Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128004
O n another note, as a femaleperson I am always happy to see gender designations for the racing gals. Since a woman ra cin g w it h t he g u ys is s ti ll p re tt y un u su al, I a m more lik ely to as sume th at som e o ne w i th the n a me o f Step ha ni e is a guy wit h a n unu s u a l na m e - ra th er th an an .extra ord in ary wo ma n. Even thou gh Genevieve Schmitt may find it offensive that the designa tion is necessary, I'll bet she's not half as u pset as so me o f the male rid er s Stephan ie Welch ma y beat. I'm sure a few of them wo uld love to hav e us conti nu e thinking she's a guy . Pam Falcion i pamfa lcioesaol.com . A loyal follower? I am a hu ge Cycle News fan and I want to tha n k you fo r p ro v id in g me w it h some 25 years of vicariou s livin g. Being a hop eless roma ntic, I live for the days of car ving berm s and d oing old -school DeCos ter-s tyle crossups. As the ow ner o f four Ho n d a m otorcycl es a n d tw o ' Hond a cars over the yea rs, I've cons idered m yself a loy a l fo llo wer of th eir innovati on, per formance and style. Enou gh gloa ting . My w ife was d riving me d own to Hom e Dep ot to buy a new Ho nda mow er (of cou rse) as I sa t r ead i ng M ickae l Picho n' s lett ers to Cycle News. It so u nd ed li ke th e sa me old rheto ric. Th en 1 began to recoll ect so m e of th e h e r oe s who r ac ed fo r Hond a ov er the years: Brad Lackey, Jim Po m ero y, th e Su n br oth ers, M ar ty Tripes, Marty Smi th, Johnny 0', Davi d Bailey, Ha nnah, LaP or te and , of cou rse, McGrath. I still have a lot of thei r autogra ph s. Before lon g I began to realize that if I took just one phot ogr aph of eac h rider that best rep resent ed their career, it usually wasn' t on a Hond a: Who ca n forget Ha nn ah s tom p ing the boys on a box-s tock YZ250 du rin g the Winter AMA Series and then giving away his bike? Or Marty Smith com ing ba ck from th e d ea d to w in Dayt ona ? H ow abo u t Lackey an d LaPorte w innin g th e World Cha m p io ns h ips ? The jokester Rick Johnson roosting the field we a ring a pa ir of beach shorts on th e outs ide of his Yama ha lea thers? Hec k, I will best remember David Bailey as the kid w ho consoled me whe n his father, Gary, wh acked my rig ht hand wit h his cane d uring a riding class . It seems like wh en each of those rid er s left Hond a, they went on to bet ter, richer lives . Is it possible th at w here th e re 's sm ok e , th er e ' s fire? Ma yb e Ho nda's pressure to be number one, or the return on inves tmen t and polished im a ge , a r e m o r e imp ortan t than patiently grooming yo u ng ad u lts and c re ati ng fo nd mem ories for old coots like me? Who know s? But for no w (and to my w ife's chag rin), I' m go nna pass on the Honda mower and turn into the Yama ha dealer 's parking lot to have a look at I?oug Henry's YZ400F. Paul Floyd pfloyd @ens.com Good crowd I have attended all of the World Superbike races at Laguna Seca since 1995 and qua lify as an "old buzzard " at 50-somethin g. I wo u ld like to comment on the crowd b e h a v io r. Afte r a ll, i t is a nd always has been excellent. I imagine a lot of the crowd is ma de up 'of teen agers a nd yo u ng p eople in th eir ea rlyZtls, b u t a lt ho ug h the ha ir styles and the tattoos tend to be pret ty wild, their a ttitu des alwa ys ten d to be po lite and respectfu l. , The re will always be th e 2 p er cen t fo lks w ho will be jerks, ye lli ng the ir fav or ite fou r-lett er w ords, refusing to s ta nd for th e nat iona l a n them or th e invoca tion, b ut I w as impre s s ed b y th e young p eopl e sit ting in th e tu rn fou r gra nds tands . Du rin g th e in vocatio n th e y s too d a nd remove d th eir hats, a nd a t the pl ayin g of th e na tional a n th em they p la ced th eir h at s over th eir hearts. It had a profound effect on me. I tu rn ed 25 in Vietn am in 1968 a nd was th e "o ld man " to the teen age so ldiers I s erved with . These you ng p eop le at Lag u na Seca reminded me . s o m uch o f th o s e yo u n g -m e n w ay bac k th en - you ng, fea rless and bu llet proof. The whol e weekend is alwa ys such a grea t experience, an d I' ve been able to me et briefly with many racers, su ch as Mi ck Do oh an (t h is yea r) , Kevi n Sch wantz, Mi guel DuHamel and Rich Oliver, an d they are all gentlemen. Now , I realize that the racers as well as th e race atten dees will have major perso na lity cha nges once they moun t up to rid e home or race. No prob lem . I also no tice there a re more ladi es ridi ng their ow n bikes now . This is great. Th e fut u re o f motorcycli n g and mot orcycle racing is in good hands . I a p p la u d all th e 'ro ad ra cers an d ro ad racing en thus iasts as well as SCRAM P Old-style racer Geo Roede r II loves the Old-Time News ies dirt track race. (Sports Car Raci ng Ass oci a tion of the Mon terey Pen in su la ) a nd e ve ry body else w ho m a ke s thi s a g rea t ra ci n g weekend . Ken Shi el ds Denton, TX Old-Time Newsies I wo uld like to write to thank everyone fo r the ir grea t do na tio ns a t th e Old Time Newsies rac e in Dayton, Ohio. The peop le at KK Mo torc ycle Sup ply put on this great event eve ry yea r, and .wi thou t the likes of J.R. Kelley, Tim Wourms and the whole staff at KK, this even t wou ld not hap pen. Th e race at Dayton is a comm unity even t, su p p o rt ed b y th e m otorcycl e comm unity and the Daytona community alike . Th e race thi s year d rew 4500 spec tators and raised $50,000 for chari ty while pa yin g ou t nearly $30,000 in pri ze mon ey to pa rticip ants . The eve nt d rew so me of the best tiders in the country - guys like Morehead , Varnes, Davis, Kop p , Bu tler, Sta nley, Eva ns , Beyer and Rayburn. Wit h Beyer pu tting on one of the bes t performances I've seen in a while, it was a good show. I am person ally ho nored to be in the com pany of pas t winners such as Ronnie Rall , Ji m m y Z ieg le r, Ted Bood y , . Hank Sco tt. Ga ry Sco tt, Da n In gram, Co rky Keener, Dou g Dav is, Scott Park er a n d Stev e Mo rehead. It was a gr e"t night for me mon etaril y and mentally to become the first seven-time wi nner. 1 just wa nt to thank everyone who is a part of this event and my racin g team withou t all of yo u, non e of this would be possible. George Roeder II. Monroeville, OH Letters to the editor should be sent to Vo ices, Cycle News, P.O. Bo x 5084 , Costa Mesa , CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/751-6685 or e-mail, editor@cyclenews .com. Publi s hed lett ers do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters s ho u ld not exceed 200 wo rds and all letters are sub ject to editing. Anonymous letters wiII not be considered for publication. All letters s h o ul d con fa in t he w rit er' s n ame, address an d daytime phone number ... Editor. . 7