Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v E 0ICS Letters to the editor INSIDE Long days and nights FEATURES SUPERCROSS Bayle bags first win of '92 in Charlotte 6 DRAG RACE ~I yers starts season with a bang in Texas 24 MOTOCROSS Reynard whips 'em at Lake Whitney Childress charges at Muddy Creek 10 14 DEPARntL~TS WORKBENCH 21 LOCAL RACING 25 CALENDAR 32 WANT ADS 38 RESULTS 50 OFF·ROAD Hamel scores at Saucer Run 16 INTERVIEW Speedway ace Steve Lucero : . 18 FEATURE T he Harley-Davidson success story . . :22 ON THE FRONT PAGE: . Nea rly 1000 motocrossers showed u p to co m pete a t th e GN C Int ernati on al ' MX Fina ls a t La ke Whitney. T exa s. Here. th e Min i Mini (60cc ) class bu zzes o u t o f the sta rrin g gate a nd towards tu rn o ne. Ph o to by Kit Pal m er. For race covera ge 'see page 10. ~~ ~~ America 's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXIX Michael Klinger. Publisher Caroline Gen drv, Executive Secre tary to the Pu blish er Editoria l J ack Mangus, Associate Pu bl isher/ Editor Kit Pa lmer. Associal~ Edi to r Paul Ca rr ut he rs, Associate Editor Na te Ra uba , Associau Ed itor Donn Maeda , Associate'Editor K Fa u g h t. Assis tan t Editor en ~dw i na Man gus , Calen dar Ed itor Graphics and Production Rec J ohnson, ProductionSupervisor Mandy Loo , Prod uct ion Man ager Denni s G reene, La b. T ech. Stacey GUt'M . G rap hic Artist Amy Harris. Gra ph ic A rtist Carolyn Branham. T yp escu er Circu la tion" Rheba Smith. Manager Sarah Taylor. Billi ng Coo rdinator Alma Ang uia no , Processing Coordina tor Debbie Weller. Dealer Coordinator Ads Linda Von de Veld. lVant A d Sales Wan t Adverti sin g Terry Prall , National Accounts IHa nagn ~ I a rk T home. J V~sl t'Tn Salt's .\tan ager Ron Davidso n. l'Vestern Salt's M ana ger Thom as R. C orner. lVestern Sates ,\ tanager Mark Mit ch ell, Eastern A ccounts M anager Greg Mitchell. Eastern Sal es ManagnRick Mathen y, East ern Sales Mana g er J oa n Bell, » 'estern Ad Coord in ator Carla Borden Allen. Eastern Ad Coordina tor Dealer Sales Steve Oo toski , Dealer R epresen tat iv e Marketing &- Promot ion Mark T home. M anager Accounting/Data Processin g Do n na Brvan -Diamou d. A / R Coo rdinator Geneva Repass. Assistan t Herlane Lewi s, Credit Serv ice and Support Chris Aitc heso n , H eadq uarters R ecep tion ist Leonard Herr ing, Seru ice and Support National Headquarters EasternOffice 220 1 Ch erry Ave.. Long Beach, CA 90806. P.O. Box 498, Lo ng Beach . CA 908014198 4 190 First Ave ., Tucker, G A. 3008-1 ; (310) 427-7433;' (310) 636-8844. FAX (3 10) 427-6685 R ich a rd " Bud " So u tha rd. wh o o w ns Bud's Race Track Serv ice o f Springfield . Ohio. has been hospitalized for severa l weeks. H e fir st had a heart problem . then he had a stroke. Wh ile in the hospita l for trea tme nt o f the stroke, he fell a nd broke hi s left hip, wh ich req uired surgery. Bud has pr epa red d irt tracks fo r a t least 30 yea rs a nd everyone who fo llows dirt tra ck raci ng kn o ws Bu d. The days and n igh IS are lo ng for Bud a nd he sai d he looks forward to ge ll in g ca rds a nd let ters from h is ma ny friends. H e wo u ld a p p recia te very m u ch hearing fro m the m . mailing add ress P.O. Box 805, T ucker, GA 30085..oso5. (404) 934·7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Neil Kennon A&:A Racing Service Mariella, OH Cards and leiters carl be sen t to Bu d at A hron Ci ty H osp ital, R eh abil itat ion Section, 525 East Market St.• A kro n. O H 44309 . . . Edi tor. Say what? After years o f a ttend ing ma ny supe rcross rac es. I ha ve so me id eas th at would hel p th e sport. First. ra ise th e tick et prices o n ad u lts 2 10 5 a nd give th is m on ey to the riders. For exa m p le. 40. 000 p eo p le atte ndi ng ti mes $3 eq ual s 120.000 extra purse: Befo re you yell. listen: Attend a NASCA R o r Ind y ca r ra ce; the ch ea pest ticket is us ua lly ·to. Make it a ru le so the p romot ers do n' t get to keep th e money . a nd it goes to the riders or th eir teams, Seco nd. I th ink the sport has been lacking promot io n . T he ads th a t ar e in Cycle News come o ut 100 lat e a nd a re no bigger tha n ads for so me loca l ra ces. Peo pl e m ak e p la n s in adva nce . I also th ink th e prom o ter s a re designing th e tra cks poorl y a nd they a re cu tti n g ou t o bs tacl es to m ak e more money . Kerr y Stin n ett Kuttawa, KY R aise ticket prices? I'll bet th ai a lai of peop le are g lad you 're not runn in g fo r po litical office, Kerry. In div idu al racers and learns in NA SCA R an d In dy car racing can 't s urvive o n purse money alone; th ey derive th eir operating ex penses an d salaries m airll y from sponso rs. In th e case of su percross racing; th e majority of th e racers at least those w ho are ho usehold 'lIIm es - are paid lar ge sa la ries by t he manufacture rs. Wh ile th e supercross promoters realize a large percentage of th eir all endance co mes from mutorcycle enth usiasts, th ey spe nd th e bulk of th eir advertising budgets in the area w here the ev en t is being held in hop es of drawing non-motorcyclists to their events. W hil e en thusiasts might be w illi ng to "spend m ore for tick ets. th e occasional molorcycle race atten dee would probab ly not . . . . Ed itor. Seeking housing W BPA 4 I 'a m as king yo u r assis ta nce i'n hel pi ng to loca le a p lace 10 stay duri ng the Apri l 25-26 La g una Seca AMA Na tiona l Cha m p io ns h ip Road Race Series wee ke nd . I a m go ing to acco m pa ny roa d racer J ohn Choat e o n th e long dr ive fro m Florid a to the Mo n terey a rea . We sha ll be arrivi ng o n Wedn esday. April 22 . Jo h n p laced eig h th a t Dayto na in th e 600cc Supersport race a nd wishes to co m pe te in as ma ny o f th e series ro u nds as he ca n. T his is a p riva teer effo rt a nd fu nds will he light as we p la n to a tte nd the ' C har lo t te Na t io na l t h e foll o wi n g wee kend . H o p efull y, th er e wi ll be so meo ne - a n enth usiast per haps - w ho wo uld o pen th eir home to us o r work o u t a rea sonab le su m for o u r stay in th e Mo nterey a rea . We wo u ld greatl y appreci ate a ny respo n se. I ca n be reached at 3051763 -4190 a n ytime during th e da y. Jeffrey J . Foster Fort Lauderdale, FL Track altering Let me fir st co m me n d Cycle N ews fo r th eir exce lle nt Dayton a cov erage in th e March 18 issu e. T h is yea r' s Cycle Week events had so me of the best competitio n th at I ca n reca ll a nd th e Cycle N ews cov erage is th e next best th in g to bei ng th ere. I would like to co rre ct o ne it em th at a p pea red in th e sideba r for th e Ca m el P ro dirt tr ack event whi ch impl ied that th e use of track m arker s to widen a groove a t profess io na l .races was in viol at ion o f AM A ru les : T h is i s ' in correct. T here is no cu rren t rul e . p rohibiting th is p ra ctice. It is true th at th e practi ce ha s been co ntro versia l in the past w hen effo rts ha ve been m ade to make a wid er ra cing su rface an d we are sens iti ve to the co nce rns o f th e ride rs. Without questio n. rider safe ly is our param ount interest. We a re a lso co nc erned abo u t th e qual ity of the show th at we.present to ou r spec ta tors and we wi ll be revi ewing severa l opt io ns d uri ng th e year to maintain hi gh sta ndards for our Camel P ro Na tio na l di rt track even ts. As yo u are aware. we a re pl eased to hav e for me r Gra nd Na tiona l C hampi on Mike Kidd o n board as o ur p rof essio n al di rt track manager and I'm co n fident th at Mik e will be abl e 10 assist us in this effo rt. Mike has a lo n g h istory o f track bu il d in g in additio n to hi s expe rien ce as a racer a nd promoter and h is co ntrib u tio n to amel P ro Series wi ll help to send our C a m essage to bot h rid ers and fans th at th e AMA cares abo u t p rof essio na l dirt track a n d th ai we a re prepared 10 tak e whatever ac tio ns are necessa ry to mainta in th e q ua li ty tradi tion tha t dirt track racin g ha s enjo yed in the past. Roy Janson Director of Professional Racing. AMA West erville.OH Photo finish An yone wh o was at Daytona an d . wat ched th e 250cc road race witnessed a bailie o n th e fin al lap for th ird p lace between Ken ny Ro bert s J r. a nd Robb ie Peterson. As they closed in o n th e chec kered flag . Peterso n . w ho was o n the inside. wotked th e bank in g a ngle of th e track to ga in a tire's wi dth advantage o ver Ro berts for th e positi on. T he lap board agreed. but AMA o fficia ls did no t, ca lli ng Ro bert s as fini shing th ird. U pon retu rn in g to o u r garage area , we heard ot her rider s a nd pit crew m embers say they tho ught Peterson fin ished thi rd . Even o ne rider finish ing next 10 Peterson agreed. Bec ause the AMA co u ld not p rovide a video or p ho togr aph o f th e fin ish . possibly the April TNN telecast o f th e event will d iscl ose th e factual results. Frank Biganski W. Palm Beach. FL Letters to the edit or shou ld be sent to: Voices. Cycle News, P.O. Box 498. Long Beach . CA 9080\ -0498. Publish ed letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle New s, In c. Letters sh ould not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing.

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