Ups & Downs

Ups & Downs

ROUNDUP

UP: To Mazda, for offering us the shirt off multi-time AMA Supercross Champion Jeremy McGrath’s back. In trade for a test-drive in one of its new fourwheelers (hopefully, one of the pumped-up B-Series pickups), the Japanese automaker handed out “official” McGrath jerseys-non-muddied, but festooned with sponsor logos. Nonjersey-types could opt for a McGrathautographed limited-edition lithograph.

DOWN: To technology, for milking modern-day motorcyclists dry. Honda’s cutting-edge CBR929RR (and RC51 and CBR600F4Í), uses iridium-tipped Denso sparkplugs, which carry a suggested retail price of $17.50 each. That’s $70 for a set of four-without tax and labor charges!-and 3.5 times more expensive than the plugs used in Suzuki’s GSX-R750. What’s more, Honda stipulates the plugs be replaced every 8000 miles. Anyone for an old CB350?

UP: To slugger Ken Griffey Jr., for earning accolades of the two-wheeled kind. The all-star outfielder won the AMA’s Hazel Kolb Brighter Image Award for promoting motorcycling as a family activity. Accompanied by his son Trey (a KTM Junior Supercross Challenge participant) and amateur motocrosser James Stewart, Griffey accepted the award at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, before the Reds took on the visiting Chicago Cubs. Past award-winners include actors Dan Aykroyd and Harrison Ford, country crooner Lyle Lovett, comedian Jay Leno and talkshow host Rosie O’Donnell.