Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Il:ill~ VOICES America's weekly motorcycle newspaper LEITERS TO THEEDrrOR Vo lume XXXV Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher I am j~st wondering '."ha t brain-dead person thought that the best way to get 61,855 spectato rs into the Los An geles Co liseu m w as to bl ock off th e stree ts arou nd the stadium and funnel all those p eop le into one lan e of tra ffic? And it was one lane of tra ffic that was almost impossib le to access if you d idn't exit the freeway o n Mar tin Luther King Boul evar d . After spending an hour and a half trying to get to the one and only entra nce, we w ere to ld t h at th e en tr a nce was closed and we had to drive back to an entrance that we had tried an hou r earlier. Looking back, I see where I must have gone wr ong: I was stu pid enoug h to pay $80 for tw o tickets, then rea lly stu pid to pay ano the r $20 to be abl e to enter the Coli seum before 6:30. Af ter spendi ng about $200 to watch a little bit of supercross (which turned ou t to be very good ), and a lot of drunken fools throwing their beer into the crowd, PACE Motor Spo rts has taken my last dollar. They wo n't see me at the Coliseum next year. I d id not talk to anyone at the race that night who had any thing good to say abo ut the wa y things were run. Fran k Ma thews Pal mdale, CA I love LA II After attending la st w ee k end ' s Lo s An geles Su percross at the LA Coliseum, I' d lik e to make a request of the spo nsors: Ho.w abo u t implementing a rating system like the one used by the motion picture indus try? If yo u we re looking for G-ra ted fun last Saturday night, the racers and man ufa.cturers certain ly d id the ir part. The racng was ou ts tand in g. The pit activities we re grea t, wi th free posters, stickers and aut ograph sessions for the kid s. In the stands, however, it was a differe nt story. As I sa t with my family and friends in a row of $35 seats, we were subjected to beach balls bouncing across th e crowd with crudely d raw n pornog raphic pict ures on th em - a nd fans mooning the crowd, followed by singlefinge red salu tes agains t forearm s. Then there were sho ut ed obscenities tha t, in turn, provoked the throwing of whatever food items were handy - mostly fu ll cu p s of drink and ice. Later, so meone blew u p and released an inflatable, lifesized (and anatomically correct) fem ale doll in to the cro wd of 61,000. ~hile the do ll provid ed a few laughs as It w a s h elples sl y b eing p u nc hed around the crowd , the fu n turne d w icke d as one cru d e individual af ter another stoo d u p to demons tra te t he int end ed usage of this flesh-colored balloon in front of God , kids and everybod y. C'm on, LA sports fans - give a dad a break. I watched the emo tion less exp ression on my seven-year-old's face as he took it all in, and I cringed in si de a t wha tever it wa s he wa s thinking - hoping I' d ha ve th e words to answer the qu estion s he might ask . If the organize rs of this great even t can't be trusted to handle a few jerks in a crowd, then put a mo re accu ra te warning label for parent s in yo u r ad s - like NC- 17. Otherwise, I'll just tak e the kids to a movie next year . Steve Beaumont Agua Dulce, CA What about the mechanic? This letter is in res ponse to your article on Mark Barnett (Issue #50, January 7). It would have been a nice cou rtesy to mention the mec ha nic for Mark during his championship years. He wa s award ed the "Tuner of the Year" award for his work on Mark' s wi n ni ng Suzukis all those years. If nothing else, you shou ld have at least put his name under the pictu re yo u prin ted . . His nam e is Jeff Clark and he is currently the Northwest representative for Spy. Louise Clark Beavert on, OR Cherry picking? I felt a need to write after atte nding thll' Los Angeles Supercro ss. While I was w atching prequa lifyin g, I saw some- thing peculi ar: a Pro Cir cuit Kawasaki KXl 25 racing in one of the prequalifiers wit h number f l l on the bike. I tho ught that the AMA sa ved this num ber for international champions . After all, JeanMichel Bayle ran that number when he first showed up in 1989 and Greg Albertyn u s ed it in hi s fir s t yea r h ere . I ~hought to myself, "Who is this gu y raem g th e 125cc West Coast ra ce w ho is obvio us ly so me in ternati on al champ ion?" Well, p artway th rough the race, as this mystery man was lead in g, I heard the anno uncer say "Matiasevich." Yeah, that's righ t - Jeff Matiasevich. His in terna tio na l cham pion sta tus is th at h e is Jap an ese Nati onal Champ ion. I have a problem wi th this new ru le change that the AMA h a s initia ted . My probl em with this is that Jeff Matiasevich is th e 1989 West C o a st 125cc Supe rcross Champion. And he led the majority of th e 1989 250cc Su p e rc ross C h a m pi onshi p before choking towar ds the end. It's reall y sad that a gr eat rid er such as Jeff Matiasevich has to resort to stealing mon ey, po ints and confiden ce fro m the young, up-a nd-coming rid ers for which the 125cc series is d esigned - just so he can get some practice in for the Japanese 250cc Na tiona l Championship-He's go t to race 250s in Japan anyway - why race 125s here? . The biggest problem her e is that the AMA allows this to ha ppen. It is obvious that they d on 't care about the "little guys" until th ey are goodand lu cky enough to receive a fact ory ride. I hav e the u tmost respect and admira tion for Joh n Dowd for many ob vious reasons, bu t he's fro m Massachusetts - the Eas t Coast. He's now so meho w racing in the West Coast Series . Sound pretty du mb? It does to me. Plus, John Dowd is a great rid er. He h a s finis he d secon d in th e 250cc Na tional Cham p ions h ip tw ice going away. He did it once on a factory support tea m and again on Team Yamaha . Wh at cha nce do rid ers like Sean Perolio , Mic h ae l Brandes, Casey Johnson and such have aga inst a rider of that caliber? It ' s n ot fai r . They a re racin g a "s u p port" cla ss fo r the 250 s, a nd ye t they hav e to race agains t pro ven 250cc riders. Steve Lamson had a pretty d ismal yea r last yea r. He was hurt a lot and h a d pl enty of b ad lu ck. Mayb e h e sho uld race the East Coast 125cc Series thi s yea r. It makes sense, with the logic that th e AMA seems to be s p or ting . After all, he's a factory rid er and he lives on the West Coast. He' s perfect. Gee, do you think he would win? That wouldn't be fair . He's one of the fastest 125cc rid ers on the planet. For the sport's sa ke and for the sake of fu ture superstars, Yama ha - quit cherry picking to try and ge t tha t 125cc title. An d Jeff Matiasevich, quit being a chicken and race in the clas s you belong in. Steve Cox Ch ino Hills, CA Lette rs to th e ed itor sh oul d be sent to V oice s, Cycl e N ew s, P;O. Bo x 508 4, Co s ta Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 7141751-6685 or' e-ma il, ed itor@cyclen ews.co m . Publish e d letters do n o t necessarily reflect the position of Cycl e News, Inc. Letters sho u ld not exceed 200 wo rd s and all letters are subject to ed iting. Anonymous letters w ill not be considered for publication. All lett ers s h o u l d co n t ai n t h e writer's nam e , address an d da ytime phone n um ber ... Editor. Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Mitchell, Eastern Acrou"ts Manager Mark Thome, Western Sales Manager Thomas Gonter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Sales Manager Rick Matheny, Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, WesternAd Coordinator Bridgett Bobrofs ky, Assista.nt Carla Allen, Ea stern Ad Coordinator Tina Farr , Assistant Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Director Forrest Hayashi, Manager Kory Klinger, Dealer Representative New Media Development Mark Mitchell, Director Rick Matheny, WebnulSter Stephanie Leamon, Assistant Classified Ads Cherie Collie Graphics and Production Ree Johnson, Production Supervisor Mandy Lao, Production Manager Dennis Greene, Lab. Tech. 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Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-080 5 934-7850 FAX (770) 934- 112 3 (770) e-mail editor@cyclenews.com subscribeescyclenews.com advertising@cyc1enews.com Internet http:/ /www.cyclenews.com Cycle News (USPS 141·340) is published weekly except the last two we ks of the calendar year for $50.00 perYear by e CycleNews, Inc.•3505-MCadillac Avenue,Costa M CA esa 9"..628. Periodicals Postage Paid at Costa Me CAand ~t sa, addi tional mailing office. Canada Post International Publicas tion Mail lt546615. INSIDE Issue #3 Janua 28, 1998 POSTMASTER.: Send add res s changes to Cycle Ne ws, P.O. Box 5084,Costa Meu. CA 92628-5084. FEATURES SUPERCROSS Round 2 - AMA Supercross Series from Hou ston , Texas 6 ROAD TESTS Open Sportbike shootout: ZX-9 vs. CBR900RR vs, YZF-Rl............12 250cc MX shoo tou t: CR vs. RM vs. SXvs. MC vs. KXvs. yz....18 To determi ne the expiratio n date of you f s ubscri p tion, check the four numben on the fint line of your address label. Th e firs t two digits in dic.ale the 1.I t iss ue num ber you'U recei ve s an d the last tw o characten indicate the ye.lr of th e las l iss ue. ·ARENACROSS Rounds 9 & 10 - AMA /PJI Are nacross from Gu thrie, Oklahoma 32 DEPARTMENTS INTERVIEW Smokin' Joe' s Ben Bostro m Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Editor Keith Bush, Assistant Editor jC0F!JI Editor Cameron Coatney, Associate Editor Alan Cathcart, Europenn Editor David R. Ho lther, Copy Editor sub (15 issues), $3S.oo. EURO FILE EVENTS RESULTS 24 SPEEDWAY Learning the tapes 28 Japanese Aut orace Speed way C'shi p ..30 Subscription rates: Rates for the United States and its POSSf.."Ssions for one year (SO issues), $50.00; two year.> 0 00 issue s) $95.00; six months (25Issues), 526.00; trial sub OS issues), ' $19.00. Ca~da and Foreign, one yea r (SOissues),$90.00 two ; years (1oo ISSUes), 5175.00; six months (25 issues), $45.00; trial CALENDAR WANTADS INTHE PADDOCK LOOKING BACK Cyc~e Nl'WSwelcomes unsolicited edi torial ma teria l includ ing ston es, cartoo ns, P~OIQ!;, etc. Such material, if published , 4 becomes the exclus ive pro~rty of Cycle News . Reprinting in 34 39, 40, 41, 44 .45 51 68 68 ONTHE FRONT COVER Shootout city. We ride th e new 250cc motocross bikes a n d compare th em; t hen we d o th e same with the Open Cla ss Sportbike s . Pho tos by Kinney Jones and Bill McMillan. • ~hole or part only by permission of the pu blisher. Advertismg rail'Sand circulation information will be sent upon request. SeeS.R.D.S. W/Bn'A V ..,.,r~ AUDITED OR CULATION Printed in U.S.A. Co~yright" Cycle News,lnc.l998. Trademark CycleNew. registered U.s. Patent Office.All rights reserved. 3

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