Hannah will allways be the GOAT to me as a teen i had a one bedroom apt with the whole wall coverd in hannah pics and posters and my dirtbike in the front room , GOOD TIMES !!!
I remember going to Fulton county Stadium as a kid to watch the motocross race and it snowed. Think that was around 78 or 79. We lived in South Georgia and I also remember the hairy trip home on the snow covered roads.
I raced Silver Kings hard enduro in 2021 and he raced it also. It was cool to see him walking around and riding in person. Nice guy. He travels around in a van with his bike and rides all over
Hannah probably would've been faster on his '79 works bike and he still won. Maybe even his stock '77! These Yamaha's at this time were probably the worst on the circuit. His '81 was brutal when he went head to head with Howerton at Saddleback.
Man, ya got to hand it to the mechanics of that era, but you can see what Hannah had to deal with bike wise, compared to the Honda’s esp the Suzuki and Kawasaki which was the only Factory bike brand running a disc brake at the time (think they started that on Lackeys 500 in 80)they were or looked so far ahead, that YZ looked over weight and looked a nightmare in the corners, amazing Hannah and Broc could win on that thing and that McCarthy could make it go so well. The Honda’s esp 82,83,84,85 from 125/250/500 stand the test of time as some of not the best looking and made bikes ever, slim way ahead of theyre time with flat tanks and seats, they even ran a fuel pump in those tanks that carried the fuel so low, IMO the production rule was one of the worst things ever to happen in US MX/SX and it spread to the GPs as well and was the end of the development race even today the development cycle is so long and so expensive yet they wonder why they don sell like they did back then, cost and lack of real development. Great race though, Honda should bring back that deep red and blue sat combo, what bikes they were.
MaverickDH I saw an interview with Brock where he was candid about how inferior the YZ was at the time. Just imagine how dominant he would have been if he had jumped ship and rode red... he had loyalty to a brand that took a chance on him, gotta give him integrity credit!
motoman22atgmail absolutely to both of them, an era that generated some true professionals in loyalty and riding and the rest. Not many may know this but Bob trained himself had his own diet and didn’t do drugs and didn’t drink much, he stayed after the races often to the next day to be with the fans. Re his Honda deal, he walked into HQ Yamaha and said do you want me to ride for or not they said not, so he called up Roger De Coster they said they had a full roster a week or so later Donnie Hansen had a life threading injury riding in Japan I think it was, So Roger signed him on a performance basis only, Bob said he made 5 times more in the first 5 races than a std contract Honda turned him down for initially. I’m a big fan of RC and Stewart for theyre talent results and how they changed they’re own era of the sport same with the likes of Dungey and Villipoto. But I really don’t think people today who talk of RC as the Goat or Stewart in the same way as the fastest ever, realise how big Bob was back then and the fact you had imo the biggest depth of talent and true Factory involvement in MX/SX history in at that time is lost a bit when people talk of the newer stars as being the best ever. Broc was an amazing rider in his own right 6National Championships and a great 500 rider esp as well as being the best 125 rider of his period. The list is incredible from the 70s to the mid to late 80s.
Tim Allen i know,im only talking about the 82 bike.it had that funky rear suspension, air cooled,my friend had a 82 yz 490 ,i know it wasnt as good as its factory brother but it was like riding a lumber truck the 250 prob wasnt much better ,even the works bike..i had a 82 rm 250 it would outrun that yz .matter of fact it was faster than any 250 and most open bikes
The thing about the yz’s was that the production bike of 82 was actually water cooled with the radiator on the bars, it was a bad design, started in 81 on the 125. The suspension was also bad with the dual linkage style mono cross rear shock/swing arm. The motor was good, the new YPVS power valve helped it make almost 33 horsepower but the cooling, suspension and poor handling forced most riders to stick with the previous air cooled engine and suspension. The 1983 yz’s were vastly improved and much more dependable machines.
I know the bikes were basically junk compared to today but these guys look so slow. I guess smoking cigarettes and getting drunk the night before a race didn't help either