ing in a bad mood and opting to throw together
an anti-doping program. This came about after
much thought and many meetings, the first of
which was held some two years ago. And those
were meetings held between the powers that
be in AMA Motocross: The teams, the riders,
the sponsors and MX Sports
Anti-doping testing is also something that's
long been a conversation in and around the
pits – whether it be those who are clean and
are tired of hearing the whispers that they aren't
(both trainers and racers alike), or those grum-
bling accusations at others.
And gossipmongers and conspiracy theorists
beware: This isn't a good time to jump to con-
clusions.
Let's see, Ryan Villopoto has a bum knee that
might require surgery and might require him to
miss the outdoor series… well, he must be on the
juice. Or Mike Alessi is opting to race in Canada
this summer rather than in the AMA series… oh,
another juicer. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's really
just a case of bad timing in those two instances.
"I feel bad that people make that assump-
tion," Coombs said in a phone conversation
this morning. "Ryan had a knee injury last year
that he got fixed after the series and missed the
Motocross of Nations. This is his other knee.
And anyone who has watched him even trying
to walk much less race motocross… if you saw
him in New Jersey, he could barely move. This
has zero to do with his injury."
Coombs is trying to do the right thing for the
sport. He honestly believes it is clean and there
is no better way to show the world that it is than
to have a testing procedure in place – by a legit
organization like USADA.
"It's something we wanted to do for a long
time," Coombs said. "We owe it to the athletes,
the fans, the teams, the sponsors..."
So there you have it. The sport of motocross
in the U.S. is about to get more real. The FIM
has been testing its athletes for years and it's a
bit odd that it has taken this long to get things
rolling here. Let's see where it goes. CN
VOL. 51 ISSUE 18 MAY 6, 2014 P119
LOOKING BACK
40 Years Ago
May 15, 1974
Brad Lackey flipping the peace sign while
waiting for the start of the Austrian 500cc
MX GP was pictured on the cover 40
years ago. It was Lackey's first GP start
on a Husqvarna. Heikki Mikkola took the
win… We covered the Trask Mountain
2-Day ISDE Qualifier, where the Penton
team took the overall win… Mert Lawwill
won the Ascot Half-Mile, it was his first
win of the season… We also covered the Kit Carson Enduro in
Wilseyville, California.
30 Years Ago
May 16, 1984
Mike Beier was featured on the cover 30
years ago blowing up a berm at DeAnza
Cycle Park. He was lending a hand in our
test of the Yamaha YZ125L, and we also
tested Beier's factory-supported YZ125
race bike… Honda's Bubba Shobert won
the San Jose Short Track… We covered
the Oklahoma 3-Day Qualifier, where
Mark Hyde claimed the overall win.
20 Years Ago
May 11, 1994
John Kocinski was pictured in full color
on the cover 20 years ago to accompany
our interview with the recent Australian
Grand Prix winner... Scott Parker ended a
long winless dry spell with a victory at the
Sacramento Mile… Daman Huffman and
Mike Kiedrowski were the big winners at
the Hangtown National Motocross… Kev-
in Schwantz won the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka for the
fourth time… Ty Davis won the Carson Valley Qualifier.
10 Years Ago
May 12, 2004
We pictured a happy Chad Reed cel-
ebrating his first Supercross Champion-
ship at the Las Vegas final. Heath Voss
claimed the FIM World Supercross
Championship as well. Kevin Windham
won the main event, while James Stewart
battled Stephane Roncada for the East/
West Shootout victory… Valentino Rossi
won at Jerez… Mat Mladin and Miguel
Duhamel split wins at Infineon.
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