Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·.VO E ·.:" :· IC S· · America'sweekly motorcyclenewspaper .Lettersto theeditor: ' Volume XXXI ent Sharon Clayton, Presid Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate'Editor Donn Maeda, Assoc Editor iate Chris [onn um, Associate Edi or t Scott Rousseau, Assistant Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, Production Manager Dennis Greene, LAb. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Administration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Secretary to thePubl sher i Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager MarkThome, Western Sales Manager ThomasGanter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western SalesManager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Manager RhondaCrawford, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad'Coordinator Want Ads Laurie Snow, WantAd Sales Marketing &< Promotion MarkThome, Manager Dealer Sales Kelly Branscome, De Sales Representative aler AccountingfData Processing Donna Bryan,Diamond,AIR Coordinator GenevaRepass, Assisfant Herlane Lewis , Credit Circulation RhebaSmith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator KimMazenko Data EntryCoordinator , Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, HeadquartersRecep tionist LeonardHerring, Service andSupport National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., LongBeach, CA90806 , P.O. Box 498, LongBeach, CA 90801-04 98 (310)427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAJ« 310)427-6685 Eastern Office 4188 FirstAve., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (404) 9347850. FAJ< (404) 934-3112 Vote! There is a competition even t coming up next month (November 8) that may not be listed in the Cycle Neun Cale ndar of Events. It is one event that all of us who ride should not miss. It is Election Day. I rode in the desert, my kids rode there, my grandson learned to rid e there and most importantly my son Dylan (aka the dirt-bike kid), who will be thr ee in [anu. ary, says he wants to ride there. Motorcycling is a family sp ort , moms and pops, boys and girls. Teaching kids to ride is a very rewarding experience both for student and teacher. Rid ing motorcycles is real, just like life - it isn't a video game. My daughter rode on my gas tank aro un d Lucerne Valley before she could ride a bicycle. She later broke Jive speed records at Bonneville and rode a RZ350 to college while getting her Masters Degree. There are indiv iduals running for office who would stop you and your son from riding in the desert. We need to vote on November 8 to protect our use of these recreational areas for our families. P.S. If you live in Lake Forest, California, I could use your vote on November 8. OeWayne Stark Lake Forest, CA Stark is runn ing for Councilman in the city of LakeForest, Califarnia...Editor. Fitting the crime Has anyone at the AMA ever heard the expression, "Let the punishment fit the crime"? Apparently not. After recently watching the AMA Superbike Championship decided b y the n arrowest of margins at Road Atlanta, it's very hard not to think back on the ver y harsh and unfair penalty given to Jamie James at Road America earlier this year - for supposedly passing under a yellow flag. Yes, in having the benefit of viewing . a slow-mo tion repla y it did appear that James made a pass under a yellow, but it was a difficult situation for him or any other rider to negotiate. More importantl y, however, is the fact that this pas s gav e James no advantage and did n ot . affect the outcome of the race (you 'll Congratulations to Troy Corser and FBF Du cati. Gr eat job on winning the title with a new bike, new team and on unfamiliar tracks. Especially with the AMA throwing a curveball - mid season - by upping the weight requiremen t. It's nice to see Ducati winning races after all the bashing (by fans and press) a few years ago when the y were in the sa me situation Harley is in now with the VR1000. Since Daytona I've been rooting for Corser. I, for one, enjoyed the opportunity to watch such a talented racer. This my ha ve be en the only year we 'll see him race in the U.S. as he may be headed to World Superbike next year. After reading the Road Atlanta race report in Cycle News, I find myself a bit annoyed by the lack of sportsmanship and the team tactics being used. On the rac e track it should be ev ery man (or woman) for themselves - never mind this B.S. of dropping ba ck to help this one or hinder that one. Granted it wasn't the absurdity of the '94 World Motocross Curser is indeed going to the World Superbike Series in 1995, bllt he says he'll try to make as many AMA races as he can, including the Daytona 200 and possibly Loudon...Editor. . Great Scott! Congratulations on Michael Scott's superb "In the Paddock" column in the October 12 issue. His account of the maiming injury now seemingly required for performance at the championship level in 500cc GP racing was moving, and thought-provoking. Yes, we should pity as well as admire these remarkable individuals. But let's not pity them for their "self-destructive" behavior, but rather for being victims of the FlM and its commercial beneficiaries who continue to maintain the 500cc GP class as the prestigious road racing arena - the ultimate proving ground for the world's best road racers. These bikes are now semi-ridable monsters, and a way should be found to eliminate them. I a tten d ed the recent Grand Prix of Europe and frankly found the 50Ds to be the anticlimax of the day. The 125s provided very close, very fast racing, same for the 250s which are thrillingly fast. But the 500 field was small and strung out and provided me no more visceral sense of incredible performance than the 2505. Rather less, actually . The 500s are dinosaurs, as Michael Scott and others have suggested, .an d they are trampling the best racers alive. Bruce Finlayson Madison, WI Lrtten 10 the Nitor should be w nl lo vetcee, Cycle New .. P.O. Box 498, Long Buch, CA 90806..()498 or bnd 10 3101427-668 Pub lish ed Idlei'll do not nec nurily rrflrct 5. the position of Cycle News, Inc. Lette rs Ilhould not exceed 200 wo rds .and ,1l1letttrs are lIub j t d to editing. Ano nymo us letters will not be constdered fo r pubUc.ation. All letttn should conuln the writer'. name, .addrnl and d<1lytime p hone number '" Editor. Issue #~2, OCtober 26,1 994 = W~A ~W dlffnoN And another view finale, however calling Sadowski a spoiler? C'mon, he's ou t there to race also. I'm not trying to take anything away from Jamie James. He rode a nice consistent season and was a gentleman to the end. So let' s stop "o nly iffing" this season and give a big round of applause to Corser, James and the rest of the riders who put on a great series. . Cortney Oliver So. Wellfleet, MA INSIDE ' .'. .•. . Cycle News (USPS 141·340) is published weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for $50 .00per year by CycleNews, Inc, 01ary Avenue. Long Beach. CA90806. Second class postage paid at tong Be CA. Canada Post ach, International Publications Mailj546615. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cycle New" P.O. Box 498, Long Bu ch, CA 90801-6498. To determine the explntion da~ of your lubsaiption,. check the four nu mbers on the first line of your addrns whel. The fint tw o digits Indieate the last iss ue numberlou'lJ receive and the wt two clu.radrn indicate the ye<1lr 0 the Ust luue. Subscri ption rates: Rates for the United States and its p0ssessions for one year, (SO issues), SS (lOO; two years (100 issues), 595 ; six months, (25 issues). 526 trial sub (15issues), .00 .00; 519 Canada and Foreign one year (SO issues), $90.00; two .00. , years (100 issues), 5175.00; ,ix months (25 issues). $45.00; tria1 sub (15issues). $38.00. Cyd e Newswelcomesunsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoons, photos, etc.Such material, if published, becom the exclusive propertyof Cycle News. Such accepted es material is subject to revision as is necessary in the sole discretion of Cycle News. Unsolicited materialwhich is not used will bereturned it accompanied by <11 self addressed sta mped envelope. Allunsolicited materialwin behandled wi th reasonablecare, however, Cyc News assumes no responsibility le for the safety, less or damage to such material Reprinting in whole or partonly by permissionof the publisher. Adverti>ing rates and drtulation informa tion will be sent upon request See S.R.DS. recall th at Jame s w as repassed approaching the fini sh). If James had passed several riders under the yellow and improved his position in the final s ta n d ings then he shou ld have been penalized accord ingly. But to decide the stan dings ofthe Road Am erica race, and the Superb ike National Championship, on s u ch a m inor and questionable in fraction is ridiculous and a shame. This is clearl y a case w here the sp irit of the rule should have been applied, taking into account the circumstances and the effect of the alleged vio lation on the outcome. Had this been done, James would be the rightful champion. The AMA always seems to be talking about how they want to do this and that for the fans. Well, the fans want to see fair rulings. I'll guarantee you that if you asked all the fans abou t the AMA's ruling at Road America, they great ma jority would say that James got screwed. I'm not saying this because James is immensely popular, I'm saying this because it's right. And the AMA is wrong. Their horrendous decision has tainted this year's championship and deprived a classy, deserving racer of the title. Randy Renne r Ch icago, IL "fEATURES DIR TRACK T Parker's Del Mar Mile OFF·ROAD Leiven takes at Flat River GP 8 ROAD RACE Biaggi caps title at Euro GP 10 INTERVIEW Marcus Hansson 16 TESTS 1994 Suzuki RMX250 1994 Gas Gas JT25 HARE SCRAMBLE Davis, Smith take Silver City Nat'l ...36 HILlCUMB Dent , Wilkins win Devil's Staircase Nat'L 38 DEPARTMENTS 18 30 20 QN THE FRONT COVER LEADERBOARD EVENTS SHOW All new at Cologne 34 .39 RESULTS _ CALENDAR Prin ted in U.S.A. RACER TESTS World Superbike weaponry COfyrighl" Cycle Ne~ 10<.1994. Tr;adeowk CvcI. N.... reglllered U.s. Paleot Olli« . AU righb reserved: MOTOCROSS Brown wins Dirt Shirts Fall Classic ...29 26 40 t.: WANT ADS _ _.._ _ 49 .50 54 INTHE PADDOCK 67 LOOKINGBACK 67 Scott Parker accomplished at the seasonending Del Mar Mile what no other dirt track m o to rcycl e racer ever has: a record-breaking fifth AMA Grand Na tional Dirt Track C h a mp ionsh ip . Photo by Dennis Gree ne. Inset Photo: In addition to earning the number-one plate, Parker also celebrated his 60th career National win with Kevin Atherto n (left) and Rodney Fa rris (righ t) . Photo by Donn Maeda. .

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