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MPJC
3/1/2018 6:26pm
3/1/2018 6:26pm
Edited Date/Time
3/3/2018 7:41am
Thoroughly enjoyed watching this. This track looks extremely rough and the speeds look absurdly slow compared to today's supercross. I don't really want to start a "today's riders vs 80s riders" argument, but I can't help but wonder what today's bikes could do on that track. Starting just before 13:00, it looks like they're barely moving through the whoops. Are those whoops really that gnarly?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yTmLBMZoU8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yTmLBMZoU8
A summary for those who won't watch it:
Bailey, Johnson, Glover, Ward all stomping their start lanes down like a bunch of Polo players, stuff you just don't see today. Tight riding gear made them look more in shape. The lighter bikes look nimble and like they could use a steering dampener. The track was rough as hell with little airtime. These were the last years of works bikes, the glory days.Double row start gates I don't remember. Everybody wearing white. Larry Maiers and Bob Hannah in the booth. Bike swallowing ruts. Jim Holley 2nd off the start. Not a flat spot on the track, but very few jumps. Bailey making a crazed charge from a 2nd turn crash. Holley hanging up front between Glover and Johnson. Coors as the event sponsor. Bikes kicking sideways everywhere. Keith Bowen running 4th mid way. Bowen clips a double and his bike lays at the bottom of the jump blind. Glover with Johnson close, Ward with them, and Bailey coming from a ways back. Glover kept taking a bad line and Johnson got him in the whoops. The soft track deteriorating in a sadistic way. Bailey still coming to the front. Glover takes the bad line again and Ward takes 2nd. Johnson gets into lappers and they are unpredictable on this gnarly course. Bailey gets Glover in traffic. Flaggers standing on top of barrels around the track. Bailey stuffs Ward off the track and sets after Johnson but it's a huge gap. Bailey almost swaps out trying to stay in touch. Pic in Pic rider interviews during the race. A flagger yelling for Johnson on the last lap. Johnson, Bailey, Glover, Holley, King for the top finishes. Box vans in the pits.
Enjoyed that a bunch.
The Shop
Some of the jumps look l Iike they were 12' wide. Add in 18 extra riders and that all just makes bailey's ride all the more impressive.
Sure miss those days.
The telephone poles buried in the whoop sections, the gator pits full of soft sand (and water if it rained), the track crossing section that would lip up at the entrance and kick the 80'a suspension sideways, blasting through a fenced area to the back section where Hannah smashed his hand on a gate... it was all so cool.
Now, it's pretty much all spec'd out with exactly measured jumps to the riders liking, on/off sections, etc. Any rider can completely screw up a corner and just blip the throttle to clear the next triple anyway.
Give me a bike that makes you ride perfectly or pay a price in lap times.
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