Long Live Motocross Magazines
By Mike McGill
Photos by James Lissimore and Bill Petro
I’ve always loved motocross magazines since I was a little kid, and recently. After perusing the latest issue of MXP Magazine I got to thinking that, hey, as far as writing goes, I’ve been doing this for quite a while now. Something that started as basically a whim for me back in 2010 has certainly turned into much more over the past few years and I have enjoyed the experience immensely. Aside from a few of the nice perks the job has afforded me, the absolute best thing about writing features for MXP Magazine has been the opportunity for me to speak at length with some of the true icons of our sport. The Canadian ones mainly but some Americans as well. The first few stories that I produced for MXP were available on the website only. They dealt with several wide-ranging topics such as fitness for motocross, motocross fashion and long-lost motocross tracks from days gone by. My first feature to actually appear in print on the pages of the magazine showed up in the second issue of 2011 and was titled:
“The Can’t Miss Kid – What Ever Happened to Steve Bulyovsky.”
Bulyovsky was an amateur phenom in Ontario back in the mid-1980s. He dominated the highly competitive 80cc class back then, and the program that his father put together for him and his younger brother was the envy of everyone in the pits – Pros included. In an era that was still dominated by three rail trailers and pick up trucks, Team Bulyovsky would roll into the track in a 40ft long Class A motorhome hauling a large air-conditioned enclosed trailer complete with workshop and multiple practice and race bikes. Steve’s father also hired former Canadian National Champion / Ross “Rollerball” Pederson’s mechanic Al Logue to be a full-time riding coach and mechanic for the kids. All of this was unheard of at the time.
Steve’s real claim to fame came in 1987 when he swept all six of his motos at the Junior National Championships at St. Jean de Baptiste, Manitoba, in route to winning the 125, 250 and 500cc National Championships. If that wasn’t enough, he followed that up a week later by doing the exact same thing at the Intermediate Nationals in Scotford, Alberta. Crazy, right? But it happened. Within the span of a week Bulyovsky had captured six Amateur National Championships. An awesome feat that has, to my knowledge, not been duplicated before or since.
Based on these miraculous feats, the future was looking extremely bright for Bulyovsky in the following Spring of 1988. Yamaha Canada took notice of his amateur exploits and offered Steve a factory ride for his first full pro season, and all things considered, it went quite well, but after a relatively successful rookie campaign, he decided to call it quits. His first pro year was also to be his last, and after that ‘88 season, he disappeared completely from motocross. I always wondered, whatever happened to Steve Bulyovsky?
I was able to contact Steve fairly easily with the help of a mutual friend and ended up having a great conversation with him. He was only too happy to fill me in on exactly what happened with his Pro MX career, and as it turns out, just like with most things, there were several reasons for his early departure from the sport. The Yamaha deal was good, for the time, but paled in comparison to the support his father had been providing him throughout his amateur career. His family had been, of course, his major support group throughout his amateur career but his father was now busy travelling the amateur circuit with his younger brother. Bulyovsky went on to tell me, though, that probably the biggest reason for him dropping out of motocross was the fact that his father never went to College himself so it was his dream that his sons attend University and earn a degree. He knew motocross would not last forever, and he truly believed that it was extremely important for his kids to have an education to fall back on.
So, after a relatively successful rookie year, Bulyovsky walked away from motocross to concentrate on his schooling. Steve’s father died at the age of forty-nine from a heart attack in 1999. Not before he was able to see his son graduate, however, from the University of Guelph with a degree in Economics.
Untimely retirements from the sport have always fascinated me for some reason and I’m sure many moto fans north of the border remember the story behind Darcy Lange’s career-ending situation in 2007. For those that didn’t, I dove into the subject for:
“Darcy Lange in 2007. A Year to Remember.”
The winter of 2007 was quite an exciting time for fans of Canadian motocross, and for the 4th issue of 2012, I had the opportunity to speak with Courtenay, BC native Darcy Lange about this unforgettable season. Lange, who, on top of winning his third consecutive US Arenacross title that year, was, somewhat surprisingly, given the opportunity to race for Mitch Payton and the all-powerful Pro-Circuit Factory Team in the East Coast rounds of the AMA Supercross series.
It was important to note that Lange raced year-round during his formative years and cut his teeth on the tight confines of arenacross by running not just one but two series during the winter months. The Two Trick Series, which was run by former Canadian Champion Al Dyck, and the Future West Arenacross Series. Without even really realizing it, Lange began to hone his arenacross skills, and Richmond Motorsports began to take an interest in Darcy. Their interest eventually would lead to support for the rising young BC star and a relationship was formed that would last throughout Darcy’s racing career.
Lange raced the CMRC Nationals and was a top contender for several seasons but surprisingly was never able to win a National Championship. Injuries played a big part in that, and in 2003, feeling burned-out on outdoor motocross, Lange decided to concentrate on the US Arenacross Series. As Darcy relayed to me during our talk, this proved to be a great decision on his part, and with the continued support of Richmond and former Team Green Kawasaki Manager Dave Gowland, Darcy battled two-time defending Champion Josh Demuth on his way to winning his first Arenacross Title.
Lange and Demuth went at it again in ‘04 and once again Lange came out on top. The “Deputy” had arrived and was now the top dog in Arenacross. Instead of milking his stats and racking up a few more championships, however, Lange decided to make the switch to Supercross for the ‘05-‘06 season. It was something he had always wanted to do. Lange admitted to me during our chat, and with the help of Richmond and Team Manger Billy Whitley, that he placed a very credible 5th in his first main event appearance. Competing against a strong field that was filled by names like Langston, Dungey, Short and Villopoto, to name a few, Darcy finished the series in 10th position overall even though he missed a couple of rounds due to a wrist injury.
Following the ‘05 Supercross season, Darcy was forced to sit back and reevaluate his racing career. While Supercross had always been the dream, Arenacross had been financially very good to him in previous years. Knowing that a motocross racer’s career is a short one and could end at any time, he decided to go back to Arenacross for the following season. Teaming up once again with Billy Whitely, Darcy signed with the Babbitt’s Arenacross team for the 2006/07 season.
Lange went on to win the series by a whopping 125 points over his closest competitor, Tyler Bowers, that year. In fact, he was already in full relax mode when he got the call. Mitch Payton had seen and met Darcy while he was preparing for Arenacross at the Pro-Circuit test facility and had taken a liking to the young Canadian. When Brett Metcalf went down with an injury prior to the opening round, Mitch decided to give Darcy a shot, and for his part, Lange did not disappoint. At the opening round in Atlanta he went out and clocked the fastest qualifying time on the #105 Pro-Circuit Kawasaki. When it came to race time, Darcy showed everyone that he was up to the task as he battled a young Ryan Dungey for the win.
The Canadian fans watching at home on television were obviously ecstatic as Lange had already accomplished something no other Canadian rider before or since had been able to do: Ride for a factory team in the U.S. and land on the podium in Monster Energy Supercross. The Series continued and Lange, despite a spectacular get-off in St. Louis, was still in the hunt for the title coming into the final round in Detroit. It was between Lange, his Pro-Circuit teammate Ben Townley and Suzuki’s Ryan Morais.
In the end, it was to be Townley who edged out both Darcy and Morais for the championship by the slimmest of margins. Although he didn’t win the championship, his season in Supercross could not have been described as anything less than a spectacular success. He came in at the last minute as a fill-in rider and battled for the championship right down to the wire. He provided his fans and moto fans throughout Canada with great moments that they will never forget, and he showed everyone that the boys from Arenacross were every bit as accomplished as their Supercross counterparts.
This is, however, the part where the wonderful story of Darcy Lange’s storybook season took a dramatic turn. It should have been party time for the B.C. native. For Darcy, however, the biggest battle of his life was only just beginning. The pain and swelling in his neck, which he had sustained in the St. Louis crash, just wouldn’t go away. Immediately following Vegas, Darcy flew back to B.C. for an appointment with a specialist who confirmed that he had cancer – Hodgkin’s Lymphoma to be precise.
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma or Hodgkin’s Disease is a type of cancer that is characterized by the spread of the disease from one lymph node group to the next, and symptoms include the enlargement of the patient’s lymph nodes, especially in the neck, shoulder and chest areas. Fortunately for Darcy, the cure rate for Hodgkin’s is high – around ninety percent, but that still doesn’t make the healing process any easier. Darcy was facing six long months of chemotherapy treatments.
After six months of invasive cancer treatments, Darcy was pronounced cured and given a clean bill of health from his physicians. He had won the battle against cancer and now it was time to start thinking moto once again. That’s when, as Darcy relayed to me in our conversation, something funny happened. While he had lucrative offers from both Babbitt’s Kawasaki and Pro-Circuit on the table, Darcy started thinking that there must be more to life than just riding dirt bikes. After all, he had just won a tough battle against cancer and had been racing constantly for over a decade since he was twelve-years-old. So, in a decision that caught most by surprise, Darcy decided to retire from the sport. After a whirlwind year in which he won another Arenacross title, narrowly missed out on a Supercross championship and battled and defeated cancer, Darcy Lange was gone from the sport.
It’s quite a story, and in speaking with Darcy back in 2012 I certainly thought I heard some regret in his voice about how it all ended so abruptly. That’s just my opinion of course and I could have been completely off base, but for someone who obviously loved the sport as much as he did and to be at the pinnacle of said sport to just retire like that, it had to have been tough. That’s what I remember thinking at the time.
There certainly is no shortage of interesting stories in the world of Professional Motocross. And one thing that former 500cc National Champion Mike Harnden has a talent for, besides riding dirt-bikes, is telling a heck of a good story, and I got the deluxe version of his when I had the pleasure of speaking with him back in 2016 for issue #2.
“The Showdown at Copetown.”
Harnden had been a top Pro in Canada for several seasons before winning his one and only title in 1984. He signed with Honda Canada in 1983 after previous stints on Can-Am, where he was actually teammates with Ross Pederson, and with Yamaha. In 1982, he finished 2nd overall in the 250 National Series for Yamaha. They wanted to keep him and Harnden liked the bike at the time, but Honda was really ramping up their program and the offer from them was just too good to turn down. Harnden repaid Honda with another 2nd overall placing in the 250 class in ‘83 then set his sights on the big prize for 1984.
Michael Harnden, as I learned, didn’t like to do things like everyone else. He was certainly his own man and that showed in the way that he conducted himself and his racing career. For instance, instead of heading down south to Florida or California to train during the off-season like his other Canadian competitors, Harnden instead chose to head across the big pond to the epicentre of 500cc motocross racing and booked a pre-season training trip to Europe in 1984. While in Europe, Harnden was befriended by Hank Tice, who was the owner of White Power Suspension at the time. Through Tice’s contacts, Harnden was able to enter all kinds of big off-season races that actually paid start money. Harnden’s European vacation certainly paid off. Not only did he get all kinds of valuable training and experience, he also came home with a set of A-Kit WP Factory Suspension, which he immediately bolted onto his Honda Canada Factory CR 480.
Of course, the main obstacle to Mike winning the ‘84 500cc National Championship was Ross “Rollerball” Pederson. Ross was in his prime in ‘84 and just didn’t lose Championships. He rarely ever even finished worse than 1st in a moto, so Harnden certainly had his work cut out for him. The 500cc series was only four races back in ‘84 and things went well for Harnden at the first three rounds. So well, in fact, that he arrived for the final race of the series at Copetown, Ontario sporting a 16-point lead over Ross. Harnden was feeling confident. Pederson would have to go 1-1 and Harnden could do no worse than 4-5 in the motos and still win the championship.
Unfortunately, practice didn’t go well for Harnden, and things got worse from there as the first moto was a complete disaster. Harnden looped out the big CR500 going up one of the Copetown hills and had to ride back to the bottom before he could get going in the right direction again. As if that wasn’t bad enough, in even more embarrassing fashion, Harnden executed a textbook high-side right in front of his mechanic Ron Fraughts and Honda boss Hank Howard who looked on in disbelief. He was able to battle his way back to 8th at the checkers but now it was all going to come down to the final moto.
Mike had to get 1st or 2nd in the final moto to clinch the title. Things started out well as the gate dropped for the second moto as Harnden jetted out to an early 10 second lead. By the 20-minute mark of the moto, however, Ross had closed the gap and was right on Harnden’s rear wheel, and that’s when things got really bizarre. Harnden, not wanting to tangle with Ross, let him pass. Pederson then slowed right down but Harnden, afraid of getting taken out by the big Suzuki rider, refused to get too close to Ross or to attempt to make the pass. Of course, this allowed third-place rider Rudi Zackso to catch back up, but he was also under team orders from Honda not to make the pass on Harnden. A real log jam was forming at the front of the field as more Honda riders began catching up to the trio at the front.
As the 40-minute moto wound down and the last lap flag flew, Ross, now realizing that both a championship title and a big fat bonus check were slipping through his fingers, made one last ditch effort to turn things in his favour. Right before the finish line there was a little switchback and a deep rut had formed in the final corner. When Pederson dropped into the rut for the last time he just stopped and planted both his feet on the ground, determined to keep Harnden behind him. At least until another rider got through. In somewhat of an ironic maneuver, Harnden rammed the Rollerball from behind moving him a little closer to the line. Then he backed up his bike a few feet while fellow Honda riders Couture and Zackso patiently waited and rammed him again, holding it wide open this time, eventually pushing the furious Pederson and himself over the finish line. It was finally over. Harnden had won the title if not the race.
What a story. I really enjoyed speaking with Mike and listening to his Championship winning tale. Unfortunately, Mike Harnden never got the chance to really defend his 1984 500cc National Championship. Injuries plagued his ‘85 season and for ’86, Honda completely dropped out of Pro Motocross Racing in Canada leaving Harnden without a ride. So, following the ‘86 season and a relatively short seven-year pro career, Mike retired from motocross to pursue a career in real estate.
There were only a couple of riders to ever beat the Rollerball straight up in a Canadian National series. The aforementioned Harnden, who wrestled the ‘84 500cc title away from Ross in a hard-fought battle, and Doug Hoover. Hoover bested Ross a couple of times over the course of his relatively short career, taking the ‘85 125cc Championship and the ‘88 500cc title, along with multiple runner-up finishes in all three classes. Hoover was the real deal, and to this day Ross credits him with being the biggest thorn in his side and his toughest competition over those years.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Doug for the 5th issue of 2018, which featured:
“The Doug Hoover Story.”
Hoover bought his first real motocross bikes in 1980 – a Suzuki RM 100 and a RM 125. After a little tuning and modification, Hoover went on to win the CMA Big Wheel Schoolboy National Championship in Saint-Tite, Quebec in his first real season of racing. With the support of his father, 1981 turned out to be another banner season for Team Hoover. Skipping the Junior class completely and moving straight to Senior (Intermediate), Doug lit up the Ontario motocross scene that year winning all three classes – 125, 250 and 500, in the Ontario Highpoint Championship, as well as the 1981 CMA National Motocross Senior 125cc Championship. And as if that wasn’t enough, Doug moved up to the Expert (Pro) class immediately following the Senior Championships and scored a 5th overall in the 125 National Championships.
By 1984, Doug had solidified himself as the number two rider in Canada. He finished second overall in the 125, 250 and Canadian Supercross Series standings to Ross, but the actual chances of him dethroning the Rollerball from the top step of the podium seemed to be slipping away. It wasn’t until a chance encounter with Pederson in the spring of 1985 that Hoover finally realized what it was going to take for him to beat Ross. Staying at the same motel in St. Petersburg, Florida, Ross invited Doug out for a run one morning prior to doing motos. It was after this run that Hoover, who felt that he was in pretty darn good physical condition himself, came to realize just how good of shape Ross was really in. Hoover realized at that moment that if he ever wanted to beat Ross, he was going to have to pick up his game as far as training went.
And step up his game he did. In fact, Hoover started developing a Rollerball-like training regime of his own following their morning run in Florida. Doug took his training routine to a new level and the results were immediate as 1985 turned out to be a breakout year for Hoover. He went head to head with the Rollerball and won the CMA 125cc National Championship. Not only did Hoover win the 125 title that year, but he also took his Cycle World / Yamaha Canada sponsored bikes to 2nd overall in the 250 Nationals and 3rd in the 500cc division. Probably one of the most memorable and satisfying races of his career came that year for Hoover at the 250cc GP of Canada at Moto Park when Doug was able to score a 2nd overall podium position against some of the top GP competitors in the world.
“The Sweeper,” as former Yamaha factory mechanic and Team Manager Keith McCarty had dubbed him while training with Broc Glover down in California, was really on a roll. Things got tense between Hoover and Ross in ‘86. Doug made the switch from Yamaha to Honda and secured a lucrative outside sponsor in the form of Esso Easy Mix Oil. Hoover had a solid season on the Honda in ’86, scoring podium finishes in all three classes in the Nationals that season. No Championships however, and it wouldn’t be until 1988 that Doug would hit the top step of the podium once again. That was the year that Hoover won the 500cc National Championship onboard the big CR 500.
With a second National Championship freshly under his belt, some solid sponsors in place and just being twenty-four at the time, you would have thought Hoover would have only been entering the prime of his racing career at the end of the ‘88 season, but that was not the case. In fact, at the end of the season, in what was a surprise to many, Doug Hoover retired. When I asked him about the sudden retirement, Hoover explained that both Honda and Esso Easy Mix were planning on cutting back on their support for ‘89. Yamaha offered him a deal, which would see him as Ross’ teammate, but Hoover just didn’t think that would work out too well. So, he decided to call it a day.
I’ve spoken with many retired professional motocross racers over the years and I’m always amazed at how their love of the sport is, in most cases, still so evident. I guess it is true what they say, when this sport gets in your blood you just can’t shake it. The love of the sport was very evident when speaking with Doug Hoover, but unlike most of the others there is no sign of regret when he speaks of his past glory. In fact, it’s the complete opposite. When Hoover says he has absolutely no regrets regarding his motocross career you really believe it. He got out while he was still healthy. The number one plate was on his bike and he truly accomplished everything he set out to do.
Doug Hoover was the epitome of cool in 1980s Canadian moto. Always stylish and always smooth, he made riding fast look easy and his battles with Ross Pederson have become the stuff of bench-racing legend over the years. His career wasn’t all that long, but he certainly left an indelible mark on the sport in this country.
From the moment I began writing for MXP, it had always been in the back of my mind that if I stuck with it long enough, someday I would get the chance to speak to Ross Pederson. I’ve had the opportunity to chat and bench race with many legends of the sport both from Canada and the U.S. over the years, but it wasn’t until I penned the story
“The Italian Job – Rollerball Style”
for the 6th issue of 2017 that I got the opportunity to speak to the man himself.
I must admit I was a bit nervous. After all, Ross transcended the sport in Canada. For those of us who had the pleasure of watching him race during his heyday in the ‘80s, he was literally the biggest thing on two wheels. You could reasonably argue that Ross was even bigger to motocross in Canada than Wayne Gretzky was to hockey. He was just that good, and for me to this day, larger than life.
Of course, there is also always the concern that – “What if he turns out to be a real jerk?” That’s never something that you want to find out about one of your heroes and fortunately for me, as I found out right away, there was absolutely no need to worry about that. Ross could not have been nicer or more willing to chat when I was able to reach him to talk about the story.
The story itself centered around Ross’ participation in a one-off, out of season money race put together by Guiseppe Luongo at the famous Maggoria circuit in Italy. The year was 1987, the event was The Masters of Motocross and Luongo had invited top riders from around the world to participate. The event consisted of a three 30-minute moto format and the field was pretty much made up of a who’s who of professional motocross at the time. A couple of U.S. National Champions, Factory Honda riders Ricky Johnson and Mickey Dymond, made the trip to Italy along with multi-time World Champions such as Belgium’s Eric Geboers and Georges Jobe. They were joined on the gate by the current 125 World Champion, Cagiva mounted Dave Strijbos from Holland along with former 125 World Champion and hometown hero, Italian, Michele Rinaldi. Several other notables were in attendance as well, such as American Factory stars Jeff Stanton, Keith Bowen and Ronnie Tichenor. The rest of the field was rounded out by a slew of impressive World GP Motocross regulars and of course our man Ross “Rollerball” Pederson.
Pederson was mounted on inferior equipment and had just come off of a rather serious knee injury sustained during the Canadian Nationals, but as he had done so many times before in his racing career Ross came through with an epic performance when he needed to. As the gate dropped for the start of the opening moto, Pederson rocketed out to a fantastic 2nd place start right behind the Honda mounted Eric Geboers. Mental strength and toughness were always a hallmark of Pederson’s riding style and he certainly mustered all he had on this day. As the moto wore on, Ross was looking great and showing no signs of having what had to have been a very sore knee. He continued to circulate in the top 3. Only Ricky Johnson was able to get by him late in the first moto and he held on for a very credible 4th place finish at the checkers, placing behind only Johnson, who went on to pass Strijbos, and hometown boy Rinaldi on the last lap for the win. It was a fantastic first moto result for our Canadian Champion and he was not done there. Ross basically utilized a good gate pick and the same game plan in the second and third motos to score a 5th and 6th place position respectively. His consistent 4-5-6 moto scores were good enough to garner a 4th place overall finish and a nice payday. While others, such as Mickey Dymond and Eric Geboers, would have better individual moto scores, Ross’ consistently good rides landed him his impressive result ahead of big names like Rinaldi, Geboers, Tichenor, Jobe, Bowen, and Stanton. Only Ricky Johnson, who was at the height of his formidable powers in ‘87 and went 1-1-1 in the three motos, current World Champion Dave Strijbos and US National Champion Mickey Dymond would finish ahead of Ross in the overall tally.
It was a pretty darn impressive result for our Canadian Champ but not all that surprising, and just one of a countless number of great rides he put in over the course of his long, illustrious career. Pederson, being the true champion that he is, was humble about his results when we spoke. He told me that “just knowing you can do it plays a huge role.” Ross went on to tell me about how much he loved to ride and that unlike a lot of today’s Pros he was willing to race pretty much anywhere or anytime. In fact, Ross, knee injury and all raced 40 times during that ‘87 season.
My time speaking with Pederson flew by and we covered a bunch of topics not even pertaining to the story, and we discussed the status of a few mutual buddies along the way. A couple of days after we spoke, Ross texted me and said how much he enjoyed our chat and thanked me for working with him. “The Rollerball” thanked me for working with him. How cool is that?
It really has been an experience getting to talk to and write about these legends of our sport, and there are still a bunch of stories out there that I would love to tackle. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with JSR and Blair Morgan on a couple of occasions but not for a feature piece yet so that so that’s on my list for the near future. So, there’s not much more left to say. Other than, long live motocross and long live motocross magazines.