Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~~ VOICES America's weekl y motorcycle newspaper LETTERS TO THEEDffOR Volume XXXIV Sham n Clayton, President Michael Klinger, P u bli~her Editorial Paul Ca rru thers, Editor Kit Pa lme r, AssociateEditor Scutt Rou sseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Mnnaging Editor Keith Bush, Assistant Editor/Copy Editor Ca meron Coatney, kisistant Editor Alan Ca thcart. European Editor David R. Holther, Copy Editor Advertising .' Terry Prat t, Nationa l AC cOImtsMQ110ger Mark Mitche ll, Eastern Accounts Manager Mark Thom e. WesternSales Manager Thomas Gonter, Wrsfem Sales M anager · Forres t H ayash i, Western Sales Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Ma the ny, Eastern SalesManager Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Brid gett Bob rofsky, Assistant Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Tina Farr, Assistant Marketing & Prom oti on Mark Thom e, Director Forrest Hayashi, Mana ger Dealer Sale s ' Kelly Branscome, DealerSafes Representative New Media Development Mar k Mitchell, Director Rick Matheny, Webmaster Stephanie Leamo n, Assistant Classified Ads Lauric Torstc nscn Graph ics and Production Ree John son , Production Supervisor Mandy Lao, Production Ml11wger Dennis Greene. Lab. Tech. . Amanda Wollny, GraphicArtist Robyn Light, Graphi Artist c Administratio n Jud y Klinger , Coordinator Leanne Sims. Administrative Assistallt Accoun ting/Data Processin g Donna Bryan-Diam ond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Rep ass, A"i.qi5tant Herlane Lewis, Credit - Circulation • Rheba Smi th, Manager Alma Angui an o, Processing Coordinator Keshena Dawson, Billing Coordinator Carol Maggi o, Deli la Coordinator Serv ice and Support Doris Rice, Receptionist Micha el Swedberg. Seroiceand Support Natio na l Headquarters 2201Cherry Ave., Long Bench, CA 90806, P.O. Box 498, Long Beach, CA 9080H1498 (562) 427-7433; (213)636-8844. FAX (562) 427-6685 Eastern Office 41AA Firat Ave., Tucker, GA 30084; mailing address P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 3008 5-D805. (770) 934-7850. FAX (770) 934-3112 e-mail editor@cydenews.com subscribe@eydt' nt'ws .wm udvcrdsinggcyclcncws.com Intern et http:/ / www.cyd enews.com Cycle News (USPS 141·340) is published weekly except the laSt two weeks of the cale dar year for $50.00per year by n Cycle News, lnc., 2201 Cherry Avenue, Long Bea ch,CA90806. Periodicals Postage Paid cit Lung Beach, CA amI cl iuld itiulldl l [R '8 mailing offire. Canada Post International Publications Mail 1tS46tl1 5. POSTMASTER: Send dd d ~<; change, 10Cycle Nl'wo;. P.O. Box 498 Long Bu. ch. CA 90801-()498. , • ~ To determine the expirat ion dale of your ..ubscriptie n, chec1l .' the four numbers on thl"flrstli ne of your .d dr~s label. The fil'llt two digits indicate the 1.51 issue numb er you'll receive and Ihl' last two characters indiute the year of the last issue. t'-.. 0\ i' Su\Jo;oiplinn rat..,,: Rat~ for the Umted St.1tl"S and i ~ flO"'Sf'S. lI .. tor one year, (SO issucsl, $5tJ.0lI; tw,o yeal'llOlIO 1&"lUO ), ion. $YS.OO; : >1); months. (25 is..s ucs), $20.00;tn.:ll sub (15 issues), $19.00. Canada and Foreign, one war (50issues), $90.00; two yeal'll 000 is..ues ), $175,00; si\ mcnth..(25 i~~ut.~ ), $45,00; tri.ll sub (15 is...u~). $. Il00. . 1 '- "'4 ~ Cycle News welcomes unsolicited editorialma terial including stories, cartoons. pllutvs. etc. Such m aterial, if pub li..he , d Q) ..... becomes tM- exclusiveproperty ot Cycle News. Reprinting in whole or part only by permissionof the pubhsbc . Adverbsr ing rates and circulation information will be sent upo n ""]ul'!it.5.'t'S .R.OS. ~ W/Bn'A V ....r ~ 0'\ l""'""'! 1""\ E Q... AUDITED CIRCULATION ~ Printed in U ,S ,A. 4 Co~yrigh ~ CycleNews, Inc.1997. Trademark Cycle News .. regtS tered U.S. Patent Offi ce. All rights reserved. Gunny's ann ual address Each yea r after relu rning from the ISDE, I like to tak e a few d ays to recover and go over in my mi nd all that hap pened. This year was u n ique to say the leas t, with the contai ners and motorcycles not showi ng up until t he las t min ute, th e riders forced to franti cally pu t the bikes tog ether an d hoping everything was all ri gh t - and th en th e orga nize rs cuttin g s ho rt ou r im po u n d time. A ll in all, I th in k o ur rid ers gave an o uts ta ndi ng acco un t of themselves, having 32 finish ers (33 w hen you coun t Mark r e im pou nd ing) ou t of 36 starters. First off. I'd like to thank our sponso rs w ho he lp the riders with generous d onati ons of prod ucts or money: Bruce Porter a nd A rai H e l m e ts; Malco lm Smith Racing; Pro Gri p; Met zler Tires, Cycle Gea r, CRD , Acerbis , Smith, Scott an d Oakley goggles; Bel Ray Oils, Cyera RaCing Syste ms; a nd Di rt Rid er m agazine. Thanks to Cycle News for their su pport.Ioo. Next a nd most important arc th e workers: Chris a nd Diane Hardy; Ru t h a n n Wel g e ; Dave Dahmer; Len Hofmann: Dclcna Everl and: Tony an d La u ri e Te llie r ; Do n Ebright; Randy Walker; Cod y Mastin ; Titas Rivas; Pa t and Larry Sch melzle; Jim Stouffer; Lynn Ennis; John; Sab ra; Dos Piggott; Loretta Smit h ; Ag nies lka Losos; Sandy Palanske; Faye Campbell; Tom, Linda a n d M ick Ady; M ickey and Ma ry Meyer; Bob Simpson; ~arren Campbell: P et e an d Mi chel e S torrie; Chery le Graber; Ryan Wagner: Jim Hogan: Floyd a n d S h a w n Stretch ; Bruce W ake ley; Elwo od S m it h; Ja so n H endri x; Brent H ensl ey; Tom Ebersole; Do u g G ro ff; John Cochran; Steve Com bs; Ron Less ; Jod y H all; Cleo Smith; Debbie Ebrig h t; Bernard in e Gold en; Ma ria n n Ha tch; Beaze; Ted Swartz ; Lori H amilton : Ca thy Belan; Den ise Ha tch ; and many o t hers. Fo r nil th o se w ho wor ke d so hard and I forgot to lis t yo ur names, I grea tly apologize . The om issio n was not int end ed . La s tl y, two th en k-y ou s to Fr an co Ace rb is a nd his peop le w ho h elpe d t reme ndo usly in trying to find o ur missing bikes and co ntainer, and then gave us a w onderful tour of th eir new facili ty. And to Ho gh Flem ing an d Debbie Sheldon (still in the States) for their tireless work before and during the six d ays, and the special surprise th ey had for me. I rea lly canno t th an k eve ryo ne enough for their ha rd wo rk. It' s no t easy being thrown togeth er as strangers and beco ming a well-fu nc tio n ing su p port / chec k-poi nt cre w, but yo u guys alwa ys make it happen . Th ank yo u very mu ch . Gunny Claypoole Beaverton, OR Now th is yea r it se ems qu ite lik ely that Dou g Ch andler will win that very sa me cha m pions h ip with just one race victory. I ha ve ye t to hear a single voice raised in protes t to thi s. No one is talking abou t ch ang ing th e way th e AMA shou ld award t he poin ts next season. Now, I' m n o t bag ging o n C handler, beca use I think he' s great, bu t 1 just can't help but wonder w hy there seems to be a double standa rd here. j ens Haerter San D iego, CA Points race? Wha t is it wi th the current poi nts sys tem in AMA roa d ra cing ? I th ou ght the w hole ob jective of the go verning bod y is to try to kee p the racin g close an d competitive. Now it seems th at th e o n ly racer who is capa ble of running u p fro nt and competing w ith Mi gu el DuHamel now has no ince n tive to d o so. This is a result of the curren t points system . How a ride r ca n w in one .race and still lead the ch a m pio ns h ip when a no ther has won four, is beyond me. We have seen (m or e than once) Cha nd ler tal k to th e cameras and say t ha t h e could , have raced wi th Mig uel. bu t decided 10 hold back and "play it safe for points." Need I say more? On another subject, w hen migh t th e sou thern po rtion of the cou n try expect a race in our neig hborhood? The two closest ra ces to here (Houston th e fou rth largest city in th e Uni te d St a tes) a re Daytona (1100 mil es) an d Albuquerque (13 00 miles) . Wit h t he Dalla s / Fort Worth area only 300 mi les away, why d o we have no Na tio na l rac es cl o ser than 1000 mil es? Do u g H arris Kemah, TX > The su bject was addressed in last week's Tearduwn column... Editor. Come South, AMA I ag ree w ith Gordon King's let ter (Issu e #36, Sep tember 10) • wi th seven AMA ro ad races way west of the Mississippi an d fou r of th e re m ain ing five in th e nort hern United Sta tes, the Sout h is getting the sha ft aga in in 1998. . I a tten ded th e 1994 A M A fin al a t Road Atlanta and it was one of the bes t races of the year. Although the track has experienced ownership problems in the p ast, it is now ow ned b y Don Pa noz ( Pa n o z s p o r ts- ca r d e si gn er) arid improvements to the facility continue to take place. W i t h th e Sou t h being o ne of the fa stest-grow ing m arket a reas i n t he nation, it doesn 't make se nse tha t the AMA is ignoring it - bu sin ess- or fanw ise . Scoll Bolton Atlanta, GA And again Not too long ago, Tho mas Stevens captu red the A MA Superbike C ha m p ionship while actually only wi n ning on e race. As I reca ll, a lo t of fo lks seemed pretty be n t about that. Some mo tojou rnali sts e v e n seemed to impl y th at Stevens wa s pretty m u ch a w uss becau se he w as always goi ng for points instead of the top of the podium. Th ere w ere cans for th e A MA to cha nge its points sys tem, and Stevens seemed to be awa rded very little o f t h e r es p e ct a Superbike Cham pion is due. Letters to the ed itor shou ld be sen t to Vo ices, Cycle Ne ws, P.O . Box 498, Long Beach, CA 90806-0498, faxed to 562/4276685 or e-mailr editorsscyclenews.com. P ublis hed letters d o n o l n ece ssaril y reflect the positio n of Cycle News, Inc . Le llers should n ot exceed 200 w ord s and all let ters are s u bject to ed it ing, Ano ny mous letters w ill not b e constdered for publication, All let ters should contain the writer's n ame, address and daytime phone n umber .. , Ed itor, INSIDE mber 21, 1997 Issue #38 FEATURES ROAORACE Round 13 - World Championship Road 6 Race Series from Spain Round 8 - WERA National Endurance Series from Milling ton , Tennessee 24 DIRT TRACK Rou nd 19 - AMA Grand N ational Cha mpionsh ip Series from Shakopee , Minn esota I0 Rou nds 10/11 • AMA N ational Hot Shoe Series from Castle Rock, Was h ing ton 28 RACER TEST Ansett Suzu ki GSXR750 Superbike CROSS COUNTRYIHARE SCRAMBLES Rou nd s 11/ 6· AMA Grand Nati on al Nation al Cross Country Series/ AM:" 16 Cha m pions h ip Ha re Scrambles Series from Millfield, Ohio 20 MOTOCROSS Round 15 - Wo rld ChampionshipZbucc Motocross Series froin Germany 22 OBSERVED TRIALS Round 10 ..Wo rld C hampionship Observed Tria ls Series from Germ any 26 DEPARTMENTS EVENTS CALENDAR RESULTS LEADERBOARD : WANT ADS : A VIEW FROMTHE FENCE LOOKING BACK 30 ..46 52 54 55 71 71 ON THE FRONT COVER Michael Doo han an d Ralf Waldmann won th e 500 and 250cc Gr and Pri x of Ca ta luy n a, r espective ly . D ooh an is already World C ha m p io n, Waldmann now lead s the 250cc points cha se. Photos by Gold & Goose.

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