Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

~ . 11!l~ h en th e new s h it th e Grand Prix p add o ck i n Australia , e v e ry- W offer to Wa lker, to ri de in a new 500 body w as sh o c k ed . Chris Wa l k er, it and b ac k ed by Shell A d vance - w ith ma n a g e r an d sponsor bo t h m o v in g t eam ru n by Austra li an J eff Ha rd w ic k se e m ed , had t u rne d d own a dream offer o f a fa ctory Honda N S R5 0 0 V fo ur in fa v o r of g o ing W orld Super - up from the 2 50cc class . Th e o nly p roblem was budget insiders sa y the y 're still about $ 1.5 m i ll i on sh o rt. And Walk er 's ride bi ke racing on a Suzuk i i nstead . What? He must b e mad , said all and sundry . O r scared . Or just a toss - would to a large extent b e ex pec te d er . Im a g in e kick ing so m e t h in g lik e that out of bed . A nd that's more or less what I either to attract a big enough sponsor to fill the hole, or to bring the money h im self . In othe r w ords , it w a sn 't so m uc h a Honda GP offer, which woul d put h im in an u n prove n sa telli t e te am . H e woul d b e joi ni n g a fam il y o f ri de r s tha t already had so m e dist ingu ished se nior members . Just wh ere i n the HRC pe c k ing o rder would Walker fi nd hi mse l f , wh en Honda was al ready d eali n g with proven GP winn ers like Ro ssi , Capirossi and B a r r o s , not t o mention World S u p e rb ik e Ch am p io n Colin E dw a rd s? Walker would be the p oor relation . h ard offer as a p roposal. Interes ti ng enough , however , if a Clocki ng i n with th e Suzu ki fac tor y , o n th e o t he r h an d , w ou ld b e a bit different - quite apa rt fr om the er o n t he o ne hand is somet hi ng of a v ict i m of circ u ms ta nces , it see ms . And o n the ot her h a n d m a y h a v e f ew m ore i ng r edien ts co u ld b e pu t fa ct t hat h e 'd b e sta y ing wh ere h e in to plac e. Then t h in gs st arted to go wrong . m ad e a b ett er d e c i s i on anyway - F e aring t h a t th e sto ry w as about to br eak , D o rn a deci ded to pr e -empt th e is a l rea dy a valu e d r i der. T h ey h a v e o nly K enn y Rob e r ts J r. a s a r eal star , t o b e j o in ed i n G Ps n ext planned to say in this column. Things, ho we ver , are ra ther different from how th ey first appear. Walk - sin c e t he Su zu k i fac t ory m a y ulti - situatio n with a press release of its ow n . matel y o ffe r better GP p ro sp ects . yea r b y Set e Gibern a u, w ho is y et t o se t t he w o r l d o n f i r e . In W or ld S u pe r bi k e, the y have t h e f a st but an ci ent Pi er F rances c o Chili a nd ex Sup e rs port sta r S t ep h a n e C ha m b o n . P lus Wa lker. T h ere ' s a good c h a nce for h im to g et cl o se to t h e fa c tory r aci n g d epa rtm ent and beco m e a valued ri d er there . T he r e is one more a spe c t. Suzu k i co n f i r med th is wee kend , the l a st o f th e B i g Thr ee to do so , tha t the y ar e w ork ing on a 9 9 0 c c four-st roke GP racer f o r t he n ew 2 002 r eg ul a tions ' a n d th e b ik e m a y b e r ea dy to race in th at year or t he n e xt. Am ong man y o th e r thin g s , t he n ew f o ur stro k e GP b i k e s o ffer a se r i o u s c h a nce f o r Su p e rb i k e rid er s t o mov e up t o the GP s w it h o u t h aving to lea rn how to adapt the i r t e ch niqu e t o tw o - strokes . And W alker w i ll be r eady . Wa lk er, said the sta tement, distrib - So stop k icking him, and l iste n. The roots of t he affa i r lie d ee p in u te d worldw id e, was "set to si gn fo r M e a n wh ile , Y am aha R ed Bull ri der R e g i s Lac on i ha s b ee n r ac ing ' s m a n a g e m ent, and the f act Honda " at any m om en t. Troub le is, d r o pp ed f r om tha t t eam . An x ious t ha t it a ll w ent wrong r ep resen ts an th is rather exaggerated th e situation . And , m o re im po rt antl y, ale rted Suzu - to st ay i n G P r a c i n g , t h e fo r m er GP wi nn e r is p repa r ed to t r y anything . o wn goal fo r GP bo ss es Do rn a. The Spanish company is very keen ki to t he fact that th ey m ig ht be about " It s e ems to h e lp if yo u' re to pu t a B r i t ish r ider in the 500 c c to los e a handy r ider. At the t ime t hey Span ish . I 'm prepared to do th at. class, l a rg el y b e caus e t h is i s a n w e re work ing on puttin g t ogeth er a I ' ll e ve n c h a n g e m y na me to im portant p art of th e Ch ann el F ive TV d ea l that wo uld g iv e h i s C r e s c en t d e a l. Thi s ye a r , the y co n tri buted Su zu k i tea m a fac t ory -level Super- Laco n io ," h e jo k e d. The re m a rk was ra th e r w i tt ier financi ally t o pu t J erem y M cWilliams b ike fo r th e W orld Ch am p io n sh ip in th a n h e 'd ex p ec te d . I n Sp an ish, o n th e Aprilia ; a d eal tha t only c ame ab o ut after W a lk er had m iss ed out on 200 1. The ir respo nse w as to foreclose. nounced Co n io mea n s ... w ell , i t' s an oth er so m ew ha t ep he mera l Ho nd a Th ey p inned W alker d o wn , and gave a r i b a l d r e f eren c e to an intima te r id e in a si mila r way then to now. h im an ea rly d eadline fo r a d ecis ion. p art o f a wo man ' s a n a t o m y . And D o rn a ' s agents h a ve been deeply So t here w a s Chr i s . On th e on e inv ol ved also in brokerin g th is ye ar's h and t he r e w a s a rather airy -fairy In next week's Cy News cle 92 F EBRUARY 2 , 2 0 00' c u e I e n u VII' s L a mea ns th e , and th e word p ro - c h a n g i n g your nam e to m ean "T h e C···" m ay b e going to o f ar .' eN • Spanish ISDE pener • Des Moines National Arenacross O • We ride Ben Bostrom's NCR Ducati 996 • Vet World Motocross Championships from Gl n Helen e 30 YEARS AGO... NOVEMBER 24, 1970 Wo rld 50 0 c c Motocross Champ ion B en gt Aberg ( Hu s) graced t he c ove r o f Issue 1145 after squeaking past Ak e Jonsson for a split-s econd victory at th e In ter-A m m o to c ro ss e ve n t in Phoenix , Ar izona. Th e top Am erican was Bob Grossi (Hus) , who finished fifth ove rall ... A ustralian Speedway Champion Jim Airey took a relatively easy Scr atch ma in victory at the Ascot Long Track Speedway competition... The Long Beach Police Departm ent brok e a steadfast tradition by purchasing non-American m otor cy cl es - Moto Guzz is . Th e LA PD cla ime d th at the Moto Guzzi ma ch in es were " faster on the getaway: plu s th ey were cheaper... Joel Robert (Suz) continued his unstoppab le streak in Irvine, Califom ia, by dom inatin g the motocross action at Saddleback Cycle Park ... We talked to Kenny Robert s about his successful year in Novice dirt track competi tio n and his plans for the futur e. His plans were to contest Yamahas in the AMA Dirt Track series. "I got tired of winning," he said. " If you win all the tim e, guys think you are too good. 1 was kind of happy to get a couple of seconds this year." 20 YEARS AGO.•• NOVEMBER 19, 19 80 The cover of Issue 1145 featured a Knightframed 250 cc Kawasa ki nat-tracker. It was a m a il -ord e r ma ch ine . which required n o welding o r m achin ing t o put tog eth er a nd c ost a bo ut $ 4000, complete... Larry Roeseler and Jack Johnson ( Yam) wo n th eir th ird Baja 100 0 in a row with a winning time of 12:45:13.91, 19 minutes ahead of the second -placed team of Bruce Ogilvie and Chuck Mill er (Yam)... We interviewed 21 -year-old Ricky Graham conceming his third- place points finish in the Winston Pro Dirt Track Seri es and being th e fir st to record a 100-mph -plu s speed average for a dirt track main event. Conceming recently cro wned Gr and N at ion al Cham p ion Randy Goss, Grah am said, "I think he' s probably the best. He has all -around ability , more all- around abili ty than anyone out there." ... Ron Turner rode a Maico to the O pen Pro vic tory an d a Suzuk i to the 25 0cc Pro vic tory at Saddlebac k Cycl e Park in Orange, California. The I 25cc Pro class was won by Tim Lunde (Yam ), ahead of second-plac ed finisher Troy Lee (KTM). 10 YEARS AGO.•. NOVEM BER 14, 1990 Le e Po u n d er s wa s 0--:7-:::-:"7""""-:-71 p hotograph ed for th e co ver of Issue 1145 after:JJ, _ winning the Nov ice Solo GTU cla ss at t he AMA /CCS Rac e of Champion s at Da y tona Intern ati onal Speedway . Nov i ce So lo GTO wa s won by Thomas Wilson , while Expert U ghtw eight Super Twin was won by Scott Zampach... "In the Wind " exposed Eddie Lawson doing off seaso n testing on a 500cc Cagiva . The four-time World Champion ran a lap time that would have been the second fastest of t he race at the Yugoslav ian GP on t he same track, ju st tenths of a second slower than race-winner Wayne Rainey's fastest lap on his way to winning the race... Jeff Stant on earned the honor of being nam ed AMA Pro A thlete of the Year at the year- ""tl(till:Jj _: . 1:: :=====-1 end awar ds cer em ony . He also received $50 ,000 for his Camel Supercross Championship. Scott Parker took hom e a check wo rt h S100 ,0 00 fo r his Cam el Pro Dirt T rack Champion ship ... Hon da-m ounted Scot t Sum m er s cli nc hed his fir st -ever AMA Grand National Cross Country Series Championship in West Virginia. He added th at tro phy to th e AMA Nation al Hare Scrambles Championship he took earlier in the year.

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