Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICES Letters to theeditor America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volum e XXXII Sharon Gayto n, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Associate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor Scott Rou sseau , Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor Robene Boggs, Proofreader Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accol/nts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Mark Thome, Western Sales Manager Thomas Gonter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager, Rick Matheny. Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, WesternAd Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Laurie Snow, Assistallt Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Manager New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Mana ger Classified Ads Christine Serrano Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, Production Mana ger Dennis Greene, Lab. Tech. Stacey Guest. Graphic Artist Amy Faught. Graphic Artist Ad ministration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Peggy Rivera , Secretary III the Publisher AccounlinglDala Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repas s, Assistant Her lane Lewis, Credit Circulation Rheba Smith, Manager Alma Anguiano, Processing Coor dinator Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator Carol Bcgovic, Dealer Coordinator Service and Support Bridgett Bobrofsky, Rec eptionist Leonard Herring, Service and Support National Headquarters 2201 Cherry Ave., LongBeach, CA 90806. P.O. Box 498. Long Beach, CA 90801-0498 (310) 427 -7433; (213) 636-8844. FAJ« 310) 427-&685 A fan 's point of view After severa l years of invo lve me n t in motocro ss, I finally took my family to a pro supercross. My wife, ou r two sons, m y brot her and I ma d e the eig h t-ho ur dri ve to Ch arlolle. I left wit h seve ral distinct impression s: Th is was by far the-least professional ly run pro motorspor t event I have eve r attend ed. Fan log istics were te rri b ly planned. Concession prices we re out rageo us . Secu rity worke rs were rude a t best . The p u b lic add res s sy s te m le ft mu ch to be desi red, as did the quali ty of the anno uncing. The list could go on. Having said that , I m ust also say it was the most exci ting pro mot osp ort event I have eve r at tended , My conclusio n the n is that the pro moters and the AMA have d one an incred ibly poor job of promoting supercross. The racing is fan tastic, but almost every other aspect of the event , we ll, stinks . Fans show up by the tens of thou san ds, only to find pit access severely restricted, prices beyo nd belief, rude eve nt staff and little in the way of fan app reciation. It's n ow clear to me why o u ts id e spo nso rsh ip has been so slow in coming to supe rcross . Until ou r sports' promoters join the '90s level of pr ofessionalism as see n in NASCAR and NHRA eve nts, this sport has a limited future . Now , to av oid being labeled a whiner , here a re ju st a few of m y ideas to improve superc ros s. On e, ligh ten u p, riders. Open the pro p its to all tick et ho lder s. Ou tside sponsor s look a t th is direct access in other rno torsports as an added bonus. Some riders need to lose the prima-donna attitude; stop hiding and rela te to the fans . Two , pa y the riders beller. Pay more money all the wa y down to non-qualifiers in th e n ight show. Thi s can only help th e s p o r t grow. Three, get more info to the fans during the event. Mos t ar e hungr y for gossip, facts, behind the scenes info, etc. Too much tim e was spent tryin g to ignite the crowd. (I wish I had a buck for each time I he ard "Lets hear it Charlotte"). Four, in general, elim ina te the obvious greed shown by the promoter. Th ree dollar hot dogs offend a, budget- Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805. Tucker, GA30085-0805. (404) 934-7850. FAJ< (404) 934-3112 mi nded famil y. The ope ning ceremony wa s a joke. Progressive cha nges like these, when co mbi ned wi th ag gress ive promo ting , will surely cause ou tsi de s po nsors to give supercross ano ther look. trials co ve rage, a lthough I don 't co mpete myself. As I'v e read the se p ieces, I've often won der ed - "Where 's Bernie?" Terry Rezek Lancaster, CA trezek@gargamel .ptw.com John Hooper Edgewood, MD A ll ollr on-line domaills are currently IIllder construction. As for Schreiber, we'll put it in the fu ture-feature-ideas basket...Editor. Atta-Boy I recen tly deci ded to rid e the AHRMA National Flat Tra ck and Regiona l TT at Wi llow Springs. I rod e severa l classes and wou ld like to take the time to tha nk both Gary Davis and Eddie Mulder for the most ou tstand ing event tha t I have ridden in yea rs. Having been on many race tracks over the years, I can say that the track at Willow Sprin gs wa s we ll pre pa red bo th nights and the eve nts were run withou t delay s and in a very professional mann er. In m y op inion Ga ry a nd Edd ie deserv e a tremendous"Alia-Boy" for a job well done . It's fun to see racers come off the track, take off their hel mets and have a big sm ile on their faces. AHRMA o ug h t to loo k at what they 've done, because it was a fun event to ride. I hope tha t they at least make it an annual event. It was great. . Tom Horton Lancaster, Californ ia Cyb erspace Welcome to the Age of Electronic Com munica ti on . I just sa w yo u r Internet e-mail address in the "In the Wind" section (Issue #18, May 10). I sure wish we had all this cap ability back when I was doing desert freela nce reporting for Cycl e N ew s. I also noticed the .co m d om ain - are you running yo u r ow n serv er, and can we expec t to see a Cycle News home page on the World Wide Web soon? And now for something completely different - when you consideryour nex t n ostal gia piece , th in k abo u t Bernie Sch reiber. I saw hi m as a yo ungster in the seventies at a "Trials Demo Day" at a ran ch near Aqua Dulce and later followed him in your pages when he took _ on the world. I've enjoyed your recen t Quality Now th at yo u guys a re o n e- ma il, I thought I'd drop yo u a not e. I think the qu alit y of yo u r p ap er h a s g re at ly imp roved in the las t tw o yea rs or so . You r coverage is timely, thoroug h and in teres ting. I am p rimaril y interes ted in roa d raci ng a nd you r q u alifyi ng an d ge neral in terest sid ebars in this area are grea tly ap preciated . -TLum p ao!'com The butch er In regard s to Mike Arnold's respon se to Mr. Ken Maely's lette r (Voices; Issue #18, Ma y 10), I am reminded of an old saying that I wi ll butcher: Those who can , d o. Those who can ' t. wr ite abo ut it. And th ose who can 't w ri te tea ch journali sm . In a ll se rio usn ess , if Ken Ma e iy d idn't invent the steel shoe, he per fected it. He may not have invente d dirt track, but I' ll bet he ha s sp linte rs in his rear from the board tracks. I kn ow he d idn't inv en t dirt, but I'll bet God called him for the specifications . Thanks for the shoes, Ken. Kit Farley Form er National #86 Park Cit y, UT Wilat's th e old say ing about fo rmer racers? ..Editor. l e tt e rs to the edi tor shou ld b e se n t to Vo ice s, Cycle News, r.o. Box 498, l on g Beach, CA 90806-0498 or bud 10 310/427-6685. Pub lish ed letters d o not necessa rily refle ct the pos ition of Cycle News, Inc. Letters sho u ld nol excee d 200 word s and all letters are sub ject to editi ng . Ano ny mo us lett ers w ill not be co nsi de red for publication. All lett ers sho ul d con ta in the writ er's nam e, ad d ress a nd d ayt im e p ho ne nu m be r ... Edi to r. INSIDE Issue #19, May 17, 1995 e-mail editor@cyclenews.com subscribe@cyclenews.com advertising@cyclenews.com Cycle News (USPS141-340) is published weekly except the last two we of the calendar year for $50.00per year by eks Cycle News. tnc.•2201 Cherry Avenue. Long Bea CA 90806 ch. . . Second class postage paid at long Beach CA and at additional mailing office. Canada Post Intema tional Publications Mail '546615, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cycle News, P.O. Box 498.Long Buch, CA 90801-0498. To determi ne the expi ration d.lte of yo u r s ubscri pt ion, chec k the four num be rs on the firslli ne of your .lddrns label , The fi rst two di gi ts Indlca te th e l.lost issue n umber you'll rece ive an d the las t two chilrilcters ind icat e th e yr ilr of the l.sI issue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United States and its posse s sions for o ne year. (SO iss ues), $50.00; tw o yea rs (100 iss Ul'5). $95.00; six months, (25 iSSUlOS 526.00 trial sub (15 iSSUl'S ), ), ; $19.00. Canada and Pcreiga, one year (50 Issues), $9(l.OO; two .00; years 000 issues), $175 six months (25 issues), $015.00; trial sub 05 issues], $38.00. CycleNews welcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoons, photos, etc. Such material. if published, becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprinting in whole or part only by permission of the publisher. Advertising rates and c irculation information will be sent upon reques t, SeeS.R.OS. W/BPA V 1fTUNo_ AUDITEO CIRCULATION Printed in U.S.A. Co~yrigh~ CycleNews, Inc. 1995. Tradem..rk Cycle News registered U.S. p..lenl Office. All rightsreserved, FEATURES MOTOCROSS . Kiedrowski, Hughes tum 'e m green at Hangtown National.. 6 Chiodi chops 'em down at Argentinian 125cc GP 38 ROAD RACING Puig's first at Spanish GP Fogarty starts fasl at Hockenheim WCS Mertens, Mattioli manhandle Assen Endurance .32 CROSS COUNTRY Brownsville GNCC to Plessinger ....34 10 VINTAGE Willow Springs returns to yes teryear 18 DEPARTMENTS 24 LEADERBOARD DIRT TRACK Parke r serves one up at Harrington Nat 'IHM 20 TRIALS Kempkes gets win at San Diego Na t'l Cobos mu y bien at El Trial de Espa na " ENDURO Davi s win s again at Crosby ton ISDE Qualifier .36 , , 19 EVENTS ;40 50 ON THE FRONT COVER RESULTS .56 WANT ADS .56 Tea m Kawasaki's Mike Kiedrow ski bagged the overall' win d uring round two of the AMA 125/250cc National MX Series at the Prairie City OHV Par k in Sacramento, California. See page 6 for the full report. Pho to by Kinney Jones . CALENDAR. 26 TEARDOWN 28 LOOKING BACK "." _ , 71 71

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