Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

30 YEARS AGO... T h e r e must always be a sigh of relief when a great ca reer comes Du ca ti is also left with a b ig ho le to f i ll. T h eir f a c t o ry bikes are p la inly to an end . Even w h en it ends badly, as with Wayne Rai ney, who is stuck in a wheelcha ir. E v en th a t is b etter p re tty d am n ed good - witn ess T ro y B ay li ss j u mp ing straig ht on to w in . B ut there is more to it t han t hat, and the It ali an s h a v e a tta cked the lo st Foggy pro blem f ro m t w o d ifferent d ire c tions . Th e first is m e ch an i c a l , than the other thing . Carl Fogarty , no d ou bt , thinks his caree r ended b ad l y , too . An d wit h so me just ification , sin ce he' d rather have w on an other t itle t han b een ca rried off un con sci ous after f all in g inno c ent v ictim to a collision , and th en endu ri ng a len gthy and (from t he point of v iew o f ra cing ) fruitless recuperati on . Foggy i s j us t f i n e , o f co urse, with all h is fa cult ies a nd ph y s i cal e x tre mi t ies m o r e or l e s s i n t a c t an d a healt hy re tirement fu n d . T his is a goo d resu lt after a hi gh ri sk career spa n n ing TT rec ord s and a st r ing of Wo r ld Su p erbik e titles, not t o m en t io n a h andfu l of Grand Pr ix o utin g s th at showed he deserved a full -tim e GP ri de. That h e n ev er g o t o ne p ro ve d ul t imately v ery d est ru c t ive to Britain 's record in GP racing, and fu rthermore m e ant tha t a g enera tion o f Briti sh race fan s lo st inte rest in a n yth i ng but Sup erb i k es . A b a d move, an d a sad lo ss. And a huge g ain fo r Sup er b ike s. F og g y g av e th e series a h ero w ho co uld deal wi th a ll co mers - fro m upa nd-co mi n g t hrusters to su pe r an n uate d e x- G P m en . Without ha rdly ever smilin g, too. And n o w h e ' s go n e ? I t wou ld b e n aive to fo rg et th at hi s departure ha s in turn also ro bbe d th e diesels o f a h ero. A s w ith the GP s after M ick D o ohan , n ew h ero e s co me up s oo ne r and/o r lat er ; th ough at first most p eopl e see m t o th ink th e y a re not a patch on the o ld ones . At th e sa me tim e, Foggy w as a giant fi gure, part icu l a r l y a t hom e . T hese b o o t s ca nn o t eas ily b e fi lled . A t a time wh e n t h e S up e rb i k e s a r e u nder severe pre ssu r e , sq ueez ed by t h e forthcom ing switch to four-strok e GP b ik es, los ing Foggy is a blow to the series to which he c o n t r i b u te d so muc h . might b e m o re tha n money. D u ca ti has something else on the t able... a GP future on th ei r own account, an d the chance for Ha ga to lead th e way in 2002 . This follows as n ight follow s day if yo u accept t hat t he ma nufact urers, through their new associatio n, p lan to down g r ad e th e Supe rb ik e rul es . Ducati has something else on the table... a GP future on their own account, and the chance for Raga to lead the way in 2002 w ith Mug ell o t es ts - t h e sam e o n es w he re Fogarty rode for th e la st ti m e showing the ir n ext - year' s b ike to be a masterpi ec e. Pow er is up si gn ifican tIy , and there i s a n ew clu t chl e ss , push -button ge arshi fter th at lets t he ri der keep th at p ower turned on in an uninterrupted flow. (J ust t he job, you m ight hav e th ou gh t , to m ake life easier fo r a rac er with a w eak left arm ... bu t it wa s not to be .) The o ther attack is in th e sad dle t he I ta li an facto ry h a s th e purse stri n gs lo o sen ed to b uy No,' Haga away fr om Ya m aha . Sin ce th e J ap an ese charger is on th e verge of swi t ch ing to GPs with a facto ry te am , the ind uc ement w i ll have to b e pretty la rge. B ut , a n d here's th e rub , the l u re Coming up in Cy News cle OCTO BE R 1 1, 2000' cue I e n eVIl's One-race cran kcases , special cy l i n de r h e ad s a n d eng ine m ap p ing , an d p rototy pe gear -s hifte rs mak e sure of t hat. Repo rts fro m M ugello sugg es t t hat it i s no t on ly in exotic tec h nic alit i es t h at the n ew Du k e resem bl es a p ro t o t y p e fit t o tak e on GP r a c in g , given th at a GP-styl e chassis will b e sign ifi can tl y l ig h t er. Th e st o p w at c h says the same. Bayliss lapped faster in th e test th an wi nner Loris Capi ro ssi' s Honda V -f o u r t wo-s troke d id i n the 50 0 c c race . ( T h o u gh not as fast, it shou ld be sa id , as the 5 00s had g on e in qua lifying .) D u c a ti w il l b e f in e, but th er e is a ri ch i ro ny i n th e f ac t tha t t h e y to o a r e likely t o d eal Superbike rac in g a h eav y b low if they go to GPs. never Foggy cou ld get i n to the 500cc class , w h ich re mai ns th e p inna cl e of ev ery r ider's a m b i tion . If h e 'd been only a co up le of yea rs lat er, h owever, h e'd ha ve got in on a Ducati. You d id n' t h ea r th i s f rom m e , but y o u've got t o be a mu se d a bo u t a l e ak from a high level d iscu ss ion in t he n e w raci n g m anu f a ctu r er s a s s o c i a t i on , th e MSMA. Hon d a, in t h e n am e o f contro llin g costs , w an ted to propose t ha t pn eu m at ic valves be ba n ned . Fa ir enough , re sp on d ed A p r il ia ' s r ep rese n tative . B ut o nly i f we c a n also ba n ova l p iston s. No m ore was heard of that id ea fo r CN t he rest of t he afternoon. • Grand Prix Road Race of Brazil • Del Mar F-USA Dirt Track Finale • Intermot Part 2 116 And lo ok at th e machine. Du c at i' s Superbi k e may b e nomina ll y b ased o n a ro ad b i k e, bu t th e r el ation ship grows increasing ly te nuous . OCTOBER 20, 1970 B rad Lackey grac ed t he cov er of Issue 4/40 after traveli ng ba c k eas t t o a T rans-AMA event in laRue, Ohio. He easily ou td ista nc ed th e fie ld in th e Sup port feature; however, former World Cham pion Jeff Smith to ok t he vic to ry in th e ma i n event.. . A t t he 45th ISDT in Spa in , si x gold medals, five silvers and eight bronzes were taken hom e by America ns. Among our go ld-medal win ners wer e Malcolm Smith and John Penton.. . Dave A ldana traded his BSA for a Triumph for the first time at a race at Ascot and was tri umphant ov er Jody Nicholas ( BSA) and Mark Brelsford (H-D ) . The fo ll ow ing d ay at Ascot was a IT event. Ken Roberts (Man) took the Novice main-Event victory , while Brelsford took the Expert main. 20 YEARS AGO.•. OCTOBER 15, 1980 Th e 198 1 watercooled Honda CR250R and Honda CBX Cruiser mad e the cover of Issue 4/40, as Honda had released all of their 1981 motorcycle information to th e publi c. Also incl uded for the new model year was a water-coo led CR125R and the new XR500R off-roadmachine.•Team Kawasaki motocross - er Gaylon Mosier was ki lled on September 30 , 1980, when he was hit by a truck while t raining on h is bicycl e near Roche ste r, New York... Team Suzuki' s Kent Howert on won round three of the AMA Tran s-USA Motocross series at Unadill a, New York . Finishing second in both matos, and secon d overa ll , was Tea m Yam aha's B ob Ha nnah, while Broc Glover (Y am) put together a pair of thirds to round out the podium ... The 55th International Six Days Trial took pl ace in France, and , for the second year in a row, Italy took the victory . T eam USA fin ishe d a di sapp ointing 10th, with our highest placing rider, Larry Roesel er , taking hom e go ld, as did his teammate Dick Burleson. 10 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 10, 1990 Ronnie Jones was pictured both racin g around Ascot's famed hal f mile racetrack and in th e winner's circle for the cover of Issue 1140. His win took place at the lastever Asco t Half Mile National. Chris Carr an d Sc o t t Parke r rounded out the podium .. . Jeff Ward ( K aw ) and Mi ke Kiedrowski (Han) took the victories in the 5 0 0 and 125c c c lasses , resp ect iv ely . Kiedrowsk i held first in th e points standings with two rounds to go over Guy Cooper (Suz) by a mere point , while Ward led the 500cc class by a fairly comfortable 26 po in t s o ve r Hond a' s J eff Stanton ... Hon da's Scott Sum mer s won th e fi nal round of the AMA Natio nal Champ ionship Hare Scrambl es Series in Lynn vill e, Indi ana... Chris Carr wrapped up his third consecut ive AMA 600 cc National Cham pionship Dirt Track title by winning the last round at t he Castle Rock TT in Castl e Rock , Washingt on... Danny Hamel ' (KTM) won the overall at the Best in the Desert Series Mesquite Grand Prix on a 250 . Greg Zitterkopf (ATK) led most of the race on his big 604 cc thump er but was penalized five minutes for speeding in th e pits and CN finished th ird overall.

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