Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

By ~ • •I!I~ 30 YEARS AGO•.. JUNE 2, 1970 Ascot Motocross was featured on the cover of Issue 1120, as Tim Hart (Mon) led J im Wilson (Gre) over a hump o n his way to the 250cc Expert-class win. Ha rt and Wilson were set to fly ou t the follo wing wee k to rep resent the West motocross team at the East/West Motocross Champions hips in Pepperell, Massachussetts... Dave Aldana (BSA) took on all corners to win the Ascot flat track, defeating the likes of Gene Romero and Mert Lawwill along the way. Kenny Roberts had his win streak stopped at nine in the Novice category. He was well on his way to l O in a row when his Suzuki quit on the last lap. AI Baker . won... Rob ert Frink wrote an article for Cycle New s that featured a test of the new BMW street bikes. The picture featured in the one-page article was presumably Mr. Frink at considerable speed, on a wet road, with no helmet, gloves or riding boots on. 20 YEARS AGO.•• MAY 28, 1980 Wo rld Tr ials Champi on Berni e Schreiber was photog ra phed for the cover of Issue II 20 as he led the Scottis h Six Da ys fo r the third day... The 125/250cc National Ch ampi on sh ip MX S e rie s visited Southwick, Massachusetts, for round thre e , a nd Broc Glover (Yarn) and Kent Howerton (Suz) took horne the overall victories. Glover and Howerton both led the points standings in the 125 and 250cc classes, respectively... We ra n an article about how to mak e a TT/ Dirt Trac k bike from yo ur CR250R Honda MXer. Total price for the conversion was $508.57 ... Andre Ma lher be (Hon) slashed into the points lead of Brad Lackey by winning both motos of the Fren ch 500cc GP. Lackey led by three after three rounds... Alan Christian and Keith Chrisco were the dominant riders during speedway competition in San Bernardino, California. Christian won' the Scratch mai n for the second week in a row. 10 YEARS AGO... MAY23,199o Dam on Brad . sha w (Ya m) an d S t e ve Morehead shared the cover of Issue 1120 for their Nat ion al se ries wins. Bradsh aw won his hom etown ra ce in Cha rlotte, Nor th Caro lina, whil e Moo reh e a d grabbed the gold at the Ascot Half Mile in California ... Bradshaw led nearly from start to finish at round 13 of the AMA/ Camel Sup ercross Series and Team Suzuki's Mike la Rocco overcam e a 13t h-pla ce sta rt to finish a clo se second in 'the ma in event. In the 125cc main eve nt , Denny S t ephens on (S uz) held off a cha rging Doug Henry (Yarn) to claim victory and hold on to the points lead ... Round three of the World Cham pions hip Road Ra ce Ser ies took place in J erez, Spain, and Wayne Gardner (Hon) took the checkered flag first, ahead of Wa yne Ra in ey (Ya rn) a nd Kev in Schwa ntz (Suz). Ra iney led the points sta ndings by 20 after only three rounds... J eremy McGrath (Kaw) stole the show at the Rose Bowl Ultracross, where the 18year-old sta rted quickly and ran away with the race victory. CN TearllollllD PAUL CARRUTHERS e f we were to run a ll the co m plaint letters ab ou t th e AMA / Ch e v y Tru ck s S u pe rb ike Nation al (or la c k th ereof) a t Sears Point Ra cewa y , th ere wou ldn't h av e been a n yt h ing e ls e to read in this is s ue , Okay , that' s a sl ight exaggera tion , bu t we did get e n o u g h o f those letters t o mak e ad d ress ing the is su e in th is space worthwh ile. Fo r thos e of you' who do n't know, th e S uperbike races a n d all of t h e s upp ort c lasse s sched ule d for th e first weeken d of May a t t he ra c ing faci lity in So noma, Cali forn ia , were rai ne d o ut. Na t u ral ly , th o s e w ho m a de t h e trip to watch ra c e s and did n 't get to do so we re upset - and rig htfu lly so . You m a ke p lans , hote l re s e rvat io ns , e tc ., a nd th e n th ere ' s no raci ng to watch . To m a ke matter s wo rse, it was n 't even ra inin g o n Monda y , le a vin g the im p re s s io n tha t the AMA, th e riders and tra c k perso n ne l we re j ust yanki ng every bo d y ' s c h ai n . It' s no t raining, why aren ' t they ra c in g ? Th a t was th e pr emi s e fo r m o st of th e letters we rec eiv ed. "We ll, o nce aga in, the AMA Superbike S e rie s ta kes a step backwa rd ," pe nn ed Chr is CIaspel l. "The fa ct th at th e t rac k is bub bli ng up wate r on Monda y afte rnoo n is not th e AMA' s fa u lt. But why is it that World S uperbike an d Grand Prix both se e m to run some gr e at rai n races with out he sita tio n? Th e AMA S uperbike ride rs don 't lik e the co n di t io ns . Hell , I' m sure Gobert, Cor ser a nd the othe rs d idn 't like Phillip Isla nd e ither - but wh at a I race." Cla spell wa s c orrect in stating th a t it was n' t th e AMA' s fau lt th at wate r wa s bu bbling up through th e track' s s urface . He 's in c o rre c t in thinking th at a ny t hi ng th a t appli es to Ph illip Is lan d shou ld a ls o a p p ly t o Sears Po int. Be for e a nyone rea die s to write me lette rs com pla ining that I'm ba s h in g S e a rs Po int , let me go on re cord as sayi ng that is not m y inte nt. I th ink the new owners of S e ars Po int have s pe nt a c o n s id e r a b le a mount o f mon e y to try and ma ke things right at t heir fa c ilit y . T h e improvem ents in turns five a nd 1 1 a re gr eat. And I liste ne d in te n tly t o a t rack o ffi c ial ' s e xp lana t io n o f th e ir pl a n s to make Sears even safer in th e years a hea d . Right now , h o wev er , it rema ins a daunt ing p lac e to ra ce a m otor cycle e ve n in th e dr y. While I've never ci rc u lated S ears Point o n a m oto rc yc le , I was g ive n the o pportu nity to do so in a Ch e vy Sub u rba n on th e weeke nd o f t he ra ine d -ou t ra c e . It's sca ry . Pla in and si mple . Th e re a re still pla c e s on th e ci rcui t where a c rash could have d is as t ro us res u lt s. Although a s t ro ll around the tra ck in a c a r is pa inless , it do esn 't ta ke a lot of imag ina tion to s ee why the ride rs wouldn't e ven con sider ra cing a ro u nd the p la ce in the rai n. For on e, the track uses a po rtion o f th e drag s trip . We stopped th e Suburban on the drag strip, and the driv er was able to sp in up the re a r ti res with o ut e ve n jumping on the throttle very hard . Riding a m otorcy cle around th e re with a ny le a n angle wh ats o ev er wou ld be imposs ible . Seco nd ly , the lack of run -off are a s in th ose qu estionab le secti ons a lso m akes racing in the ra in a rid ic ulo us idea . If yo u c rash a t Phill ip Island, yo u slide into a gr avel trap - severa l hun dr ed fee t from the nearest imm o va b le obje ct. Crash in c e rta in s pots a t S e ars and you a lm ost imm ediately sli de into an im mova b le o bject - a nd th ere 's also a good c ha nc e th at you a n d y o u r motor cy cl e c a n t hen boun ce right back in to traffic . Rac in g in th e ra in a t Ph illip Island is safer than ra ci ng in th e dr y at Sea rs Point. And there are also reasons for th e fa ct tha t Phill ip Is lan d is sa fer fo r m ot or cycle ra c ing than Sears Poin t. Ph illip Island was de signed for racing motorcycles . The y d raw hu ge crowds fo r both the Wo rld Superb ike Series a nd th e Grand Prix. S ea rs Point draws huge c rowds as well - for its a nnual NASCA R event. NASCAR dr ivers d on't ne c es sari ly wa nt to run off into gravel traps . It's not good for th e s po nsorship stickers. Th e y 'd m uc h rather glanc e o ff a gu ardrail and co nt inue onward. So let' s move on to how the s ituat ion was handl ed . Le t' s h e a r from reade r Jul Niemer of San Fra ncisc o . "Ove r th e ye a rs I'v e been disap p o int ed b y th e AMA . My last four da ys a t S ears Point have me at th e point that I no lon ger wish to attend the e ve nts th ey sanction . Th e qu es tion most asked this we ekend: Why can't we ra ce in the ra in like the re st of th e plan et? Th en th ere is the iss ue of wate r see p in g o nto th e tra ck th e day a fte r a rain . Had this e ve r ha p pe ned be for e ? If so, why were we told to return to the tra ck for Mon d a y ra c in g - o n ly t o be lat er info rm ed (at about 3 :30 p .m .) th at t he re wa s no Coming up in Cycle News • • • • race? Hav e we be com e too accepting of lon g de la ys with the gene ra lly poor o rg a n iza tio n at t he AMA e v e n t s ? Please tell us how to get o ur ticket mo ney refunded ." Again, we c a n 't totally blame th e AMA on thi s on e , th ough that is usu ally the easiest th ing to do . I th ink all con cern ed wanted to someh ow get th e race run : the AMA, the tra c k , the teams a nd the riders . After all, whate ve r it costs us to get to the races , it c o s ts th e teams that amo unt tim e s 10 0 . The y don' t budget for rained out races that are rescheduled lat e r in the ye ar. Wh a tev er th e y spent to g o t o S e ar s Po in t, they 'll have to s pend a ll over a ga in to go back for a ra c e that will almo st c e rtainly b e rescheduled . Trust me, th e teams and riders go to races to ra c e - not to watc h movies and cruis e th e lo c a l s ho p p ing mall. Nobod y e njoy e d h a v ing th e ir t im e wasted by th e dela ys . As for the w a t e r s e e p in g up t hr ough th e tr a ck , th e tea m s that I spoke to tha t had te sted at the facility in th e wint er said th at it took at least two da ys aft er ra in for th e se e p ing to stop . T h e y se e med to be t he ones who knew for s ure that there wouldn 't be a ra ce on Monda y based o n th e amount of ra in that fell o n Sa turday a nd Sunday. I'm sure track offic ia ls were hoping that windy , sunny wea th e r would c o me o n Monda y , a n d a mira c le wo uld h appen . It d idn 't. In s t e a d , spe ctat ors went hom e unh appy, a nd now the tra c k and the AMA are trying to m ake things right again . They will do so with a re scheduled ra c e , but th ey will al so g ive unhappy spectato rs a refund. The following a re you r o p ti o ns , acco rdi n g t o S ea rs Po int Racew a y: Reta in yo u r tick et fo r us e in th e rescheduled race. Reta in your ti ck et for use as a cre dit t oward s th e AMA ev e n t in 2001. Submit y our t icke ts b y ma il t o Sears Po int Raceway for a full refund (the address is Highwa y 37 and 121 , Sono ma, CA 95476) . Whatever yo u d e c ide to do with your tic kets , Sea rs Po int seem s willing to wor k with y ou . Certa inly , the y 'd like you to come ba c k for the re s ch edul ed eve n t. After all , the y we re e xp e c ting b ig t hi ngs from th e AMA Nat ion al - reco rd c rowds, good ra cin g , a nd ha p py c usto mers . Unfortun at el y, Moth er Nature interve ned. CN Hangtown National MX Italian ~orl d Superbike 125, 250 & 500 MX GPs National Off-Road: GNCC/Hare & Hound cue. e n e _ S • MAY 24,20 0 0 95

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