VOICES
America's weekly motorcycle ne.wspaper
letters to the editor
Volume XXXII
Sharon Gayton, President
Michael Klinger, Publisiler
Editorial
Paul Carruthers, Editor
Kit Palmer, Associate Editor
Donn Maeda, Associate Editor
Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor
Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor
Keith Bush. CollY Editor
Advertising
Terry Pratt, National Accounts 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, Western Ad Coordinator
Carla Allen. Eastern Ad Coordinator
Laurie Snow, Assistant
Marketing & Promotion
Mark Thome, Manager
New Media Development
Mark Mitchen, Director
Rick Matheny, Operations
Oassified Ads
Sharon Van Hazelen
Graphics and Production
Ree Johnson. Production Supervisor
Mandy Loo, Production Manager
Dennis Greene, Lab. Ted•.
Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist
Amy Faught, Graphic Artist
Administration
Judy Klinger, Coordinator
Peggy Rivera, Secretary to tile Publisiler
AcrountinglData Processing
Donna Bryan-Diamond, NR Coordinator
Geneva Repass, Assistant
Her!ane Lewis, Credit
Circulation
Rheba Smith, Manager
Alma AnguIano, Processing Coordinator
Pam Klein, Billing Coordinator
Carol Begovic, Dealer Coordinator
Service and Support
Bridgett Bobrofsky, Receptionist
Leonard Herring, Service and Support
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Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorial material including
stories, cartoons, photos, etc, Such material, if published,
becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprinting in
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ing rales and circuliltion in(onnation will be sent upon
requ.... See S.R.O.5.
WftPA
~~TION
The Partridge family
A few months back our son, Jason
Partridge, was critically injured in a
motorcycle accident whiJe practicing
for one of his last few events on the
amateur circuit. Cards and letters continue to arrive daiJy with well wishes
and questions about Jason's condition.
We would like to take the time to
answer those questions.
Jason has returned home and continues to improve daily. He has
recently been released to begin driving, and also some lightweight training. He hopes to be fit enough to
return to racing late next year. Meanwhile, he has begun training his
younger brother who was recently
signed to an 80cc mini contract with
Suzuki. Jason will also return to
school very soon.
To those who wrote and called thank you! All your prayers and ours
are being answered by Jason's
improving condition. A special thanks
to Jim and ilene Martin, who constantly gave their support, and to Pat
Alexander who remained by Jason's
side after the accident and continues
to stand by him now.
.
Mr. and Mrs. Partridge
Las Vegas, NY
NoCCS
I am writing you this letter in total
amazement of your lack of coverage
of the CCS road race championships
at Daytona. I can't believe no article
was written, much less the results of
the finishes - with the exception of one
small paragraph about Jamie Hacking,
who deserved that and much more for
his rides there.
This is supposed to be the Race of
Champions with riders from all different regions of the country. These guys
are the future of road racing in this
country and deserve to get some
recognition for themselves and their
sponsors to keep the sport alive and
healthy. I realize you are on a limited
budget for your coverage, but I
thought these CCS guy deserved at
least a little more recognition for how
hard they rode !Ill year.
If we ever want to see the day
again where American riders are the
best in the' world in road racing, I
believe that publications like Cycle
News must do their part to try and
help promote our up-and-coming racers and their sponsors to keep the
sport alive and healthy in America -
Co~yriglt~Cyde News. Inc. 1995. Tradmwk Cyde New.
Wal-Mart knows
My wife and I went shopping at WalMart to pick up some everyday items,
and as I was strolling through the toy
department I noticed some Team
Honda replica motocross bikes. They
caught my eye instantly - they have
McGrath's, Henry's and Lamson's
bikes. As I was checking them out, I
noticed that on the back of the box
they had the 1996 Supercross schedule. When I brought the toy home, I
saw that Minneapolis was cheduled
for January 20 so I called Ticketmaster
and found out that it was true.
I purchased 50-yard line seats in
the middle of row one. No one else
had even published the schedule, yet I
found it on the back of a toy at WalMart.
David Callahan
Clarks Grove, MN
What's up, Denny?
I just returned from the Arenacross in
Des Moines, Iowa. I had considered
taking my four-year-old for his first
taste of professional racing. Boy, am I
glad I didn't. Mr. Denny Stephenson's
victory dialogue after winning the
125cc class was breathtaking.
I fail to understand why I and
about 4000 other fans should take a
night out, travel to the race, and
spend our money on tickets, to have
this kid tell us to "Kiss my &%$."
Denny, you are miscalculating this
Bob Hannah, Damon Bradshaw
tough-guy thing. You're supposed to
use that trash on your competitors,
not the people who ultimately pay for
your fun by buying tickets and sponsor products. I fail to understand
your attitude - you won the race. You
were the one who got by with slamdancing your way into first place
after casing it on a triple. Then you
come up with this. I fail to understand why I should spend a dime of
my money on your sponsors' products considering your lack of manners
and professionalism.
Mike Green
Cedar Rapids, IA
Stephenson's actual quote was: "You
guys saw one hell of a race, and if you
didn't like that race you can kiss my ass."
For complete coverage of the race, ~e page
18... Editor.
INSIDE·
fssue #48. December &, 1995
FEATURES
DEPARTMENTS
TESTS
European Yamaha TRX850
1996 Kawasaki KX250
6
16
INTERVIEW
Road Racer Keith Pinkstaff
10
DUAL SPORT
Los Angeles to Barstow to Vegas ....12
Printed in U.S.A.
rogJS_d U.S. Patent Office. All rights reserved.
or we'll be sucking up foreigners'
exhausts in the World Championships
for a long time.
James Farrell
Oshkosh, WI
ARENACROSS
Super Arenacross Series, round 2.....18
EVENTS :
LEADERBOARD
CALENDAR.
WANT ADS
DNF
LOOKING BACK
10
27
28
31
47
.47
ON THE FRONT COVER
Personal watercraft National Champion
Victor Sheldon puts the 1996 Kawasaki
KX250 through its paces. See page 16.
Photo by Kinney Jones.
Kidd fan
I decided to send you a quick note
regarding the pleasant experience we
recently had at the Des Moines, Iowa,
round of the Mike Kidd Arenacross
Series. Throughout the last 20 years of
motocross racing, I think we have all
seen a change in race promotion. In
the beginning, promoters were happy
to have you enjoy their facility and
actually thought of you as a customer,
trying to focus on making their track a
good place to be. Now it seems that
they focus on how much profit can be
made, and how quickly they can get
.their day over with. I'm not saying
that every track fits this" trend, but it
seems to be growing.
From the top (Mike Kidd) of this
program to the to check-in / sign-up
people, security event oHidals,
flag/ track workers and the announcers, this was an organized, first-class
operation. The people we paid our
money to were happy to have us take
part in their presentation and they
made us feel welcome at all times even though they had put in 100ig
hours with very little rest.
Hats off to Mike Kidd Promotions.
Keep up the good work.
Scott Cripps
Hutchinson, MN
Really Summers?
Thank you for your coverage of the
final round of the AMA National
Hare Scramble Series in Kent, Washington ..The photographs of Scott
Summers are particularly interesting
to me. My pictures show Summers
leaving the starting line with a number four on his bike and a Camelbak
on his back, but you show him with a
number one and no Camelbak.
Could it be that Summers is so fast
tha t he can stop to rna ke these
changes and still have no one catch
him?
Tod Petersen
Burien, WA
The photos we used for the Kent round of
the series were actually file photos. That's
why they're differertt from yours.:. Editor.
Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices,
Cycle
ews, P.O. Box 498, long Beach, CA
90806-0498, faxed to 3101427·6685 or e-mail, edi·
tor@cydenews.com. 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 wiU not be considered for pu.blication.
All letters should contain the writer's name,
address and daytime phone number ... Editor.
