Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1172754
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 "I doubt we would've beaten the Dutch team anyway, even if Adam Cianciarulo and Eli Tomac went. But we will never know, now will we?" 25th Anniversary Of The Ducati 916 Massimo Bordi, Massimo Tambu- rini and TPG [Texas Pacific Group] saved Ducati. Fabio Taglioni adapted Mercedes' desmodromic system to Ducati. I was a Berliner distributor. We found him obstinate and impossible to reason with. Year after year, Dr. T. [Baglioni] refused to address Ducati's prob- lems. The 860 almost killed us. Silvio Manicardi, a brilliant young engineer, came with a notebook, and we got the Darma. Then Dr. T. fired him, as later did De Tomaso at Moto Guzzi. In 1967, we got the number-23 Desmo 250 for TC Christenson to race at Day- tona. Heavy, and at 114 mph it was no match for the Yamahas. In 1968, I entered the 250 race on a Scrambler with a Diana top- end, megaphone, and a fairing. At 114 mph, the spin-welded exhaust valve head came off, and it blew up. Reno Leoni rescued me with his hairpin spring top-end. I quali- fied fifth out of 225 entries—at 126 horsepower at 10,500 rpm, it was the fastest 250 Ducati ever. The standard gearbox ratios were an anchor exiting the infield, but I managed 12th in the final. Ducati Team owner Reno Leoni is defi- nitely my Ducati hero. John Gregory Meadowlands Mile Last night's race was a debacle, poor track prep, three hours late, bad crashes, bad decisions by AFT. Devon Sowell Motocross Of Nations Hats off to all of the riders of the Motocross of Nation this year. Any- one who had to ride in that crap must be commended for it. Whoa, that looked terrible. (And what was up with the TV camera lens getting so wet? Don't we have technology nowadays to prevent that from hap- pening, or at least have someone who could stand there and wipe off the lenses once in a while? Looked amateur-ish to me.) Congrats to Herlings, Colden- hoff, Vlaanderen, and Team Nether- lands for getting their first win ever in the Motocross of Nations, they deserved it even if they did have the home field advantage. No one else was close, not even Team USA. However, you have to give our guys credit. They spent three weeks of their lives training in Europe and doing everything they could to win back the Chamberlain Trophy for us, and it looked like there was a good chance of that happening when Justin Cooper won the MX2 qualifying race on Saturday. I must admit that surprised me, but I guess I should not have been. It's unfortunate what happed in the first race between Cooper and Jason Anderson, just plain bad luck, I guess. That washed away our hopes right there. Too bad our two U.S. Champi- ons didn't want to go and represent our country at the Nations. I doubt we would've beaten the Dutch team anyway, even if Adam Cianciarulo and Eli Tomac went. But we will never know, now will we? Chuck Alexander Cooper, Anderson and Osborne— thanks for trying, guys. You still made us proud at the MXoN. And way to go, Justin, for winning the qualifier. That was a bright moment for what was otherwise a gloomy weekend in The Netherlands. Ric Wellard