Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I h a v e be en sa yi n g for a wh i le n ow that Max Biagg i was o verdue fo r a win , but modestly cl ai m no p ersonal credit for the fact that he finall y did it at Brno . What I will say is that he rather spoiled the party by winning in such a co nvi n ci n g m anner. A ma rgin of 6 .6 4 1 ( c o u n t ' em ) seconds goes some wa y to damaging if not ac t ually ru ining an impressive set of statistics. D e t e r m i n e d GP apologists l i k e myself have been saying for a while th a t t he 5 00 class is no t only th e unqu esti o n ed fi n est racing c lass in th e w orld, it is furthermo re b ett er now t h an ever before. The statistics I'm talkin g about prove the poi nt n icely. hadn 't w on any of th e first three rac es, history suggests t h at h e wo u ld soon ha ve remedied tha t sit ua t io n had h e not c ras hed , and the cl os e racing to ok p lac e o n ly a fte r h e'd g on e . Inde ed , number t en o n the list was the very Spanish G P at Jerez where Mi ck ' s career ended (fi v e in 6 .764 seconds) . A modicum o f res earch suggests there are other reasons as well - te ch n ical reasons , to do with the level of evo luti on of t h e c u r ren t V4s , whic h have hardly c han g ed in the last fiv e years or m ore. Not t hat they're all t he same , but tha t by some coincidence they are very similar, w hen comb ined with their rid ers . is it m ore tru e th an in ra cing , where one lap foll ows another as ni ght follow s d ay . , N ow co ns i d e r th is . Suzuki had s om e une xpe cted and s om ewhat in explicable en gine problems at Brno, both in practi ce and i n the race , whe re both Nobu Aok i and Ke n ny Roberts Jr. c o m p la in e d of a loss o f power and revs. St rip ping the engines , t he c rew discovered so me strange dust in the crankcases of each b i k e . Furthe r investigatio n showed t hat it was p ro b ab ly m etall ic particles , of t h e ty pe used to bead -blast w h ite li n es off the edge of a circui t , when it is req uired 30 YEARS AGO•.. SEPTEMBER 22, 1970 Chuck Palmgren wa s ph ot ographed for the cover of Issue #35 after winning his first National of th e year in Nazare th . Pen nsylva nia . The win was also the first for Yamaha 's new 650 t hat Palmgren had been co mm is sioned to campaign. The next day. at the Ind ian ap o l i s Mile, Dave Ald ana (BSA ) captured his third victory of the season. Pal m gren fi nis hed t hird.. . Gary Ba il ey m ade a sto p to race motocross in Salt Lake City , Gtah, and easily decimated the field. The more than 100 riders and 1000 spectators were reportedly left wondering h o w B ail e y m a de mo toc ross l o ok so easy... We visited the Bonneville Salt Flats to see if any two -wheeled records would be broken . Among the records set was one by Leo Payne. a drag racer from Las Vegas, Nevada, who took a stock-framed, singleengine, non-str eamlined Harley-Davidson fuel bum er and ran a two-way average of 202.379 mph . 20 YEARS AGO.•. SEPTEMBER 10, 19aO K en ny Ro be r t s (Yam) was pictur ed on the cover o f I ssu e #35 on his race -r epl i c a min ib ik e after win - They are as follows: Th e last r o und, th e G er m a n GP, was t he closest race in t he 5 1-year h istory o f th e W o rl d Ch am p ionshi p , measured in t he ti m e covering the first fi ve ri de rs . It was 1.674 seconds. The n ext-clo sest race was also this year, w h ere t h e sam e n umber of fin is hers cros sed th e li ne in 2.530 seconds (in Ja pan). And (thanks to master statistici an Dr Martin Raines fo r th ese), of the ten cl os est fin ish es in rac in g hi st o ry , seven h ave been this year or last. Given t hat the 500s are without a d oubt th e h ardest m otor cy cl es in t he world to ri de to th ei r l imi ts, th i s ma ke s i t crysta l clear t h at we' re g oi n g t hroug h someth ing of a golden age of 500 racing . And that's why I'm a lw a y s ba ng ing on a bout how the li k e s of Neil Hodgs on and Chri s Wa lker sh ou ld b e testing th eir ta lent here, not anywhe re else. W h y shou ld this be? On e reason is o b v io us . Mick Do o h an retired at t he begi n n ing of last y ear , and w hile h e Title le ader K enny Roberts is vocal on th is p o in t - f irml y of the opin ion t ha t th e Honda s are so much be tter tha n h is Su zu ki an d the Yamahas, th at "you ca n 't eve n tell how talen t ed the guys are when they w in a rac e on them , 'cause all they have t o do is ride it h al f - d e c e nt l y . " A n d that 's p rob a bl y a fai r co m me n t , t houg h Do ohan propou nds an opposite point of v iew ; cast i ng d o ub t earlie r this yea r b y s a yin g i n h i s opi nio n the Su zuki was at least as good as h is Honda, if not bett er , and it only need ed a good rid er like K enny to p rove it. These r id er s' op inions are so over loa ded with ego and sp i n as to b e more en terta ining than gospel. But t he fa ct remai ns - 5 0 0 racing is th e greatest show on ea rt h. And wh il e an y r id er would p refer an unfa ir tech ni c al ad vant age, th e lon g er the c u rr en t sit ua tio n p reva ils, t he b etter it w ill be for all of us. You've heard the old dictu m: Wh at comes around goes aro und. Nowher e • • • • • 104 S EPT EM B ER 6 , 2000' cu e I e n eVIl S: b y the reg ulat io ns th a t they b e re moved a nd r ep la c ed wi t h a ne w spec p aint, supposed ly of a type that is not slippery in the wet. In o t he r wo r ds, Brn o ha d b e e n sand-blasted and re painted as pe r the new regulations, an d the Su zu k is had sucked up so me o f the dirt. Aoki's m o t o r was wo rse t ha n Ken ny 's , b u t this was consistent wi th the theory , because eight h -p laced Aoki had be en towards th e re ar of a bigg er gro u p than his fo urth- p laced teammat e. Not much to b e done, then , except t o wish they'd b u rn ed the pain t off ra th er tha n bl astin g it , a n d won der whether hig her-placed ai r in takes might avoid t h is so rt of t hi ng h ap pen ing again (nobody bot he rs with any th ing but th e m o st rudimenta ry fil tra ti on ). A nd t he p oint? W ell , Roberts wa s a pr ime mover i n in st ig atin g t he n ew ru le s th at caused the bead- blasting to ta ke p la c e in t h e first place . What g o es aro un d - comes aroun d . CN US MX Championship Finale from Steel City Road Raee Grand Prix of Portugal Assen World Superbike Springfield Mile World Championship 125ee MX Final Round ning his th ird 500 cc World Road Racing title at the Nurburgri ng in German y . Ran dy Mam ola (Suz) fin ished sec ond in the champi ons h i p , 15 p oints behind Roberts (87· 72). Roberts' domi nance spurred a full -page ad in the paper with a picture of Earth from outer space and t he wor ds "Where Does Kenny Go From Here?"v.. Hank Scott (H-D) won his fifth National Dirt Track of the year at round 22 in Topeka. Kansas. He was run ning second in the points chase. The trophy race was won by a young man by the nam e o f Sc ott Parker. .. Mar k Barn et t (Suz) and Danny LaPorte (Suz) claimed the 125 and 50 0cc Nat io nal Motocro ss titles at the final round in St. Petersburg, Florida. They both did it by winning their respectiv e classes overall... We gave a riding impression of Cagi va's new wat er cooled WMX 125. The price was $3200 . 10 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 5, 1990 On t he co ver o f Issue #35 was a shot of Eri c Gebo er s ( Hon ) le ad i ng th e way through the first turn at the Gl en Helen 500 cc USGP. Rick Joh nson (Hon) put on ye t an ot her heroi c perfo rmance in the Southem Califo rnia heat , bu t his 3- 1 was n ' t good enough to beat th e 1-2 of Geboers. Johnson settl ed for second... Scott Parker ( H-D) co ile cted the fifth Indianapoli s Mil e win of his ca reer, along with the $10 ,000 that went with it, by less than a wheel length over his teamm ate Chris Carr. Carr led t he cham pi onship by 10 points after 11 rounds... The grand opening of the Moto rcycl e Heritage Museum in Westerville, Ohio, was attended by more than 3000 enthusiasts, incl uding c o me d i an Jay Leno , wh o rec eived a plaque expressing the foundation's appreciatio n of his participation in the opening of the museum. CN

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