Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

• Voices America's weekly motorcycle newspaper Volume XXXVI Sharon Clayton, President Michael Klinger, Publisher Editorial Paul Carruthers, Editor Kit Palmer, Associate Editor Scott Rousseau, Associate Editor Keith Bush, Assistant Editor/Copy Editor Matt Freeman, Associate Editor Chris jonnum, Managing Editor Alan Cathcart, European Editor David R. Holther, Assistant Editor jennifer j. Dutcher, Proofreader Advertising Western States (714)751-7433 Terry Pratt, National Accounts Manager Mar k Tho me, Western Sales Manager Forrest Hayashi, West•.,.n Salc Manager « Dan Legere, Western Sales Manager Rhonda Crawford, Ad Coordinator Bridgett Bobrofsky, Assistant Advertising Eastern States (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 Shannon Clark, 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 Lynda Vu, GraphicArJist Dorina Groves, Assistant Administration judy Klinger, Coordinator Pam Klein, Administrative Assistant Accounting/Data Processing Donna Bryan-Diamond, A/R Coordinator Gen eva Repass, Assistant Theresa Milburn, Credit Manager Circulation . Alma Anguiano, Circu lation Manager Carol Maggio, Processing Coordinator Donna Sharp, Billing Coordinator Service and Support Amber Hill, Receptionist jim Olson, Serviceand Support National Headquarters 3505-M Cadillac Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626 P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 (714) 751-7433FAX (714) 751-6685 Eastern O ffice 4188 First Ave., Tucker, GA 30084 P.O. Box 805,Tucker, GA30085-0805 (770) 934-7850 FAX (770) 934-3112 e-ma il ed itor@cyclene ws.com subscribefscyclenew s.com ad ver risingdicyclenews .com I n tern et LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Stop th e complaining I am a 41-yea r-old Bra zi lian vetera n motocrosser w ho has been living in California for th e past five yea rs . Back in the '80s, I w as the o ne respon sible for brin g in g America n m o tocros s ra cers suc h as Donnie H a nsen , Ji m H oll e y , Keith Bowen, Rod ney Smith and Kenny Keylon, to name a few, to either participate in special races or to be part of factory team s for a who le season in Brazil. Af ter read in g yo u r a r ticle o n th e Motocro ss des Nati ons held in Brazil, it pissed me off to once agai n learn tha t the America n team co mplained abo ut th e track. Being here for five yea rs has made me learn that the America n racing culture is bas ed h ea v il y on ova l tra ck s (Indy, NASCAR, etc.), and that made me re ali ze wh y even th e m otocro s sers expect to race on more uniform and predictable tracks . It's all becau se motocross tracks a re easily cha nged with the help of.sim p le mac hin ery. It' s a shame that the Am erican riders chose this ridiculou s way to justify their failu res . Ju st imag ine if Kenn y Roberts Jr. starts to blam e the as phalt tracks of the road raci n g circ ui ts fo r his p roblems. Tracks are part of the equ ation that tests all riders on a given d ay to find out who is best. Marcio Campos camposusa@onebox .com Damn , we 're good Sometimes one learns what skilled rid ing is on ly afte r putting in so me laps and th en bein g pa ssed a s if on e w a s standi ng still. In a similar fashi on, I was recently mad e aware of the writing and rep orting skills regu larly d em on strated by the Cycle New s staff. As the editor of the Du cati' s Unlim ited Connection Web site, I have been sitting in for Clayto n Po tt er, th e kn owled gable and talented regu lar contributor for DUC s "O n Racin g" section. Afte r wa tc h ing a race suc h as the World Superbike rou nd a t Hockenheim on TV, a n d th en rea d ing th e offici a l n e w s releases, I set ou t to write a sim ple commentary on w hat I had jus t see n. Did I say "simple" ? Hardly. Only after hours in fro nt of the compu ter , w riting a nd rewriting the cop y, could I create so mething I felt was worthy of our pa ge. This aftern oon I read your cont ribu tor ' s renditio n of on e su ch even t, th e recent World Superbike round at Hockenheim ("Foggy's 4t h," Issu e #37, September 14). Doin g so wa s a relevat ion, O ver and ove r I found m yself sayin g, "So tha t's how it's don e," and "Oh, how nicely put." I.have for some time read Cycle News for its contents. From now on I wi ll also read it for the manifest ski lls of its writers and its sense of style. Well don e. Don Sucher donsucher@duc.org Dirt track safety In the mid -' 80s, Chris Agajanian built a nd opera te d A sco t Speedwa y rig h t next to the fa mo us half mile. Duri ng that time, I took part in the cons truction and was respo nsible for the prepa ra tion of th e ra ci ng su rfa ce. Ch ris w a s concern ed enough wi th rider safety that he spent a fair amou nt of mon ey and manhours to in stall a n innovative shock absorbing su pport post/ crash wall system on his new track. • While m an y "racers" hav e turned a lot of laps on a lot of tracks, how many have been there for the sev eral days of har d work involved in settin g up a racing su rface? The ap plication of water is very important, as is driving the blade and roIli n g th e di r t back down. Chris wou ld never just "wa ter it on race da y." Tha t is a fact that I can attest to because I have been ther e. Ji m Searcy wa s right - Ch ris lo ves racing and racers. He is hon est and fair and would never put profits abo ve safety. Please pray for Tob y Jorgensen and all the injured com pe titors. It has been a tou gh year for them and their famili es. Mike Casey actioneye@earthlink.net " In the Tapes " response In answer to yo u r question : Can Dirt T rac k ra cin g a ffo r d a fa n-fi n a nced $100,000 race? - I would like to sha re a few observa tio ns. First, accola d es to Da ve Despa in, his ded icat ed sta ff and a ll of th e en t hu s ia sts who h a ve con tr ibut e d to thi s ve ry s p ec ia l ra ce . Whet her you agree w ith the race or not , it wa s conce ived, execu ted and supported entirely by people who have a gr eat passion for d irt track racing, Second, it is my belief that in the post "Came l Pro doll ars era" the sport has been almo st entirely su pported by dedicated fans at all levels. It would tak e trem endou sly creative accoun ting to justify the cost to field a GNC team to an y potential sponso r. My own per sonal belief is that the Harley -Da vid son facto ry d oes not se ll enough mo tor cycles as a d irect result of Scotty Parker (or beca use 95 percent of all GNC riders are on Harleys), or an yone else wh o wi ns, to cos t-justify their team on the GNC. I feel the same is tru e abou t our grea t dealer teams like Cummi ngs, Bartels, Coziahr, Moroneys, F&S, H-D of Missiou ri, Mitch ells, Sacra me nto, Las Vegas H-D, an d so many others. The Saddleman, Co rbin and Motion Pro com pa nies sponsor teams, races and riders because they love it - not .because it makes econ om ic sense. Indi vidu als like Ja ck Size mo re , Ste ve Gard ner, Ton y Dod g e an d ma n y , ma n y o the rs are ultra- fans. Tuners like Skip Eaken, Sam Westly, Rick Ca node and Kenn y Tolbert could make significantly more mon ey, if not have a more sa ne lifestyle, by fabrica tin g and build in g engine s at hom e . But they choose, as we all do , to finan cially su ppo rt this sport we love. Five years ago I sent a four-page letter to Ed Youngblood at the AMA. In it I outlined wh at I felt were the existing problems and solutions which I trulv believed would move di rt track to the next level. One of the problems was, and is, a lack of tel evis ion coverage th a t is adequa te eno ugh to attract not only a full- seri es sponsor, but associate sponsors as well. I suggested the AMA implemen t a pl a n to id entify 2000 AMA members (indi vidual and corp orate) to contribute $1000 each. The $2 million raised wo u ld go to the following: 1. Purchase a threeyea r GNC telev is ion schedu le w it h a major network (I had a deal wit h CBS establish ed); 2. Crea te a trem end ou sly content-rich (sig nifican t rid er profiles, es tablis he d ri valri es, per son al inter est segmen ts - n ot ju s t four camera s, tw o annou ncers an d raci ng) televi sed race se ri es; 3, Cr ea te a rider p oint fund ; 4. Cre ate a m e chani sm to d e v e lop an understanding of the demographics and psychogr aphies of our core audience; 5. Establish a goa l of crea ting a TV au d ience-shar e ratin g which would guarantee ou r future ability to d evelop and a tt ra ct Fortun e 50 0 sp ons ors to our series and race teams. It w as an ou trageo usly ambitious goal, I must admit, but before yo u dismis s this concept. think of all the people who are spend ing money in dirt track racin g tod ay. Think of all the peopl e who h a ve been seeki ng a so lu tion to take ou r sport to th e next level. Then cons ider how qu ickly the mo ney for the "Ha ll of Fame" race ha s been ra ised . Could $2 mi llion be raised? I wouldn't ha ve ma d e th e s ugges ti on had I n ot tho ught it wo u ld hav e bee n possible, I volunteered my time to organ ize this INSIDE : ISSUE#40 OCTOBER 13, 1999 www .cyclenews.com Weekly Website Password: raceway Cycle News (USPS 141-340 is published weekly exce t the ) p 1 last two weeks of the calendar year for $58.00 per ye. r by Cycle News. Inc.•3505-M Cad illac Avenue, Cos ta M~ , CA 9262 Periodicals Postage Paid 011 Costa ~1L'So1., CAand at 6. additional mailingoffice. Canada Post International Publications Mail #546615. POSTMAST ER: Send address changes to Cycle New s, P.O. Box 5084 Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084. , To determine the expiration da te of your subscri ptio n, chec k the four numbers on the firs t line of your ad dress label. The first two digits indicate the last issue number you'll receive and the last two cha racters indicate the year of the last issue. Subscription rates: Rates for the United Statesand its pos.ws- sions for one year (50 Issues), $58.00; two years 000 Issues), $111.00; six months (25 issues), $29.00 trial sub 0 5 issues}, ; 521.00.Canada and Foreign, one year (SO i......ues], 5105 ; tw o . .00 years (100issues).$195.00; six months (25 is sues), S,55.00 trial ; sub OS issues), $42.00. M ~ CycleNews welcomes unsolicited editorial mate including rial stork'S,cartoons, photos, etc. Such material, if published, becomes the exclusive pro~ of Cycle News. Re prin ting in whole or pa rt ~nly b~ re:rni5..'ilon ,of th~ publis her. Advertis-ing rates and circulationinformation WIll besent upon requesl. SeeS.R.OS. ~ . W~f.8 ~~~Tl0N t> o 4 Printed in U.5 .A. Co~yrighto Cycle News, Inc.1999 Trademark Cycle News . registered U.s. Palent Office. All rights reserved. FEATURES ROAD RACING Rou nd 14 - FIM Wor ld Cha m pio nshi p Series fro m Phillip Island , Australia 6 DIRTTRACK Rou nd 21 - AMA Gra nd Na tiona l racing from Vegas Rou nd 13Seattle, Wash ingt on, Hot Shoe Dirt Track Rou nd 11 Spokane, Washingt on HotShoe Dirt Tra ck 14 RIDINGIMPRESSION We try ou t Jeremy McGrat h's Chaparral Yam ah a YZ250 DEPARTMENTS 28 1 4 EVENTS INTERVIEW 250cc MX World Champion Frederic Bolley INTHEWIND VOICES 26 37 CALENDAR : 60 WANTADS 34 3S NEW BIKES Suzu ki's 2000 DR-Z400 an d GSX-R750 18 SHOOTOUT 2000-mod el 12Scc MXers head to head 20 30 FEATURE Del Mar Mile preview HILLCLIMB Round 11 - AMA Jefferson, Pennsylvania, . NationaI 66 FINAL MOTO TRIALS Trial des Na tions from Luxembo urg 84 LOOKING BACK , 84 ON THE FRONT COVER .31 . 36 The annual 12Scc Mot ocross Shootou t. And th e winner is...? Photos by Matt Freeman. New Suzukis for 2000 include a new DRZ400 and a completely renovated GSX-R7S0. Photos courtes y of Suzuki.

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