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/128630
LOOK/HI ~. IIjI~t:1X 30 YEARS AGO••. SEPTEMBER 22, 1970 Gene Ro m er o g raced t he co ver o f Issue #3 6 as a salute to his Grand National Cham p ionsh ip -w in ning dirt track season. Rom ero cl inc hed th e title after his third race win of th e season at . th e Sacramento Mi le , with two races left in J t t he , se ries... Iva n Mauger cli nc hed his th ird consecutive World Speedway title in front of m ore than 50 ,000 fans in Wroclaw, Poland. Maug er was the first man to win three World titl es in succession... Honda introduced their new "frea k" of a motorcycle in th e OS-90 three-wheeler. Th ey cl aimed th at , although stra nge -looking , this small thr ee-wheeler can go just about everwhere w ith ease ~ ac ross strea ms , ove r snow I . atop sand 4 and can even man euver never-before-t opp ed boulders with utmost sta bi lity .. . In SCTA T ria ls action , Bob Nichelson (Bul) took the victory in fabulous helmetless sty le. 20 YEARS AGO.•. SEPTEMBER 17, tsso O n t he cover of Issue #36 was a pictu re of Yama ha's new ' shaft -drive V-twln, the Virago . Th e Virago was one of t he new '81 Yamahas unveiled in Las Vegas over the previous w e e k e n d . A iso in tro d uced in Vegas was Yamaha's all-new 19 81 watercooled YZ125, whi ch boasted 11.8 inches of suspension trave l, front and back ... Gary Scott (H·D) ended his two-year losing st reak in AMA Grand Nati onal Dirt Tra ck action by tak ing hom e th e vic tory at roun d 23 of th e series in Syracuse, New York . Foll owing him across th e lin e w er e 'R a n dy Gos s a nd Ted Boody... Bernie Schreiber (ItI) won round lO af th e World Ch am p ion ship T r ial s Series in Finland with 31 mar ks, ahead of points leader OIf Karlson (Man), who tallie d 34 m arks du rin g th e .co m pe tition.. . Rick Johnson became the first rider in the history of J 17 MX in Chula Vista, California, to sweep all six of the 125, 250 and 500 cc Pro motos in one day . He also won the distan ce jumping contest by j ump ing 72 feet, 6 inches on his YZ250 . 10 YEARS AGO••• SEPTEMBER 12, 1990 Marlbo ro Yama ha's Wayne Rainey stood ato p th e wi nne r 's podium on the co ver of Issue #3 6 after winn i nq hi s fi r st-eve r 500 c c World Roa d Race Ch ampio nship . He clinched the titl e in style by also winning round 13 of the championship in Czechoslovak ia... Team HarleyDa v id so n' s S co t t Parke r wo n t he Springfield Mil e and took ove r t he AMA Grand Natio nal Championship Dirt Track Series points lead. Afte r round 12, Parker led Chris Carr by 10 point s... Team Honda teammat es Mike Kiedrowsk i an d J ef f Stanton won the Bin ghamton J 25/ 500 cc National Motocross. Stanto n led the points afte r ro und three of the 500c c series by tw o over K aw asaki ' s Jeff Ward , and Kiedrowski trailed Suzuki's Guy Cooper by 19 after round nine of the 125cc series... Jeremy McGrath, Mike Young and Mike Fish er took hom e victories in the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro cl asses, resp ec ti vely , at round two of the CMC Trans-Cal Moto cross Series at Sunrise Cycle Park in Adelanto, Californ ia. eN Li c uits t h at cut t he p o w er ba c k in the lower gea rs to m ak e it more r id ab le . "At D oningto n , I'm sta rtin g t he next gea r up at arou nd 5000 rp m , beca use th e o ve rall ge ari ng is fa irly short , N ormally it' s closer to 7 5 00 rpm. "How hard you squeeze the front- brake lever is constantly fluctuating, depending on how high the back wheel is in the air. Because of this, I tend to use the rear brake only to settle the bike as I'm turning in, to keep the rear suspension compressed, or to tighten the corner line sometimes." " W ith the speed sh ifter, I keep the throttle open o n upshifts a nd do n't need the cl utch . Flick in g th e pedal · it's a normal racer shift pattern : o ne up , five down - cuts t h e ig n it io n to help the next gea r engage . If it fa il s, it causes you a p roblem - not beca use it's too ha rd to cha nge gears manual Iy , but the suspension settings are aro u nd that type of shift, and if you started closing t he throttle to shift, it wou ld unsettl e the b ike . " B ac k - s h i f ti n g yo u ca n be real aggress ive - just k ic k it down however many t im es you need . T h ere ' s no slipper c lutc h, and you do get some engi ne brak ing - maybe more t han you want. You ' re on ly sh ifting so as to be in the right gea r when t he time co mes to o pe n t he throttl e r a t h er tha n t o slow t h e bik e d o wn. So me times I b lip t h e t h rottl e , but I p re fer n ot t o . It' s j ust o n e more thing to u nsettle t he b ike . " B ra k in g int o a c orn e r , I u se o ne finger. Yo u can use more - t h at's just p ersona l. Wi t h th e ca r bo n br a k e s , yo u have a lo t o f po wer , a nd yo u ha ve to get o nto t he bra k es smooth ly . T he m o d ern genera t io n [o f b r a k e s ] are n ot as sensitive to b ein g wa rmed up as th e ol d ones, b ut you still h av e t o be awa re - t hey do n't work r ight until th ey h av e some heat in th em. "How h ard yo u sq ueeze th e fr ontbrake lever is cons ta ntly flu ctuating , depen di ng on how hig h th e back whee l is in t he air. Bec au se of this, I tend to use th e rear b rake only to se ttle t he b ike a s I'm turning in, to k eep the rea r suspension compressed , or to tighten th e co rner li ne sometimes . Coming up in Cycle New s • • • • cue G erman World Superbike Motocross des Nations New York AMA Dirt Track Portland Formula USA DirtTrack I e nevvs S EPTEM BER 1 3, 2000 115