Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127852
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VOICES
America's weekly mot orcycle newspaper
LmERSTO
THE EDITOR
Volume XXXIV
Sharon Clayton, Presi ent
d
Michael Klinger. Publisher
Edit orial
Paul Ca rru thers, Editor
Kit Palmer, Associate Editor
Scott Rousseau. Associate Editor
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Awestruck
Having ju s t returned home with m y
wife and friends aft er a fantas tic weeke nd at th e U.S . round o f the World
Observed Trials Championship - we're
still awestruck. This wa s. by far, the bes t
motorcycle ev ent I have eve r been to .
What a w onderful display of courage,
skill and professionalism by a trul y
international field of riders .
My congra tulations go ou t to th e
AMA . NATC and the Sacramento PITS
for the su perb organization and to th e
Donner Ski Ra nch for hosting it . They
provi ded both new and old fans an
unforge ttable sporting event. It seems
so rare th ese da y s a s a s p e ct a to r to
actually feel part of an event - but las t
week we we re treated to frie ndly, pr o·
fessiona l people th rou g ho u t the tw o
days. All aro und the course there was a
fr ie n dly , a lmost p ar t y a tmos p he r e
between the orga nizers.. voluntee rs and
spectators.
.
There wa s no peering throu gh safety
barriers a n d fe nc es here; no dista nt
viewi ng of the riders and their bikes. or
th eir lack of ac knowledgment to their
fans. Co u rtesy , resp ect and the per fect
su rroundi ngs made this the "Trial of the
Century. "
Please, please, please reconsider, FIM
a nd AMA : Le t's have a World round
h ere in the United States n ext year.
Meanwhile, keep up the good trials coverage in Cycle News.
Richard North
Irvine, CA
And aga in
I have jus t returned from what must be
th e most und errated motorcycle even t
in the United States in 1997 - th e U.S.
round of the Wo rld O bserved T rials
Championship. This year, I ha ve attended Daytona Speed week. th e Hollist er
50th Anniversary Rally, two AFM roa d
races at Sears Point , an d the World
Superbike rou nd at Laguna Seca . Each
of these even ts we re significant.. exciting
and well-run.
However. I m ust say that this event
offered more bang for the bike buck by
far . Satu rday ticke ts cost $10, wit h a
whopping $2 pre mi um for the Sunday
event. That's ha lf the p rice of a commem orative T-shirt a t the usual motorcycle eve nt. And wha t a treat. Donner is
the perfect place - 7500 fee l up in the
beautiful Sierra Mountains.
It d id n't take lon g
Internet
att endee to become an avi d spectator. It
wa s qu ite easy to pick up the stories and
subplots, and the event had all the ma jor
e lements o f interes t - international
intrigue , you ng bucks, aging masters,
drama and humor (you don' t find a lot
of that a t 170 mph World Superbike
events).
In su mmary, I wo uld highly recommend a trip to Donne r - grea t scenery,
wonderful peo ple and a fan tastic sport
that is s till relatively un d iscovered . For
$10, you can see the bes t in the world.
Randy Kremlacek
San Francisco, CA
se lf, testing the con trols whi le ga thering
his concentration.. ad d s almost u nbearable tensio n and dra ma to his performance. Suddenly seeing that rider go
from a stable condition to exploding up
a nd over a fo rmid abl e obstacle - a nd
then reham essing all that energy to stop
and set up for the next obstacle - sets the
s port o f Observed Trials apart. In no
other m o torcycl in g endeavor can you so
palpably feel the rider's focus - and you
can do so from three feet away.
Christopher Johnson
Albuquerque, NM
Ricky goes fast
1-800-McGrat h
This letter is .to the fans who wr ote th e
sign a t the Una d illa Nationa l Motocross
abou t Jere my McGrath (p ictu red with
Cycle Netos cove rage of th e event) that
read: "1-80D-Ma ma-Boy. Hey, McGra th.
yo u go t Skip. No w wha t's your excuse?
Cry baby."
First of all, how can you even think to
criticize the talent of a rid er like Jeremy
McGrath? Eve n th ou gh I d on 't ha ve a
favo r ite r id er on th e profe ssional
motocr oss circuit, I still feel it is necessary to defend Jerem y. If I had the choice
to be one rider, Jeremy wo uld definitely
be one of the finalists. He is simply sufferin g fro m a lack of confidence d ue to
all the cha nges in his life this yea r. Yes.
we were all surprised after the first few
supercross races this year. Howeve r.. it is
simp ly impossible to lose all that talent
in one yea r - impossible.
T he fan s need to give h im so me
room. How quickly we all forget how
boring it was to watch th e race for seco nd, third and fourth whil e Jeremy ran
a way at the fro nl. I believe he will be
back next year and he'll still be the hig hes t-pa id rider. He is not onl y a wi n ne r..
but an en tertainer - an d tha t is good for
the sport of supercross /motocross.
Jeff Flora
Mason,OH
Sectio n One
Thanks to John Dickinson for his Section
On e column (Issue #29. Jul y 23) and the
extra ski nny on the World Observed Trials s itua tio n. If I und erstand w ha t is
m e ant by a nile cha nge to non -s top trials ridi ng, the n I guess you can co u nt
me as voting agai nst such a rule.
I personally feel that wa tching a statio nary, balan cing rider stead ying him-
In yo ur re por t on th e Na tio nal
Mot ocross report fro m Una dilla (Issu e
#30, Jul y 30), yo u said : "Ca r m ic h a el
stead ily bega n to close the ga p by about
a lap per second ."
How cou ld you see him pa ss by to
know where he wa s? We all know Ricky
is fast , but let' s ge t real.
Rich Fern
rfem@deepwelI.com
Obvious ly , the line shou ld hav e read:
"Carmichael steadily began to close the gap
by about a second pcr lap.:" Editor.
883s .••
This is crazy, bu t typical. The HarleyDavidson 883 TwinSp o rt s cla ss is th e
easiest way to find sponsorshi p at the
loca l-dealer leve l. The 883 ra ce also
draws non-race fans to the races and
exp os es t hem to the excitemen t a nd
spectacle that is motorcycle racing.
Formula Xtreme, mea nwhile.. is no thing more than a cheap and unsuccessful
cop y of Formula USA, which currently
runs un der NASB sanction. The AMA is
not listening or paying attention.
Mike Morley
Jacksonville, NC
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