Kit Palmer | December 15, 2021
Cycle News Observation Check
COLUMN
That’s More Like It
Last year at this time, I signed off my Observation Check column saying, “Here’s to an awesome 2021!” This was said, of course, after enduring one of the most chaotic, scariest and bizarre years this globe has ever seen. (I don’t need to explain why, do I?) Well, 12 months later, I do, indeed, think it was an awesome year.
Things are still far from ideal yet or fully back to the way they were, for that matter, but I do feel 2021 was a pretty darn good year, at least when it comes to our little slice of the world—motorcycles. The motorcycle industry continued to flourish and motorcycle racing continued to be outstanding. This year, crowds, once again, filled racing venues, and OHV parks were also packed to the brim every weekend with motorhomes and off-roaders of all kinds. And it seemed like more motorcyclists were pounding out the mileage on the pavement, too. Without question, the pandemic re-introduced many of us to motorcycles and the great outdoors again, which are indeed awesome things.
Because of this, there was some sense of normalcy in 2021, which, to me, was inspiring. However, it didn’t really start off that way when Supercross kicked off in Houston (three times!) instead of its traditional location of Anaheim, California, and it didn’t get any better when all West Coast races were eventually dropped from the schedule. It sure seemed strange not having a single Supercross race at the “Big A” this year. The closest it got to Anaheim was Salt Lake City—of course, that is only if you don’t count the Troy Lee/Red Bull/GasGas stunt that had Justin Barcia winning again at Anaheim for the series opener. Pretty amazing that Barcia did go on to win the Supercross opener at Houston. Still, for the most part, things started feeling somewhat normal again in 2021 when it came to motorcycles and motorcycle racing as the year progressed.
Speaking of Supercross, it was the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship that manufactured our 2021 Cycle News Rider of the Year. After some deliberation, the Cycle News staff ultimately voted on Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb as this year’s CN R.O.Y. winner.
It wasn’t exactly easy, however. Webb had a lot of competition this year, like premier-class rookie Dylan Ferrandis, who flew under almost everyone’s radar when it came to predicting this year’s 450MX AMA National Motocross Champion. Most of us were certain it was going to be Eli Tomac for the fifth time, or former champ Ken Roczen. However, Ferrandis proved us wrong. He came out swinging at Pala 1 and never let up until he locked up the title at Pala 2.
We talked about Jake Gagne who stepped up his game big-time in 2021 and dominated the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship.
And we considered Jared Mees who came from behind to win the American Flat Track SuperTwins Championship at the final race of the series after watching his teammate Briar Bauman win the title the last two years. And there was also the young Turk, Toprak Razgatlioglu, who put a stop to Jonathan Rea’s six-year reign in WorldSBK. These were all worthy R.O.Y. candidates. And anybody who wins the MotoGP Championship is always an instant nominee, such as Fabio Quartararo this year.
In the off-road spectrum, no single rider really dominated. We had several notable champions this year, with Ben Kelley winning the GNCC title, Steward Baylor the National Enduro title, Layne Michael the U.S. Sprint Enduro title, Colton Haaker the AMA EnduroCross Championship, Trystan Hart the AMA Extreme Off-Road Championship and Joe Wasson the National Hare & Hound Championship. Brandy Richards was extremely impressive in WORCS, NGPC and going undefeated at the ISDE, and Dante Oliveira did capture two titles in both the WORCS and AMA NGPC Championships, both certainly worth noting.
But Cooper Webb impressed us most by eating up the extreme pressure that Supercross often delivers and for defeating one of the deepest and most competitive fields in Supercross history, one that included Ken Roczen, Eli Tomac, Adam Cianciarulo, Justin Barcia, Jason Anderson, Marvin Musquin and Ferrandis among many others. There were so many racers who could have won on any given night, but Cooper Webb was always there. He also came from behind after a slow start to the series before reverting to a system (motorcycle setup) that had worked for him in the past. (You can read more about this in the interview Cycle News contributor Shan Moore did with Webb on page 82 of issue 50.) Looking back on Webb’s accomplishments, we feel confident about our decision naming Webb rider of the year. Congratulations, Mr. Webb.
Speaking of accomplishments, we can’t let 2021 slip by without giving a shout out to Yamaha. If we awarded a team of the year, it certainly would have gone to the blue crew, especially Bobby Regan’s Star Racing squad for winning both the East and West 250SX Supercross Championships and the 450MX Pro Motocross title. Plus, Yamaha winning the MotoAmerica Superbike Championship, the AMA National Enduro title, the FIM WorldSBK Championship and, of course, the FIM MotoGP Championship. And we can’t forget Yamaha winning the AFT Singles title with Dallas Daniels and the MX2 title with Frenchman Maxime Renaux. Kudos to the entire Yamaha family for having one heck of a year in racing.
And, hey, two members of our staff ranked the 2022 Yamaha YZ250 (two-stroke) their favorite production motorcycle they rode in the last 12 months.
The Cycle News staff hopes you enjoy our final issue of 2021, aka “issue 50.” Traditionally, we like to fill it with interviews with some of the year’s champions. We’d love to chat with them all but there are only so many days in the week and so many pages in the magazine to make that happen. But the cool thing about this magazine is that you only must wait a week before the next one comes out, with the one-time exception between this one (issue #50) and issue #1 of 2022. We already have a couple of interviews on queue for early next year, including one with Hare & Hound Champion Joe Wasson and female off-road champion and ISDE star Brandy Richards. So, stayed tuned for those and others when Cycle News magazine is back in action January 3, 2022, but, of course, the www.cyclenews.com website never sleeps. Until then, here’s to an awesome 2022! CN