Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOL. 54 ISSUE 27 JULY 11, 2017 P147 Lawwill coming off a victory at the Portland (Oregon) Mile. Nixon went on to win the title in '67 over Harley- Davidson riders George Roeder and Fred Nix. It marked Nixon's first of two consecutive national championships. Grand Prix racing midseason '67 saw the epic battle between Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood—MV Agusta vs. Honda. Ago edged ahead ever so slightly with his victory at the Sachsenring. The 500cc world title turned out to be one for the ages with Agostini and Hailwood swapping wins back and forth all season long. The championship came down to the Canadian GP at Mosport. Hailwood and Honda won the season finale to tie Agostini on points. Each had five victories on the sea- son, so the next tiebreaker was second-place finishes. Ago had three to Hailwood's two, so it was another title for the Italian rider and maker. History on the 1967 Motocross World Champion- ship is hard to come by. I can't report on what exactly was going on midseason back then, but East German Paul Friedrichs was on his way of winning his second of three consecutive 500cc World MX Championships riding for CZ. 25 Years Ago – 1992 In 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix Road Racing it was Mick Doohan winning the German GP at Hockenheim in dominating fashion – something the Aussie had done all season up to that point of the '92 campaign on the Rothmans Honda. The championship almost looked in the bag for Doohan at midseason, but in racing, anything can happen and at Assen Doohan crashed, broke his leg and was out for five races. That allowed Wayne Rainey, who at midseason was trying not very success- fully to ride injured after breaking his ribs and wrist and injuring his knee in a crash at Hockenheim, came back to win the title by four points over Doohan. In AMA Superbike Doug Polen took time off the World Superbike Series to race in America and he dominated at Brainerd. Polen rode his Fast by Ferracci Ducati to a mind-boggling 23.183-second margin of victory over Vance & Hines Yamaha's Jamie James. Polen pulled to within two points of series leader Scott Russell, but Polen was focused on winning the world title. Russell would go on to win the championship with Muzzy Kawasaki. RedBud is always the midsummer MX classic and in '92 it proved pivotal. Jeff Stanton and Damon Bradshaw were locked in a great battle. Coming into RedBud, Stanton and Bradshaw had each won two 250 nation- als each. Unfortunately for Bradshaw and Yamaha, Bradshaw crashed at RedBud and tore his ACL clearing the way for Stanton and Honda to wrap up the 1992 AMA 250 Motocross Championship. Rusty Rogers took his first national victory in the classic July AMA Grand National at Hagerstown, but the battle was intense between Harley-Davidson teammates Chris Carr and Scott Parker. At the mid- way point, Parker had a 19-point lead, but Carr came charging back to eventually win the title by two points over Parker. 10 Years Ago – 2007 Nothing was predictable in AMA Motocross in 2007. Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart had some epic battles during the 2007 AMA Motocross season. RC was leading the championship after RedBud, but he stuck to his promise of only racing a limited MX schedule so he could launch his NASCAR Truck racing career. So, Carmichael wasn't a factor in the championship second half of the season. Yamaha's Grant Langston emerged after RC left and Stewart was injured, and went on to win the championship in a tight battle over Mike Alessi and Andrew Short. Halfway through the 2007 MotoGP season Valen- tino Rossi took a victory over Casey Stoner at Assen, but Stoner was leading the championship and would build on that, ultimately winning 10 of the 18 races to give Ducati the title. In flat track, Kenny Coolbeth went on a midseason tear on his factory Harley-Davidson. His three wins in July were key to giving him the margin it would take to win the 2007 AMA Grand National title over Jared Mees. And 2007 saw the final season of the epic Mat Mladin/Ben Spies AMA Superbike battle. Mladin was mainly in control in the first half of the season, but Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Spies had a four-race winning streak in the middle of the season to take com- mand. It came down to the last race and Spies won the title by a single point. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives