Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~~. VOICES America's weekly motorcycle newspaper LmERSTO THE ED/TOR Volume XXXV Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor . KitPalmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor Mark Hoyer, Managing Edit r o Keith Bush, Assistant EditorlCnpy Editor Alan Cathcart, European Editor David R. Holther, Cnpy Editor Advertising Terry Pratt, National Accounts ManaglT Mark Thome, Western Sales Manager Thomas Genter, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Greg Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Jim Clark, Eastern Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, Western Ad Coordinator Bridgett Bobrofsky. Assistant Carla Allen, Eastern Ad Coordinator Tina Farr, Assistarit Marketing & Prom ot io ~ Ma rk Thom e, Director Forrest Hayashi, Matlager Kory Klinger, Dealer Representative New Media Development Rick Matheny, Webmaster Stephanie Leam on , Assistant Classified Ads Teri Kerr Graphics and Production Mandy Loo, Production Manager Dennis Greene, wb. Tech. Amanda Wollny, Graphic Artist Sandi Gettys, Graphic Artist Paul FISher, Graphic Artist Administration Judy Klinger, Coorditlator Leanne Sims , Administratioe Assis tant AccountinglData Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Assistant Theresa Milburn, Credit Circulation Alma An gui ano, Circulation Manager Ca rol Maggi o, Processing Coordinator Pam Klein, Billhzg Coordinator Sticking toget her I comme nd all of the AMA Pro road racers for fina lly join ing together and tak ing a stand for safet y. It' s been a long time coming and luckily you have so meone as reasonable as Ron Barrick to ba ck yo u up. Now d o it right and come up wi th a homologation coinmittee to make s u r e all sa fe ty conc ern s h a ve been ad d ressed a t all tracks on a yearly basis. As you can see, most track owners are more than will ing to work with the racer s - someone just needs to speak up. I think we a re all tir ed of seeing our friend s ge t hurt. Mark A. Cruz Santa Clarit a, CA Cherry-picking? I just spent a week at Loretta Lynn 's for the Ama teur Nationals . I know tha t there are alway s going to be peopl e who want to sandbag, push the rules to the limits , or downright cheat, but... I' ve been racing motocross for over 25 years and have a lways beli ev ed tha t if yo u raced fo r money and accepted it, you wer e at least considered an Expert or A-level rider. Ba ck in Febru a ry , I worked an A re n ac ross in Tup e lo , Mi ssiss ip p i, where I Saw a ride r bv the nam e of John Bov Mo nk race in ' th e Pr o class a n d accept money from the promoter. I find it strange that I saw the same rid er in th e B cla s s a t Lore tt a Lyn n' S. W h a t gives? I've noticed that some riders will " ba ck up " a cla s s if theyhave been inju red or haven 't raced for some time . I wo nde r if McGrath will come back as an Intermed iate. Mike Lambert Pamlambert@ipa.net Joy L1U , Dealer Coordinator Jessica Schroeder, Ass istnnt The Grand Champio ns hips Service and Support Shannon Cla rk, Receptionist O n behalf of the AMA and our part ners at Fast Track Racing, many thanks for Scott Rou sseau 's co verage of th e 1998 AMA Dirt Track Grand Championshi ps fro m Indianap olis. We'd also like to thank our num eroo s class sponsors, pat ron s and, most of all, the hundreds of riders from all over the cou ntry wh o put on such qu ality performances all week long. Special thanks to the Gran d Na tional Cha mpionship riders, team own ers and mechanics, as well as other speakers, who we re on han d for our Gra nd Cha m p ionship Sign- Up Part on July 6. The setting was great: the Brickyard Crossing Resort. And with the likes of Scott Park er, Will Jim O lson , S,'rvicCfllld Stwporf Natio nal Headquarters 3505-IVI"Cadillac Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626 P.O.Box 50H4, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 (71 4) 751-7433 FAX(71 4) 751-6685 Eas tern Office 4188 First A ve ., Tucker,GA 30084 P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA30085-0805 (770) 934-7850 FAX (770) 934-3112 e- mail ed ito r@cyclenews.com su bscribe@cyclen ews.com ad vertising@cycle news.com Internet http:/ /www. cyclenews.com Cycle Nt>w<; (uSPS 141·340) is published week ly except the 11'01 two wee ks o f the calenda r yea r for $50.00per yea r by , CycleNews. Inc . 3505-MCadillacAvenue, CostaMesa ,CA 9262S. Periodicals Postage Paid ill Costa Mesa.CA and a t additional mailing office Canada Post Internatio nal Publica, tion!'> Mail 1154n615. r OSTMASTER: Send ad dress cha nges 10 Cycle S e ws, P.O. Box 5084. CO!>t.1 M~, CA 92628-S084. To det ermin e th ~ expiration dat e of your s ubscription, chec k the four num~ B on the first lint' of your address label. The first two d igits indi ca te the last issue numbe r yo u'll receiv e and the la..t two cha racters indica te the year of the last issue. Subscription rates : Rates for the United States a nd i~ posses..ions for one )'ear (SO issu es ), $50.00; two yea rs 0 00 ISSUl'S), $95.00; six mo nths (25 issues), $26.00; trial sub 0 5 is.<;Ul'S), 519.00. (a n,11,:1.1 and Foreign. one yea r (50 issues), $Q().OO; two y eM s (100 issue ), $175.00 six mon ths (25issues), $45.1)0; tria l s ; sub (I S issues) , $38.00. Cycle News welcomes un solicited editorial material including stork'S, cartoo ns. photos. etc. Such ma ter ial, if published , becomes thr exclus ive pro pe rty o f Cycle New s. Reprin ting in who le or PdT onl y by perm ission of the publisher . Adv ertist ing rates and circu lation Info rmation will be sent upon reques t. See S.R.D.5. W/BD'A V .m!:~ AUDIT ED C IRCU LATIO N Printed in U.S.A. C0l.'}'righlc Cycle News, Inc. 1998. Trademark Cycle New s registered U.s. P.t ent Office.AU rights reserved. Davis, Joe Kopp, Bryan Bigelow, Brett Landes, the Hayden brothers, Ed Youngblood, Garv Nixon, Bill Wern er, Jim Land es, Tomm y Cummings, Rod Lake and' emcee Dave Despain on hand, wh at can we say? The su ppo rt was gra tifying, to sa y the least , a nd th e kids ap precia ted yo u bein g th er e mor e than you'll ever know . It was a privilege for us to have form er Indy Mil e wi nner and Grand National Champion Gene Romero as our first Gra nd Championships Honoree, a pra ctice we wi ll continue in future years. And, tru e to form, Gene didn't just say a few wo rds an d sign autographs - he hit the town doi ng med ia work in su pport of the future stars of dirt track racin g. Spe ak ing of fu tu re stars, congratu lations to Roger Lee Ha yd en on capturing the AMA Horizon -Aw a rd for 1998. O ur jud ges had a heck of a time ma kin g a d ecision , and while there we re seve ral notable cand idates, we ' re sure Roger Lee will carry the awa rd well in the coming year and be back wit h us next year in the _ AMA Pro Sport Grand Championships. Ther e wer e a lot of high spots during the week, but all we can do is apologize aga in for th e cancellation of the Short Tra ck Grand Ch ampionships at the 16th Street Speed way. The man agem ent was g r ea t to wo r k with , a n d w e d eepl y regr etted the cance llation - but when it ca me to pre p p in g the tra ck, w e fla t missed the setup whi le p laying catch-up af ter the heavy rains early in the wee k. We have a lot of excitin g p lans in the works for the 1999 edition of the AMA Dirt Tra ck Grand Cha m p ionships , and a n tici pa te t he a n no u nceme n t of th e sch ed u le of happen ings in Indy in the near futu re. We hope that a ll the riders will be back in '99, and that dirt track fans will ca tc h o n to th e fa ct th at th e G ra nd Championships have a lot to offer specta tors as well. Th is eve n t is a ll abo u t grass-roots d irt track ra cing . Check it out next July in Indi anapolis. Bill Amick Wes terville , OH Amick is the vice president of the A MA ... Editor. at Unadilla for years and the track was always in grea t sha pe. When we went to a National there with a da y-before Amateu r MX, it was a dusty, whooped-ou t mess . And we haven't been back. . 1 can understand the a tt raction for promoters to hold the Amateur events, bu t if the focus of the se ries is on th e N ati onal riders - w h ich is whe re i t belongs - then they s h ou ld have the p rivilege of racing on the best possi ble track . That would make for better racing and a more exciting and enjoyable even t for everyone. Rick Schwa lba ch Ho uston, TX Sundance Daytona Weapon Although I enjoyed the Suzuka 8 Hours race rep or t by Tracy Hagan, I wo u ld like to correct a cou ple of errors regard ing the Sund ance Daytona Weapon . The mot or cycle entered a t Suzuka was the Sundance Dayton a Weapon Il, a com pletely new motorcycle that ran for th e fir st time a t the AHRMA races a t Daytona in 1998. It has on ly run in three races so far and still has much developmen t w ork to b e d on e. It was ve ry important for the team to ge t valuable tra ck tim e at Suzu ka and to ma ke an appearance for all of the Harley-Davidson and Buell fan s in Japan. The Sunda nce tea m has entered the AHRMA races a t Day ton a every year since the early '90s. In 1997, a Sunda nce Spo rts ter-based entry wo n a BaTT race. In ' 98, th e Da yt on a Weapon I wo n a Ba TT race. It is in ac cu ra te to d escribe it as a cross between a Britten 'and a Spo rtster. The Da ytona Weapon II uses many "offth e- s h e lf parts" w h ile the Brit ten is almost completely ha nd made. There is confus io n becau se Sundance pr ovid es ,race a nd ma in te na nce su p po rt to th Britten team when they are in Japan. . Bill Sullivan Adbird @gol.com Sullivan works for The Rea/ McCoys, the sponsor of the SundanceDaytona Weapon 11 and a/so,a sponsor of dirt track legend Jay Springsteen... Editor. Letters to the editor should be <>en ! 10 Vo ices, Cyele News, P.O . Box 5084 , Co s t a M t's.i., C A 92 628-5084, faxed t o Agreeing with Albee I agree completely with Gre g Albertyn's statement a fter the Washou gal a tiona l th at Ama te ur MX d a vs sho u ld not be held prior to anonals. My friends an d I att ended the U.s. GP 714 nSl--6685 or e-mai l, edttcrecyclene we.cem. Published le tters do not n ecessaril y reflect t he position of Cyd News, Inc. letters sho uld not exceed 200 words a nd aU let ters an!' SUbj l'CI: to e d iti ng, Anon y mous letten will no l be con..id ered for pubttcation . All lell en should con tai n th writer's na me , . d d rf''Os

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