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/128620
LCD By STEVE COX LOOK/liB ~. III)~ ~ Eventua lly I got th e cha nce to rac e m y first race in th e 80c c Beg inner class at D e Anza Cy cl e Park. I was wearing Hallman boots, blue j ean s, a JT Racing j e r se y , gl ov e s a n d gog gles , and a Crown helmet . I got dead last in both m o to s an d I loved it! There w as j u st someth ing abo ut leaving th e start gate w ith 15 other riders that go t m y adren ali ne going • so m uch so that I loo p ed out rig ht o ut of the ga te in the second moto in an attem pt to get a better sta rt. I never stopped loving motorcycle riding, but racing began to lose its fun. I loved those days. I loved getting up in t h e m o rn in g too early to open m y eyes to d r ive to the track o n t he weekends. I loved riding m o torc y cl es. It was rather infrequent at first, but so meti mes, es pec ia lly at t he b igg er rac es, if I didn't do well , m y d ad would say so me mea n th in g s t o m e . H e would say th in g s like " Yo u ' re worthless" and " W h y d id we drive out here so you co uld ride around th e track like a wimp on a Sunday ride? " He started to forget why we were doing it. It was supposed to be for fun and bondi ng, but he ac tually , genu inely g ot his feelings hurt if I fell or rod e poorly in a rac e. And it o nly got worse . The focus should be more on whether or not your kid has a smile under that helmet, and less on whether or not your kid beat so-and-so's kid. 30 YEARS AGO•.• JULY 14, 1970 On an extremely hot day i n Sac ra me n t o, C al i fo rn i a , o ne in ge n iou s soul l i n ed hi s Ch evrol et' s bed with plastic and filled it with water, making a muchapprecia ted co o l o ff spot for the riders. The pi cture th at covered Issue #26 was focused on Greeves factory rider Arthur Browning who fou nd the makeshift pool to his liking . ,T he raci ng was do minated by Eu ropea ns as Heik i Mikkola (Hus) led Jiri Stodulka (Cl) and Karel Konecn y (Cl) across the finish line to win the pr em ier 25 0cc Internationa l class... The AMA Grand Natio nal Cham pionship series continued in San Jos e, Califomia, with Jim Rice (BSA ) extendi ng his points lead to 28 ove r Dick Mann (BSA) with a win at the half mile. Jim Odom (Tri) and Chuck Palmgren (Yam) rounded out the podi um spots. BSA held down the top three poi nts positions with Rice, Mann and Dave Aldana covering the field. 20 YEARS AGO... JULY 9, 1980 A Contin enta l Tir e tester wa s photograph ed at speed on "t he wall " for the cover of Issue #26. In the arti cle that the co ver photo was in reference to, it was said that high -perfo rm ance tire t est ers prob ably had the best j ob o n t he pla net. T hat m ay have been tru e... The AMA Grand National Cham pions h ip / Winston Pro Road Race Series ' round 13 took place at Road Atla nta with Rich Schlachter (Yam) winning his second national in a row. Th e Superbike division was won by Eddie Lawson (Ka w) ... Round 5 of the AMA 125/500cc Natio nal Championship MX Series went off withou t a hitch in Sonoma , California . Yamaha's Broe Glover destroyed the 125c c division , winning both motos and Honda's Chuck Sun had a perfect day in the 500cc cla ss as wel l. The tra ck was so rough that many bik es did n't survive . Th ere were a few motocr oss ma chines that left the track in two or more pieces... Dick Burle son (Hus) took the victory at round five of the AMA Nat iona l Championship Enduro Series in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, by a mere four seconds over Suzuki's Randy Martin... We took a look at the works 500s contesti ng the N at io nal 50'Occ MX Championship including Yamaha, Suzuki , Kaw asak i , Honda, Husqvama and Can-Am . 10 YEARS AGO.•. JULY 4, 1990 The fas te r I got, th e ha rd er h e was o n me . It ' s really ha rd to conce ntra te on raci ng w hen you fall in the f irs t couple o f turns , and all you ca n think about is how m ad your dad is go in g to be when you g et bac k to t he p its . I never st opped lo v in g m otorc y cl e riding, b ut r a cin g b egan to l ose its fun . Gale Webb, the m otocross mom , ev en h ad to come o ve r t o k eep m y da d away from m e after a couple of p o o r m o t o p er fo r m an c es . If I wasn 't so upset , I 'd have probabl y been q u ite em b arrass ed . I was a b ig k id . By the time I was 14 , I was racing 125s fu ll time . I got Coming up in Cycle News 116 JULY 5 , 2000 ' c u e I e nevus • • • • • Red Bud National MX Joliet National Dirt Track 125/ 250/ 500 MX GPs French World Trials Mammoth MX Team Honda's Jeff St ant o n an d Tea m Yama ha's Damon B rad sh aw shared the cove r of Issue # 26 . Stan ton w as o n th e co ver for winn in g hi s second - consecuti ve 250 c c Sup er cro ss champi on ship , Brad shaw for winning his fifth race of the season in Los Ang eles, California . Bradshaw and Jea n-Michel Bay le (Hon) went at it like few hav e see n before for the win . Bradshaw frequently stuffed Bayl e, to the delight of the pro-USA crowd, and hit the fin ish li ne j ump while hangi ng off of the side of his Yl250 onl y feet in fr ont of Bayl e. Bayl e protested Brad shaw's racin g tact ics, but the protests fell on deaf ears. Jeff Emig (Kaw) won th e 125cc Camel East/West Shootout , but finished second in the I 25cc main to Buddy Antunez (Suz)... Marlbo ro Yamaha's Wayne Rainey won the c ras h -ma rre d Yugoslavian GP ahead of series rival Kevin Schwantz (Suz). Rainey led by 27 points after seven rounds... KTM 125cc rider Thomas Nort on scored a huge upset victo ry at the 16th Annu al Blackwater 100 in Davis, West Virginia. eN