Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

s j s. rGu s u d g i n g from our r ecent on line and his accomplishment was simply on . She was never rattled , and ' s h e reader po ll , our select ion of too good to overlook he re. came away w ith the title. K en n y Rob erts .Jr . as Cy cle I'/ews Although in our dec ision m ak ing J erem y McGrath is an a mazi ng Rid er of the Year fo r 2000 may not be process Roberts ' biggest c h all en ge ind ividual. Eve ry time I sit down and the most popular c hoice among st our ca me f ro m Carm ichael , th er e w ere r e a d er sh ip - or at l east o u r o n li n e r ead ersh ip, Or at least our onlin e o t h ers (as is alwa ys the case w ith talk w ith h im, I come awa y m o r e im p ressed than the last t im e. Aga in , read ership who had an inclination to As o u r on li ne readers p o inted ou t on sh ip. He cou ld be our Rid er of the via thei r v o t e s in our r ead er p oll , Travis Pastrana now r ivals Jeremy Year every si ngle year and it wo uldn't Rider of the Year) . cast a vote . h e w o n the Super c ross Champi - If t ho se particular rea ders had their way , Travis Pastrana wou ld have McGrath as th e most popular motor - bother m e in t he least. In my opinion, h e i s m otorcycle raci ng's gre a test been ou r Rider of the Yea r. And th at wo uldn ' t hav e been a bad ch oi ce. cy cle racer in this country . There was a t ime w h e n the i n d u st r y w orri ed a mbassador. J u st w he n yo u t h i nk h e' s completed his last g rea t deed , he D itto for Ricky Ca rmichael. what would happe n i n the post - goes ou t and d o es it aga in . I f ully M cG rath era, but th ey don 't n eed to ex pect hi m t o w i n t he E A Spo rt s ever, t h e b attl e fo r t h e 2 0 00 Cycle wor ry a ny l on g e r. W hen McGrath I'/ews Ri der of t h e Ye a r w a s n ever d ecides to ca ll it a d a y , Past rana will Superc ross C hampionshi p agai n in 2001. A s fa r as w e were c oncern ed , how - mo re th an a t wo -ma n r a c e : K enny be ther e to k eep t he faith , ste ppi ng Th at bring s m e to Co l in E dwa rd s Rob ert s J r. vs. Rick y Carmichael. The 500cc W o rld Ch ampion v s. the AMA into so me rather larg e bo ots to cont inue to b rin g m oto c ro ss/ Su p erc ro ss II. Since I have sp en t t he b etter part of m y 15 yea r s h er e coveri ng t he 2 50 c c racing m ain stream. A MA Su p erb ike N ati on a l C ha m pi - Pastran a ' s popularity both on and off t h e t rack is well e arned . He 's a onsh ip, it's impossibl e for me not to N a ti ona l M o t oc r os s a n d Moto c ross d es Natio n s Champ io n . Last year 1 offer ed up t he following w he n writin g about C armichael in t his n ic e kid off the t rac k and he's a he ll c h eer fo r AMA road ra c er s who go ab road in se arch of W o r ld Cha m p i - same space : "I a m also sti ll co n- of a rac er on t he track . Not to m en - onships . Edwards did so , and so d id vinced that Ricky Carmichael will one day be Cycle I'/ews Rid er o f t he Year. tion t he fact that whenever he de cides to enter a freestyle contest, he wins - Rob erts. Now they 've been j o ined b y B en B o st r om , but that' s wh ere it All h e does is win , but i t' s never es p ecia ll y wh en those contest s a re t he b iggies , i.e. t he X -Games or th e ends . Three American roa d rac ers vs . the w or ld . enou gh . Call it the M ic k Doohan Syn drom e. Who did h e beat? Carm ic hael Grav ity Games . He 's a natura l born For a ti me th ere , pund it s w ould wi ll eve n t u a l ly b e a t th e be st t he p erform er, an d th ere i s littl e d oubt p o int ou t t hat t hey beli eved Edwards 250cc cl ass has to offer, the n no one that w e w ill see th e d ay when h e is wi ll b e able to c o m pl a in when he 's our Rid er of the Yea r. we nt to Eu rope to o soon . T hey also say th e sam e about B en Bos t ro m . our Rid er of the Year. " Unl es s you a re a d ie - hard dirt So w h at does Carmicha el do? He g o e s out and w ins th e AMA 250cc tra ck fan , th e n ame J o e K o pp likely But Edwards is t h e W orld Superb ike C ha m p io n b e caus e h e w ent t o won' t mean a thing to you. Yet h e is E urope wh en he did, learned what he Nation al M ot o c ro ss t itle - his fou rth th e AMA Grand National Ch am pi on Nationa l Motocross title in a row . And for 2000 - and a w ell-des er v in g one it st ill wasn 't enough . Now it appears at tha t . He happen ed to w in t he t itle n e ed ed to , and fin ally la nded o n a team that was as ca p ab le as he was . Li k e Edwards , Bo st rom w ill also f ind as t h o u g h w e want a Supercross c row n out of th e Floridi an b efore w e in the first ye ar o f the AMA vs, Fo r - success in E uro p e. It takes time. By mula USA dirt tra c k ba ttle - a sea so n g o in g ea rly, you giv e yo urse lf t h at t ime. nam e h im a s our Rider o f the Ye ar. w he re th e elite dirt t rackers o ften sp lit That 's n ot fair, and it' s ac t u all y not th e case h ere. It wasn 't a m atter of time be tw een th e two series . K op p Edward s sho we d from the time h e ra c ed in both and h a d s ucce s s i n b u r st o nto th e AMA scene r acin g a Ca r m i c h ae l n o t w i n ni ng t he award b ec au se h e fa ile d to w in the Super- b o th , bring in g Suzuk i and its V -t w in TZ250 that he ha d the goods to b e a c h a m p ion. He j ust h ad to n eg otia t e c ro ss title , he didn't win Rid er of th e T LI 000 its first t aste of Na tional - cal i be r s uc ces s i n a 7 5 0 c c Harl e y - Year b e c au se h e h ap p en ed t o h av e Da v id son -d o m ina t ed cl as s . He a lso some of the bum p s al on g th e w ay . O n c e h e lea rne d ho w to w in on a hi s mo st s ucces sf ul se aso n a t th e wo n th e AMA Su perTrapp Su p e r - Supe r bik e, h e w on often. On c e h e same tim e that Rob erts w on t he Trackers Seri es crow n , fo r a second 500 c c W o r ld Championsh ip . Th at' s ju st the w a y this d e al w or k s o ut successive season , aboard t hat same Suzuki. A s icing on the ca ke, he won l e arn e d t o w i n o n a Sup erb i k e in Euro pe , h e won th e W o rld C ha m pi- sometimes . th e AMA 600 c c N atio nal Ho t Sh o e Las t yea r I con cl u de d m y c ol u m n title . Basically , he wo n all th ere was to win in AMA d irt t rac k raci ng . in this sa me iss ue by saying wh at joy it would bring me to be able t o int ro - prestigious t itle in all of m o torc y cl e And what about Angell e Se el in g? d uce K enny Roberts J r. as o u r 2000 racing . Roberts went out and won it , 20 y e ars after hi s legendary father The drag racer won th e NHRA W in - Cy cl e I'/ews Rid er o f th e Year. I cou ldn' t think of a better way to start w on the last of h is th ree 500cc Wo rl d ston Pro Stock B ike Ch ampi onsh ip , becoming the first woman in th e his - Ch ampionships . It wa s a special sea - tory of our sp ort to w in a maj o r title. son to be a Roberts (y ou ng er brother Kurtis was also crowned, winning the S eel i ng won f i ve t im e s i n 2 0 0 0, m ot or cy cl e racing th an by ha ving an Am eri c an win th e m o st p r estigious AMA 600cc Supe rSport Seri es and repeating he r efforts of last y ea r - bu t t hi s time sh e di spla y ed t h e c a l m , t itle in all o f motorcycle ra c ing. Rob ert s d id h i s p art. N ow w e've t he F ormu la Xtreme title to boot ) , co ol, collected m entality of a cha m p i- done ou rs. Sa y wh at you want , but the 500cc World Championship is still th e m o st CDmingupin Cycle News 13 6 eye I e n e vw s ons hip. the new m illen n ium i n Am eri can CN • Supercross Preview Issue • Jeremy McGrath Interview • Chaparral andPerris Invitational Supercrosses • SFX Arenacross from Geneva Switzerland 30 YEARS AGO••. JANUAR Y 13, 197t Daniel Hanebrink contri buted his illustration of what the bike of the future would look like fo r t h e cover of CC\ICLe Issue #50. The " 198 5 Predic tor" is powered b y a th ree- cyl i nde r , 800 cc two - strok e engine that runs on liquid propa ne. A combi- M . na t ion expa nsion chamber and catalytic exchange r re duc es emi ssio ns to 1985 standar ds and the engine drives through an infinitely variable ratio tor que converter.. . We showed the various mot orcycl e manufacturers' 197 1-model motorcycles , including: the Benelli Tornado 650cc street bik e, t he Bu lt aco Monta d ero end uro machine, the BSA Fury 350cc street bike , the Harl ey - Da vidson Sup er Glid e, th e Suzuki TM-400R Cyclon e MX machine (for $999 ), and the Nort on 750 cc Production Road Racer with a cl aimed 125-mph top speed. 20 YEARS AGO••• JANUARY 7, 1981 A m erican ro ad rac in g h ero Kenn y Robert s graced the cover of Issue #50 in his famous yellow-and -black eagle helmet as th e sun sets . Ins ide , we inte rv ie wed Roberts as he look ed toward J98 1. Included in the interview was a p ho tograph of th e rear end of hi s yellow Fer rari : t he Cali fornia l ice ns e p l at e read " K INGK EN . " Wh en explaining why h e wa sn 't so keen as to return to the United States to race, the King said , "I c an run I I ra c es in Europ e and win the World Champi onsh ip , or I can co me bac k to Am eri ca and run 30 ra ces . so m et im es t wi ce a week ."... For th e third consecuti ve year, the Cycle News rider of the year in 1980 was Louis McKey , th e Phantom Duck of the Desert. He won because "he has done mor e for riders than any other rider or racing star." ... For our year-end issue, we also intervi ewed Grand Nationa l Cham p ion Randy Goss about his season. Goss won the championship in 1980 by a unprecedented one point over Hank Scott . 10 YEARS AGO... JANUARY 9, 1991 Issu e #50 wa s adorn ed by v ari ou s slid es from various motorcycle manufa cturers to commemorate our 1991 Buyer 's Guide. One it em of no te wort hy signifi cance was that Aprilia only had one bike in our buy er's guide - and it was a t ria ls bik e.. . We interv iewed so me of th e year's cham pio ns, includin g AMA 125cc Na tio na l Mot ocr oss Cha mpi on Guy Co op er , AMA 600 c c Dirt Track Champio n Chris Carr, AMA Camel Pro Dirt Track Series Champ ion S cott Par k er , AMA Superb i ke Nationa l Champio n Doug Chandler, AMA Hare Scr am bles and Grand National Cross Country Champion Scot t Summ er s, and 25 0cc Wor ld Mot ocross Champio n A lessand r o Pu zar .. . Je anMiche l Bayl e dom inated the four days of racing during the Paris Supercross by winning three of the four 250cc main events to be crowned King of Bercy over Jeff Stanto n and Doug Dubach... We took a brandnew Suzuki RMX250 end uro bike and turn ed it into a dirt t rack machine . The quick-change wheels, relatively heavy fly wh eel and smooth power delivery were some pretty desirable characteristics for a dirt t rac ker .. . We rode Wayne Rainey's titie-wi nning Yamaha YZRSOO road race rocket. The Team Marlboro Roberts rider rode the bike to a nearly flawless 500cc World Road Racin g Championship .

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