VOICES
America 's weekly motorcycle newspaper
LEITERS TO
THE EDITOR
Volume XXXI V
Sharon Clayton, Presid
ent
Mich ael Klinger, Publisher
Editoria l
Paul Carruthers . Editor
Kit Palm er, AssociateEditor
Scott Rous sea u, Associate Editor
Mar k Hoyer. Managing Editor
Keith Bush, A'Osi$tQlIt Editor!C!!J!y Editor
Ca meron Coa tney, Assistant Editor
Alan Ca thca rt. EUTOpt'tlll Editor
David R. Holther , Cupy Editor
Advertising
Terry Pratt. National Acrounts MJmagcr
Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manag~r
Ma rk Thome, Western Sales Manaser
Tho mas Ge nter, Westem Sales Monagtr
Forrest Hayashi, Western Sar-sManager
G reg Mitchell, Ea
stern Salts MJznagrr
Rick Matheny, Ea
stern Sales Manager
Rhonda C ra wford, West"" Ad Coordinator
Bridgett Bobrofsky. Assistant
Carla Allen, Eastrm Ad Coordinator
Tina Parr. AssisJant
Marketing &: Pro motion
Mark T ho me, Director
Forrest Hayashi , Mllnllger
New Media Development
Mark Mitchell, Director
Rick Ma theny, Wehmaster
Cla ss if ied Ad s
Lauric Torstcnscn
G raphics and Production
Ret"jo hn so n, Production Supervisor
Mandy Leo . Production Mllnllgt'T
Dennis Grffne, l.ab. Tech.
Stacey GUt.>St, Gmphic Artist
Am anda Woll ny, Graphic Arti<;t
Administra tion
Jud y Kling er, Coordinator
Lean ne Sim.., Administrative Assistant
Accoun ting/D ata Processing
Donna Brya n-Diamond, AIR Coordinator
Ge neva Repass, Assistant
He rlane Lewis, Credit
Circula tion
Rhc ba Smi th , Manager
Alma Anguia no, Proc~~I"g Coordinator
Keshena Dawson, Billing Coordinator
Carol Maggio,
neal" Coordinator
Servic e and Support
Su san Moreno, Receptionist
Michael Swedberg. Senricc and Support
National Headquarters
2201 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, CA 90806,
P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 908014198
(562) 427-7433; (213) 631>-8844.
FAX (562) 427-6685
Eas tern Office
4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA 30084;
mailing address P.O. Box 80S,
Tucker, GA 3UO!l5-OffiJ5.
(770) 934-7850. FAX (770) 934-3112
e-mail
ed itoreacyclenew s.rom
subscribefscyclenews.com
advc rtis ingfscyclcncws.com
Internet
http:/ /www.cyclenews.com
. Cycle N~ (USPS141 -340 IS published weekly eecepethe
)
last two weeksof the calendar year for 550.00 per year by
Cycle NI.'Wi, Inc. 2201 O w")' Avenue, Long Beach. CA 90806.
,
Periodical!; POlotag~ Paid at Lonl'l Beach, CA and ,It M.lil
'5-10615.
f'(b'TMAS TI:.K: Send addffss d1.anges to Cycle News, P.O.
Box 49!1, Long Be'M: " CA 908014f98.
h
To drtl'tD1inr Ihrnpir.lil ion Jollie of your su~ption. check
the fou r lIumbf1"!l on thr fiBt lint of your address label The
fint two dip ts indicalr Ow Lut issue numlta you'Deeeeive
md the wt two dw'.lIcten indiGlltr tht' yeM of the last iss ue.
Suhocription rates: Ral~ for thl.- Unned Stalt.'!>.md it!-p....
_
~Jl.)rn. fu... U yt"d r, (. O i.o..'l.lP"I). S50.oo; two Y"a~ (l Oll ~~~).
lll"
G
$Q5.OO; ..iJ(month.\, QS i...
~uel. S26.OO; trial sub 05 issue;).
$1'J.oo. Canada and Fomgn. one year (50 ~). S90.00; two
years (100lSo.'iUlo5). 175.00;Slll: months C25 issues). $45.00; t:rial
, ub (I5 il!6ucs). $38.00.
Cyek N~ wdr:ucneo uru;uoolt'd t"liloridl material including
i
!dllnl.'!lo cartcore, phot....., ri c. Such I1\dll"l"i.ll. if publ~ht'd.
,
~ IIw- C"1nu'livr pmpnty of Cycle' Nt-ws Reprinting in
.
wholr 01'" part only by prnni.",ion of the publisheT Ad~
.
mg ratesand circu.1ahon informatlOll will be sent upon
1'l'qUl-. Sec s.R.O.5. •
>o;l.
W!:!P~ ~~~no"
The Lusks
Go, boy
In response to Roger DeCoster's interview
(Issue #24, June 18) and his statements ro nceming me an d my son Ezra , I disagree
with wha t he said about our separation.
Ezra won nearly 60 titles as an amateur. My wife Willa and I wrenched for
him durin g every one of those championships. If he had a probl em with us , he
wo u ld n ev er ha ve d on e so well. We
sup po rted him 100 percent and still do.
Roger see ms to be sayi ng tha t the reason
Ezra is doing so well now at Yama ha is
because w e a r en ' t th ere . The reason
WiJla and myself aren't there is beca use
we feel that Yama ha is taking very good
care of our son and his motorcycles. We
don 't have to be there now beca use he's
in good hands.
In a sport like motocross, if the parents don't help the riders to becom e pmIes sionals, they can' t make it. I was there,
turnin g wrenches for him all through his
career. We helped him get his first factory ride, and we helped him get rides eve r
since he w as a mem ber of Team Green
on a 60. The time we spent together at
those races made us a very close family.
Roger talks abou t both my family and
the LaRoccos. I don' t think that his wo rds
we re fair or right. I hope that he doesn' t
treat any future riders and parents wi th
the same disrespect he has shown us.
Ron nie Lusk
Bainbridge, G A
You r story on Ryan H ugh es (Issue #24,
Ju n e 18 ) was b o th enlightening an d
refreshing. Most of the time, motocrossrid er in te rvi ew s have more to d o with
their lat est piercing, tattoo and clothing
deal tha n anything real or human. Ryan
shows ma turity and ten acity in his q ues t
to excel in his spo rt.
Hope fully, he wi ll break through an d
have so m e g oo d lu r k come h is w a y.
Either wa y, I have a new guy to root for.
Go,boy.
Randall Fencik
Nee nah, WI
Art Webster
Paul Carruthers' column C'Tea rdow n,"
Issu e #21, May 21) hit"t he p ro verbial
nail on the hea d. It touched upon a subject that has co ncerned m e fo r a few
years: who to cheer for on th e G rand
Prix circuit.
J knew someone w asn ' t goi ng to
agree w ith the col umn, but th e argu·
ment fo r excel lence bei n g the mos t
i m po rta n t r ea son to chee r was a bit
weak (hey, I'm a d ie-hard Red Sox fan).
An d w hv we re Wo rld War 11 and the
KKK m~n tio ned ? Thei r re levan ce to
G rand Prix ra cing and the des ire to
chee r for a homegrown racer hav e zero
in commo n.
There was not a s peck of prejudice
implied in Paul's article - just th e fac t
that we need to build a fan base in the
Grand Pri x series, hop efully wit h someone from America.
G ra nd Prix raci ng needs publi ci ty,
es p ecia lly in Am eri ca , a nd th e "G oShow" (Anthony Gobe rt> provides jus t
C01?yr1ghtClCycfr News, Inc. 1997. Tradem ark Cycl; News
nogl ~l mod U.S. Palmi Offi ce. All rights reserved,
Wow ! Four full pages of Isle of Man IT
covera ge plu s a co ver photo in Cycle
News . Thanks for the grea t repo rt (Issu e
#25, Jun e 25) on the only real road race
o n planet earth (except Ireland).
Kudos also to first- time IT fan Kent
Kunitsu gu from Sp or t Rider ma ga zine
for overcoming incredible odds to finish
his race in the 2S0cc class with an average speed o ver "the To n" (l 00 mph ).
Kent now knows why the Isle of Man in
early Jun e is heav en on earth for motorcyclists.
Pau l Gol de
T ustin, CA
Gobert - one more time
I was sadd ened to read of Art Webster's
passing in last week's Cycle News (Issue
#25, June 25). During my employment at
Cycle News, I had the chance to experience
man y new things. Trials riding was one
of them . Th e Southern California trials
community is a small, tightly knit group,
and Art is one of the chara cters who will
always stand ou t in my mind. He never
ceased to amaze me as he ripped thr ough
the sections in hammered riding gear and
to win after win in the Intermediate class
on his clapped-out Yamaha. Needless to
say, one of my biggest trials goals was to
beat the "old timer." When I finally did , I
think Art may hav e been happier for me
Ulan I was.
I haven' t been able to make it to a trials ev en t in several months , bu t w hen I
do, I kn ow it wo n't be the same. Godspeed, Art.
Donn Maeda
Altadena, CA
Fourvs.two
I am really disa ppointed that Cycle News
is not discussing th e two-stroke issues
that we face. The four-stroke win in the
Las Vegas Supercross is an insult to the
two-stroke riders . The AMA is a joke as
an org aniza tio n: if they ran NASCA R,
the Busch cars would race wi th the regula r NASCAR even ts because th ev both
have four wheels. If the AMA ran Ind y,
they wou ld run IRL cars with CART cars.
When th e machines are different fuel, motor, sty le - they run in differ ent
classes. It's a no-brainer .
When are yo u guys going to get off
yo u r b u tt s a nd tell the wo rld th at i t
d oesn 't matter if a fou r-stroke wins? It' s
a different co nce p t a nd diffe r e n t
mach ine winning; therefore, bea ting a
two-stroke on a hard -packed, slick track
means zip . Noth ing.
The Yamah a four-stroke sho uld be in
its own class. NASCAR trucks don' t run
wi th NASCAR cars . Alcoh ol drags ter s
don't run wit h funny cars. Let's get profess iona l for once, and tell it like it is.
Th ese bike s don't be long on the sa me
track becau se their des ign is too d ifferen t.
Not good or bad, just different. How " i ll
you know if it's the rid er or the bike,
s in ce the tech ins pection is a w ast e of
time?
There is no way to ac tually com pa re
two- and four-stroke bikes fo r the purposes of ma kin g the m somewha t eq ual
in a particular class. Why do a ll o the r
forms of racing have different classes?
David Rogers
Bakersfield, CA
Lellers to the editor should be sent to
Voices, Cycle News, P,O, Box 498, Long
Beach, CA 90806-0498, faxed to 5621427·
6685 or e-mail. eJitor@cycienews.com.
Publ ished letters do n o t necessa rily
reflect th e position of Cycle Ne ws, Inc.
Lett er s s h ou ld not exceed 200 w o rd s
and a ll le tters ar e subject to ed it i ng.
Anon yrnou s le tters w ill not be con sidered for publication. All letters shou ld
con tain th e writer's nam e, addres s and
daytime phone number .. . Ed itor.
INSIDE
Issue#. Jul ' 2 1
997
FEATURES
ARSTLOOK
1998 Yama ha YZs
INTERVIEW
Michael Dooha n
6
MOTOCROSS
Round 6 - AM A 125/ 25Occ National
Championship Motocross series from
Sou thwick, Massa chu set ts
8
ROADRACE
Roun d 5 - World Superbike Championship Series from Italy
12
Rou nd 3 - NASB/ Formula USA Series
from Braselton, Geo rgia
20
Rou nd 4 - WERA National End urance
Series from Fairm o nt City, l11inois
44
DIRTTRACK
Round 6 - AMA Gran d National Dirt
Tra ck Cham pions hip Series from
Sedalia, Misso uri
__ 16 ,.
Printed in U.s.A,
4
Isl e of Man kudos
that. Pos itive o r negative, his rebellious
flai r is so mething th at mo st fa ns can
relate to . Hero or hooli gan? I th in k a
combina tion of both .
Scoll Kipphut
Me ride n, cr
TIME REMEMBERED
MX World Cha m pion Jeff Smith
~, ....
26
DEPARTMENTS
30
OFF-ROAD
Ro und 6 - AMA National Cha mp ions hip Reliabili ty Enduro Series from
Tillamook, O rego n
32
SPEEDWAY
Round 2 - Worl d Cha mpionshi p Ind ividual Speedway Gra nd Prix Series
from Sweden
34
Toyota America n Speedway Final'
from Cos ta Mesa , California
.38
VINTAGE
AHRi\1A Vintage Week end from Grat..40
tan, Michit;an
HILLCLIMB
Round 4 - AMA Na tional Championship-Hil lclimb Series from Avoca,
New York
42
EVENTS .......................•.....................................46
LEADERBOARD.......•.......................................59
60
RESULTS
CALENDAR....................................................•..62
WANT ADS .....................................................•..71
DNF
87
LOOKING BACK
87
Dou g H enry isn ' t
the o n Iv o ne w ho
w ill h a v e a fo urs troke
Ya m aha
m oto cro s s er n ex t
yea r. Beginning la ter
in 1997 the YZM 400
,
will be a va ilab le to
the .public. Photo by
Paul Carruthers.
