CN
III VOICES
W H A T Y O U A R E S A Y I N G
P6
Letters to the editor can be sent to voices@cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News. Letters
should not exceed 150 words and are subject to editing. Anonymous letters won't be considered for publication and each letter should
contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number… Editor
Sean Dylan Kelly
Interview
Thanks for the coverage of Sean
Kelly. That's why I am still an avid
reader and supporter of Cycle
News. I have a couple of back
issues from the seventies when
I favored Cycle News West, as I
lived in California's AMA District
36.
Thanks, again.
Ricky Vassallo
Dalton Gauthier
Interview
So glad the kid is coming back.
Yes, a small mistake should not
stop him from a successful and
long career.
Best of luck.
Roland Linder
Amazing what Gauthier has
done in such little time in his
return, and he seems to have a
good level head on his shoul-
ders about his past, present,
and future.
Best of luck to him and great
to see him back on the track,
and back "on track!"
Mike Stuhler
Wow, what a great interview.
Dalton was honest and made no
excuses and took responsibil-
ity for his bad decision. We all
make bad decisions, especially
at such a young age.
I hope you win the title,
Dalton.
Chris Taylor
In The Paddock:
Just Too Good?
I have the opposite view of the
article. Cost saving is needed
especially after the recession;
I think they should've already
merged WorldSBK and MotoGP
and do away with costly proto-
types. I'd prefer they do away
with electronics, but if the riders
want to keep TC, then stay with
a spec ECU.
I remember in the '90s when
guys weren't winning they'd
blame the tires or say they were
down on power, having spec
tires, ECU, fuel or anything else
puts more emphasis on rider
instead of machine. It seems like
MotoAmerica would benefit the
most from eliminating electron-
ics or using stock TC, set a
horsepower limit and a reason-
able weight limit to reduce costs,
which would help bring in some
private teams since it only has
four factory riders in Superbike.
MX went to production cycles
years ago, and after everyone
stopped complaining, the racing
was no different except it saved
the teams money and made pri-
vate teams more competitive.
Another item mentioned is
handicapping the races. I'm not
in favor of penalizing an indi-
vidual rider, but I'd like to see
some variety. A reverse grid start
was mentioned in the article,
I'd like to see that, or break up
the usual 35-minute race into
two shorter races with an overall
Olympic scoring system, run a
stage race like NASCAR, or a
joker-lane race.
MX/SX uses a single main,
double moto and a triple moto.
I like the different formats, so I
don't feel like I'm watching the
same race every weekend.
I think all the series need to
tighten up the points payout and
have some bonus points built
into it.
Points for qualifying rows and
a backup points payout based
on qualifying is needed, all these
things will keep the title chase
closer
The article ends by saying
that even if you handicap Marc
Marquez he'd still win, which
is kind of the point I'm trying to
make, which is that if the bikes
are more equal, the fastest guy
will still win, he just won't win by
as big of a margin.
Ken Bateman
The gap between WorldSBK and
MotoGP bikes is narrow. It's time
to get away from spec MotoGP
bikes and get back to real proto-
types with next-gen technology
like turbo and superchargers,
which should be doable with
modern electronics. The racing
might spread a little thin com-
paratively, but the bikes would be
incredible. This would also spawn
the next great leap in street bike
technology, which would make
some of us really happy.
Howard Halterman
"Dalton was honest and made no excuses and took
responsibility for his bad decision."
