Classic Racer Crossword
Many congratulations to Classic Racer on reaching the 200th issue!to mark the occasion, here’s a jumbo-sized crossword grid with a smattering of ‘200’ clues thrown in.
We know that you know tons of stuff about motorcycle racing, and, just to make things a bit more fun, we came up with the CR Crossword. This month it’s questions about racing set to a pre-described grid of white and black blocks.
Welcome to this, the CR #200 Crossword. To mark the landmark issue we’ve made the puzzle a bit bigger, with even more clues to test your racing knowledge.
And to make this Classic Racer Crossword that bit more special, we’ve landed a unique prize to give away to race fans like you – an actual piston and rod from Alex Marquez’s Moto2 racebike.
Yes, we can’t believe it either, but it’s true.this is a piston from Alex’striumph-motored machine ne, theteam Estrella Galica 0,0 Marc c VDS bike that he contests in the global championship – we don’t need to tell you how rare this sort of thing is.
This particular piston has been pulled directly from the 765cc triple bytriumph itself and then given to us to give to you (should you be the lucky winner whose completed and correct crossword is pulled from the upturned CR helmet).
With a letter of authentication fromtriumph, the piston comes with proof that it was at the heart of the bike that contested Moto2 races this year at Argentina,texas and Jerez.
Incredible, eh? We’re very jealous of you (we’re not allowed to enter) so all that we can now do is to wish you luck and ogle the piston for the remaining time it’s sitting on the Classic Racer editorial desk.
Across
1: Prestigious AMA series that combined results from both road racing and flat track up until the mid 1980s. (5,8,12)
9: Pump __, painful condition for a racer’s forearms that often needs surgery to eliminate. (2) 11: Inaugural world champion in the 125cc, and very nearly also the 500cc GP class. (5,6)
14 & 44 Down: The first to reach 200 points (exactly 200, in 1991) in a 125cc GP season was also one of the first to reach 200 premier class starts. (5,9) 15: Historic French Endurance race that has shifted venue several times in nearly a century. (3,1,2) 16: Whilst a 200mph lap of the IOM Mountain Course remains pure fantasy, this man was the first to do half that speed. (8)
19: Clive, British privateer who took a second behind Angel Nieto in one of the first 125cc British GPS at Silverstone. (6)
21: Where a bike’s rear suspension meets the frame – a vital connection! (8,5,5)
24: Mr Blake, legendary Aussie who lost his life at the Island in 1981. (3)
25: Dubliner who was the first to hit double figures in Isle Of MANTT wins. (7,5)
27: In 1971 this British built 750, albeit one with a different badge, went 1-2-3 at the Daytona 200. (3,6)
30, 32, & 33: The massive parent company behind the green machines. (8,5,10)
35: Jimmy, Californian whose wildcard 250 GP win at Laguna Seca was Honda’s 200th win in all classes. (6) 36: Only since the Motogp era began have we started seeing the needle pass 200mph on this part of the bike. (11)
40: Mr Pellandini, Swiss top 10 GP man on a HB Honda in the early 1980s. (6)
43: Section of the Mountain course that includes Birkin’s Bend. (10) 45: Multiple race winner for Bimota in the first WSB season, more famous now for management in red. (6,8)
50: Grimsby legend who was one of few riders to win TTS either side of the war. (7,5)
54: Mr Ajo, who started his successful race team in 2001. (3) 55: In the first 250cc season of the new millennium, this team had its two riders take the championship down to the last straight at Philip Island. (12,6)
56: See 52 Down
57: Takazumi, Japanese 350cc star who took Yamaha’s 200th Grand Prix win in 1977. (8)
61: Type of tyre that has no air to lose! (6)
63: This TT is held at the only venue to notch up over 200 world championship races since the series began. (5)
64: Graced the cover of the first issue of this fine magazine, unusually aboard a Vincent. (4,7)
66: The full title of the historic Imola race circuit. (9,4,1,4,7)
Down
1 & 35 Down: The only world championship rider with more than 200 GP podium finishes – The Doctor of course – shockingly moved to this dual-cigarette-branded team 15 years ago. (9,7,6) 2: Mr Ryo, who nearly took a shock home win in the very first Motogp class race at Suzuka. (5) 3: German manufacturer who took 20 race wins and three world titles in the smaller classes in the 1950s. (3)
4: The ‘Dalbeattie Destroyer’, who took several British titles and 3 TT wins inbetween broken legs in the 1990s. (3,7) 5: Technically, any combination of metals, many of which are used for parts on all bikes. (5) 6: Country where 14 across won his 250 title by taking out his Aprilia team-mate with two corners to go. (9)
7: Vital part that controls throttle, clutch, and one or even both brakes! (4)
8 & 60 Down: Took a rare 500cc GP win for a European in the late 1980s in a largely boycotted race at Misano. Superbikes were kinder to him! (4,9,5) 10: Popular Welsh circuit for the CRMC where 4 Down won a pre-bsb British championship race for Norton. (7)
12: The 15 across events all ran through this. (5)
13: Slightly inaccurate description of the most famous “200” race meeting in Ulster. (5,4) 17: Moustachioed German who earned the 250cc number 2 plate twice, despite winning only three GPS in his career. (4) 18: Famous Australian downhill hairpin out of which Kevin Schwantz high-sided out of the championship lead in early 1989. (2)
20: Sparkplug makers with a red circular logo. (3) 22: Kawasaki’s Superbike model, deadly with a sword? (5)
23: Herr Braun, famously won an Isle of MANTT at his first attempt in 1970 on his way to the 125 world title. (6)
27: What privateers (or their teams) have to do to get their bikes. (3) 28: Taru, Finnish woman who scored top tens in the 125cc GP series in 1989. (5)
29: Youichi. Japanese 125 GP winner with an ideal name for filling small gaps in a crossword! (2) 31: Signor Villa, who took the vast majority of Harley-davidson’s GP wins in the mid-seventies. (6) 34: Spanish helmet makers who adorned the heads of Steve Webster and his passengers in the 1980s. (6)
35: See 1 Down
37 & 62 Down: Early engine architecture where engine and gearbox were entirely separate components. (3,4)
38: This Park was the Australian venue for the first couple of years of WSB. (4)
39: A start line groove for Speedway or Motocross. (3)
41: Italian name synonymous with the term ‘V8’. (5) 42: Monsieur Michel, French contemporary of Steve Webster’s who became the only French sidecar world champ. (5)
44: See 14 Across
46: Largely due to the new points system in 1988 this man became the first to reach 200 points in a premier class GP championship. (5,6)
47: A tyre with no air left! (8)
49: In the 1980s Ron Haslam was seen crashing the experimental Elf because there wasn’t enough of this. (9)
51 & 23 Down: Made famous by the Anthony Hopkins film, Burt Munro had the world’s fastest ever one of these. (6,5) 52 & 56 Across: Scot who set the first race lap of the TT course over 200kph, more famous for breaking Carl Fogarty’s seven-year-old record of the time. (3,6) 53: Mario, successor to 31 down when he took Morbidelli’s only 250cc world crown. (4)
55: Adu ___-Santos, the first Brazilian to win a Grand Prix and still the only one apart from Alex Barros. (5)
58: The ultimate goal of any
championship! (5) 59: Bohumil, Czechoslovakian podium man for home manufacturers Jawa & CZ. (5)
60: See 8 Down
62: See 37 Down 65: Before career race numbers became the norm for merchandising and Twitter handles, this was the number everyone wanted to carry. (3)