Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

The shirt off his back I just returned home from attending the Washougal AMA Motocross National for the first time and I wanted to share an experie nce with you r read ers and othe r mo tocross fans . Follo wi ng th e awards ceremony, a memori al auct ion was held for 12-yearold mini cha mpio n Brandon Lay ton . A large nu mber of rid ers donated items s uch as p an ts , je rseys and goggles . Among those riders was Doug Henry. _ While all the riders retu rn ed to the pits, Doug stayed around and was an active participant in the auction. O n sev eral occasions, he held the microphone a nd encouraged fa ns to increase th eir bids, reminding them that this was for a good ca use. At o ne p o int, Doug wa s in volved in bidding on a pair of autographed goggles fro m John Dowd. He in cre ased his bids each time to assu re th at m ore mon e y w as r ai s ed . Aft er b ein g t h e s ucces s fu l b idd er, Dou g immediatel y gave th e goggles to th e wo ma n who was the underb idder. As the auction neared its end, Doug re turned to th e pod iu m and rem oved h is Team Ya ma ha d ress s hirt. While wearing no shirt, Doug ha ndled the bidding him self, hold ing th e micropho ne and accep ting bids that went in to several hundred dollars. Doug' s participa tion in the auction wen t far b e y ond a ny obl iga t io n h e mi ght have to th e s port a nd it s fans . Doug Hen ry is the epito me of a champion wh o r epresent s everyt hing tha t is right wi th man. His heart, cou rage and class make him not only a role mod el for other racers, but for people everywhere. I don't know who Bra ndon Lay ton's favorite race r was, bu t if he was watching on Su nday, I'm sure Doug Henry is a t the top of his list. Kurt Lemke Highland, CA The numbers stink Why doesn' t the AMA call its new numbering sys tem for alloca ting nu mbers for motocro ss what it really is - a semi-perman en t system ? Doesn 't this d efeat the purp ose of having a "permane nt " system ? This new system st inks. Let the riders run th e number that they ea rned the p receding year. The AMA is famous for these s tupid changes tha t supposed ly wi ll enhance the sport . It's not fair to the riders involved to keep making th es e changes . There a re several rid ers ou t there bu sting their rears to "earn" a top- 10 number that will never ge t a cha nce to do so under this new svstem - as well as those just trying to "ea~n" a tw o-di git number inst ead of being assigned a leftover. Lea ve the numbering sys te m alone. Ti m Sim ps on tim simpson@enid.com Schwantz stunner I was stunned to read about the ugl y incident involving Kevin Schwantz and his gi rlfriend at the Mid-Ohio Sp orts Car Course. I spent a delig htful weekend at the AHRMA event at Mid-Ohio just a week prior to the AMA Pro weekend. Duri ng the AHRMA weekend, pit veh icles, scooters, minibikes, etc., were everywhere aro und the facility . I saw no security e nforcing any " p i t vehicle" rul es. It seem s ther e is a major do uble standard at the facility, and that has created so me very bad pu bli c relati ons. Themanagem en t at Mid-Ohio seems to need a refres her course in Pro motion 101. Larry Coleman lcole94782@aol.com Turn up the noise A Uni ted Sta tes Motorcycle Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake , Wisco nsin, n ext s ummer? Rossi , Biaggi, No rifumi Abe and Rober ts Jr. pushi ng both tires with lurid slides? Tu rn u p the volume! Let's go! Bob b y Meisser Oo stburg, WI Selling your soul Cycle News and its charitabl e organization, !he Clayton Foundation, obviously sold Its sou l to the devil for a p iddling sum of mo ney by embracing Ll.S, Tobac co's scheme to get yo u n g people to believ e chewing tobacco a nd toba cco companies aren't all that bad - just look at all the mon ey they are donati ng to a wo rth while cause . Tobacco produ cts, including chewing tob a cco, kill th ou sands of people p er yea r. For the Clayton Fou ndatio n to ac cep t m o n ey fro m thi s in du s t r y is appalling. You should be ashamed of yo urselves. Even more u nacceptable is tha t one of the boa rd members is a doctor. I wonder how he can justify taking money from an industry that has caused so much suffering in people's lives. It is unfortunate that the allure of "big" money ou tweighed the Clay ton Foundation's moral and et hical responsi b ili ties to prevent impres si on able yo u ng people in a sport as physically d em a nd in g as m otocros s to beli e ve chewing tobacco is their best friend. Brett Cross San Lui s Obispo, CA Thi nk of it as Robin Hood money - taking from the rich to give to the needy. No matter uihere the money comes from, it goes to good use. It helps get injured motorcycle racers back on their feet financially. How can that be viewed as bad? Think of it this way: If U.S. Tobacco doesn't spend the money wit h the Clayton Foundation, it's going to spend its money somewhere else. Be glad that those motorcyclist s who need it are gett ing it... Editor Another idea I also di sagr ee wit h the idea of aggrega te scori ng fo r ra ces th at a re red flagged. It is the best thing to do as far as the racers are concerned, but it is far too confusing for th e fa ns. Aggrega te time brings to mind an old Abbott and Costello routine - who's in first, I don't know who's in second, etc. But the current system of restarting a race with only a few laps left, effectively throwing out the first part of the race , also doesn't make any se nse. I believe there is a bet ter way. Since the AMA can' t fine me, I'll make a suggestion. Whe n a race is redflagged af te r 40 p er cent of the race is run, call it a race and award half points. Then grid the rid ers according to their first race resul ts, instead of the original grid . . This would benefit th e racer who qualified poorly but hit his race setup and moved up from a bad starting position . The racers who qualified well but missed their race setu p wo uld have a ch ance to change things for the next race . Then simply awa rd half points for the second race . The fans wo u ld always know who is wi nni ng and the TV comment ators might even be able to keep it stra ight. Mark Cumberford oldfartracer®webtv.net How about a Speedway GP? I hav e been brought up to eat, drink and sleep mot orcycle racing. Since the time I was in diapers, I have always attended motorcycling eve nts . I hav e attended the Supercross Series for as long as I can remember with my father and have worked for PACE the last two seasons to fulfill my need to attend every round . I have also been to a few dirt track and su perbike races, but nothing cou ld compare to supercross - until now . Last mo nt h I was lucky enough to fly to Wroclaw, Pola nd , to experience the most thrilling mot orcyclin g event I have ever been a part of. On July 3, the exciteme n t tha t filled the Wroclaw Olym pic stadium set the scene for a final game of soccer in the World Cup - bu t it wasn' t socce r the wild Polish fans were chee ring for. Instead it was for their own Polish speed way hero - Tomas Go llob. Since I was a speedway virgin at the time, I had no idea what to expect. From what I'd heard, speedway was a lot like d irt track. I was wrong - the racing was more intense with exciting hea ts. Th e bikes, racer s and fa ns were cool. The racer s were d own to ea rth, grea t guys w ho e n joyed han gin g ou t w ith th eir fans after the eve nt. After wa tchi ng the Polish Grand Prix, I was hooked . I went to England the following week and I did n't see a sing le mu seu m or castle. Instead, I went to as many speedway races as I could. At one race I was tal king to a racer and I asked when a Speedway GP would make its way to the United Sta tes . Several racers ov erheard me and sta rted to laugh. One rep lied that the FIM has been talkin g about taking the GP to America for 10 years, yet it will probably never ha ppen. Now don' t get me wrong. I sti ll love and am devoted to supercross, bu t one speed way race cou ld get anyo ne hook ed fo r lif e . I' m hear t-broken. I wa n t so badly to be ab le to fly out to a speedway race on 20,000 frequent flyer miles (not 50,000) and not spend half the time on a plane getting there. Please tell me that th e FIM Individual Speedwa y Grand Prix will on e da y sh ow up in the Ll.S, Kristin Cheatwood lilbu rn, GA Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxe d to 714/751 -6685 or e-mailed to edi tor@ cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position o f Cycle N ews, Inc. Letters should not excee d 200 w ord s and all letters are sub ject to editing. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All letters sh ou ld contain the writer's n a m e, add r e s s a n d da ytime phon e number... Editor. 5

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