Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICES Letters tothe ednor America's weekly motorrycle newspaper Rid ers, pay attention Maely mail In resp onse to Ken M ae ly's letter regarding the "construction boots" that Cycl e News Associate Editor Donn Maeda d iscu ssed in his interview w ith Will Davis, Mr. Mael y needs to be reminded of a few points himself. As a regular contributor to C ycle News and an aspiring journalist, I often find myself at a loss for descriptions of certain objects and the refore have to use a m o re " ge neric" ter m to describe the o bject. I'm sure that Mr. Maeda meant no offense to your trade and that he was simp ly tryi ng to state that your boots looked like const ruction boo ts. A q uestion that [ hav e to as k is h o w m a n y casu al di rt track fans could tell the differe nce between a Ken Maely boot and a co ns tr uc tio n boot a t a d istance o r in a sma ll pho tograp h? In yo ur letter you state tha t you r boots a re made of lea the r where m ot ocro s s b oo ts are made of p las tic. W hat yo u should ha ve said is that MX boots are made with a combination of plastic and leather. The las t pair of all-plastic MX boo ts that were popular with the public are the now infamous Scott boots of the early 1980s. While the first MX boots were evolved from ski boots, MX boots ha ve come a long way from those early days. Modem motocross boots provide suppo rt to a rider's foot yet allow a wide range of feel and movem en t. The last point tha t I woul d like to make is about yo u r co m ment that Mr. M a ed a is a "Joh nny C om e Lately. " While I am sure tha t no one would argue with yo u tha t yo u have mo re experience than Mr. Maeda in the di rt track sce ne, wha t yo u need to und erstand is that as a journa lis t it is h is job to as k questio ns about the spo rt and the riders: How ever, I w ould not consider him to be a "Joh nny Com e Lately" as he ha s covered the majori ty of the Grand National Ch am p ions hip Series for the pa st four sea sons. It is not my intent to offend anyone w ith this letter, jus t to point out so me of the facts that Mr. Maely ma y ha ve overlooked. H opefull y, coole r heads will prevail next time. Mike Arnold Jr. Aztec, NM I'm a local " mo tocross mom" a t a m idw estern race track, an d th is yea r I' m also a volunteer for the track even ts. We have a clu b w hich provides a place for local riders to practice and rid e da ily for a sm a ll membership fee, and we al so sponsor races about once a month. We ha ve an all-new crew runn ing motocross events this yea r, and our first event on April 8 wa s not exactly flawless; a surprising 91 riders entered . We tried hard to do the best job we could and h o p e fu ll y we lea rned some th ing fro m our mistakes. The next time yo u participa te in or view an even t, please think before you argue with o r abuse a track worker. Think tw ice before yo u co mplain. Are yo u doing yo ur part to promote moto rcycle racing too? Remember, w it hou t the workers there would n't be a race. Jeanne F. Garlach Wichita, KS Damon, stay hom e I felt com pelled to write and voice my regrets that Mr. Pe rsonality, Da mon Bradshaw is returning to racing. He is a blemish on the face of motocro ss and on an obviously desperate Team Yamaha. His a ttitude stinks. As soon as he starts getting his doors blown off again by the likes of McGrath and Lakocco, and he realizes that he can't wi n every time, he won't play anymore and he'll go home and po ut again like last time . The only th ing I like a bo u t him is th at he rid es way over his head a lot of th e time. I res pect that. If you' re re adin g th is Da mon, you d on't need to respond. Let me g u ess, paybacks in the main rig ht? Louis Greer Upland,CA Godspeed, Bill Longtim e m otorcycl e e n th us ia st and promoter W illi am R. Stri ckland , 73, pa ssedawa y Fr iday , April 7, in hi s hom e after a lon g bout with cancer. Bill was the president and founding m emb e r o f the W estern N ew Yo rk End uro Riders Association and a longtim e member of the AMA. Bill was a rare individ ual who was abl e to give to our sport as much as he go t ou t of it. He encourage d man y yo ung peop le to parti cip at e in off-road motorc ycling for both sp ort and enjoyment. He kept riding m otorcycles in to his 70s, and when his hea lth kept h im fr om rid ing, he w as still seen in the woods on his four-wheeler. Besides dedicating himself to Distri ct 4 events , he belonged to the Carpenters Union Local 374 and was a veteran of WWIl. He will be missed by ma ny . Happy trails, Bill. Daniel Nicoloff Orchard Park, NY Good guys Recently while atte ndi ng th e Hous to n Sup e rc ross, b o th m y tr u c k a n d m y motorcycle w ere stolen fro m the hot el parking lot. The Houston Police Dep artment did a grea t job and recovered the m ot orcycl e w ith hel p o f many of m y . fr iends even thoug h it was too badly damaged to be repaire d a nd ridden in the short time that I had available prior to the race. I would like to give a special thanks to all who helped me put the moto rcycle tog ether in time. So many people came together to assist me. I cannot thank all of you enough. A special thank you to FMF, Tucker Rocky IMSR Gear, Noleen, Dunlop , the peop le at Br idges tone, Damon Huffman, Ch u ck Wheeler and many others who offered their assistance . I was so impressed w ith the responsiveness, respect and desire to assist tha t I recei ved fro m th e p rofessionals in this sport. Larry Linkogle Temecula, CA 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 conta in the writer's name, address and daytime phone number .. . Editor. . V o lu m e XXXII Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, AssociateEditor Donn Maeda, Associatf Editor Scott Rousseau, Associatf Editor Mark Hoyer, MJznaging Editor Advertising Terry Pratt, National Acco/ t. MJznager m Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Mark Thome, WesternSales MJznoger Thomas Genter, Westfrn Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales MJznagrr Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales MJznager Rick Matheny, East frn Sales Mana ger Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Laurie Snow, Sales Assistant Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, MJznager New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Manager Classified Ads Christine Serrano Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, Production MJznager Dennis Greene, Lab. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Administration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera. Sterrtary to tM Publisher AccountinglData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond. AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass. Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credi; Circulation Rheba Smith. Manager Alma Anguiano, Procrssing Coordinator Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator Carol Be ovic, Dealer Coordinator g Service and Support Leonard Herring, Servia and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801.Q498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310)427-6685 Eastern Office 4188First Ave., Tucker,GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 80S, Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. FAX (404) 934-3112 Cycle News (vsrs 14H IO is published wtelly excepe the ) last two weeks of the calendar year for S5O.oo per year by Cycle News. Inc, 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach.CA 9OlIV6. Second class postage paid al long Be ach. CA and at addi tional mailing office Canada Post Intt.'1"l\ational Publications Mail 616615. .IN#18,May 10,1995 S E ID Issue POSTMASTEIC S r

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