Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(ill1rn~ VOICES Am erica's weekly mo tor cycle newspaper LETTERS TO THEEDfTOR Volume XXXV Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Edi tori al Pau l Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor Mark H oyer , Managillg Editor Keith Bush , Assistant Editor/CollY Editor Came ro n Coa tney, Associate Editor Alan Ca thcart , European Editor Davi d R. Holther, Copy Editor Adv ertising Terry Pratt, National Accaunts Mallager Mark Th om e, Westem Sales Mallager Th omas Center, Westerll Sales Manager Forrest Ha ya shi , Western Sal", Manager G reg Mitch ell, Eastern Accou1lts Mallag,,, Jim Clark, Eastern Sales Mallager Rhonda Cra w ford , Western Ad Coordinator Brid gett Bobrofsky, Assistant Ca rla Allen , Eastern Ad Coordinator Tina Farr , Assistant ... Marketi ng & Pro mo tion Mark Th om e, Director Ferre..st Hayash i, Manager Kar l' Klinger, Dealer Repre sentatiue New Media Development Rick Ma then y, Webmastcr Stephanie Leam on, Assistant Cla ssifi ed Ads Teri Kerr Graph ics an d Pro d uct io n Mand y Loo, Production Marlaga Den nis Greene, Lab. Tech. Ama nda Wollny, Graphic Artist Rand y S. Hess , Graphic Artist Sandi Gettys, Graphic Artist Ad m in istration Judy Klin ger, Coordinator Leann e Sims, AdministrativeAssistant Accountin g/Data Proces si n g , Donn a Bryan-Diam ond , AfR Coordinator Gene va Re£ass , Ass istant The resa Milbu rn , Credit Loudon crashes Circulatio n Alma Anguiano, Circulation Mallager Carol Maggio , Processing Coordinator Pa m Klein , BUling Coordinator Joy Lau, Deal r Coordinator e Jessica Sch roeder, Assistant I wa nt to express m y sad ness over the Service and Support Sha n no n Clark, Receptionist Jim O lson, Service and Support National Headquarters 3505-M Ca d illac Ave.• Cos ta Mesa, CA 92626 P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 (714) 751-7433 FAX (714) 751-6685 Eas te rn O ff ice 4188 First Ave., Tucke r, GA 30084 P.O. Box 805, Tuck er, GA 30085-0805 (770) 934-7850 FAX (7701934-3112 e-mail edi tor@cyclenews.com subscribe@cyclene ws .com advert ising@Cycle news .com 92628. Periodicals Pos tage Paid a t Costa MtSI, CA a nd at addi tiolli!l mailing office. Cana da Post Interna tional Pub lication.. ~ al l f546615 . POST MASTE R: Send addres s changes to Cycle Boll. 5084, Costa M ~ CA 9262S-SOS4. N~W1, P.O. To dete rmi ne the expiratio n dat e of your subscri ptio n, check the four numbers on the firs t line of your ad dress lab el. Th e fiB I two digits in dicaltothe l a~t issuto"num ber yo u'll receive and the last two characters indi cate the year of the last iss ue. Subscription rates: Ra tes for the United States and its posse;sio ns for one yea r (SO L OS), $5OolXJ; two years 0 00 issues ), <>sUt. $95.00; six months (25 iSSUl'S ), S26.c J; trial sub OS issues), X $19,00. Ca nada and Foreign. one year (SOissues), $90.00; two yea rs 000 Issues), S175.00;"Six mont h'>(25 issu es ), S4S.c tria l XJ; sub 05 issues) $38.00. , welcome unsolicited edi torial material includi ng s stories, cartoo ns, photos, etc. Such material. if published. becomes the exclusive propt'rty of Cycle News. Reprin ting in whole or part only by permission of the publisher. Advertising rates and circula tion informa tion will besent upo n request. SeeS.R. .5. O Nl'WS W/Bn'A ' A UOr fEO V -r O RCULA TION ~ ~ . Mi g u el DuHamel suffered a doubl e co m pou nd fra ct u re to his left fe m u r. Brett Metzger was seriously injured, suffering a frac tured sku ll, elbo w fracture and int ern al injuries tha t requi red the r em o v al o f h is left kidney a nd hi s spleen. Brett wa s put on life support. Thomas Wil son rem a in s in inten sive care after fractu ri ng both femu rs, h is p elv is, and his low er righ t leg , along with su staining a pun ctured lu ng. This is inexcusa ble and un necessary, and we need to look no further tha n the AMA to fin d fa u lt. Thi s s ea so n was shaping u p as being one of the most com pe titi ve and exciting in AMA roa d ra cing h is tory. N o t o n ly h a s th at prospect been dim ini shed , but promising careers may now be cuf short. We all kn ow that motorcycle racing is dangerous , but it need not be mad e more dange ro us b y li n ing r un o ff a reas w it h u nforgiving co nc re te ba rri er s. Ra cer s ha ve been complai ni ng abo ut da ngerou s tracks like Loudon for years. Tracks that are no t motorcycle-friendly have no business being on the AMA sched ule. If that means fewer races, then so be it. I am so sickened by this needless carnage tha t I am withholding the renewal Lima rules Even thou gh the Lima Grand National fina l was rained (d row n ed) out last weekend, the heat s and semis provid ed some brillia n t competition. Watchin g Geo Roeder fight throu gh Jay Springstee n's heavy cus hion sp ray to captu re a d irect transfer, aft er having been questionably sen t to the pe nalty line in his heat race, was a rea l highligh t. The cro wd ro ar ed its ap p rov al during similar efforts - su ch as Mike Hack er's last-lap WFO pass of Will Davi s in tu rns three and four to clinch a spo t in the National and send Davis to the paddock for the rest of the night. With all d ue respect , it was also refreshing to see Dan Stanley co nvi nci ngly keep Scott Parker beh ind him for th e duration of thei r ba ttle, and to watch Johnny Murphree dominate what tu rn ed ou t to be the evening' s final race - the third semi. Th e you ng li on s w e re hun gry a t Lima and if only the go ds would have hel d back the rain for another 15 minu tes, I'm sure th ey would have mad e Carr, Mo rehead and Parker work very hard for the top spo t on the podium. . By the wa y, I almost forgot to men tion the best thing of all abo u t the competition at Lima - no Sports ter Performance / 883 class! Kim Link Galena,OH Letters to the editor should be sent to Vo ices, Cycle News, P,O . Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/751-6685 or e-m ail , editor@cycle- J news.com, Published le tters do n ot necessarily reflect th e position of Cycle News, Inc. Lett ers sh ou ld not exceed 200 words and all letters are sub ject to ed iti ng. Anonymous letters wiII not b e con sidered for publication. All letters s h o u l d co n ta i n the w riter' s name, address and da ytime phone number ,.. Editor. Issue 127 MY 15, 1 998 Cycle News (uSPS 141-340)is published weekly except the last two weeks of t~e calendar,year for SSO.OO per year by CycleNews. Inc.• ~M Cadillac Avenue, Costa Mesa. CA Printed in U.S .A. ter rib le acci den ts recently a t Lou d on. Miguel DuHam el was in thick of one of the closest tit le battles in memor y and he s uffers a n h orrifi c ac cident; a nd Tho mas Wilson 's is wo rse, if that is possible. And Bre tt Metzger , too. Wha t is going on here? Bad luck? Fate? Karma? No ! Place the blam e where it righ tful. ly belongs - with the American Motorcyclist Association. What a re th e s e people th inki n g about? Are these p eop le awa re tha t motorcycle raci ng is a -dangerous sport? Are these peop le aware that mo torcycle racers are not su rro unded by a roll cage s uch as ca r racers? Are these peo p le aware that wh en a motorcyclist and his mount pa rt company, con tact with an immovable object will su rely result in And more... of m y AMA membe rs hip until they a nnou nce a com p re hensive plan to re d u ce unnecessarv risk of serious injury in fut ure AM A-sa nctioned road races. The AMA needs to get the message and the only wa y to do that is to hit them where it hu rts - in the pocketbook. I would suggest th at eve ryon e d o the same. Mark Ressa e w p o rt Beach, CA INSIDE Intern et h ttp :/ / www.cyclene ws .com Cycle Regarding BiIl Da r t's gu est ed ito ria l (Issue #25, Jul y 1) that w as w ritten in r esponse to a letter b y St eph en Schwenk, in which Schwenk crit icized th e Blue Ribb on C oalit ion - Dart responds that Schwenk doesn't understand the BRC. The onl y think tha t Schw enk doesn't und erstand is how extr eme the BRC is. As a form er member of the BRC, I can tell you that they are no t jus t what they ' clai m to be . Yes, th ey d o support offre ad ers' rig hts to access publi c lan d s. But what they don 't tell you is that they also su ppo rt an extreme rightwing po litical agenda . Th ey don ' t tell you abou t th eir a ssociations wi th ext fe me rig htwing political groups. I have w ritten to the BRC wit h d ocumen ta tion of thes e asso ciati ons and th ey ha ve, not surprisingly, failed to respond. I know and respect Bill Dart's wo rk on behalf of the AMA' s District 36, but when he starts spewing this BRC propagan da I ha ve a hard time not groaning ou t load . Even my logger friends lau gh a t sta teme nts lik e Dart' s "today thes e resourc e ind ustries (lumber, etc.) ope rat e in an environmen tally responsib le mann er ..." The bott om line: If you su pport the AMA (w h ich als o works to keep land open to off-readers), yo u are supporting a mot or cycle-on ly gro up that d oes not have a hidden political agenda . Rex McClellan Ph ilo, CA broken bones - let alon e brok en bikes ? Remember Flvin' Fred Merke l? Remember Pom ona ? ' I as k th ese seemingly simple qu estion s because I truly believe the AMA d oesn't kn ow the a ns wers . They have proved th is tim e and time aga in. Yes , hindsight is 20/20, but they mu st als o learn from prev iou s experi ence. Th e AMA mu st li s ten and rea ct a cco rdin gly to rid er-safety co n cerns . What could be more important? Who is in cha rge? Are you m o re con ce rn ed wit h ticket sales and TV coverage? The A MA gave its a nswe r yea rs a go at Pomona, threat ening every rider ther e to s to p a n impendin g bo y cott of a n unsa fe track - that is when m y AMA membership was canceled . Yes, I'm mad . Safe ty mu st be a t the top of the list. The AMA need s to have a rid er com mittee to review safety issues at every race track each and every time they are ther e. An unprotected wall in tu rn one in a we t qu a lif y in g s es s io n .. . Wh o is in charge? Greg Patino Cypress, CA . FEATURES M OTOCROSS Round 6 - Red Bud National MX from Michigan 8 26 OFF·ROAD Silver State 300 28 Rounds 7/8 - World Cham pion sh ip 125/ 500cc MX from Italy / Slovakia .....31 INTERVIEW Dirt tracker Kevin Ather ton 34 Round 5 - Wes tern Na tional Fou r-Stroke series from Colorado .40 SPEEDWAY Miln e Cup from Co sta Mesa 36 ROAD RACE Round 8 - World Champ ions hip Series from Grea t Britain 14 TAGE VIN Steve McQueen Mem orial Vintage AHRMA MX 38 DRAG RACE Round 7 - N HRA drag races from Illinois .42 Round 9 - Wor ld Ch ampionship 250cc Motocross from ItalY ..........•..................30 Round 7 - Wor ld Superbike from Sou th Africa 18 DEPARTMEN TS WIND 2 EUROFILE NEW BIKES 1999 Kawasa ki KXs _ ~- Co~yrighte Cy cle News , In c."1998. Trademark Cvde Ne ws registere d U.s. Patent O ffi ce. All rights reserved. . DIRT TRACK Rou nd 6 - ew 96 Nati on al Half Mile from Michigan 22 .4 EVENTS .43 CALENDAR .58 W ANT ADS 66 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC 83 LOOKING BACK 83 ON THE COVER New Zea lander Simo n Cra far won the Briti sh Grand Prix a t Don ingt on Park, ending Honda's win strea k in the 5 00cc cla ss a t 22. Photo by Gold & Goo se. Inset: Jeff Em ig w ins again . Photo by Kinney Jon es. .

• Cover