Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Voices America's weekly motorcyclenewspaper V ol ume XXXVI Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau , Associate Editor Keith Bush, Assistant Editor /Copy Editor Matt Freeman, Assistant Editor Alan Cathcart, European Editor David R. Holther , Copy Editor Advertising Western Sta tes (714) 751-7433 Terry.Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mark Thome, W,ostern Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, Western Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, Ad Coordinator Bridgett Bobrofsky, Assistant Advertising ' Eastern Sta tes (770) 934-7850 Greg Mitchell, Eastern Accounts Manager Jim Clark, Eastern Sales Manager Carla Allen, Ad Coordinator Marketing & Promotion Mark Thome, Director Forrest Hayashi, Manager KoryKlinger, Dealer Representative New Media Development Kory Klinger, Site Manager Classified Ads Alicia Franklin Graphics and Production Mandy Loo, Art Director Amanda Wollny, Lead Graphic Artist Paul Fisher, Graphic Artist Ad m inistration Judy Klinger, Coordinator Pam Klein, Administrative Assistant AccountinglDala Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, AIR Coordinator Geneva Repass, Ass istant Theresa Milburn, Credit Manager Circu lation Alma Anguiano, Circulation Manager Carol Maggio, Processing Coordinator Joy Lau, Deale Coordinator r Donna Sharp, Billing Coordinator -Service and Support . Shannon Clark, Receptionist Jim Olson, Serciceand Support Natio na l Headquarters 3505-M Cadillac Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626 P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 (714) 751-7433 FAX(714) 751 -6685 !i.astem Offi« 41 88 First Ave.,Tucker, GA 30084 P.O. Box 805, Tucker, GA 30085-0805 (770) 934-7850 FAX (770) 934-311 2 e-ma il ed itor@cyclenews .com su bscribe®cv clene ws. com ad ve rtising @cyclene ws .com Internet http:/ /www.cyc1enews.com Cycle News (USPS1.;1·3.;() is publi..hed weekly except the la..1t w o weeks of tht' calendar year for 558.00 pt.'!" year by (veil."News, Inc.•350S-M Cadillac Avenue. Costa MOil. CA 9i 626. Periodicals Postage r aid at Costa Mesa, CA and 011 additiona l mailing office. Canada Post lnremational Publicatiun!> Mail#546615. roST:\lASTER: Send address changes to Cycle News. P.O. Box 5084 Costa xtesa CA 9262S-50~. , , To de termine the ecpi rst ion dat e of your subscription, check the four numbers on the firs t lin e of yo ur address label. The fir-.t two digit!\. indic... . the I... ",tiss ue number you'll receive h" and the last two characters Indica te the year of the lasl issue. Subscription rah.. Rates for the United States and its ~"l'S' -s: sions for one vear (SO is!>lI\;.~), SSSJX two \'ca~ noo issues), ); $111 .00; six I"';llnth:s (25 i~..ue ), 529.00; tri.~1 sub (15 issues). s s) $21.00. Canad,l and Foreign, om' voar (50 bsUI.. . $105.00; rwc years (100 iSSlIt'S), SIQ S.llO; six months (25 iS 'S), $55.00; trial SUl sub (15 issues). $42.00. C'J C'J C'J Cycle N l'W S welcomesunsolicitededitorial material including i stories. cartoons. photos. etc. Such materi..l. if published. becomes the exclusive property of Cycle News. Reprinting in wholeor part only by permissio n of the publisher. Advertising rates and circulation information will be sent upon request . SeeS.R.D.5 ~ N . W/SPA CIRCULATION ~ V I<'ll!__ AUDITED .:; Pri nt ed in U.S.A. 4 Co~yrigh Cycle News, Inc. 1991}. Trade mark Cycle News registered ~.s. Patent Office. Al l rights reserved. Vive Pichon! Pichon backer As to the unfortunate episode involving Mickael Pich on, I a pplaud Cycl e News for p rin ting hi s letters regard ing his account of the issue . Whil e it is evi d en t that both parties ac ted in a n u nprofessional ma n ner, a majority of the blame lies at the door of the AMA and the local track officials. . Their capitulation to needless panic wa s a rev eali ng exam ple of the intoxication with ru les in this country, Had the officials ap proach ed the situation rea sonab ly, that composure wo uld hav e helped tra nscend th e la n gu age b arrier. As it was, however, the un iversal communication of u nnecessa ry belligere nce only served to confuse the situ ation furt her. Mickael Pich on ' s career in America has been marked by p rofessio na lis m and dedicatio n - the refor e it sho u ld be obvious that his striking a track official wa s an unusual respon se to the AMAin duced agit at io n . Wh ile it m u st be a g reed th at Pich on sh ou ld n ot h av e allowed himse lf to be distracted in this manner, the heavy fine im posed by the AMA is both unfair and shor tsigh ted , Gerry Wagon er Piq ua, OH seen or heard any thing as absurd as the goings on at Lima, and then again at the "Ne w" Ind y Mile, At Lima, Scotty Parker won tha t race - wire to wire, plain and simple - with a full s tra igh tawa y lead when the AMA official came out with a white flag and the red flag. The race was red -flagged because of a lapper who had fallen in tum fou r at least two or three laps earlier and was out of the way and out of danger. Then, after 24 laps, they decided to resta rt the race for an addi tional five laps. The rest is history. The referee had told Scott earlier that "t he people d on 't want to see him win eve ry race " - even though th is is h is far ewell tour. That's bull. On t o Ind y : Th e AMA tri ed to exp lain a t th e r id ers ' m e eti n g th a t beca use of the prev ious year's rai nou t at Lima, the fans d eserved a checkered flag and .tha t is why they res tar ted the race. O nce ag ain, this proves th a t th e AMA makes u p th e ru les as they go, Wh a t th e h ell is th at ? There were n o lead cha nges b eh ind Sco tt a nd Chris Carr for at leas t eig ht la ps - and Sco tt had led fro m the start. The race should never have been restarted . I think they should go back and give him the wi n. Now! I hon estl y believe the AMA, for some unknown reason, is trying to screw Pa r ker in hi s last yea r. Why? Indy was unbelievable, Carr and Will Davis were abo ut 10 bike lengths ahea d by the 10th lap, but Scott reeled them in by the 20th and was in first by la p 21. The y jockeyed back an d for th until the end , an d Chris won by a cou ple of inches. Th e cro wd wen t nu ts - th ev did n't seem like peo ple who didn't want Scott to win. That showed in the pit s later as Sco tt 's line for au togra p hs was s till a mile long eve n an hour after the race while the wi nner was packin g u p all his stu ff. I w is h m y fa ther was s till alive to . have seen this. It see ms like only yesterd a y w h e n h e t ol d m e after Ca ro l Resw ebber' s fou rth Na tio na l Cha m p ionship, "You will never see anyone as go od as tha t." Well , I' ve told my sons the sa me thi n g, on ly I've changed the nam e to Scott y Park er , Jim Baile y Fort Wayne, IN Give it to Parker Wood responds I hav e bee n go ing to d i~l tra ck races Before you sta rt bad -m ou thi ng one of m y employees (Ell io tt Iv e rs on ) in a s ince 1959 - 40 years - and I've never INSIDE : ISSUE #28 JULY21,1999 FEATURES ROAD RACING Round 8 - World Superbike Ch ampionship Series from Monter ey, Californi a 6 DIRTTRACK Round 8 - AMA Grand Na tional Dirt Track Series from Joliet, lIIinois 16 SUPERCROSS Summe rcross from Los An geles, California SPEEDWAY Round 3 - World Ind ivid ua l Cha m pionship Series from Wroclaw, Poland 20 24 NEW BIKES 2000 Suzuki ·RM mo tocross bikes .........26 RIDING IMPRESSION 1999 Buell S3T Thunderbolt 30 TRIAL Round 8 - World Observ ed Trials Cha m pio nsbip Series from Watkins Glen, New York 34 FEATURE A look at the bikes of the World Cham pio nshi p 500cc MX Series ...........36 DEPARTMENTS EVENTS LEADERBOARD CALENDAR WANT ADS OFFTHE ROAD LOOKINGBACK " , , , , ,.., 38 49 , 50 ,..58 75 ,75 ONTHE FRONT COVER Ben Bostrom - Superhero. The young Californ ian and his Van ce & Hin es Ducati were impeccab le during the World Superbike round at Laguna Seca. Photos by Gold & Goose. na tio nal publication, and in sinuating that my com pany may have had somethi ng to do with the articles written by hi m, you should do your homew ork a little better, First of all, Elliott wo rks for me from 8 a.m . to 5 p.m. and what he does in his personal life is his responsibility. If yo u have a bon e to pick wi th h im abo u t h is freela nce re p ort in g , maybe you sho uld call him at ho me and d is cu ss th e issue like a ge n t le ma n before you start sending letters to the ed itor. - In read ing his last article abo u t Gene Rom er o's West Coast Fla t Track Series, it sounds to me as if he used the proper terminology establis hed by the AMA which sets the standa rd for the indus try and did an excellen t job. The AMA has a proced u r e ca lled h om o lo g ation , by w hich mo tor cycles are ap prov ed to be raced a t th eir eve n ts , As of this d at e, they have approved only thr ee Rot a x four-strok e-p owered motor cycle br and n am es : Ca n -Am , Wood -R ota x a n d Ha rley-Da vidson , In or der to have a n e ng in e h om olog at ed , a n a p p lica tio n m us t be submitte d in wri ting; then one race-read y mot or cycl e and 25 engi nes , for sale to the public, are to be presen ted to the AMA for inspection; and a fee must be paid . Evidently , ATK has not d one this as of my last correspondence wi th the AMA , Wood-Ro tax has been ho mo loga ted in several configurations 500cc, 560cc, 600cc, 660cc, 605 twin cam, and 605 retr ofit kit - with fees paid in excess of $10,000. I have complained to the AMA in the past abo ut the ROlaX engine being represen te d u nd er o th e r names , s u ch as KTM, CCM, ATK and Matchless, and it was stated that these engi nes wo uld be allowed to race, but not un der a brand name ot her than Ro ta x (R tx) . If anythin g, ATK is gettin g a free ride, wi th no effort or mo ney ou t of pocket. You also men tion ed the BMW and Aprilia mo torcycles . I'm sure that you, of all people, reali ze th a t th ese engines are wholly ow ned a n d d e si g n ed fo r BMW a n d Ap rilia. Rotax is simply the man ufa ctu rer of the en gine. O bvio usly, yo u rea d Cy cle News . I wo u ld like to bring you r attention to the Peo ria AMA Ho t Shoe race in the Jun e 23 issu e (page 42), showing Chris Ca rr riding a motorcycle with a Rota x powerp lan t in a Wo od -Rota x fr a me, while ATK ge ts the cred it for a National wi n. How can you and ATK be so ign orant as to mi sl ea d th e pub li c a n d h a ve th e aud acitv to take cred it for a win when yo u had abs olu tely nothin g to do with

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