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But.....if you really want to compare.....,todays racers have an entire entourage on the payroll ,nutritionists, fitness coaches, riding coaches, sports Psychologists, suspension gurus with the latest computerized technology, etc,etc.. Back then ,these guys had to do it all pretty much all of that on their own ,THATS determination and dedication.
Yes “back in the day” riders and mechanics were talented but evolution and time has created greater talent / skills.
“Back in the day” it was known that Lechien didn’t train and could rock up with no sleep after partying and whack the field. There is no way you can do that these days so talent alone can’t help.
Today’s riders are more of the complete package
Re the promises to Suzuki about the win - I think that's how he was allowed to ride the Boyesen Link bike ( that's what it is, boys) - saying to Suzuki that if he was allowed to ride it, he'd win.
Can you imagine any Works Team allowing a rider to race such a radically different bike / suspension, built by someone other than them, in this day and age? Not likely to happen.
Jan De Groot seemed to have a fair amount of lee-way with his Kawasaki relationship in the GPs - trying a few radically different rear ends over the years. Truly one of the Greatest Moto Engineers.
Also the black roost flying off of the rear tires at old Unadilla was second to none. And the woman at 1:20 was on point!
Hannahs performance at the 1987 NXoN on a 125 was spectacular!
Guys in the 80s had to be every bit on top of their game as any other time. They had equal the skill and talent , just different for different conditions, bikes etc. They trained just as hard and we're just as dedicated.
The competition was even tougher and why you saw less domination. The number of kids racing in the seventies was 100 times what it's been last couple decades and just by the numbers that produced many more fast guys fighting for factory rides in the 80s. Just in SoCal dozens of tracks had hundreds of rideas every Saturday and Sunday. Not to mention Tues thru Friday night races. Trust me the few that got factory rides were on the top of their game.
The reason the guys pull off their helmet after a 30 min moto and look fresh compared to guys in the 80s that looked like their going to collapse is because 45 mins on a 85 CR500 at Unadilla was a lot more demanding than 35 min on a 2018 450 at Unadilla groomed like is is today.
Everyone says it was Carmichael that raised the bar for training after some guys in the 90s abandoned the training that most top guys did in the 80s which may be true. It's also true that it was Omara that got Rickys chubby little ass in shape and taught him how to train and mentored him into a champion.
Balls ? I don't think anything in motocross has ever taken more balls than the best riders in the world i watched desend the Carlsbad downhill on air cooled, drum brake 500s.
I love watching races like the one posted and think it's awesome that we have the opportunity to do so now.
It's definitely not what it used to be but, it's still pretty fucking hardcore.
Pit Row
Your statement of "evolution and time has created GREATER talent and skills" should read
" evolution and time has created DIFFERENT talent and skills"
Top guys then,would be top guys now, and vice versa.....end of story
Post a reply to: Real motocross...you be the judge