Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v Letters to-the editor 0ICES· Lane splitting Penalizing mo to rcycl ists in the name of Ms. Moore's co ns ti tuents is political gamesm enship. The truth is that complaints have been received from mo torists wh o were sta rt led by passin g mot orcyclists when they were stopped in traffi c read ing the paper or ap plying their mak eu p on th e wa y to work. Kevin H. Park Tarzana, CA sio na l image a nd I can assure h im that Alan will no t be eq ua ll y small -minded by respondin g. We do not have many ambassadors for our sport and industry of Ala n 's caliber. I th in k we wo uld all do better to support his efforts rather th an denigra te them. Ronald J . Bar ton Ro swell , GA We thought Ch ris Carter's com ments about A Ian Cathcart w ere bein g ma de with his ton g ue in his rather ample cheek. We have since been info rmed that th ey weren 't tongue-in -ch eek co m m en ts and have ap olog ized to Alan . . . Editor. We recently lost a very dear friend a nd a tru e racing afficio nado in the sport of desert raci ng. H is name was El mer Atson. Elmer 's nam e ha s graced the pa ges of Cycle N ews on several occas io ns. Elmer and his family were especi ally close to me a nd my family as we had tra veled many m iles a nd raced in a wid e variety of events . It was Elmer's kindness and willingness to share his knowledge a nd experiences tha t kept me racing as long as I did. H e was not o nly a very kind and co nsidera te man to his fello w racers, he was also a teacher , artist a nd poet. I am no longer rac ing, but Elmer's sp iri t will always be with me a nd the others th at he to uched in his seemingly brief lifetim e of racing. Elm er was co m pe ting in a nd lead ing a desert race in New Mexico wh en h is untimely dea th too k place at the ear ly age of 39. Our pra yers ar e with his fa mily. Godspeed. Elmer. We will mi ss you grea tly: Leo Lake Cypress, CA Jim Weaver Gallup, N M La ne sp li tting is no more dangerous, do ne respo n sibl y, than ri di ng the mo to rcycle to beg in with. More and bette r safety and skills trai ning for new cycle licens e applicants wo u ld go a long wa y towa rd protecting indivi duals. Nin ety-percent of a ll motorcycle acci den ts happen to n ew , ine x perienced riders. Attention paid to tra ining new riders would have a far grea ter effect on the motor cycle acci dent statistics than would eli mina ting one of the major reasons a lot of us use motorcycles for daily transportation in th e first place. . Personal responsib ility is increasingly being taken from us a ll. Please allow me to be responsible for m yself. ' Wesley Swift Santa Clarita, CA Brit blasting Having read Chris Carter 's "For eign invasio n " in th e Da ytona preview issu e, I felt compelled to write. I am part icu la rly depressed when o ne of m y fell ow co untryme n, Carter , dem onstr a tes his professional jeal ousy of a no ther British journal ist , Ala n Cathca rt. Cathcart has. I belie ve, made a major contribu tion to improving the p ubl ic image. o f motorcy cling, brou gh t a no the r d imension to racing th rough classic/historic racing a nd g iven me a great deal of pleasure th ro ugh creative reportirig. Carter's sm all- m in ded co m me nts certainly do nothing for his profes- I FEATURES SUPERCROSS MOTOCROSS Matiasevich strikes at Las Vegas Silver Bowl 8 CROSS COUNTRY No messin' with Albrecht in Texas GNC 18 DEPARTMENTS Russell sizzles to Sand Flea 100 win 12 Godspeed, Elmer Outdoor MX Thank you for addressing my questions co ncerning the MX Nationals that used to be held in Atlanta (Vo ices, March 7 issu e). Do you ha ve a n add ress where the 42,100 fans from this year's Atlanta Supercross can voi ce their interest (in ou tdoor Na tio nal MX) to promoter Bill West? Ma ybe wi th enough fan su pport o utdoor MX can ret urn to Atla nta. Co me on, Atla nta. show some su p po rt I Timmie Bowman Taylorsville, NC W orld/Sports, P.O. Bo x 1324 6, St . Petersburg, FL 33733 .. . Ed itor. EI Mirage hearing The BLM will hold a secret public meeting to hear comments on their EI Mirage Coopera tive Managem ent Area ' p la n on Saturday, March 31, a t 12:00 noon a t th e EI Mirage Community Center. Basicall y. th e BLM wan ts to put a fen ce around the (dry) lake; so if only local residents show up a t the secret public-comments meetin g, you kn ow wha t the co m ments will be. The Co m m unity Center is h idden o n Community Lane. o ne- ha lf mile north of EI Mirage Road a nd two blocks east of Chamisal Road . wh ich is o ne -half mile west of Murphy's Ca fe. It 's best to be th ere in person, bu t if you can 't , th e BLM will accept written co m me nts between March 17 a nd April 30. Mail to: BLM Ba rstow Resource Area Office, 150 Coolwa ter La ne, Ba rstow , CA 92311. I p la n to be there, as well as send wr itt en comme nts. Winston Beaumont Wrightwood, CA Myers smokes 'em at Houston NHRA drags 14 ULTRACROSS 17 WORKBENCH DRAG RACE NEWPRODUCTS 20 LOCAL RACING 21 CALENDAR Sitti ng in a car a nd analyzing a motorcyclist's activities is the equiva lent of sta nding on the grou nd and a nalyzing a pilo t's actions. Certainly a non-pil o t ca n no t app recia te the theory of flight or the judgm en ts a nd p hysica l ac ti o ns wh ich the pi lot performs. Si m ilarly, a ca r d rive r can no t see down the ope ni ng betw een the car lanes, can not appreciate the operational advan tages of the motorcycle and can not validly pass judgment on wh at the motorcyclist cons iders to be excessi ve risk. As far as accident sta tis tics a re co ncern ed , the mere snap j udgmen t of a non-specialized individual should never be presumed to be su perio r to researched, obj ectiv e data su ch as the USC study which is the most cred ibl e one of its kind in th e United States. Regardless of wh ether a particular group is in the majority or the m in or ity , a member of th is democra cy must be abl e to beli eve tha t the a p pointed/ elec ted leaders a re smar t eno ugh to believe in statistics based on sound data a nd to make decisions which reflect intell igent thinkin g based upon du e respect for possi ble superior knowledge a nd ca pabili ties of ot hers. Mr. L ak e's comments are from a letter he sent to Californ ia Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles), th e aut ho r of A B2560 w hich wo uld m ake lane sp litting illega l . . . Edito r. INSIDE 32 RESULTS Craig squeaks out Seaule Kingdome win 16 38, 51 WANT ADS 39 ON THEFRONT PAGE: Twenty-year-old factory Kawasaki rider JeH "Chicken" Matiasevich had one of his life-long dreams come true at the Silver Bowl in Las Vegas, where he won his first-ever Camel 250cc Supercross, Matiasevich led all but one lap in the Coors Extra Gold Super Challenge feature event Race coveragebegins on page8. Photoby KinneyJones. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXVII Sh aron Clayton. Pub lisher Mike Klin ger . Co mptro ller Rh eba Sm ith , Circula tion M an ager Caro line Gendry, Ex ecu tive Secr etary to the Pu blish er Ed ito rial J ack Ma ngo s, Associate Pu bl ish er/ Ed itor Kit Pa lm er, Associate Edi tor Pau l Carru the rs, A sso ciat~ Ed itor Nat e Rauba , Associa te Ed ito rBria n Cane-so n. A sso ciat ~ Ed ito r Ken Faugh t. Assistan t Ed ito r Edw ina Mang us. Calen dar Edi to r Advert ising Terry Prau , Senio r Sales M ana ger Mar k T home, Western Sa les Ma nag ~r Ron Dav idson . Western S ales hlan ager T homas R. Corner . W~st e,rn Sales hl anageT Mark Mitch ell . Eastern Salts Manager Gre!,: Mitchell . Eastern Sa les Manager J oan Russian . JV~st ~rn Ad Coo rdi n ato r Carla Borden . Eastern Ad Coo rdi n ato r G raphics and Prod uction Ret"J oh nso n . Produ ction Supervisor Mandy Loo , Produ ct ion Manager Den n is G ree ne. L ab. T ech. Sta cey Guest. Graph ic A rtist J im m ie O 'Dell. Grap h ic A rtist Carolyn Branham , T yp esetter Circula tio n Sarah T a ylo r. Assistant Alma Anguia no , Assi. tan t s Herl ane Ri ch mon d , Assistan t Ca ro l Maggi o , Assistan t Dealer Sa les Eric Reece. Manager Want Ads Debbie Weller. Wan t A d Sales Accountin g/Data Processin g Donna Bryan , A ccts R eceivabl e Coo rdi n ato r Ge neva Repass. Assis tan t L isa Gill. Credi t Service and Support Chris Ai tch eson , . H eadquarters R ecept ion ist Leonard H erri ng, Se rvice jln d Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave.. Long Re ach. CA 90806. P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA908010498 (213) 427-7433; 213/636-8844. FAX (2 13) 427·6685 Eastern Office 4190 First Ave.•T ucker. GA. 30084; mailing address P.O. Box805. T ucker. GA 30085-0805. (404) 934·7850 . FAX ('104) 934·3 112 Cycle News (US PS t 4 1-340) is published weekly excep t the las t t wo weeks 01 th e ca lendar year lor $50.00 per year by Cycle News. Inc., 220 t C herry Avenue. Lon g Beach . CA 90806. Seco nd class po stage pai d at Lo ng Beach , CA. a nd add itio na l mailing o lfices. POST MAST ER: Send address changes to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801·0498. T o determine th e expira tio n date of yo ur su bscri p tion. ch eck the fou r n um bers on th e Iirst.Iine of you r address labe l. The firs t two di gi ts indicate the last issue number you 'll receive and th e las t two charac ters indicate th e yea r of th e last issu e. SUbscr ip tio n ra tes: Ra tes for the U n ited Slat es a nd its possess io ns for o ne yea r, (50 issues). S50.oo; two years ( 100 issues). S95.oo; six months. (25 issues ). $26.00; tria l su b (15 issues ). SI9 .oo. Ca na da and For eign . o ne year (50 issues). S90.00; two years ( 100 issues), S I75.00; six months (25 issues). S45.oo; tr ia l su b (15 issues) . S38.OO. Cycle News welco mes un so licit ed ed ito ria l mat eria l in cluding stories, ca rtoons , photos, etc. Su ch ma teria l. if published. beco mes the excl us ive pr o pert y of Cycle News. Such acce pied mat eria l is su bjec t lO revi sion as is necessary in th e so le di screti on o f Cycle News . Unso licited mat eri al wh ich is not used wi ll be retu rn ed if accom panied by a sell addressed sta mped en velo pe. All unsolicited ma teri al w ill be handl ed with reason able care , how ever, Cycle News assu mes n o responsibilit y for the safety , loss o r damage to such ma teria l. Rep rinting in who le or par t o nly by pe rmission of the pu h lisher, Advertising rat es a nd circu latio n infor ma tion wil l be sent u pon req uest, See S.R.D.S. W ~ V BPA AUDITED . CIRCULAT ION Copyright@Cy News, Inc. 1990. Trademark Cycle New' registered U.S. Patent Office. Allrights reserved. de 5

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