Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

WID0]:J] 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 Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor Kdth Bush. Assistant Editor/CoJ!7j Edilor Cameron Coatney, Assistant Editor Alan Ca thca rt . European Editor David R. Hclt her , Copy Editor Adv~ rtising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Managa M ark Thome. Wt"Stern Saft'S ManaK" Th oma s Center, Wt'S tern Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi. Western SalesManager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Salts Min/oger Rick Matheny. Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Craw ford. Western Ad Coordinator Brid gett Bobcofsky, Assistant Ca rla Allen. Eastern Ad Coordinatur Tina Parr, Assistant Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome. Director Forres t Hayashi, Mnnaxer Dealer Sales Kelly Branscome, Drala Sales Repr esentatioe New Media Development Ma rk Mit ch ell, Director Rick Matheny. Webmaster Stepha nie Leam on ..I\s.<;istant Classified Ad s Lau rie Torstensen Graphics and Pro duction Ree Johnso n, Production Supervisor Ma ndy Lou.. Production Manager Dennis Greene.. LAb. Tech. Amanda Wollny.. Graphic Artist Robyn Ligh t, Graphic Artist Administrati on Jud y Klinger, Coordinator Leanne Sim s..Administrative Assistant Accou ntingfData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond .. AIR Coordinator Ge neva Rep ass.. As.<;istant Herl an e Lewis.. Credit Circulation Rheba Smith..Manager Aima Anguiano , Processing Coordinator Keshena Dawson, Billing Coordinator Carol Maggio. Denier Coordinator Service and Support Susan Moreno, Receptionist Micha el Swed berg, Sertnce and Support National Headquarters 2201 Che rry Ave...Long Beach, CA 90806.. P.O . Box 498. Long Beach. CA 90801-Q498 (562) 427-7433; (213) 636-8844. FA X (562) 427-66R5 Eastern O ffice 41RR First Ave., Tucker, GA 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805, Tucker. GA30085-0805. (770) 934-7H SO. FAX (770) 934-3 1 12 e-mail editor@cyc)enews.com subscribefscyclenews.com advcrt isingfGlcydcncws .com . 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 Letters to the editor sh ould be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498, faxed to 562/4276685 or e-mail.editor@cyclenews.com. Publ iShed lette rs do not necessarily reflect the po sition of Cycle News, Inc. Letters shou Id not exceed 200 words and all letters are subject to editing. Anonymous letters will no t be considered for publication. All letters should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone num ber .. . Editor. for~th~i~~fi~rs=~t-~lI~ e~~~:::~~::~~:~:~::-.::~~~===============; s · . ·m: http: / /www.cydcncws.com Cycle N-~ (USP 14]-:W))i.~ S publi.~hed • weekly except the- bst twoweeks of thecc len dar year forS50.00peryearby Cycle N(>W~, Inc., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Be h. ~~. x PeriodicalsPO'Jotage P",id ,It Long BcitCh. CA and "'I cKLJlbowJ ltUiiling offiN-. C .}lnad" PMt Inlt'Tl\c\tion.ll Fublketions Mail fS.Hlb15. POSTMASTER:St-nd oIddl"l'Yo ch.ingf"!; 10 Cyd r Srw<>, P.O. Bo:t498, LonS BcKb. CA 90801-0498. To de1mnin~ the upir"tion ~tl' of yoor ~obKription,. check lhr four nllm~ on tht' fiN lint' o( your "ddrn"i labe l, Tht' fint two diSib indiate the Lut m ue nllmbn you'U receive .nd the loISt two etunctl'r5 indic:atr the reM of the loJSt issue. Subo.rnption ril lt"'i : Rat~ for tbe United Sta t~ and it"i po.'\.~ !>KJnS lOrone year. ISO IS."'Ul" ). $50.00: two vean 000 ISSUeS). S qs.oo; six monJhs. 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