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Flyin' Ryan

Ryan isn't such a hard name to pronounce. But when Ricky Ryan won the mud-caked Daytona Supercross, the race announcer kept pronouncing his name Johnson. That's understandable, though, because everyone expected Ricky Johnson to win, while few had even heard of the other Ricky.

After winning, Ryan reported that he thought he might be the only privateer ever to win a Supercross, which certainly would be an incredible achievement. And Ryan is a privateer, no matter what definition of the word you use. He gets nothing but technical assistance and contingency money from Honda. Technically, though, there have been other non-factory riders to win Supercrosses, the most recent being Ron Lechien, who won at San Diego in 1984. Lechien won on a private Yamaha, although he had already signed a Honda contract for the 1985 season.

The word from the woods

ICevin Hines had an up-and-down year in 1986. but he has to be considered the odds-on favorite to become 1987 national enduro champion. Defending champ Terry Cunningham will miss the early enduros due to a knee injury, as will his Husqvarna teammate Randy Hawkins. Without the Husky squad in full force, Hines made easy work of the first national enduro of the year in Georgia. “I wish Terry hadn’t been hurt,” Hines said. “He’s my main competition, and if I win, I don’t want to hear people say I didn’t have anyone to race against. Last year was my first year on KTM, a kind of transition year. Now the bike’s a lot better, and I’m doing a lot better.” If the season continues the way it started for Hines, he might become the first nonHusqvarna-mounted national enduro champion since 1971.

When is 50 miles not 50 miles?

A nswer: When it’s only 2 1 miles. The 50-mile Pro-Twins GP race at Daytona was originally scheduled for 15 laps; but due to rain it was shortened to 12 laps, then due to massive oil spills in several turns it was called off at six laps. Marco Luccinelli was leading at that point, which was halfway, so he was called the winner. To a man, though, everyone seemed very happy to get off the track, CYCLE WORLD European Correspondent Alan Cathcart, who competed in the event, said, “It wasn’t a happy race. But at least I got to brush up on my dirt-track sliding technique.” E3