Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICES America's weekly motorcyclenewspaper . Letters tothe editor · Volume XXXIII Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial . Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Assoaate Editor Donn Maeda, Associate Editor ScottRousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor KeithBush, Copy Editor Kopping an attitude I Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern AccountsManager Mark Thome, Western SalesManager Thomas Genter, Western SalesManager Forrest Hayashi, Western SalesManager Greg Mitchell, Eastern SalesManager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Laurie Snow, Assis tan t Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Mana ger New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Director Rick Matheny, Operations Classified Ads Sharon Van Hazelen Graphics and Production ReeJohnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loa, Production Manager DennisGreene, Lab. Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Administra tio n Judy Klinger, Coordinator Leanne Sims, Administrative Assistant Accounting/D ata Processin g Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herlane Lewis, Credit Circulati on 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 Natio nal He adq uarters . 2201 Cherry Ave" Long Beach, CA90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801 -0498 (31O) 427-7433; (213)636-8844. FAJ«310} 427~5 Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker,GA, 30084; , mailing address P.O. Box 805 Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (nO) 934-7850. FAX (no) 934-3112 e-mail editor@cyclenews.com subscribe@cyclenews.com advertising@cyclenews.com Internet http:/ / cyclencws.com Cycle News (USPS141-340) is published.weekly except the last two weeks of the calendar year for $50.00 per year bv Cycle News, Inc, 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach, CA'90806. Second class postage paid at Long Beach CA and at addi tion. al mailing office. Canada Post International Publications Mail '546615. A t3 POSTMASTER Send addres s changes to Cycle News, P.O. : Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90801-0498. To determ ine th e expiratio n dat e of your subscription, check the four numbers on the first line of your address labe l. The first two digits indica te th e last issue numbe r yoc' ll reeetve and the last two characters indica te the ye~r of the last issue. e s~ption rates: R.1 t~ for the United States and its possessions for. one year, (SO Issues),$50.00 two years (100issues), ; $95,00; six months, (25 issues), $26.00 trial sub (15issues), ; SI9.oo. Canada and Foreign, one year (SO issues), $90.00; two years (100issues), SI;r;.oo; six months (25 issues), $45.00; trial sub (15issues), $.38.00. Cyc!e News welcomes unsolicited ed itorial material including stone s, cartoons, p~oto~, etc. Such mater ial, if published, becomes the exclusive p ro~rty of Cycle News. Reprinting in ~ hole or part only by pemlL uon of thE' publisher. Advertis.... mg rates and circulation info rmation will be sen t upon request SeeS.R.DS . W/ BP'A V AUDITED N CIRCULATIO Printe d in U.S.A. Co~yright" CycleNews, Inc.1996. Trademark CycleNews registered U.S. Paten t Office . AU rights reserved. Grea t article by Scott Rousseau about Joe Kopp (Iss ue #8, February 28). No surpnse to us her e in th e wilds of the Pacific Northwest. Got a few fac ts wrong, though. Take a look at a map of the u.s. and write in where the Na tiona l numbers co me from . Surprise, we h a v e 15 t h is y ear - and n o Grand Na tional - again. Gee, couldn ' t be because the god of d irt track Scott Parker can' t eve n make th e main at Castle Rock could it? We ma nage to race every weekend . all summer long, and most of the winter, too . There is a very dedicated core of d irt trackers here in the North w es t. The AMA has dismissed us and we' re tire d of it. If there is a revoluti on in dirt tracki ng, I guaran tee we' ll b e a t th e front. There are 33 Na tional numbe rs on the West Coast and onlv four Grand National rounds, all in Ca lifornia. I'm going to bitch eve ry year about this until the AMA does some thing. The whol e p o in t of the Grand National Dirt Track series used to be to crow n the be st all-arou nd dirt track rider. Okay, so road racing spun off on its own, but the series only has one IT now, an d for no reason Har ley-Davidson an d t he AM A nee d to pu sh th e already popular 883 on the bike-bu yin g publi. . Hey, gu ys, it' s a Har ley - they'll c buy It. So w at ch for Joe Kopp to kic k some East Coast butt this year. We'll be rooti ng for him from way over her e but he'll hear us. . ' Karin Lang Olympi a, WA Kopping an attitude" Con cernin g Scott Rousseau' s interview w ith Joe Kopp (lss ue '#8, February 28) in which h e states "H e h a ils from the Northwest, an area not widely reco gnize d as a hot bed of dirt tr ack acti vity." Oh? Th is year, 14 of the na tionally ranked experts in the nat ion are fro m Washingt on and tw o are from Oregon , In 1995, th is figu re for the Northwes t was 20, or 20 percen t of all nationally ra nked rid er s. We can race here every week, all year long, more if we want to go fro m a Sa turday race to a Sunday race. Before the Sidewinders track here in Portland closed in 1986, your California riders drove up here on Friday nig hts to race - Do ug Chand ler, Rick Ho cking, Ted Taylor, etc, . Maybe we don ' t ge t the cove rage tha t some get, but tha t is because places like Castle Rock get p romised a date for a Grand National by the AMA referee in '94 :( tw ice, once a t th e Se ptemb er N atio na l, once by pho ne in December). But then the AMA gave the date to the brother of the head of the n ew outfit that gives out the dates and sanctions. I th ink th e n ame " Pa ra d a ma" is mi sspelled . It should be "Pair 0' Dummies." The y gave the date to Knoxville, Iowa, where they had not ru n a race before. Bu t, Agajanian ge ts four dates for the ye ar, an d the N orthw est ge ts empty p romises. Half the Nationals las t year were within 500 miles of AMA headquarters. ~~ AMA had s~id they were going to divide the races into four catego ries and that there would be 25 percent in each category - m ile, half m ile, short track and IT, There are two tracks th at have run IT races on a National level, Peo ria an d Cas tle Rock. This system was su pposed to get a Nation al Cham pion that was an a ll-a ro u n d racer, bu t mayb e because there are only a few tha t coul d turn right besides the Northwest riders like Carr, Tresser, Bostrom an d a few others the TTs ge t scra tc he d , So ta ke a fe w minutes to research an area before giving bad impressions of it. We aren ' t a bunch of hicks, This area has produced some damn good talent in the past and will continue to do so. Doug Phelps Portla nd OR Scott Rousseau s tands by his asserti on th.at the No rthwest is not widely recognized as a hotbed of dirt track activi ty , wi th "recognized" being the operat ive word here, There is certainly nothing in t~e Kopp story to convey that Washington riders lack talent which we know is considerable, e.g., Stanley, Fay, Fisher. Furth ermore, th e only "bad impressions " being left about the area are more likely to come from these two letters. First off, the amoun t of Natio nal numb ers that come f rom a reg ion hav e littl e to do w i th whether that region is perceived as "hot" or "not," especially considering that the region's closest mile or half mile - both of uihich help to determin e that all-around rider spoken of in both letters - lies in California. How many of those N orthwesternbased National numbers besides Kopp regularly come out and contest Sacramento, Pomona, Del Mar on 750cc equipment? The argument that Castle Rock deserves a N ational is a moot poin t as for as the interview is concerned. And by tire way, Scott Parker seemed to turn right jus t fi ne en route to vi ctory in the 1995 Peoria 600cc NationallT...Editor Thanks I am a m other of a Pee W ee racer Maxwell Pope, My hu sban d Matt and started Max racing just over a year ago . We raced every weekend an d shared grea t pride, a little so rro w and a lot of fun. A more devoted , loving and caring fathe r could not be foun d . On Jan uary 27, 1996, our crab-fishing boat, the F / V Pacesetter disappeared in the Bering Sea . My h suband w as th e ca ptain. Th anks to th e AM A, Te am Honda and World Spo rts, Max was able to d o a tr ib ute lap for h is d ad in th e Kin gdome just befor e th e Super cr oss. Tha t la p h e lp ed M a x so ve ry m uch . Mo tocross with his d ad means everything to him. Hinshaws H onda made it possible for Max to sit with Jerem y McGrath and Steve Lamson and sign au tog raphs, A hap pier six-year-ol d cou ld not be foun d . I woul d Itke to es pecially th ank Team Honda, Je r emy McGrath and Steve Lams on for taking the time to care about a little boy whose life was devastated. Because of them an d their pho ne call to him, my son still wants to be a pro and ri de w ith h is dad lo o kin g o v e r h is sh oulder. Thanks, yo u gu ys . God bless yo u and we' ll be watching every race. And so wi ll Malt. Pamela J. Pope Aubum,WA i . Letters to th e editor shou ld be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O , Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498, faxed to 310/4276685 or e-m ail.editor@cycl enews.com. Pub lish ed lett ers d o not n ecessa ril y ref lect th e position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters sh ou l d not exceed 200 words a n d all letters are su b ject to ed it ing, Anonymous letters w ill not be considered for p ublication. All letters sho uld contain th e w riter's name, ad dress an d daytime phon e num ber ... Editor. IN ID . S E. L1 #11,M 20,1996 ssue arch FEATURES ROAD RACE Daytona 200 news ", ,., "..,."", ..,,6 , 22 AMA 250cc Grand Prix AMA 750cc Supersport 24 BMW Battle of Legends ." " .30 .32 AHRMA Vintage RR AHRMA BEARS/50S/BolT .36 SUPERCROSS Day tona Supercross ,,,.,,..,.,.....,,,.,,.,,,10 INTERVIEW Yoshimura Suzuki's Aaron Yates ...14 OFF-ROAD Alliga tor Enduro Ocala Grand National CC AMA Mid-South HS 28 .38 .48 FLATTRACK Barbervill e MARS 34 ARENACROSS Den ver Arenacross, "" GRANDPRIX Glen Helen Grand Prix " ..44 46 MOTOCROSS CMC Golden State Nat'l, North "....49 GFI Win ter Series, South ...." ....."" ...50 DEPARTMENTS DIRTTRACK Daytona Grand National ST Daytona 600cc National ST AMA Youth Amateur ST Barberville Half Mile "" """""., Tampa Half Mile "." .18 26 35 ..40 42 EVENTS " ..,,,,.,.,,.•,, ,,.....•.......................52 CALENDAR 61 RESULTS , " ." ." .,..•.•, ,,66 WANT ADS " ., """.",,67 RACER X , ,.,.",." ..,." •." 83 LOOKINGBACK ""...•.••." .",." .""".." ,83 ON THEFRONT COVER Jeremy McGrath takes his first Daytona Superc ross victory . See page 10, Photo by Gold & Goose.

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