Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and allow for turbos and superchargers so they would be competitive. David Bell bells4@home.com Sacto rules Th e Sac ra men to .Mile h as th rilled us o nce agai n. As a lways, Ge ne Rom ero and crew did a fine job of preparing the trac k, an d the wea the r was perfect. And, u p on en te ring th e g randstand a rea, I had the pleasu re of meeting the always ap proachable an d conge nial Chris Agajanian and his partner Jack. Th e fact th a t I ha d 10 lea ve a day early from a three-d ay show an d had to sell my Saturday night main event ticke t for the 46th World of Outlaws Gold Cup in Chico soon left my mind as I got to see the show I've seen every yea r since J.e. Agaja nian ran the motorcycles at the old sta te fairgro und s.. Watching Jay Springsteen take a few hot laps aboa rd Ray Abrams' TZ7S0 flat tracker was worth the p rice of a ticket. Seeing local favorite Chris Carr win the main even t a n d ta ke th e nu mber-one p late topped off a n a lready excellent s how - co m p lete with seeing Supe rTrackers for my first time. T he o nly downside to th e whole evening was learning of Toby Jo rgensen's crash at Dallas. After wa tching Toby win at Lod i, I hoped to see him at the Mile. A tru st fu nd has been se t u p for him and I urge eve ryo ne to do na te w ha t yo u ca n for this fut u re s tar. Our thou ghts and prayers are wit h Toby and the Jor gen sen family and we wis h him a fast recovery . My tickets a t Cal-Expo, Section A, are alrea dy reserved for next year's race - as are my tickets for the World of Ou tlaws Gold Cu p in Ch ico. I hope sched uli ng problems aren't a problem nex t year. As a 50-year-old ex-race r, charter life me mber of the AMA and lifetime race fan, I'll always be back to watch the Sacramento Mile. Than ks again to the Agajanian organiza tion for a safe and exci ti ng show. Cong ra tu la tio ns to Chris Carr, Kenny Tolb ert and Mik e Sha tt uc k of Ha rleyDavidson of Sacramento. Steve Norberg North Highlands, CA The Florida blues After reviewing the Y2K mo tocross an d supercross sc hedu le, I am very co n cerned with the trend tha t has arisen over the past thr ee years. It is the move of events fro m the East Coas t to California. I live in the especially critical sta te of Florida , First the Gato rback atio na l was eliminated, then it was the Orlando Supercross and now the Tampa Supercross. Mea nwhile, California has the first three supercross events in a row (the first two at the same stadiuml). Also they have the first two Nat ionals. Why do n't we just cha nge the name of the series to "The California Sta te Nationals"? T hese d a y s if I want to atten d a supercross, I have to travel 12 hours to Atlan ta. Something is wrong he r e. I don' t attend the Dayto na Supercross beca use it is really an outdoor race. But as th ings are going, and as it is not a PACE race, you will probably end u p canceling that as well . All I'm saying is that PACE and the AM A h a ve completely unde rmi ned Na tio nal-ca libe r motocro ss and su pe rcross racing in Florida . For a sta te rich in motocro ss / su percross trad ition, talent and fans, the new schedule will not help d evelop any of these. You should take away one of the California supercross races and give a date later in the year to Florida. We were filling the sta diums, so it's not an economical decision . R.W. Trigueros fhuntmiami @aol.com Harley's support The Voices sec tion of the Sep tem ber 14 iss u e of Cycle News fea tured a letter fro m Gary Kra use . Ga ry mi s ta kenl y believes that Ha rley-Davidson's support of dirt track racing stops with its spo nsorshi p of Scott Pa rker. Th e fact is, Ha rley-Davidson spends hundred s of th ousands of dollars support ing di rt track racing each year. For the past two years, H arle y-Da v id son ' s Screamin' Eagle d iv is io n has purch ased the TV ti me fo r t he espn2 G ran d Nationa l broad cas ts (a six-figure su m in itself). Harley also pays 40 percent of the purse (the other 60 percent is pa id by the event orga nizers) for every H-D Sportster Performa nce race at AMA Gra nd Na tional eve n ts. Anyone who has ever watched a Gra nd Natio nal race on espn2, or enjoyed a Sportster Performance race, owes a thanks to the Harley-Davidson Moto r Compa ny. Bill Nordquist Westerville,OH Nordquist is the AMA 's communications manager... Editor Sticking up for promoters The first di rt track race I a tten ded was at Lincol n Pa rk in Los Angeles in 1947. I have been infected ever since. Needless to say, all ra cin g is d an g e rou s . It's a lways ha rd when a frie nd is lost o r hurt, and this year has been a toug h season. Still, there is noth in g like Gra nd National dirt track racing. So let's everyone quit blam ing eac h other and do something . I recen tly read Will Davis' quote that "we were su pposed ' to test back in Novem be r, December." What hap pe ned ? Was it the AM A , the riders, Ch ris Agajan ia n? Tha t's a good question. It seems like the AMA shou ld have the control - aren' t they the sanctioning body? Davis sa id th e Da llas race s ho ul d n't h a ve b een sc he duled wit hout a tes t. Tha t m akes se nse. Steve Mor ehead said that Agajanian is doing h is job . No ki d d ing . To ge t track owners (horse tr ack owners, no less) to allow mo torcycle people to use thei r beautiful facilities to ru n bikes on, doing pub lic rela tio n s with th e city, rounding up the fans, ma king p osters, programs, getti ng spo nso rs, d o in g radio, selling tickets, etc. It takes a hell of a lot more tha n mill ions, Springer. Besides, if I were a judge, I'd give you 10 f%S#kin' yea rs for talking like that. Springer, you know tha t hurts. You know tha t Agaja nia n loves yo u guys. You know that Chris and I have fought like bro thers, but he' s always been hon est and fair. The Agaja nians ha ve done a lot for all of us . Jim Searcy Torrance, CA You're kiddin' me This is in respo nse to Don Fenaroli's letter (Issue #37, Sep tem ber 14) regarding Stefan Everts . Don, you go tta be kid di n' me. Stefa n Everts is a fou r-ti me World Cha mpion. He narrowly missed his fifth Wor ld title in '94 be cau se he broke his collarbone du ring the season and rode the last five GPs wit h a pin in it (finishing secon d in the U.S. GP). And abo ut that talent void in Europe all these years - four of the last five Mo tocross des Nations have been wo n by non-U.S. tea ms . An d not by tea ms always including Everts. H o w abo u t Bierer, Smets, Belley, Karlsson, Dob b, Nicoll. I hesita ted in w r iting this letter because I don' t like to say negative David Vuillemin things abo ut the Ll.S. rid ers who race in the Motocross des ations, but the fact remai ns tha t American fans con tinue to hold on to a outdated, mid-Sus concept of Eu ropean motocross whic h is simply not ap plicable in tod ay's wo rld . Anyone wh o bothered to atten d the Ll.S, GP this year had to be impressed with Pit Bierer a nd Da vid Vuillemi n's speed (among others) . The facts are simple: motocross is now a truly international spo rt a t the top. Bash ing an entire grou p of rid ers (i.e, the talent-void reference) is simply inaccurate. Kevin Connor kconnor1 @columbus.rr .com Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 5084, Co sta Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/751 -6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 word s and all letters are subject to editing. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All letters should contain the writer's name, addre s s and daytime phone number... Editor. '" '" '" cD ii o u o 5

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