Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.. TURN FOUR. . .:.B yDOonMaeda : ' wasn't there. And, in all honesty, I'm glad. On Saturday n ight, Ju ly 30, Jaso n Fletcher crashed in the firs t tu m at the start of his Oklahoma Oty Half Mile heat race. Apparently, Jason got too low going into tum on e and was highsided off his HarleyDavidson. Since he crashed while at the front of the pack, Jason was struck by several riders and knocked unconscious. Though he didn't regain consciousness for 40 minutes, Jason was released later that night. The diagnosis? A severe concussion, a broken nose, broken fin ger and multiple facial lacerations . But, as he and his fr iend, Gary Edmonds, drove home to Connecticut, Jason's condition began to worsen. By the time they arrived in Connecticut, Jason's condition had deteriorated greatly. Gary and Sandie Fle tcher rushed their son to a nearby hospital, and after being d iagnosed, Jason wa s transferred to a larger, more capable facility. Doctors determined that in his crash, Fletcher had s ustained damage to a carotid artery in his neck. Blood coagulated in the area , and b e fore lo n g a blood clot found its way in to Jason's brain and caused a stroke. Currently, Jason is in th e intensive care unit at Danbury Hospital and has suffered paralysis on the right side of his body. Though his memory is fine, Jason cannot speak, and for now, can't focus his vision. Docto rs are impressed with the progress that he 's made sin ce he's been in their care, but realistically, they report that Jaso n will never reco ver I 100%. It w ill take up to one full year for Fletcher to recov er as best he can, but doctors ha ve assured him that when he leaves the hospital, he'll be walking. "This is devastating," said Jason's father, Gary Fletcher. "We expected our son to come home with a headache and a banged up finger. We never thought so me thing like this could happen. "As for Jason's racing career, well, I can say th at it's ra ther doubtful th a t he 'll ever race again. We're just hop ing for his reco very:' I am d eeply d isturbed by what ha s befallen the Fletcher family. I' ve met a lot of racers since I've been covering the Grand National Championship circuit, actually - I could probably say that I've met most of them. It took me a couple years to speak to Fletcher - my fi rst mem ory of him was as a rookie Expert. I never spo ke to him the n, opting instead to focus m y attention on Parker, Carr and Graham. When the Harley-Davidson 883 class was in t ro d u ced to the dirt in 1993, Fletcher quickly established himself as on e of the top conten d ers, and I began to sp eak to hi m on a weekly bas is. At first , he seemed surprised that I stopped by his pits to interview him. Jason was qu iet but friendly, confid en t yet polite. Jason was one of th e personalities that made covering a race in a hot, muggy, God-forsaken area of the country a little bit easier. Th is year, Fletcher began to shine. Not onl y did he return as the 883 series' most dominant rid er, he began to tum in consis tent t op-10 fini shes in the Grand National class as well. At one race, after Jason romped away wi th another 883 Nationa l win and backed it up wi th a strong finish in the Grand National , I teased, "Man, you're becoming one of the guys, aren't you?" "I'm trying, I'm tr ying," he replied, with his usual smile. And I wasn't the only pers on w ho had ta ke n no tice of Fletcher's arriva l. Several of the series' veteran s h a d began to notice him as well - especially w hen he led them a cros s th e fin ish line. Many people ask me why the sport of dirt track is dying. My usual ans wer is that there seems to be fewer and fewer rid er s coming into the sport. Many would-be dirt-trackers are giving into the lure of roa d racing or the ease of go ing motocros sin g. Quite sim ply, other forms of mot orcycle ra cing are ea s ier and cheaper to get into, and in the eyes of many youngsters - more glamorous as well. But not to young Jason. For a recent Cycle News article, I passed out a questionnaire with se veral questions. Fletcher's answers were cut and d ry. What's the best thing about being a profession al? "Travellin g across the coun try, an d rea lizin g that the fans are starting to know who I am," he wrote. Wha t's the wo rst thing abo ut being a profes sio nal? Jason answered w ith a s im p le, "T", The last question drew a n u mber of wild, dreamy answers, but not from Jason. I began the sen tence, and they finished it: If I could do it all over again, I would "still race dirt track, without a doubt," answered Jason . The d irt track fraternity has suffered a great loss . At only 23 -ye a rs -o f-a ge, Fletcher finds himself in a situation that usually on ly befalls th e elderly. "The doctors say that this is a very, very rare occurrence," said Gary Fletcher. "We are just hoping for Jason he a lth to come back, that's all tha t matters now. We've had a lot of great help and made a lot of great friends throughou t Jason's racing career. We really app reciate eve rybody that has helped us along th e wa y. It ' s ju s t a shame that Jason has been hurt while he was living out his d ream. He ha d put his he art into what he was doing. It's going to be tough." To ugh indeed , but once a wi n ner, always a winner. Good luck, Jason, you will be mis sed. Cards and letter may be sent to: Jaso n Fletcher, ICU South, 24 Hospital Ave. , Danbury, CT 06810. a :·INTHE frompage 3 .. WIND' . Continued The Winners Circle Academy in Irving, Texas, is now offering individualized m enta l training programs for motocross racers, road racers, dirt trackers and off -road riders. The programs, which em ply hypnosis and subliminal stimuli, are designed for racers ages six th rough middle age. The goa l of eac h p rogram , accord ing to the Winners Circle, is to prepare racers mentally to w in by in creasing self confidence, im p roving the ability to concen tra te , eliminating unreasonable fears, con trol- lling ner vousness, building m enta l toughness and th e w inning attitude. For more infor m a tion call 214 / 98 69696. The Sw edish team for the upcomin g M X d es N ations in Switzerland h a s b e en a nnounced . Marcus Hansson will lead th e team with Joakim Ka rlss on a nd Frederik Werner, w hile th e host t e am wi ll b e m ad e up of Philippe Dupasquier, Je r om e Dupont an d Christian Chanton. Ger- many has named Peter Beirer, Bernd Eckenbach and D ietm ar Lacher to its team. One main rider who won't be competing at the MX des Nations is defending 500cc MX W orld Champi o n Jacky Martens, as he wasn't sele cted to rep resent the Belgian team, tha t w ill be made up of Stefan Everts, Werner DeWit and Marnicq Bervoets. "I wo uld have liked to race jus t to show them how fas t I am, but I am not goi ng to lo se any s leep ove r it if they d on't wan t me ," sa id Martens. AUTOGRAPH SIG NING : At Kawasaki of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Friday, August 12, from 1:00 p .m. to 4:00 p.m . Team Green 's Nevada Rally competi to rs D av id e Tro lli and Paul Kra use are sch eduled to attend. MOVED: ABATE of Flo rida, In c., to P.O. Box 585, DeBary, FL 32713-0585. The phone number is 407/668-5006. a IL O I GBACK.....· 1 O KN 25 YEARS AGO_ August 26, 1969 n one weekend, Di ck ; ~ ~ ~ ~ .' Man n won AMA Grand '1ff!l" .:;§:. Nationals at Hindsd ale, , Illinois, an d Pe oria, Illi- J:. n o is, w hi ch was m ore .._,".... than enough reas on for us to re ward h im with a cover p ho to ...Cycle News became inco rpora ted in the state of Californi a, and moved their offices to a new, b igger building in Signal Hill, California. The old office wa s even tu ally torn down to make room for th e A rtesia Freeway...Ralph Barger, jr., presedent of the Hell's Ange ls, wrote a letter inviting Dr. Nich oli to "ride with the He ll's Angels for a w hile and see if h e still believes that mo torcycle riders are ina dequa te as me n." Nicholi was a Harvard Psychiatriast who had said that motorcycle riders were week and im potent, with a poor self image and a deep-seated fear of wo men ...Gary Bailey wo n the 250cc Senio r class at the Bay Mare MX in I Thousand Oaks, California, and finished third in the 500cc Senior division despite starting w ith a one-lap hand icap. Tom my Rockwood made a last-la p pass on M el Larcher to w in the Asc ot d ir t track...Wiseco ad verti sed cylinder bor ing for $B.oo...Tom Pot eet took his thirdconsecutive win 250cc Expert win at the Invaders' Hare & Hound ...Tom Brooks won the l00cc Novice d ivision, with Mitch Ma yes finishing second. 15YEARS AGO... August 22, 1979 e tested the KTM MC -80, and ran a cove r photo of Boo Stichte r ju m p in g th e 420cc monster ...Mike Bell earned the 500cc w in at the Bin ghamt on, New York, National MX, while Mark Barn ell topped the 125cc d ivision ...We r an a two-page p hoto gallery from the collection of p hotog raphe r Dan Mahon y, inclu ding a ve ry n ice shot of Kenny W Rob ert s passing Rex Beauchamp on the last lap of the 1973 Colorad o Springs, Colorado, Mile...A p rofile was run on a lo n g- h a ir ed Dave Arnold, tuner fo r Marty Sm ith and winner of the 1977 50 K Too ls Go lden Ratchet Award ...Boet van Dulman dominated the Finnish 500cc Road Race GP...A technical article highlighted th e "125cc Nat ional bikes tha t ca n't b e bought, " inclu ding th e Brian Lunniss-tuned Honda RC125 of Warren Reid...Another technica l p iece exposed the trick thumpers of the CMC Four-Stroke National MX C ham pi ons hi p.:"Not so steady " Edd ie Lawson was photographed crash ing d uring the 250cc GP race in Riverside, Californi a. 5YEARS A O G ... August 16, 1 9 98 OUg Chand ler and John Kocinski sha red the cov er, Chand ler fo r comple ting a gr and sla m a t the Mid -Ohio Superbike race in Lexingto n, Ohio. Chandler had previously earned D wins in mile, half-mile, short track and TT competitions. Kocinski won the 250cc category at the same venue ...Sco ll Parker ran away from the competition a t the Albuquerque, New Mexico , Mil e. Ch r is Carr fi nis h e d seco n d, d espite break ing h is swingarm in h is h eat race...Dan Smit h scored the overall win at the Wells- to-Jackpot National Hare & Hound . Mo un ted on a Suzuki RM250, Danny Hamel mov ed u p fro m a mid pack start to take the lead, bu t a broken rea r brake and clu tch relega ted him to seco n d overal l.. .Belgian Step hane Mertens an d Italian Giancarlo Falappa each won a leg at the French round of th e World Champ ionsh ip Superb ike Series ...Ho nda unveiled their 1990 lineup of CRs, which featured white frames and a brighter red co lor. Jean- Mich el Bayle moved closer to the 250cc MX World Championship with a d oublemo to win at the West German MX GP.L I "'

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