Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·V IC S OE letters to the edijor America'sweekly motorcyclenewspaper Volume XXXII Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Chris [onnum, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Assistant Editor Mark Hoyer, Copy Editor Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Pr oduction Supervisor Mandy 1..00, Production Managtr Denn is Greene, LAb. Ttch. Stacey Guest, GraphicArtist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Administration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera, Stcretary to the Publisher Advertising Terry Pratt, NationalAccounts Managtr Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Mana ger MarkThome, Western Sales Manager Thomas Genter, Westtrn Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Ma nager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Managtr Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Manager RhondaCrawford, Western Ad Coordinator . Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Want Ads Laurie Snow, Want Ad Sales Marketing &< Promotion Mark Thome, Managtr Dealer Sales Kelly Branscome, Dealtr Representative AccountinglData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, NR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis Credit , Circulation RhebaSmith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator . Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator Kim Mazenko, Data Entry Coordinator Service and Support Chris Aitcheson, Headquarters Receptionis: Leonard Herring. Service and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, LongBeach, CA 90801-Q498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAJ«310)427~5 Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA,30084; mailingaddress P.O. Box 805 , Tucker,GA 30085-0805. (404)934-7850. FAJ( (404) 934-3112 CycleNews(IJSPS 14I.J4O) is pvblisto.d w«ldy except Ihe last two ...as oIlhe calendar yur for sso.ooper)til' by . CycleNews, Inc.. 22111 01eny Av...... LongBe.dl. CA 9lII06. 5«ood cLass _ge LongBe.dl. CA and.. additional moilingoffice. ConOdo PoollnlemotiClllal Pubtialians Moil 154661S. paid., Dual sport defined I take excep tio n to Terry Flynn's comments about the AMA changing the rules for N a tional Dual Sp ort rides (Voices, Issue #3, January 25). By changing the rules to allow only manufactured dual spo rt mo to rcycles is the correct course that all dual sport rides should follow both at the local and national level. . Mr. Flynn should stick to riding his XR250 in end uros and hare scrambles becau s e tha t's w ha t his bike was designed for. By a llo wi ng o ff- ro a d motorcycles to be converted to meet dual spo rt req uirements isn't fair. I believe the original idea behind the dual sport rid es was to allow real dual spo rt motorcycles to be ridden in an enjoyable compe titive ridewith other dual spo rters. I rid e an old er XT600. I've made a few mods to make it more dirt orien ted, but it is still street legal . I ride my bike on the road , to get to nearb y trails. Does Mr. Flynn ever rid e his XR on the road? Or does he ju st a dd th e essentia ls to make it dual s por t legal fo r eve n ts ? Sounds like cherry picking to me. Hopefu ll y, the AMA and other dua l sp or t organizers will stick to the original idea. The AMA rule changes give me new faith - that they start making some rational decisions, Imagine what might happen in other types of motorcycle competitions that the AMA go vern - I might even start thinking about re-joining the AMA. Tom Frost Me lb ou rne, FL As it turns out, Mr. Flynn was incorrect in his statements regarding rule changes, and he sent a second letter admitting so. Unfortunately, the first letter had already been published. The AMA's mana of amateur ger competition, RogerAnsel, sent us thefollowing response to Flynn's original letter. "The 1994 AMA Congress decided to publish a definition of a dual sport motorcycle in the rule book. This was done to assist organizers who areforced by local authorities to alluw only machines that were originally designed for street-legal use to be used in their activities. A dual sport run is a non-comp eiitioe activity (no speed or timing), that requires both the entrants and their vehicles to be legally licensed for highway use. Generally, it does not require "dual sport" only type motorcycles to be used. Converted off-road competition machines may still be used for dual sport activities provided they are pr0perly licensed for street use. We arebeginning to see competitions designedfor dual sport machines. The dual sport equipment definition will allcrw riders to enter these activities, maintaining the proper equipment, without having to use totally stock motorcycles. In areas that must restrict the use of rrwtorcycles to machines that were originally manufactured as dual sport or dual purpose motorcycles, an organizer may advertise a dual sport equipment class and all entrants will beable to knoui by looking at the AMA road and off-road rules what the equipment specificaiions are."...Editor. Thanks for listening This letter is to address Mr. Willia m T. Conner (Voices, Issue #1, February 1). You we re corr ect when yo u said tha t the a n nou ncer said th a t some th in g was wrong with Mike Lakocco's Kawasa ki in the Orlando Supercross. It was me who mad e the comment fro m the booth. I had bee n wa tching the progr ess of LaRocco and he was on a good pace - no t Jeremy McGrath's pace, but he was going fast. . Something did go wron g with Lakocco's bik e - he slowed at rapid pace and that's not the way laRocco rides. As it tu rned ou t, Mike d id b rea k so me th in g on his bike, so it seems tha t what I said was righ t on . Also , Larry Ward is a good frien d of mine and one of the country's best rid ers and I am well aware of his talents and accomplishments. I'm glad you sent your letter because it means you're listening. Th an ks for. going to the race and I hope you had a great time. Larry Naston Lancaster, CA Naston is the announcerfor the U.S. Supercross Series...Editor. Good Supercross . Our helmets are off to the AMA, Yamaha, Dunlop, ESPN, and of course to all of the factories and riders at the Anaheim Supercross. It was truly the most memorable yet. We especially enjoyed the "Legends of Motocross" and th e Women's Motocross team. It made it fun for the families w ho come out to the races . The onl y suggestion we could offer is something that we saw several years ago but haven't seen since - a Mini race . Camel and Coors were conspicuous ly absent. Although the financial loss may be difficult to make up for, it was a most refreshing change. Could it be responsible for the better attitude of the fans as well? There was not nearly as much smoking, drinking or swearing. Maybe it was coincidental, and we jus t happened to sit among some of the nicer folks. Whatever the reason, it was appreciated. Lastly, we would like to thank Jeremy McGrath for truly making it "Show- time." Even though he didn't plan his bad start, his ride through the pack was spectacular. It ga ve all the fans something to cheer for. David and Kimberly Hopwood San Marc os, CA Bad Supercross I have a couple of qu estions /comments to ma ke after attending the recen t Minneap olis Sup ercross. The firs t one concerns television coverage and air dates. A few weeks ago, on MotoWorld, they listed the air dates - beginning with the February 4 a iring d at e of the Orlando SX with the Minneapolis round to follow a . week later, and so on . Ho wever, at the Minneapolis round, it was announced that the air date would be sometime in April! Is there a finn air date schedule for the U.S. Supercross Series? Who cou ld I contact to ge t this information? I would hat e to miss it when it is broadcast. Secondly, who was the race announcer at the Minneapolis round? While I can understand how eas y it is to make mistakes (with all the lap ping that took place), the announ cer had quite a few riders and finishing positions mixed up. He referred to Doug H enry as Steve Lamson (who was not at the race), and kept referring to Frederic Bolley as Mickael Pichon (who was in the 125cc class). There were other ob vious errors when he announced the finishing positions. Again, while we all make mistakes, and it is not my intent to slam the announcer, I do feel that as a specator and fan, I expect the race announcers to know what they are announcing and to pay attention to what is happening on the race track. By the way, I reall y enjoy reading the "Briefly..." section in the supercross/ motocross reports. James Kimb all Grand Rap ids, MI We werealsogiven a February 4 air datefor the Orlando Supercross and we've been given an air dateof March 2 (1 :00-2:00a.m. Eastern/March 1 10:00-11:00 p.m. Pacific) for the Minneapolis Supertross. At the bottom of our schedule are the words we must all live by: "thesedates'and times are subject to change by ESPN if necessary due to live programming commitments, breaking news, etc." The announcer for the Minneapolis Supercross was Lynn Nickerson...Editor. l.dten to the editor ahould be-unt to Voicn, Cycle News. P.O . Box 498, LOllS Be.eh. CA ,080rHM 98 or tued to 31c:L427-668S. ru.blif,1Md letten do not MCflNrily reflect .... po.i1lon 01 Cycle _ !no. Lottrn ohoWd _ n.. := 2 _1M' Subscription rolos: Rotoslcr IheUnilod5lo... and its _ . sions for cee yur, (SO -~ SSO.OO; "":0 yw> (I~ 1S5U (100issuos). 5175 six months (25 _~~.OO; IrioI .00; sub (IS issuos). S3B.00. 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