Cycle News

Cycle News 2016 Issue 30 August 2

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/710094

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P118 CN III CROSS-RUTTED BY JEAN TURNER T en years ago I was a new associate editor at Cycle News, and received my first major assignment: cover the Inter- national Motorcycle Speed Trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I knew pretty much nothing about land speed racing and had no idea what type of people I would en- counter on the salt. But an incred- ibly friendly community welcomed me from the moment I stepped foot on the salt, where I quickly learned a lot about this exception- al niche. Most notably, I learned it takes a hell of a lot more than a handful of throttle to go fast. It takes keen intelligence, cunning, patience, precision, engineering capability and the tireless tenac- ity to break through barriers (Oh, and money. Lots of money!). This skillset typically comes from a team, but in Sam Wheeler's case, all those qualities manifested in one remarkable man. The two big teams were the Akatiff camp fielding Mike Akatiff's "ACK Attack" liner, and the Manning camp with Denis Manning's "Lucky Number 7" liner. While there was evident tension between the two teams, no one had anything but praise for Sam Wheeler, regarded as the "privateer effort" of the two-wheel land-speed racing elite. "Wait until Sam gets here." "Sam Wheeler will be a real contender in this." "Sam is a great guy. His mo- torcycle is absolutely impeccable!" I suspected they were just being nice to this guy since they didn't see him as a real threat. I was completely wrong. The events of the week played out in remarkable fashion—thanks to the "30 year salt" that set the perfect stage—with the ACK At- tack shattering the world record on day one at 342.797 mph. Man- ning's team broke it again the next day with a record of 350.884. Next up was Wheeler who had his UNCHARTED TERRITORY Interviewing Sam Wheeler after his wreck in 2006 at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

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