Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO••• SEPTEMBER 29, 1970 Sp e ed w ay star Rick Woods blurr ed ac ross the cover of Issue #37 in honor o f th e up com ing National Speedway final round that was t o take pla c e th e following week end at the Costa Mesa Sp eed w ay . .. Don Hill, a 19 -year-old dese rt r a c er . was killed when his front axle sheared and sent him ca rt wheeli ng acro ss the desert floor duri ng the bomb run of Cactus Cats MC's first-ever desert race .. . We teste d th e bra nd -new Ind ian 100cc Mot osport and found it to be quit e a ca pable m ach ine in t he hands of t he more -diminutive riders ... Don Ve sco ran a Yamaha-powered machine down the Bonneville Salt Flats at 249 .965 mph and back at 253 .889 mph to esta blish a new World speed record for motorcycle s at 25 1.924 mph . His mac hine ran two Yamaha 350cc engines; the previous record of 245 .66 7 was set with two 650cc eng ines fro m another manufacturer. 20 YEARS AGO••• SEPTEMBER 24, 1980 S ev en- tim e Nat ional Speedw ay Champion Mike Bast graced th e cove r of Issue #37 as Cycle News po sed t he question, "Why does a seven-ti me Natio nal Champ retire at 27?" What were his plans reti rem en t ? aft er Building mopeds and prom otin g moped racing ... Ricky Graham took his Harley-Davidson and outdi stanced all the stars of AMA Grand National Dirt Track as the series visi ted the half mile in Tulsa, Oklahoma . The victory left Graham third in points and only six points out of the championship lead... Bruce Penhall raced to a disappointing fifth place in the Speedway Individ ual Worl d Fi nal in Sweden... Danny Chandler, Bob Grossi and Jerome Heiberger won the 125, 250 and 500cc Pro clas ses, respect ively , at round fiv e of th e CMC Bosch Motocross Series. The only rider to score a podium finish in all three classes was Ron Turner , on Suzukis. 10 YEARS AGO••• SEPTEMBER 19, 1990 Kawasaki' s Doug Chandler earned his fir st -ev er A MA Nati onal Superbike Roa d Race title at Heartl and Park i n T op eka , Kan sa s, an d w as p h o t o gra p he d on th e track and o n th e po dium for t he cover of Issue #37. Miguel DuH am el wou ld steal th e show that day , however, as he raced his Suzuki to the Superbike National victory in his first-e ver att empt, hold ing off Sco t t Russell and Chand ler all the way to t he checke re d fl ag .. . In ye t another first , Michael Doohan (Hon) took his first career 500cc Grand Prix victory at the Hungarian GP. Americans Eddie Lawson (Yam ) and Kevin Schwant z (Suz) chased him hom e in second and th ird . respect ively ... Per Jonsson raced to t he Speedway World Ch ampions hip i n Br ad ford , Engl and . Am erica's Shawn Moran finished second to the Swede... St eve Lam son (Suz) ran away with all four moto victories in the 125 and 250cc Pro classes at Silverstate Raceway during round three of the CMC TransCN Cai MX Series North. " T wo ve ry sim ila r events at th e Por tu gu e se Gra n d Prix evoked v ery d iffe re nt r e a c t i on s . B o th involved a tte mpts a t de li be ra te ly k nocki ng an other rid er off. all II One lap remained . Rossi bro ke the la p re c ord , but Roberts j ust held him at bay by two te nths . Leg rell e fi nished 18th ; second to last. Ke n ny ga ve a b low - by -b lo w acco u n t. He'd lap p ed th e sa m e g u y a t B rn o , as w ell as th e hapl e ss Phil G il es , h e sai d . " T h is gu y's n ot a ba c kmarker. He's so m eo n e who rides in sid e the bubble , not seeing the m ar sh a ls, o r the other rid er s, or anything. These guy s should q uit right no w . " T h e reaction t o K enn y' s d escrip t ion of events was shock and di sm ay . Not at wh at he 'd done, so m uc h . B ut t hat he ' d ma de no b o n e s about it, dow n to des c ri b i n g h is t ac tics i n so me detai l. Som eh ow , one fe lt ob lig ed to be shocked . So is t he pro b le m m e r el y that Roberts ha d spoke n a bo ut it? Th at he'd owne d up to t he red mist , while sti ll fired u p with it. In th e co ld li ght o f d ay , afte r all , pe rhaps t he statement The fir st ca m e in practi ce. Th e norshou ld not be taken so lit erall y. J ust m all y mild -mann ered Jurgen van d en fighting t alk , designed to i nt im id at e Go orber gh b ecame in cen se d at o ne n ot onl y the lik es of L egrelle, but too-many i m pe r io u s get -out -o f -m y ever yone e lse ou t there . O r ha d wa y m oves by the no toriously arrogant Ke nny just been too h on est ? Max Biaggi, on the slow-down lap, no I f so, we s h o ul d b e w on d eri ng less. At t he next corner , a slow fi rst wh ere t he fau lt act ua lly li es . W ith gea r u ph i ll S -ben d , o u r J urg dro ve Ro berts for ' fessing up? O r wi th hi s straight into the si d e of th e Marlboro shocked au dience, for apply ing su ch Yama ha . Inevita ble one of them fell off. double st and ard s. The wrong one - va n de n Goo rbergh. On t he o ne h and, t here wa sn 't a He remounted, raced for hom e, and ma n-ja ck among u s who d o e s n ot c har ged straight i n to Max 's pit. se c r etl y condo ne , even a dmi re , th e Enr a g e d Du t chm a n and Ro man m o st r u t hl ess o f r ide rs , i ns p i r ed as Emperor did n't ac tua lly com e to they are b y the ste rnes t determ ib low s, separated b y Ma x 's m in nat ion . T o ugh ri de rs win titles. de rs , but l ater v an den Goor On t he ot he r , what opt ion bergh said : " I d idn 't go there to was there but to c o nd em n this t ry t o hit him - just t o tell him sho ck i ng adm ission of intent nev er to carve m e up lik e th at from a safety c am p ai gni n g rider again . He thinks he is god ." in to th e bargain. Th e univer sal react ion to th is This contrad icti on is not ver y was ga les of lau gh t er. O nl y digco mfortable. It m akes m otorcycie n it y had been inj u red, and m an y racing feel like a bl ood spo rt , and fel t Max had it com ing anyway. tu rn s specta to rs in to g ho u l s . T he n ex t day was th e r a c e . E sp ec iall y tho se w ho ta ke t h e Kenn y Ro be rts Jr. h ad se c ond m eal y-mo uth option: " It's dan ger m ore or less in th e bag . Val en ti ous eno ugh alread y without makno Ross i w as ci o sing fa st fr om i ng it worse ." Bullshi t. A t r uly behind, but he still had 2 .4 sec com pe tit ive rider w ill use the da n on ds in hand with tw o laps left to g er - or m or e subtl y th e percep go. Safe enough . Then he ran up tion o f danger - to his advantage. J urgen van den Goorbergh needed to cool down after agai nst ba ckmarker Seba st ien Before looking too dee ply into his on-track in cid e nt with Max Biaggi. Legrell e, a Belgian on a V-t win, ourselve s , though , stret ch for at a rath er unfort una te section . com fort to the wo rld of F I racing. L egr ell e , i f h e 'd h a d h i s w it s In th e loft y real m s o f B ern ie T his i s GP r a cin g . Th e t op . An d about h im, rea lly shou ld ha ve m o ved Ec c elst o n e ' s fiefd o m , sh unti ng your this was t he ma n m o st li k ely to be the out of t he way . After all , he' d short ly ri va l o f f is co m ple te ly acc epta b le . Worl d Ch amp ion, open ly admitti ng b efor e b een p a ssed b y le ad er Garry Schumach er is a past m aster - hi s v ic h e ' d t r ie d t o ma k e an oth e r rider McCo y. But h e h eld h is l ine th rou gh ti ms spa nn in g the years f ro m Hill to c ras h . T ut tut. the chicane , and Robert s was t hwarted Vill en eu v e to Cou lth ard ; Senna before A nd t hen a g ai n - w h a t d o yo u for al m ost a th ird of a lap, losing th ree hi m was famous for steering Prost into ex pect? T his is GP rac ing . The st akes or fou r tent hs , m aybe m ore. t h e w all on th e very fi rs t c o rne r a t are h igh . And i n t h e en d , n ob o d y E sto r il ends in a long fo u rth -g ear Suzu k a . E v en t hese ma n ia cs , fro m e x p e c t s th e ir h ero e s t o pus syfo o t r ight, ru n ning up in t o fi ft h an d sixth w ha t I re member, observe d th e c onaround . W hen Robert s likew ise nerfed on t h e d ownhill run o nto the straight. ve ntion, ho w ev er. T h e twi n kl e in t he Lo r is C ap iro ss i off the t rack in GerIt ' s a fi ne fast corner. eye m ig ht g ive th em away, bu t th ey m an y a few weeks before, ciaimi ng Robert s h u n g b ack o n t he entry , wo ul dn 't actuall y co me out and admit third w h i l e t he Italian was l u c k y t o obv io usly to slingshot b y on th e exit. t hey'd deliberat el y caused a c ras h. survi ve to ta ke six t h, n obo d y h a d B ut, a s h e was careful to expla in Bi k e r a c in g is, of co urse, rath er t u rned a h air. A s K en ny ex p la ined : " I lat er , he had a m ore sin ister pu rp o se. differe n t. We ' re n ot looki ng at dam d idn ' t m ean fo r h im to crash , and I'm Red mist risin g, his goa l was to run int o aged front wi ngs and s na p pe d-off glad he d idn 't crash . B ut I' m going fo r Legrell e precis ely where the line drifted suspension wish bo nes . It's th e r id er' s t he World Cha mpionship here." o ut to th e ed g e of the t rack . And to body tha t takes the p u nishment, and F air enough . E sp ec iall y when t he knock him right off into the dirt. t he co nsequences a r e poten tially v ictim is such a ve tera n nerf-maestro T h e atta ck failed. " Ri g h t where I rath er worse . as Capi rossi , wh o w on the 250cc caught him he came across a b it from A nd i n t he end, p erh ap s t h er e ' s Wor l d C ha m pio ns h ip b y s hunting the edge. Ou r b ikes to uched , but h e so m et h in g comforti n g in th e t houg ht T etsuya Ha rada off int o th e A rge nt ine stay ed o n th e t rac k . " J u st as we ll , that perhap s bike racing 's practition sce ne ry in 1998 . A n d h e also r a n really . Even a h umble twin wo uld be ers, as we ll as bein g bra v er th an ca r right in to M arce llino L u c c h i o n t he ra ce rs , a re rathe r m o r e h on e st a s knocking on at mo re t han 14 0 mph st art li ne at Mugello. at that point. well. CN • Spanish Grand Prix Road Race Coming up in Cycle News • Seattle F-USA Dirt Track • GNCC and Hare Scrambles from Ohio cu e I e n e v u s: S EPTEMB ER 20 , 2000 95

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