Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

v ICES 0 Letters to theeditor Thumbs up for U.S. Gp, Filice I want to express my appreciation and thanks to . Kenny Roberts, KR Promotions, and all o thers involved in their delivery of a world class staging of the U.S. GP at Laguna Seca . It was a great weekend of exciting qualifying and practice sessions with Sunday providing great races in all three classes. I th ink the att endance sho uld have easily su rp assed the announced 50,000 people. I hope that wa s en ough to guarantee the success and continuanc e of the event in the future. I also want to ex p ress my personal thanks, respect, and sym p a thy to our American 250cc GP champion Jimmy Filice. Not knowing tha t he had crashed during Friday' s q ualifying (breaking h is elbo w and foot and taking away his next GP win) , I asked him for an a utograph Saturday. He graciously complied, explaining h is cond ition to m e , a nd signing a s best he co u ld - a ll w ith a smil e. You 've got a lo t of class, Jim my, a nd nob od y d eserves a r id e on th e Grand Pri x circui t more than yo u. J im Mad rid Lancas ter, CA Cheers for K.R. Having just returned fro m the U.S. G P at Laguna Seca, I wan t to than k Kenny Roberts, Two Wheel Promotions, et a l for a great show. From the wea ther (Kenny had no thing to do w ith th a t) to th e raci ng, (it was) well wo rth the 6000-m ile trek and $65 thr ee-day admission . All in all, an even t we ll do ne. I'll be back. G regg Flagg Orl ando, FL Is the re a nv thi ng Kenny Rob erts can't d o? Sure h'; was a g rea t rider. Yeah, he's ce rt ai n ly built up a dom inant ra ci n g tea m. But even t prom otion? I thought maybe this time he was in a littl e o ve r his hea d. We ll, I s ho u ld n' t ha ve w o rried , beca use the U.S. GP is history now and Roberts and his crew did a superb job. Rick Holtzman Albany, CA Put it beh in d us In th e September 15 iss ue, yo u ran an intervie w with me. Du rin g the course of this in terview, I described an incident I ha d w ith IRTA that a lso invo lve d Wayne Rain ey a t the Bra z ilian GP in 1992. Th e ti ming co uldn' t hav e been worse. Th e sa me issue ca rried news of Wayn e's tragic accident in Italy . Unfortuna tely, it was not clea r that my inte rview took pla ce before Wayn e was hurt. Since the intervi ew , I hav e spoken to Wayne and we have put the inciden t in Brazil beh ind us . Riders ha ve d iffe re nces a ll th e time in racin g. It comes with the territory . Unfo rtu nately, there are o the r thin gs th a t also co me with the territ o ry . Like eve ryone else, I am still in sho ck over Wayne's accident. He is a g reat champ io n a nd hi s absence from the gri d is a loss the entire world will feel. He is also a great friend and o ne of th e toughest p eop le I have ever met. With everyone's su pport, I kn ow he ' ll get through th is ok ay. Edd ie Law son Lake Ha vasu City, AZ Read it again Your article in the September 15 issue entitled "~ umpers are definit ely back" was "right on" when it spo ke of th e future of motoc ro s s being th e fourstrokes, especially in the big bore class. Bu t the article was "way off" in the impression it gav e o f the Hu saberg effort. The H usa be rg factory was very much involved in th e p roject. In fact, G ui do and Alvero. Veri matti, t h e Ita l ian impo rte rs of H u sabe rg , are also p a rt owners of the company. Wh en they go racing they ar e doing it with full factory support. Re garding the ch ange s to the Husaberg: The article states, "They got the weight of the big Husaberg do w n to 237 .6 lbs . " For y o u r info rm a ti on, a Husaberg 499 Cross weighs 239 o u t of th e cra te. Tha t's a weight lo ss of less than 1.5 lbs. You mentioned that the Hu saberg wa s equi pped w ith White Power fo rk, Renth al h a n dl eb a rs, Brembo bra kes, Regina chain, Awak filter , Tecn osel sea t, NG K p lug, Akron t wheels and Pirelli tires. All of thes e are stock or modified stock items excep t the filt er, th e tires, a nd the seat (w hich is built o n a stoc k base). . You m ention ed th at th e frame was al ter ed . Well , it was, and you w ill see th e fra me ch a nges on the 1994 1/2 Husaberg w hich will be available to d ea lers a rou nd December 1. You also ment ioned an a ltered gearbox. The new gea rbox will also be on all 1994 1/2 mod els (agai n, December ava ilability). Here is how the Hu saber g ca me up w ith 533cc. They too k a stock 600cc Hu saberg p iston and mod ified cylinder and mated it to a "s tock" 501 crank and rod. My p oin t is that th e H usaberg Joe l Smets rod e to a third p lace finish in the 1993 World Champion ship Open Class MX Series wa s based o n a stock motorcycle. Most of the changes in it you will see incorporated in the new Hu sabergs. What Hu sqvarn a did w as spend a substantial for tune to make a fou rstroke eig ht pound s lighter than a stock Hu s abe rg (yo ur article m enti oned $10,000 upsid e down Showa forks, and a titan ium rod, footpegs, shock sp rings and more). Why wa it for a rep lica ? Husaberg ra ces what it sells. INS E ID FEATURES DIRT TRACK Carr spanks 'em at Castle Rock TT...4 MOTOCROSS USA wins MX des Nations 8 in Au stria Hu gh es, Davis tear up Mammoth Mountain MX 24 ROAD RACE Fogarty dominates Du tch World Superbike ro und OFF ROAD Hamel romps at Wendover National H&H Cunningham squeaks ou t Millfield National HS victory 28 REVIEW Motocross/Supercross Review : Who did and who didn't in '93 12 ... TRIBUTE 500 Na tional Tribute: End of an era 18 22 EVENTS...._..............•..•..•_ _..•..•..• CALENDAR _•• _ _ RESULTS WANT ADS _ _..•......_.._.._ _...32 46 51 52 We Sll&,,?cst yOIl go back and read tile article again. We certainly did recognize that the factory backed the effort and repeat what we said: "The Hu saberg facto ry effort wi th Smets is through the Italian importers." We didn't say that the frame and gearbox were altered, [eel Smets did and we quoted him. He also said, "Not milch of my bike is made in Sweden." As f or the amollnt of money Husqoarna inuesied in their effort, tile bottom line is that Husqoarna, not Husaberg, has tile FIM World Championship certificate hnnging' on their fa ctory wall. A s far as Husaberg racing what they sell, it's the other way around. As yOIl said in YO letllr ter, beginning in December Husaberg will sell a bike based on tile one it raced this past Slimmer. Race-proven items even tually apl>car on most manufacturer's production bikes becallse, as we all know, the race track is the ultimate proving ground...Editor. Lette rs to the edito r sho uld be se nt to Voices, Cycle New s, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498 or faxed to 310/4276685. Pub lished letters do not necessarily re flec t the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and a ll letters are s u bjec t to edi ti ng. Ano ny mous letters will n ot b e co nsi der ed for publication. All letters should con tai n th e wr it er's nam e, address and daytime ph on e num be r ... Editor. S ..... (J) 0.. (J) r.J) ONTHE FRONT PAGE: When the final curtain fell on the 1993 National MX and Supercross season a cha ngi ng of the guard had taken place. Tum to page 12 for a review of this year's American championship action. Pho to by Jim Talkington . n (!~J. ~ Am eri ca's w eekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXX Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Edwina Mangus, Calendar Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Lao, Production Manager Dennis Greene, LAb. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Advertisi ng Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Thome, Western SalesManager Thomas Gonter, Western Sales Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern SalesManager Rick Matheny, Eastern SalesManager Rhonda Crawford, WesternAd Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Manager Dealer Sales Toni Kerr, Dealer Representative Admini stration Gary Surdyke Hu saberg America In c. Festus, MO H (J) DEPARTMENTS 20 0\ N Editorial " Jack Mangus, Associate Publisl "/Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Paul Carruthers, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Chris [o nn u rn, Associate Editor Circulalion Scott Rousseau, Assistaut Editor Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Secretary tothe Publisher Want Ads Kelly Branscome, Want Ad Sales Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit Rheba Smith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator DebbieWeller, DealerCoordinator Pam Klein, Assistanl Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, Headquarters Receptionist Leonard Herring, Service and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P'O, Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427-6685 Eastern Office 4190 First Ave., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805, . Tucker, GA 30085-0805 (404) 934- 7850. 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