Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

BY MICHAEL S CO" 30 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 15, 19 70 Inter -A m Motocross runner-up Bengt Aberg was phot ogr aphed for the cover of Issue 1/4 8, along with Inter-Am wi nner Ake Jonsson , who was inset. The final event of the series was run at Saddleback Cycle Park in Irvine. Califomia, and Jonsson won the t itle ahead of fellow European Aberg. The top American at the event was Bob Grossi (Hus), who finished eighth ... A 1DO -m ile Nat io nal Champi onship Enduro was run in Charlie's Place. Califomia, and the event drew both off-road stars and motorcycle thieves. The night before t he end uro , so me motorcycle thieves made off with some equipme nt while everyone was sleeping. The Califomia Highway Patrol said they had 10 people in custody, with a couple still at large. The enduro itself was a fast affair, which contributed to the multitude of broken bones and dislocations that occu rred during the event. Although no results were posted by press time, most believed th at Tr iumph mount ed Gene Burcham to ok the overall vict ory ... Tom White cli nc hed th e 1970 Huntington Racing Association T.T. Championship on his Bultaco. 20 YEARS AGO... DECEMBER 10, 19 8 0 The Phant om Duck of the Desert , Louis McKey, ado rne d the cover of Issue 1/48 along with a few scenes from the second annual Cycle News Barstow· to-Vegas Road Ride and Poker 10 00 Run . About motorcyclis t s spen t Thanksgiv ing weekend riding across the desert between the two cities both on the road and off - McKey and company rode the trails to Vegas as well. About $ 1250 was raised in the Poker Run for the defense of off -road motorcyclists' land -use rights... We rode the 198 1 KTM 390 WR, which we keyed as a mellow open-class answer. The air cooled 390cc enduro motorcycle featured a wide - ratio tran smission and Marzocchi 38mm forks. The sugg ested retail price was a whopping $2592 ... Gol den State Raceway, near Sears Point in Sonoma, California, played host to a motocross race that showed Tyson Vohland (Yam) win the 80cc Expert class ahead of Bobby Moore, while Tyson's younger brother Tallon Voh· land (Yam) fi ni sh ed th ird in the 80cc Novice class . Danny Chandl er won th e 125cc Expert class after a close battle with George Holland, who DNF'd after his bike encountered suspension problems. 10 YEARS AGO••• DECEMBER 5, 1990 We int ended to put Jeff Matiasevich on the cover of Issue 1/48 after he won th e T ok y o Sup erc ross in Japan , but we m istakenly put Larry Ward on the cover in his place. Th e race served as round number four of t he Mas t er of Motocross Ser ies, and Jeff Stanto n sat first in points after his runner-up performance in the main event. Team Suzuki's Guy Cooper finished third ... Terry Rymer (Yam) and Rob Phill is (Ka w) split win s at the final round of the World Championship Superbike Series in Manfield, New Zealand. Raymond Roche (Duc) won the World Championship ... We Introduced Suzuki 's 199 1 GSX·R750M and GSX -RI I 00M. During the press intr oduct ion at Road Atlanta in Georgia. we found that the new bikes had both recei ved ups id e-down fork s that offered positiv e feedback on the entry to comers and new fairings that reduced the dra~ coefficient by 2.3- 3.5 percent... In our Chnstmas Gift Guide. we featured as lMS 3.5-gallon Suzuki DR fuel tank ($ 169.95), Ta rga leather half-t ank covers for latemodel sport bikes ($25 .95), and Marzocchi upside -down forks, which were mad e of S o ft on fo ur-st ro k es? Regular read ers m ight be worried by m y rec ent lapses into wid e-eyed enthusiasm fo r the ra pid ly app roaching introduction of the dreaded "diesels" to Grand Prix racing in 2002. But I fee l an at ta c k o f pe ssimism on the way . Ther e a r e a ll sorts o f p os i t i v e thi n gs about th is move. There 's aston ishing e n t h usiasm not only among the three cu rrent GP factories, but also probably Kawa saki and D uc at i, as well as pe ople outsid e bike racing , from the rarified world o f Formula One. IN TJ t his t ime disma yed by te chn ical restrictions (an d privately relieved at t h e fi na n cial savings ) , the factories pu ll ed out again. T hree o f them ( J a p a n ese , we 're talk ing abo ut) came back . And here w e a re t oda y . turn ing around and heading bac k down the same high -cost road to hardware heaven. think GPs are crap becau se "there aren't any British riders involved. " This point of v i e w neglects t o achievements of Jeremy McWilliams, not to mention 2S0cc guys Jay Vinc ent and that expe rienced bou ncer bac k Jamie Rob inson; as well as willfu ll y fa il ing to r ea li ze that - wh ile Eu ropean Champ ionsh ip soccer i s So who w ill p ay? An optim ist would say th at sa l v a t i on alw ays co m es from so m ew here or another; a p ess i m i st w o u l d point o u t that the world has c hange d a lot si nce then , and (unless China p erh ap s has some surprises) th er e' s no n ew Japan waiting to save t he day . pre tty da mned good - it ain ' t the World Cup . Th is seaso n's record - breaki n g SOOc c class recorded t h e four clos est-ever finishes in history (measured as the time span covering the top five - less than two seconds at slow Sachsenring an d at fas t Phill ip Isl an d ) . " W h a t a ti m e t o d r op t he two st rokes ," say som e, f o rge tti n g that o n ly two y ears before, th er e'd b een f i ve years o f Mi k e Dooh an do mi nation, wh i c h pro v es tha t t w o -strokes aren 't intri nsically close. Next year will b e, t hough. Proba bly. So you shouldn't allow blind prej ud ic e make you miss th e last of th e su pe r -close two-strokes. Meanwhile, the racing world wa s agog to see how Noriyuk i Haga would go in his first test on his new GP bike. Japan ' s new guy has, after all, broken the mold of riders who leave Japan in order to go slower. He also has t ha t quality most endearing in a racer , o f riding like a complete nutter at a ll times . There are those who th ink th at it's one th ing getting away with tha t sort of stuff on a heavier, softer-edged Superbike, and that he 'll have trouble adapting to a GP SOO. Short memories , again. Haga's do ne it befo re, after all. .. at Suzuka in 1998. He qu alifi ed six th , fin ished third , well ahead of the likes of Crivill e and Ba rros, am o ng others. It will be interesting ... eN "Salvation came from an unexpected quarter, as Japan started making motorcycles. From the start, they loved to race them. " There' s al so the British angle. Currentl y almost a ll good Briti sh riders are four -st ro k e speci a li st s but , instead of a dead end in World Super bike, they w ill again have a route to the senio r World Championship. A n d there's the larger issue - that going four-stroke will inevitably end up w i t h t h e Su per bi kes being absor bed ( o n e w a y o r a n ot h e r ) by GPs, thus closing a rather b izarre chapter i n which b ike r ac ing has in advertently em ulated world boxing b y hav i n g tw o series v y i ng fo r suprema cy . Time for reflecti on has h elped m e r ememb e r m y i ni ti a l r es erv at i on s ab o ut th is m o v e. Tim e, and di p p in g in to a contemporary b ook from t h e '6 0s , a sober ing re min d er of what happened at the en d of the 'SOs , when t ho se mainstays of bik e racing Moto Gu zzi and Gilera pu ll ed out of GP racing , triggering years of sterile domination by MV Agusta . Why? At a t ime when Guzz i raced a SOOcc V eight and Gilera a seminal transverse twin -cam four - it had become j us t too ex p ens ive. Motorcy cl e road ra cin g was lucky back then . Salvation c ame from an unexpected quarter, as J apan started making motorcycles. From the start, they loved to ra ce them. Esp eci all y Honda , with old man Soichiro leading the way . Bac k t h en , it was the FIM who put a st o p to tech n ic al innovation gone m ad - five -cy linder 12 Sc c Ho n d as, 16-speed gearboxes for Su zuk is and Ya m ah as, and so on . Ten years o n , "U n le s s there is a major change of hea rt , the fo urs t ro kes will t hra sh th e two-strokes. " But one thing is certain. Unless there is a major change of heart, the four -strokes w i ll th rash the twostrokes . This might h ave to be artifi cia lly induced, b y introducing regula tions to slow the st ro kers down (more weight, o r limited fuel ca pacity ). But if the i nt en t ion of the factories is to r ac e four -strokes , then that's what wi ll happen . It's easy to foresee a boom and bust o ver the n e x t f ive years ; less easy to see a b oo m and boom. B u t it's not impossible, so let's hope for the best. Meanwhile, tak e t h e la st chance to enjoy what we sta nd to lose. I know there's a faction o f B ritish fa ns who • German World Supercross Finale In nen week's Cycle News • A Day In the Dirt Grand Prix alum inum and came with various confiqu - rations for road race, street and dirt track applications ($ 1195 ). eN • Rrst Ride: 2001 Yamaha rz250F cue. B n .., _ s • D EC EM BER 6 . 2 0 0 0 71

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