a ybe be c a u s e I did n' t hav e experience. I was getting tired because th er e a re a lot of races in David a row, a nd I wasn' t used to traveli n g ev e ry week - : end . Bu t now I th ink I have a good routine , and I'm getti ng my tra ining and m y practice don e a little better. It was brand -new for m e a t the beginning , so it was ve ry difficult to tra in , and to kn ow h ow to tra in. I think next year I will have a little bit of an advantage com pa red to this s eason, knowing how to set up m y bike . I spent a long time in Octob er , November and De cember for testing , and next year it will be a little bi t shorter because I know what I want and the re won 't be too many th ings to try . T he bad thing is tha t all the people and all the ride rs know that I c a n go fast a nd I can win som e races, so they won 't be surprised. Th is ye a r ,it' s kind of a surprise that I've won four races s o far , but next year th ey' ll expect me to do good. For me, ne xt ye a r will be m ore diff icult than thi s ye a r, for sure . Th e Na t ion als a re a bout to start, bu t I won 't rea lly make a b ig d iffer - W L e n ce b etween Sup ercross and o utdoor. It's kind of like a sing le cha m pio n s hi p of 28 ra c es - 16 and 12 . I don 't turn the pa ge - it's a continua t ion . Still , I've never ridden a U.S . outdoo r rac e - just th e U.S . GP a t Budds Creek, and I'll ha ve to set up the bike d ifferent ly. Th e p ro blem is everybody k now s the t ra c k s . In S uper c ross , it's ne w every we e kend, so everyb ody has th e same base. But I don 't know concrete sta rts too well , a nd the outdoor tracks are th e same every yea r, so e ve rybody e lse will be more fa milia r with th em. But I th ink it shou ld be goo d . I k now the rid ers , and more intense her e because of the sho rt m otos. I ha ve som e v id e os of t he tra cks last yea r, and t he y seem good and rough . I ho pe Yamaha s will do as well as they have in the Supercrosses. Jere my McGrath's not goi ng to ride, but T im Ferry s hou ld be good a nd J eff Emig is comi ng back. We 'll work for it, th at 's for s ure . I th ink Honda wants to get rev enge , a nd they have three good rid ers - Ez ra Lus k , Sebastien To rtelli and Kev in Wind ha m - and all three want to pr ove someth ing sin ce the y d idn 't do so we ll in Super c ross . S uzuk i's Greg Albe rtyn a lso wants to d e fend his t it le, and Ch e vy T ru cks Kaw a s a ki' s Ric k y Ca rmic hae l will want t o do we ll in his first yea r on a 2 50 . Th e re a re 5 0 m any ~ good ride rs - it' s going to b e kind o f lik e the firs t S upe rc ross round at An a he im , with a lmost 20 fa c to ry riders. I don 't know ye t if I'll be fast the first few races . It might take two or three races to learn how it goes and judge how hard to go in th e mot o s . If I s tar t firs t, I won 't kn ow how I m u st rid e - t o pre se rve m ys elf or go 100 percen t - so I h av e t o rac e to le a rn that. ' Off the track , I'm enjoyVuillemin is quickly earning fans in his first full in g life in Am e rica . I' ve season Stateside. m a de some new friend s , an d I like ha ng ing ou t an d goi ng to watch mov ies . I went to a nd I think I can ada pt m yse lf p rett y Magic Mounta in la st week and ha d a q uick. I s hou ld be okay with the heat, b e c au s e t h a t's for eve ry bo d y , and lot of fun. My favorite ride wa s Goliath; it's a new , big , hu ge one whe re you go I' ve raced in Br a zi l a n d Ven e zu el a way up , and t he n wh e n yo u co m e (and it gets p retty hot and humid in d own y o u ca n ' t ho ld you r h ead up Europe , sometimes , also) . I just have b e c aus e th e G- forc e s p ut s o mu ch to pra ctice my starts on co nc rete . • weight o n your s houlde rs. It' s worse With th e Supercross series going on , we haven't had a lot of time for than landing from a Superc ross jump. outdoor testing , but we've been doing I want t o learn more abou t the s ome for about three weeks now . The c o u nt ry, but it's ha rd because I' ve bike is pretty good , and we 're not on ly had two weekends off. On changing too mu ch - main ly suspen E a s t er wee kend , I j u s t stayed at sion. We make it less stiff, because home and relax ed . I haven 't gone the shock must absorb acce le ration back to France ye t th is ye a r, and I w o n ' t go back un t il t he s e a s o n ' s bumps an d t he fork must absorb o ve r . Th ere 's nine hours of jet la g braking bumps. In Supercross it's just flat and ju m ps. You don't have to set each wa y, and that wo uld be kind of t iring. I miss m y friends sometimes, up the bike to get traction in ruts and bumps. We onl y make small changes bu t m y life is s et up here . My mom to th e motor - maybe less aggressive c oo ks lik e in Fra n ce , and I have a a nd pre tty smooth. .n ic e hous e , and m y dog is here . I GPs a re d iff e rent be c au s e th e m ad e eve ryt hing so I wo u ld fe e l m otos a re longer, a nd the riders ar e good an d be comfortable here , a nd it s ee ms to be wo rki ng . CN les s aggressive. I th ink it will be fa ster • • • • • In next week's Cycle News c Las Vegas Supercross Finale KTM Dual Sport Test AMA Sears Point Road Race World Mini GP National Off-Road: Hare and Hound & GNCC U c I e n e _ s • MAY 1 0. 200 0 95

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