Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

VOICES Lettersto theeditor America's weekly motorcycle newspaper V olu m e XXXIII Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor KitPalmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor Keith Bush, Assistant Editor/Copy Editor Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager MarkThome, Western Sales Manager Thomas Gonter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Greg Mitch ell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastem Salt'S Manager Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Lauri e Snow, Assistan t Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Manager New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Director Rick Matheny, Operations Classified Ads Sharon Van Ha zelen Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loo, Production Manager Dennis Greene, Lab, Tech. Stacey Guest, Graphic Artist Amy Faught, Graphic Artist Administ rati on Judy Klinger, Coordinator Leanne Sims, Adm inistrative Assis tant Acco untingfData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Herla ne 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 Natio na l H ea d q ua rte~ 2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA90801-0498 (310) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FAX (310) 427-6685 Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA, 30084; mailing address r.o. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805. (770) 934-7850. FAX (770) 934-3112 e-ma il editor@cyclenews.com su bscribeOcyclenews.com ad verti sin g@ cyclen ews.com Internet http:/ / www.cyd enews.com Cycle News (USPS141-340)is published weekly except the 0 last two weeks of the calendar year fo r $50. 0 per year by Cycle News, lnc., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach.CA 90806. Second class postage paid at Long Beach, CA and at additional mailing office. Canada Post International Publications Mail #5-lb615. POSTMASTER Send addr ess changes to Cycle News, P.O. : 80 )(498, long Beach, CA 9O&lI.().198. To determine the expiration date of your subscription, check the four numbers on th e first line of your address label, The fin t two digits indicate the last issue num ber you'Ureceive and the last two characters indicate the year of the last issue. Subscri ption rates: Rates for the Unite-dStates and its posses- sions for one year. (SO issues). $50.00;ny-o years (100 issues). sQS.oo six months. (25 issues), $26.00 trial sub (15issues). ; ; $19.00. Canada and Foreign. one year (50 issues). $90.00; two years (100 issues), $175.00; six months (25 issues). $45.00; trial sub (15 issues), $38.00. Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoons. photos, etc. Such material. if published. become the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprinting in s whole or part only by permission of the publisher. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upon request, SeeS.R.O.5. W!!P.8 ~WdJffnoN Pri nt ed in U.s.A. Co{'yrightl CycleNews, Inc. 19%. Trademark CycleNews registered U.S; Patent Office. All rights reserved. Round two Mr. Je ffrey's response to m y lett er in yo ur "Voices" sect ion (Issu e #14, April 10) seems to miss the message th at I was trying to po rtray. My message was that promoters of large mot ocro ss events should rew ard winners with trophies that at least id entify the event. The firs t-place trophies we receive d at Ga to rback were small, generic p la qu es th at d idn 't identify Ga torback or Gainesvill e, but simply had the year 1996 on them. Since m y last letter the promoter of the event, Worl d Sports, ha s se n t my son two custom -mad e polish ed brass plates identifying his first-place finish, th e class, a nd Gatorb ack M ot ocro ss Park, and Gainesvi lle, Florida. For that, we thank them . Ralph Stoyne Pitt sburgh, PA Trophies - still I have something more to add about the lett er entitled "Bad Trophie s" (Issue #12, Mar ch 27) from a coup le of weeks ago. I' ve been racin g th e Georgia MX Series for the past two and a half years. Wh en I go to th e races I u sually ta ke eight to 10 fami ly mem bers and friends, and that alone in ga te and entra nce fees is usually over $100. Then I race all da y long and if I ha ppen to do well, all I get is thi s cra p py .little part icle board plaque, tha t's usually scratched up. I w ant to ad d so me thing even more path etic. I raced in Warrior, Alabama , at the IronMan MX for the first time. My w ife, frie n ds an d m yself d rove ov e r th ree hours to get there and, for the first tim e, I w on both of m y races an d firs t p lac e overall. Wh at d id I ge t? I go t a sq uare homem ad e p laq ue cut ou t of a piece of plyw ood, paint ed br own, with a picture ou t of an MX magazin e inside a ph oto-a lbum cover, an d it was all nai led down to the pla qu e. Wh en they handed me the p laque they aske d me what place I had finished, an d han ded me a sticker that said "first place." My point is that as mu ch mon ey as these prom oter s are tak ing in, they have got to get it toge the r. It' s beginning to take all of the fun ou t of racing. It's taking the dream of going hom e wit h the big trop hy away fro m all of us. Come on, guys, I'd ra ther take home a small trophy than a cheap plaque. Eric N elson Lanett, AL Two-strokes forever The meetings discu ssin g regulations banning two-strokes o n p ublic land were, unfortunately, ann ounced too late for me to atte nd in my area . I am disappo in ted tha t I wasn' t able to attend. On a more productive note, I would like to see in Cycle News the politicians th at su ppo rt u s, the cycling enthusiast, ama teur / professiona l racer, the motorcycle / p a rt s bu y ing co ns u mer a nd , hopefully, th e regis te re d vo te r. H iTorque p ublications, to their cre d it, h ave publishe d lis ts of th ese in th eir magazines. Refer encing th e first paragraph, the y too put that inform ati on out too late. 1, individua lly, do not have any facts, figures, or ecologically hel p ful reasons why two-stroke m ot ors shoul d n' t be ba nn ed . I do kno w th at th e factor that makes our sport enjoyable may also lead to future restriction, eve ntual med iocre race ma chine pe rform ance, and a lon ging for "the good old da ys." The factor is individuality. We, as a group, don ' t se e m to u se the power of collect ive number s to affect cha nge. Write a lette r to a politician (Lee Grissom, Director of the Gov ernor's Office o f Pla nning and Research. 1400 Ten th St., Sacramen to, CA, 95814), buy a two-stroke, and vote for p eopl e th a t h ave our in terests in m ind . If you do n' t thin k this can happen" think about wha t bureau cracy d id to the 500cc / Open class in 1993 or all of th e MX tracks th at u sed to be in L.A. County. August Spillers Glendale , CA Dirt track blues I hate to run an issue in to the grou nd, but the re seems to be a large number of AMA Class C fan s w ho view th e 883 and 600 class as I do. I have been going to Na tionals all acro ss this country since 1969 (and have rid den in a couple). At last count I have see n 43, an d have been rained out at a few . So, while I may still be " ne w" to m otorcy cle ra cin g, I d o have an opinion as a p aying spectator. In earlier days (around 1968-72), you wo uld ge t to see all three classes at some n at iona l events: N ovice 250cc, Ju n ior a n d Exper t 750 cc. At th a t tim e the re w ere m a ny m a n ufacturer ' s produ ct s availab le that coul d be mad e com petitive, and af term arke t companies su pplied frames, wheels an d other items to m ak e almost a ny motorcycle w or k . If yo u had a favo rite b rand m ot orcycle, cha nces are it wou ld be represented in some fashio n. I still rem ember Rice and Man n on BSA, N ixon and Rom ero on Triumphs, Jo rgenson a n d Alda na o n Nortons, Brelsfor d on a Kawasaki triple, Roberts and Castro on Yamahas, Hockin g o n a Honda four and so on. You could see nearly an ything in the Novice ' class, So now to a few points. As we have " prog ressed " to where we are now, you ge t to everyone on so meone's Harl ey, with jus t a few Hondas left. Unde r curre n t rul es, ther e a re not m any othe r br ands that have a p rod uct tha t c an be co n ve r te d to th is specia lized m ot or sport. An d why sho u ld they? Mo tocross and road race se lls motor cycl es. An yone wh o w ants can be a m oto cr o ss weeken d w arrior and have lots of fun. Th ere a re d ozen s of s treet b ikes th at loo k ju st like th e o nes on su perb ike tra cks, an d yo u .can ride th em to th e sto re, work or school. These items se ll and make profit s. But try to come u p with so meth ing that look s ju st like an XR750 or RS750 . Th e y don' t se ll, no need to make them . Class C 750 motorcycles are fast. So are 600s . 883 Sportsters u nder current mod ificati on rul es are not, and are in fact boring to watch generally. My wife, da ughte rs and m yself always wait for the 883 heats to go to the rest room and concession stand so thaf we don't miss any of th e good racing . (No ins ult implied to Springer, H ack e r, or any other riders. My opinion is that I woul d m u ch rather see u p an d co mi ng new racers on fast 600s than cu rrent national contenders on 883s. Some of the best fun at past nationa l races was seeing your favorite racer on you r favorite br and line up for the fea tu re even t and b e a t yo ur buddy ' s favo rites. If a Yamaha or Suz uki is you r brand, you' re out of luck. W ith m ore fa ct ory p a rt ici p at ion, woul d m ore m on ey be available for p ro d u ct d evel opment a n d rid er su pport? And maybe a few mo re spectators would come to the races, thus supplying more purse for the riders. With the staff the AMA ha s, and with input from the racer s and sponsors, it seem s to me th at these p robl em s could be resolved in the near fu ture. At $25 and up for race ticke ts, plus the cost of travel these days, I may no t be able to conv ince m yself to go to these events in the future if I am no t going to see what I like. And if more people make this same decision, how much longer w ill there be Gra nd National racing ? Bill Hotchkiss Amarillo, TX Letters to the editor sh ould be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498, faxed to 310/4276685 or e-maik edi torfscyclen ews .com, Published lette rs do not n ecessa ril y reflect the po sition of Cycle Ne ws, Inc. Letters sh ou ld not excee d 200 word s and all letters are sub ject to ed it in g. Ano nymous letters will not be considered for p ublication. All letters sho uld cont ain the wri ter's name, add ress and da yti me phone number .. . Editor. INSIDE Issue #17, M y1,199 a 6 FEATURES ROADRACING Pomo na AMA N ationaI.. 6 Japanese Grand Prix 22 D1RTTRACK Pomona Grand Nationa l 14 SUPERCROSS Charlotte Supercross 18 MOTOCROSS Las Vegas World Mini GP 28 World MX GP Report .30 VIN TAGE Willow Springs AHRMA Rep ort ....36 TRIALS ~ Spanish World Trials 38 OFF-ROAD Loretta Lynn's National Hare Scrambles / Cross Country Nati on al Hare & Hound, Utah NETRA Ha re Scramb les, Ne w York 32 .35 .40 DEPARTMENTS , EVENTS LEADERBOARD CALENDAR WANT ADS INTHE TAPES LOOKING BACK 42 .48 .49 .56 71 71 An d the w inn ers a re : Norifu mi Abe, Miguel Du Hamel, Scott Parker and Scott Summers . Photos by Gold & Goose, Kinney Jones, and Dayey Coombs.

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