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50 Years Ago January 19, 1968
On the final day of 1967, Evel Knievel attempted to jump his Triumph
115 feet over the fountains at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. In front of an
estimated 12-15,000 spectators, the historic jump ended with both bike and
body cartwheeling down the landing ramp after coming up just a little short.
The famous showman suffered multiple injuries but vowed to jump again.
Evel's jump was pictured on the cover of our first issue of 1968… Steve
Hurd was this week's featured rider in our Meet The Racers column.
40 Years Ago
January 18, 1978
A prototype six-cylinder Honda CBX
Super Sport was featured on the cover
40 years ago to accompany our road test
on the 1047cc street bike. We said it was
the most exciting street motorcycle ever
and hoped that the production version
would be just as thrilling… The opening round of the CMC/Suzuki Golden
State MX Series got underway at Saddleback Park and the big winners were
Brian Myerscough, Gaylon Mosier and Rex Staten… We featured a story
on Alan Hahn who was the Golden Wrench winner of 1977. He tuned for MX
Champion Tony DiStefano.
20 Years Ago January 14, 1998
We tested the new 1998 Yamaha YZ400F four-stroke motocrosser which
was pictured on the cover 20 years ago. It weighed 244 pounds and sold
for $5799. We said it was a "damn good motorcycle no matter how many
strokes it has"… Our supercross preview asked the big question: Would
Jeremy McGrath win back the title after switching to Yamaha?… We
interviewed road racer Anthony Gobert who had been hired by Ducati after
being let go by Lucky Strike Suzuki for failing a drug test.
Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives
30 Years Ago January 13, 1988
The opening rounds of the CMC Golden State MX Series and Florida Winter
AMA MX Series were featured on the cover 30 years ago. Mike Kiedrowski,
Jeff Leisk and Jeff Ward were some of the stars in the west, and Jon
McCabe and Jay Mann were some of the headliners in the east… We
featured an interview with race promoter Mickey Thompson who was in
the middle of a supercross sanctioning
war with Mike Goodwin's Supercross
Inc. (SXI). At that time, Thompson's
MTEG company had exclusive rights
to conduct all motorsports events at
Anaheim Stadium.
LOOKING BACK
