Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICES Letters to the editor INSIDE Sam fan . FEATURES TRIALS Spa in, Colley claim Tri als des Nations Young clinc hes cha mpionship at San Ysidro Nationa l Tri al EVENT Kawasaki Deal er Show 6 16 18 HILLCLIMB Pinsonnault, Reiser lock up National titles a t Oregonia 20 DEPARTMENTS INTERVIEW' World Speedway Champion Sam Ermolenko NEWPRODUCTS 13 .17 8 EVENTS 10 MOTOCROSS Ferry, DeHoop master Mt. Mo rris MX 14 .22 CALENDAR 27 RESULTS RIDING IMPRESSION 1994 Suzu ki RM250 .30 WANT ADS .30 ON THE FRONT PAGE: Kit Palmer puts the 1994 Su zuki RM250 through its paces. For a fu ll rid ing impression see pa ge 10. Photo by Kinney Jones. ~~ I am w riting in regards to the 'firs t tw o nominees for the 1993 AMA MotoWorld Pro Athlete of the Year award - Jere my McGrath an d Sam Ermolenko. Living in southe rn Cali forn ia, I hav e had the privi lege of wa tching bo th these cham p ions per fo rm in their respec tive professi ons. While I' m sure ther e will be othe r nominees, all of whom are better kn own, I feel the award should go to "Sudden Sam." Jeremy McG rath's accomplish men ts in 1993 we re truly spectacular. Having w itnessed severa l of his record-brea kin g performances, I cann o t arg ue th at he is a great champion. Erm olenko's 1993 record is incomparable. Winner of th e Wo rld Ind ividual Speedway title, U.S. National title and World Tea m Cup title as w ell as highpoint average champion in th e British Speedway League, Ermo lenko ha s taken nearl y every title th er e is in speedway raci ng . Sam's dedication to a sport tha t has a t times left his body badly broken is ins pi ring. I hope the people w ho vote for the awa rd will look a t the nominees' records in 1993 and no t a t how well known the racers a re . Sa m is a g rea t ch ampion in a sport th at doesn 't get a lot of natio na l attention . Now I h ope that spee d w ay racin g will get so me of the recognition it deserves, America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXX Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger. Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers. Editor Kit Palmer. Associate Editor Donn Maeda. Associate Editor Chris [onnurn, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau. Assistant Editor Graphi cs and Production ReeJohnson, ProductionSupervisor Mandy Loa. Productioll Mallager Dennis Greene, Lab Tech. . S tacey Guest. Graphic Artist Amy Faught. Graphic Artist Advertising Terry Pratt. National Accoullts Mallager Mark Thome. Westerll Sales Mallager Thomas Ge nter, Western Sales Mallager Mark Mitchell. Eastern Accoullts Mallager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales MallQger Rick Matheny. Eastern Sales MallQger Rhonda Crawford, Westerll Ad Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Administratio n Dealer Sales Toni Kerr, Dealer Representative Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera. Secretary to the Publisher Want Ads Kelly Branscome, Wallt Ad Sales Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond. AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Heclane Lewis. Credit Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome. Mallager Circulation Rheba Smith. Mallager Alma Anguiano. Processing Coordinator Pam Klein. Billillg Coordinator Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator 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) 4277433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427~ Eastern Office 4190 First Ave.•Tucker. GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805. Tucker, GA 3OO85-D805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 CycleNews (USPS 141-340) is publishedweekly except the lasttwo weeks of the calendar year for$50.00 per yearby Cycle News. Inc , 2201 Cherry Avenue. Long Beach. CA 90806. Second class postage paid at Long Beach. CA. Canada Post International PublicationsMail #546615. POSTMASTER: Sendaddresschanges to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach. CA90801-0498 . Todetermine the expiration date of yoursubscription, check the four numbers on the first line of your addresslabel.The first twodigitsindicate the last issue number you'llreceiveand the last twocharaclers indicate the yearof the last issue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United States and its possessions for.one year. (SO issues) $50.00; two . years (100 issues). $95.00; sixmonths. (25 issues). $26 trial sub (IS issues). $19.00. Canada and Foreign. .00; ; one year !50 issues). $90.00; two years (100 issues), $175.00; six months (25 issues). $45.00 trial sub (15 issues). $38.00. ' . CycleNews welcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories. cartoons. photos. etc. Such material.if published,becomes the exclusiveproperty of Cycle News. Such accepted material issubject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited material which is not used will be returned if accompaniedby a self addressed stamped envelope. All unsolicited material will be handled with reasonable care. however. Cycle News assumes no responsibility for the safety. loss or damage to such material. Reprinting in wholeor part onlyby permission of the publisher. Advertising ratesand circulation information willbe sent uponrequest SeeS.R.D.5 . . . .Vir/BnA V ...!"!:! 4 AUD ITED O RCULATION P' nnte d' USA• In •• Copyrightt' CycleNews, Inc.1993. Tradema rk CycleNews registeredU.s. P.Jtent Office. All rights reserved, Kurt Lemke H ighland, CA AMA Superbike National Champion Ddug Polen , 500cc Wo rld Champio n Kevin Schwan tz and AMA Grand N ation al Champ ion Ric ky Graham have joined McGrath and Ermolenko as nominees fo r the AMA MotoWorld Pro A thlete of the Year Award. The winner will be announced Novemb er 20 at th e AMA Pro Awards Banquet in Long Beach, California...Editor. Flag waving for America I am writing in regard to Mr . Gabriele's le tter (October 13) in refer ence to the MX des Nations. Alth ou gh I'm sure we all generally agree w it h hi s letter, he should not forget that Kurt Nicoll's w in was a key factor in o ur w in . Nicoll's comm ents were o bvio usly poin ted towards the European press. Having been for tu n a te enough to have specta ted at th e Des Nations and sev eral GPs in the past few years, I am con tinually pl eased to see the cro w d s behave so favorably towards our guys. American flags, coveted with our riders' au tog raphs ar e wa ved by kid s w ho don't even speak English. We hea rd no booing of Am ericans lik e Jean-Michel Bayle received her e. No o ther country is as imita te d and looked up to a s America and ou r teams contin ue to d o us great cred it. It's just a damn sha me these great athletes don' t earn the kind of respec t h ere that th ey do w hen far from home. B.T. Stone St. Louis, MO Days of Glory BSAs v s , Tri umphs , Bu ltacos vs. Yarnahas, Ossas, Nortons, Harleys and Indians. They w ere all ra cing handlebarto-handleba r and wheel-to-wheel at the Days of Glory race at Weedsport, New York. Ken McGuire d id a fine job of prom otin g vi n ta g e racin g a t the old W e edsport Half Mile, despite cold weather and rain putting a damper on Saturday night's program. On Sunday, the track was fast and the weather was nice. It was great to see Gary Ni xon, N eil Keen, Da v e A ldana and Jimmy Weiner t all go ing for the gold . Nixon en ded up taking the win, but it wasn't easy. After the race Nixon sa id he thought Keen and We in ert let him w in, but anyone who races kn ows w hen the gree n flag drops all yo u can think of is w inning. I enjoyed the racin g .a nd I' ll be bac k next year. Hopefully, more rider s w ill m ake th e trip for th e n ex t o ne. Once again, tha nks to Ken McG uire for promotin g a fine event. And a big than ks to Gary N ixon , Neil Keen, Da vid Aldana, and Jimmy Weinert for the memories. Danny Ward Oearwater, FL Honda tagger? Hond a no do ub t has another technical tour de fo rce wi th the 1994 RC45. but they are making a big mist ake with the gra ffiti graphics . Maybe th ey d o no t know it in Tokyo, but we have .eno ug h of that so rt of thi ng in Los Angeles wi thout having to live w ith it on. our motorcycles. If the bike is no t more attractive than the Ducatis, it will be hard to sell. The ROO on the ot her hand, was beau , tifu lly designed and crafted . Kev in Park North Hollywood, CA Big bore support I felt ins ulted and angered when I read a bo u t th e d emise of the 500 cc cla ss in AMA m otocro ss ra cing. Th e exa mple a bou t ex ha us t note soun d was poor; every racing machine has its own so und jus t as every pe rso n has their own perso n ali ty . As fa r as actio n in th e 500cc class, it is excellent - not only with cha llenges for the lead, but also in the shee r awesomeness of the machines. The ski ll n eed ed to ri de these m achin es is unquestionable and this is w ha t m akes them enjoyab le to w atch. The Mill ville, Mi n nesot a, round of the series confirmed th is because the 500s w ere more enjoyable to watch than the 125s, which see m e d tax ed b y the course. There are certainly enoug h riders to go around for all the classes. As it turns out, Yamaha's non-support of the class d oe sn 't m atter b ecau se Damon Bradsh aw is n o longer a factor, and at th is point neither is Team Suzuki. The best guys th is season we re all in the 500cc class. So the argument about lack o f ri ders is a lmost unfounded. There are onl y three, four or five guys ca pa ble of w inning anyw ay, and onl y one or two cap abl e of winning a championship. Th e AMA putting a stop to the 500cc class is d efinitely inc o rrect . We can't always be 100% en terta ined like w e are w ith su percross racing. and supercross sho u ld be kept separa te in both thinking and design from outd oo r motocross. Darren Longboat Orchard Park, NY Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498 or faxed to 310/427-6685. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing.· Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All letters should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number ••• Editor.

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