Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(ill]2J~ VOICES America's weekly motorcycle newspaper LETTERSTO THEE ITOR D Volu m e XXXV Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher E'ditorial Paul Carru thers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, A~sociolc Editor Mark Hoyer, Maua ging Editor Keith Bush, Assistan! Editor/Cop)!Editor Cameron Coatney, Associate Editor Alan Cathcart, European Editor David R.Holther, Copy Editor Advertising Terrv Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Mark Thorne, Western Sales Manager Thomas Gante r, Western SaiL Manager 'S Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Mana " gL Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern SalesManager Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Bridgett Bobrofsky, Assistant Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Tin a Fa rr, Assistant Doohan deserves it Wit h every yea r that passes, I look forward to two th ings in Cycle News - the Buyer's Gui de and who will be crowned "Rid er of the Year." It's no surprise that Mick Doohan takes the honors. He's truly a "Living Legend" and totally d ed icated to th e spo rt, winning four co nsecutive 500cc Wor ld Championships . I thoroughly enjoy ed th e inter view wit h Doohan (Issue #50, january 7) and enjoyed seei ng the p ho tos of h o w h e enjoys life when not on the Repsol Honda NSR500. I wish him con tinued success for the new sea son and will hate to see the day when he hangs up his leathers. Kevin Henriques Blythe, CA M arke ting & Promot ion Mark Thome, Director Forrest Hayashi, Manager Kory Klinger, DealerReprescntatioe New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Director Rick Matheny, Webmaster Stephanie Leam on, Assistant Classified Ads Cherie Collie Graph ics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Loo, Production Manager Dennis Greene, Lab. Tech. Amanda Wollny, Graphic Artist Robyn Light, Graphic Artist Ad ministra tio n Judy Klinger, Coordinator Leanne Sims, AdministrativeAssistant AccountingfData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, A/R Coordinator Geneva Repas s, Assistant Herla ne Lewis, Credit Circu lati on Alma Anguiano, Processing Coordinator Keshona Dawson, Bilting Coordina tor Carol Maggio, Dealer Coordinator Service and Support Dori s Rice, Recepti nist o Jim Olsen, Service and Support Nationa l Headquarte rs 3505-M Cadillac Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 (714) 751-743 3 FAX (714) 751-6685 Eastern Office 4188 First Ave., Tucker, CA 30084 P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805 (770)934-7850 . FAX (770) 934-3112 e-mail editor@cyclenews.com subscribe®cyclenews.com advertisingfscyclenews.corn Interne t http:/ / www.cyclenews.com· Cycle Nl' WS (USPS 141-340) is published weekly except the last two weeks of the cabend.ir year for $50.00 per year by Cycle News, Inc.,3S0S-M Cadi llacAvenue, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Periodicals POSt-1St' r aid at Costa Mesa, CA and at a.d d iti o~1 mai!ing office. Canada Post International Publications Mall #546615. r OSTM ASTER; Sen d address changes 10 Cycle News, r .o . 80x 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084. To determine the expira tion date of your subscription. check the four numbers on the first lin e of your address labe l. The Uf' first two digits indicate the last lSS number you'll receive an d the last two cha racters indi cate the year of the lasf issu e. Subscription rates: Rates for the United Slates and its pos. 'T .... sion.. for one year (50i... . . ..uesl, $50.00; two years (100 issues), $95.00;six months (25 issues), 526.00; trial sub (15 issues); $19.00 Canada and Foreign. one ye.lr (SO issues), $90.00; two . yt:ars (l00 issues), $175.00; she: months (2S issues), $45.00; trial sub OS issues), $38 . .00 • Cycle Nt:'wswelcomes unsolicited editorial material including stories, cartoo ns, photos. etc. Such materie l. if pu blishe , d become the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprintin g in s whole or part only by permission of the publisher. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upun request. 5t.'C 5.R.DS. W/ B0'A VI "",r~ AUDITED CTRCULAnON Printed in U.S.A. 6 c 0l'yri ghtc Cycle News, Inc.199 Tradem ark Cycle News 8. registered U.S. Patent O ffi ce. All righ ts reserved. The Bomber What an excellent article on Mark Barn ett (Issu e #50, january 7). I rem ember follow - , ing the motocross world during that time period and wishi ng I cou ld trav el to all the AMA Na tio na ls an d su percrosses . Thi s a rticle really stirred u p so me fond memories and I still rem ember the first time I was able to see 'The Bomber," the "O 'S how" and "Wa rd y.?" I wou ld be cho mping at the bit for the next issue of all the fine motocross publi cations so that I could find out who was doing what and who was winning. I was also able to spea k with Ma rk on a few occasions. He tru ly is a first-class act. Jose ph M iller Millerj2@apollo .bv .net Old and fat I love the Time Rem embered pieces yo u g uys ha ve be en doing peri o dica lly. It see ms like those guys we re in the news just yesterday. I have just o ne quest ion : Excep t fo r the Steve W ise a rticle, yo u have n' t provided any photo gra p hs of w hat the gu ys look like tod ay. Are all of them old, fat and ugly now? If they are too embarrassed to let us see w ha t has becom e of their a p pearances, th a t' s no nse ns e. We s till think they' re cool. Kevin Mayer Kevinm@bouldemews.in fi.ne t First Ride I just finished read ing Mark Hoyer's First Rid e re po rt o n th e H o nda CBR900RR (Issue #50, january 7) and it was a very good read . [ think it's hard to present tech info and keep everyone int erested. That bike went through a lot of stuff in this lat- est incarna tion, and I've never read a better presentation o'fall those changes. 'I'm guessing yo u'll get a shot at the R-1 and the new ZX-9R before I will, so I'll stay tuned . Joe Boyd hra.com Jboy d@ First Ride articles were featured on both the Kauasaki Z X-9R and Yamaha R-l in Issues #44 and #46, respectively... Editor. And PACE says... This letter is in resp onse to the many opinion s on th e Ga ines v ille N ationa l Mo tocross eve nt. Th e tru th is: Th e Gainesville even t is known as bein g one of th e best ou td oor Na tionals w ith a great deal of history . The change to a supercross ra ce had n o thi n g to do wi th m on ey cha nging han d s between the AMA and PACE, or anything else. PACE, the AMA, the racin g teams, and mos t of the pri vateers all agreed tha t the "sched uling" of Gainesville was the real problem . PACE's role in the change was d ue to our continuing commitme nt to the growth of supercross, and making the necessary changes to meet the increa sin g d ema nd s of th e sport. Moving the opening round to the West Coa st, mov ing Minn eapolis ou t of the dead of win ter, and now, creating two dis tinct sched u les between su percross and motocr oss are thr ee examples of that commitment. I hope that the fans of off-road motorcycling believe, as we do, that progress is a good thing. Supercross has grow n 200 percent over the past five yea rs, and is showing conti n ued gro w th. Su pe rcro ss has allowed enthu siasts and new comers alike to see the best race rs in the w orl d compete in the most difficult sport in the world - in th e most favorable enviro nm ent , th e be s t s tad iu ms in the United States. We look forward to the best su percross season in history in 1998. Gary Becker Ho us ton, TX Becker is the chief executive officer of PACE M otor Sports, tire promoters of tire AMA Supercross Series... Editor. GNC vs. MX I felt compelled to w rit e in resp onse to Carl Skagg's letter (Issue #49, Decem ber 10, 1997). I, too, pr efer G rand National Championship racing to motocross, but it ap p e ars as th ou g h Sk a g g ha s go ne thro ug h life with blind ers on . He states, "I have never seen even one motocross racer so much as put a leg over a Grand Nation- al bike." He spe aks from less experience than he knows. In the late 1970s, there was a guy who decided to swi tch from motocross, wh ere he was very suc cessfu l, to th e G ra n d National Championship for a year. He did him self proud , es peci a lly 011 the sho r t tracks and ITs. He stood on the podiu m more than once. Then he decided to trv road racing. He was even better at thai , finishing well even at Daytona. In my opinion, he was one of the best all-a ro und rid ers of all time, no t unli ke Kenny Roberts and Dick Mann. His nam e is Steve Wise. O h, and one more thing : Using a name fro m the late '60s, I cha llenge Skagg to go u p to Joel Robe rt and call him a foo-foo motocrosser. If he does, • Skagg will be on a liqu id diet for life. Da n Henry Encinitas, CA Back to school with Kopp Recentl y, my dau ghter Jessica celebra ted her nin th birthday . In her thi rd-gra de class, th ey do a "Star Week" w here they put pictures of the birthday student on the wall and they get to tell more about their lives awa y from school. jessica asked if she could bring a "s tar" to school, and th ey though t it would be a grea t idea. Well, jessica wa nted to brin g in joe Kop p, and with one phone call it wa s a done deal. . Anyway, the kids were entranced wit h joe. The kids gathered aro un d him to listen, an d each kid tried on his steel sh oe, with some of the braver ones trying on his leat her jacket or helmet. It was clear that the child ren were listening, because they asked lots of qu estions before standing in line for an autograph. Ther e w er e 22 kids there and it was ob vious that each was impressed by the w ay the y crad led the signed pictures in their arms. It' s safe to say there we re 23 fans (Are you kidding? I wouldn 't miss it, either) in that roo m for National #43. John Johnson PostFaIls, ID Letters to the editor s ho uld be se n t to Voi ces, Cycl e N ew s, P.O. Box 5084, Cos ta Mesa, CA 92628- 5084, fax e d to 714/751-6685 o r e-m ail, ed itor@cyclen e w s. com. Published le tters d o no t necessarily reflect the positio n of Cycle News, Inc. Letters s ho u ld not exceed 200 w ords and all letters are su bj ect to editing. Anonymo us le tters w ill no l be conside red for pu b li cati o n. All lett er s s h o u l d co n tain t he wri,te r' s n ame, address and dayti me pho ne n umbe r ... Editor. INSIDE Issue#1 January 14, 1998 FEA TURES FIRST RIDE 1998 Yamaha YZ400F 1998 Norton 652SM ARENACROSS Rou nd s 5 & 6 - AMA /Pj1 National Arenacross Series from Rockford, Illinois DEPARTMENTS SUPERCROSS 1998 AMA Supercross Series Preview...12 Round s 7 & 8 - FlM World Supercross 36 Series from Switzerland Chaparral 125/250cc Shootout from San Bern ar d ino, Ca lifornia 38 ROAD RACE Daytona tire tests 16 INTERVIEW Ant hony Gobe rt 24 FIRST LOOK 1997-98 Are nacross machinery NEW PRODUCTS .30 MOTOCROSS AMA Chapa rral Amateur Championship from San Bernardino, Ca lifornia 42 HARESCRAMBLES Round 4 - Best in the Desert Silver State Series U.S. Hare Scrambles Cha mp ionship 44 from Laughlin , Nevada BOOK REVIEW 35 .46 CALENDAR 28 31 EVENTS 8 32 60 WANT ADS ..: 64 IN THE PADDOCK 83 LOOKINGBACK 83 O EFRONT COVER NTH First tes t, first tes t, first test: Yamaha's hig hly anticipated YZ400F four-stroke. H ow good is it? Inset: jeff Emig - AMA Pro A th lete of th e Year. Photos by Kin- _ ney Jon es an d joe Bonnello.

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