25 Years Ago February 1985
25 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY 1985
"World Exclusive!" shouted the cover of this issue a quarter-century ago. All the acclaim was regarding the first full test of Kawasaki’s 900 Eliminator. The opening paragraph of the story read, “Drag racing. It’s wild. It’s weird. And it’s as uniquely American as any sport you’re likely to find.” Swirling smoke, moody lighting and the piercing stare of a red-leather-clad tester aboard the wheelying machine “launched” the story. The $4499 inline-Four was likened to a drag-prepped Z1 and cracked off a solid-for-the-time quarter-mile run of 11.43 seconds at 117.34 mph. Nice bike, decent time, but Yamaha’s all-new V-Max was released not long afterward.
Racing fans got a cool feature called “The Champions,” which recounted the stories of a quartet of American racers who had topped their respective fields in 1984: Eddie Lawson in 500cc Grand Prix; Ricky Graham in dirt-track; David Bailey in motocross; and Johnny O’Mara in supercross.
An awesome photo essay on “The Superbikers” followed, wherein roadracers, dirt-trackers and motocrossers tore it up supermoto-style on a part-dirt, part-asphalt track at Carlsbad Raceway in Southern California. Kent Howerton—30 years old and about to retire—beat up on everybody, including a couple of the above-mentioned champions!
“The target was pure green” said editors in the full test of the Honda CR125R. The Kawasaki KX125 was the top bike of the class at the time and, unfortunately for Big Red, remained so, as editors thought the CR was improved for ’85 but still not as good as the ’84 green machine. —Mark Hoyer
