Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v ICES 0 Letters to the editor .Slamming a champio n In regards to John Dirickson 's letter about Ricky Graham in the February 19 issue: If John knew the rules, it 's perfectly legal to drop down a class when riding out of your category. It would be wrong to expect any of the top motocross stars to get on a 750cc flat trac k bike and compete in the Camel P ro Series' Junior class , let alone the Expert class. In addition, Ri cky hadn 't ridden a motocross event in 14 years . It's a shame that Dirick so n has to sla m a quali ty ri der who has contribu ted . to the sport of motorcycling, whether it's motocross, fla t track, or j ust trail riding, in order to ge t h is poin t across. Get a life, J oh n ! Matt Rohr Mike Lightfoot Salinas, CA A lth ou gh the event in question was sanc tioned by the CMC, no te that in AMA com petition, Graham could not have drop ped dow n a class. We quote the rule book, " Expert riders who ho ld an AMA N ational Number in M otocross, Dirt Track , o r R oa d R ace . . . are au tomat ically E xp ert rated riders in any of the three categor ies of racing." . . . Ed itor. Just practicing Yes, R icky Graha m did ra ce in (the Vet Jun ior class) in ro u nd two of the Valvoline Go lden State Nationals at Marysville. H e called the week before the event and asked if he cou ld race for practice. O f co ur se, I said yes. You can ask all the Vet Juniors a nd th ey will tell you that Ri cky Graham was third overall on paper , but as far as series points a nd co nt inge ncy money, he didn 't exist. And Ri cky was well aware o f this, a nd just wanted to rac e for practice. _ As far as disqualifying people in our series, you can ca ll G FI and th ey will a lso tell you th at between CMC and GFI, we've d isq ualified over 30 che rry pickers. It 's great to see that all the Ca lifornia MX cl u bs are working toge th er to fight the never ending battle of th e che rr y pi cker. Sondra C. Pe ters CM C/Glen H elen Racing San Bernardino, CA They listened Daytona Intern at io nal Speed wa y, th e raci ng mecca of the southeast. Home of th e 24 Hours of Da ytona , th e Good y 300. th e Daytona 500 and the Daytona 200. You wo uld think th a t a su pe r-spee dway su ch as this would pave th e d amn infi e ld road th at parallels the infield road co u rse. How long m us t we ra ce fans end u re th e road? It is atrocious. In dry weather, it's so dusty you choke. a nd in wet weat her it's a m ud bo g! Jack Martin Ocala, FL Do letters wo rk? S ho rtly after mailing th e above letter to Dayton a Internatio nal Speedw ay and to us, Ma rtin received a rep ly fro m J im Foster, president of th e speedw ay. Foster said, "I agree that we m ust m ake repav in g tha t road one of our priority projects. . As you ma y be aw are, the perm itt ing system is pretty hideous these days. W hen you lay asp halt lh ey m ake you bu ild w ater retention areas almost eq ual in size to th e area that yo u pave, even th ou gh L ake Lloyd sho uld be the • INSIDE bigg est wat er retention area in th e country. A t any rate, we are ma king that a priority and I'm glad you wro te us to jog our minds that it should be done." . .. Editor. Unforgettable experience Dick Bettencourt is gone, a shock a nd a tragedy, especially to me because of an unforgettab le exper ien ce we shared in 1973. I had attended th e ISDT in Dalton, Massachusetts , as a photograp her for Cycle magazine. Afterwa rds, Dick took me trail riding in Miles Standish Forest near Cape Cod. H e held the mortgage on every o ne of th ose sandy trails, and at age 50 fed me perhaps the mos t excitin g dose o f dirt may hem I've had in 28 years o f rid in g. Dick loaned me a brand-new Honda 250 Elsinore fro m his shop a nd he rode a facto ry J aw a 350 he'd just bo ught fo r cas h from Czech go ld medalis t Zedneck Cespiva. We sm ugg led it out of the par c ferme in a trailer disguised w i th signs that said " P l u m b in g S upp ly Com p a n y. " W hen Di ck wanted a bike, he did wh at ever it took to get it, the m ore skulduggery, th e better. The J awas were designed as sit do wn m ach ines and that's th e way Di ck ro de. He was so smooth he loo ked like he was sitting at a p iano. I, on the other h and, was flai ling a nd punish ing that poor Honda in the ri de of my life just to keep u p. Afterwards, Dick said I was one of the few who ever stuck close to h im during the ir first ride in Mi les Standish Forest. T ha t compliment a nd th at man are two of my fin est memories in a sport I' ve pursued for a lifetime. Da le BoIler Steam boa t Springs, CO Godspeed, Rich On Februar y 7, th e motocro ss world lost a very goo d rider and I lo st m y best frien d , Richie Coates. Richie was o nly 23 wh en it was fo u nd out he had ca ncer. He put up a val ia nt fig ht for two years, b u t fina lly lo st ou t. Richie never made it to the big time, but he did win hi s fair share o f races a nd I truly enjoyed ridi ng and racing with a nd agai nst him. Those times will never be forgo tten . Nor wi ll I forget when he came to my aid wh en I was . in a near-fatal boa t accident a few years ago. R ichi e was a fierce co mpe titor on th e track. H e was a very aggress ive rider and always hard on the gas , win or lose. Richie faced deat h th e sa me way . On Jan uary 17, doctors to ld him he would only live a couple of hours or perh a ps a co u ple of da ys. Basically, they said , " Do you want to die in th e hospita l or at hom e?" Rich ie said, " I' ve got my first wedding anniversa ry coming u p in two weeks; I'm go ing hom e l" R ich ie made it those tw o weeks, p lus one m ore, before passin g aw ay at age 25. Richie was a winner in my boo k. Godspeed, Rich. Mar k Sh eldon Port Orange, FL FEA TURES SUPERCROSS MOTOCROSS Bradshaw continues win streak in Atlanta 6 PREVIEW Gearing up for Cycle Week Daytona Camel Motorcycle Week Schedule Daytona's all-new Visitor's Center Rating the road racers Rating the dirt trackers IO 11 12 Schmit scores Beaucaire International MX win McElroy conquersCamp Coker Gaddis gasses it in Denver OFF ROAD Krausecrowned Kingof the Desert . ..38 14 Motocrosser Damon Bradshaw Dirt tracker Chris Carr 18 DEPARTMENTS 20 24 26 INTERVIEWS Road racer Scott Russell EDITOR'S MEGAPHONE LOCAL RACING NEW PRODUCTS _ CALENDAR .. : RESULTS WANT ADS ROAD RACING Reaction to the cancelation of Laguna Seca's U.S. GP Laguna Seca road race testing , Preseason testing in Australia 34 36 40 30 32 42 .31 44 51 53 58 59 ON THEFRONTPAGE: Last year, Canad ia n Migue l DuHamel won the 50th ru n ni ng of the prestigious Dayton a 200. Who will win this year 's race? Flip through our in form ationfilled preview issue and decide for you rself. Ph o to courtesy of Daytona Internati onal Speedway. America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIX Michael Klinger, Publisher Caro line Gendry. Ex ecut ive Secretary to the Publisher Editorial Jack Mangus, Associate Pub lisher/Editor Kit Pa lm er. Associate Edi tor Pau l Carr uthers. A ssociat~ Editor Nate Rauba , Associa te Edito r Ken Faught, A ssistan t Edi to r Donn Maeda . Assistant Editor Edwina Mangus, Calenda r Editor Graphics and Production Re:e J oh nson , Production Superv isor Mandy Lao, Production Man ager Dennis Greene, La b. T ech. Stacey Guest, Grap hic Artist Amy Harris, Grap hic Artist Carolyn Branham, T ypesett er Circu lation Rheba Smith, Matlager Sarah Taylor, Bill ing Coordinator Alm a Angu iano, Processing Coordinat or Debbie Weller, Dealer Coo rdinator Want Ads Linda Von de Veld, Want Ad Sales Advertising T err y Prall , N ation al Accounts M anager Mark Thome, Western Sales IHanag er Ron Davi dson . WesttTn Sales Manager Tho mas R. C e nter, Western Sales Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accoun ts Man ager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Man ager Joan Bell, W estern Ad Coo rdin ato r Carla Borden Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Dealer Sales Steve G otoski , Dealer R epresen tative Marketing &: Promotion Mark Thome, Manager Accounting/ Data Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, A /R Coordinator Ge neva Repas s, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit Serviceand Support Chris Aitcheson, H eadquarters R ecep tionist Leonard Herring, Service and Support Natio nal Headquarters Eastern Office 220 I Cherry Ave.. t.ongBeach, CA 90806 . P.O. Box 498, Lo ng Beach, CA 90801-0498 4190 First Ave.. Tucker, GA. 30084; (310) 427-7433 ; (3 10) 636-88 44. FA X (3 10) 427-6685 mailin g address P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA30085-0805. (404 ) 934-7 850 . FAX (404) 934 -3112 Cycle News (USPS 141-310) is published weekly except the last two weeksof the calendar year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News. 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