Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1437138
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 14, 2021 P177 American Flat Track SuperTwins Championship at the final race of the series after watching his team- mate Briar Bauman win the title the last two years. And there was also the young Turk, Toprak Razgatlio- glu, who put a stop to Jonathan Rea's six-year reign in WorldSBK. These were all worthy R.O.Y. candidates. And anybody who wins the MotoGP Championship is always an instant nominee, such as Fabio Quartararo this year. In the off-road spectrum, no single rider really dominated. We had several notable champions this year, with Ben Kelley winning the GNCC title, Steward Baylor the National Enduro title, Layne Michael the U.S. Sprint Enduro title, Colton Haaker the AMA EnduroCross Championship, Trystan Hart the AMA Extreme Off-Road Championship and Joe Wasson the National Hare & Hound Championship. Brandy Richards was extremely impres- sive in WORCS, NGPC and going undefeated at the ISDE, and Dante Oliveira did capture two titles in both the WORCS and AMA NGPC Championships, both certainly worth noting. But Cooper Webb impressed us most by eating up the extreme pressure that Supercross often delivers and for defeating one of the deepest and most competi- tive fields in Supercross history, one that included Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Adam Cianciarulo, Justin Barcia, Jason Anderson, Marvin Musquin and Ferrandis among many others. There were so many racers who could have won on any given night, but Cooper Webb was always there. He also came from behind after a slow start to the series before reverting to a system (motorcycle setup) that had worked for him in the past. (You can read more about this in the interview Cycle News contributor Shan Moore did with Webb on page 82 of this issue.) Looking back on Webb's accomplishments, we feel confident about our decision naming Webb rider of the year. Congratulations, Mr. Webb. Speaking of accomplish- ments, we can't let 2021 slip by without giving a shout out to Yamaha. If we awarded a team of the year, it certainly would have gone to the blue crew, espe- cially Bobby Regan's Star Racing squad for winning both the East and West 250SX Supercross Championships and the 450MX Pro Motocross title. Plus, Ya- maha winning the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, the AMA National Enduro title, the FIM WorldSBK Championship and, of course, the FIM MotoGP Championship. And we can't forget Yamaha winning the AFT Singles title with Dallas Daniels and the MX2 title with French- man Maxime Renaux. Kudos to the entire Yamaha family for hav- ing one heck of a year in racing. And, hey, two members of our staff ranked the 2022 Yamaha YZ250 (two-stroke) their favorite production motorcycle they rode in the last 12 months. The Cycle News staff hopes you enjoy our final issue of 2021, aka "issue 50." Traditionally, we like to fill it with interviews with some of the year's champions. We'd love to chat with them all but there are only so many days in the week and so many pages in the magazine to make that happen. But the cool thing about this magazine is that you only must wait a week before the next one comes out, with the one-time exception between this one (issue #50) and issue #1 of 2022. We already have a couple of interviews on queue for early next year, including one with Hare & Hound Champion Joe Wasson and female off-road champion and ISDE star Brandy Richards. So, stayed tuned for those and others when Cycle News magazine is back in action January 3, 2022, but, of course, our website www.cyclenews. com never sleeps. Until then, here's to an awesome 2022! CN But the cool thing about this magazine is that you only must wait a week before the next one comes out, with the one-time exception between this one (issue #50) and issue #1 of 2022.