Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Off the Road n issu e nu mb er 41 (Oc tober 2), we printed a letter in our "Voices" section titled "Ty breaker," by Lloyd William s from Brad ley, Illino is. Following Mr. Will iams' letter to the ed itor there was a n u n u sua ll y lo ng re spo n s e fr om m yself. N orma lly ou r ed itor in ch ief, Pa ul Carru thers, responds to letter s to the edi tor wi th a sho rt, qui rky, italicized answer, mo re often than not laced wi th eithe r hum or, sa rcasm, or both. How ever, on the day that pa rticu lar issue went to print, Paul was ou t sick, so' I took it u p o n m y s e lf to re sp o n d to Mr . Willia ms' lett er. Ma nag in g ed itor Ch ris [onnurn felt that m y respon se was long and so mewhat sharp- tongued, so he advised that I s ho u ld includ e my n am e afte r th e response ins tead of the word "Editor" in hopes of saving Pau l from any backlash that might occur when the issu e hit mail boxes a nd d ea lersh ips across the cou n try. I agreed and proud ly typ ed "...Malt Freeman, Associate Editor" after the response. My main concern was that Paul would come back to work on Tuesda y, see what I had d on e a nd a sk h is pat ent ed , "At what point did you (fill in the accusative repri ma nd )?" Then he wou ld eithe r forbid me from touching the "Voices" page ever again, start an office-wide cru sade ridiculing me for being the sole protector of those filthy off-road racers, or just fire me. Either wa y, I was prepa red ror the conseq uences, and as it tu rns out, none of them occurred. No one in the office said a thing abou t it. My response ob vio us ly had no imp act. Th e a fo re me n tioned le tter w a s in regard to Ty Davis and the AMA Natio na l End uro Se ries . Llo yd Willi am s a d dress ed th e fa ct th a t the n e wl y crowned enduro cham pion was not presen t at the New Waverl y, Texas, round of th e s er ies a n d, b ec a u s e of th at , h e thou ght that Davis was a sore winner, a whiner with a bad attitude - even though Davis had already sewn up the championship. For reasons known only to those who wo rk in the CycleNews office, I often fee l the angst o f m y tee n age yea rs on Mondays, the day that the paper officially ships to the printer . lf I had read Mr. Williams' letter on any other day of the week, my response may have been more I wa te red d own , suga r-coa ted, or even hu mo rou s. In st ead , I research ed ra ce da tes, called Davis on the pho ne to confirm so me facts, found ou t that he had been ill for the past two weeks, and we nt wi th my natural instinct to viciously protect the integrity of off-road racers. Per sonally, I ge t tired of the negative letters and the lack of resp ect that off-road racers receive, so I guess you can say I just snapped . . How ever, after the issue came ou t, I felt a little gu ilty about the respo nse, and hop ed that I hadn' t cos t us a read er by offend ing or em barras sing Mr. William s. I ac tu a lly s ta rte d to fee l bad abou t it until I talk ed to a few ha rd -core racers th rou gh out the wee k and over the weekend . They suppo rted m y view, and we all ag ree d tha t prep aring for and co mpeting in sever al d ifferen t types of offroad racing is complicated and requ ires a lot of hard work. That is exactly w hat off-road professionals like Davis are aII about - hard work. Becau se of that, they sho u ld n' t be criticized by race fans for not showi ng u p to a round held halfwa y across the country . No tickets are sold to wa tc h n a tio n a l e n d u ros or ha r e a n d hounds, so w het her one fan shows up or hun dred s, the even t wi ll most likely go on year af ter year or be relocated to a different area . . Profession al off-rea ders and at hletes should also not be criticized for voicing their opinio n about a sport in which they make their living. I su re wou ldn' t blam e Steve Young if he plead ed with the N FL to protect qu art erbacks a little more, or if he campa igned to imp rove the qu alit y of football helme ts. After talking abou t the vigors of chasing just one Natio nal, or regional off-road series, my racer friends and I started to d iscu ss th e d iffer enc e between an offro ad racer and a mot or cycle rid er . We ca me to th e co nclusion th a t th er e is a hu ge difference between the two factions, and tha t people who just ride for fun or race on occasion may not unde rstand the .lifestyle or mindset of a true competitive racer. We decided that you don 't have to com pete in a big nati onal series to be a true racer, and you don't even have to be of professional or expert status. There are numerous poi nt s-p aying ama teu r offroad series across the country. If you fol- low just one, or if you jump from event to event wit h the inten t to win and have fun at the same time, vou are a racer and our hats are off to you: Your p rogr a m, J' rn certai n, is just as important to you as a profession al' s program is to the pro - although the bud get invo lved obviously varies quite a bit. But yo u d o u nd er stand the hard work and long hours of preparation that goes in to building a competiti ve bike, maintainin g it, and ph ysically bei ng "ab le to race it witho ut ge tting tired or d ropping ou t of the race. If vou race a har e scrambles one wee ke nd , 'a n e nd u ro th e n e xt , a n d a gra nd prix or motocross th e w eek end . afte r that, th en yo u most lik ely eit he r have two totally different bikes to work on, or you put twice the time and double th e money in to main taini ng ju s t one mo torcycle. You are awa re of how tricky it is to rid e in mud one weeke nd, sand the next, then rocks, and possibly dusty, high -speed dirt roa ds the weekend after that. If you cou ld do anyt hing or suggest anything for yo ur particu la r series that may make you r life easie r, or better your cha nces of winning, or make the events more fun, I'm sure you wo uld. Racers lik e Da vis, Russell Pearson , Des try Abbo tt and Brian Brown race in a greater variety of terrain than any other racers in t his co u n try . Fro m th e !OOmph-plus dust y Nevada d esert to th e tight a nd techn ica l m u d d y terrain of Tennessee, the cond itions in w hich they com pe te ar e wor lds apa rt. Also, they all served on the United States ISDE Trophy or Vase team s, making them America's world am bassa do rs to off-roa d racin g. They are the kind of guys who wi tnes s w ha t other cou n tries' race efforts a re lik e, so I w ould ex pect th em to co me ba ck from th e Six Da ys with ton s o f input. lf the input reflects negatively on the AMA, or on the effort of Ame rica's m oto rcycle in d us t ry to w ard th e Six Days, they can' t help it. They also can' t hide what they'v e seen. Still, eve ry time I se e one of ou r rid er s who repres ented the Ll.S, on a trophy team or a club team, I wa nt to shake his hand and thank him for represen ting American off-roa d racers in an interna tional eve nt. Personally, I take offense wh en so meo ne tak es a shot a t any kin d of racer, because in the off-road world , racers tend to flock togeth er like so me sort of su rroga te fam ily. Sure, beati ng one another is of the u tm ost importa nce, but helpin g one ano ther ou t is way up there as well. . When I first started racing the District 37 series in my late teens, I joined the Dirt Di gge rs Moto rcycl e Cl u b in order to ' receive qu ick pit stops and a tow back to my tru ck if my bike should seize in the middle of the desert. Litt le d id I kn ow that I was abo ut to gain more than just a s p las h of gas a nd the end of a bud dytow . Everywhere I looked , peop le wer e helping one ano ther. Guys were end ing th e ir own race in o rder to a ssi st a n injured rider. Peo ple I p ractically didn't even know were offering their pra ctice bike to me when mine was broken. Food and shelter we re never hard to come by, and neit her was cons tructive ad vice on bike maintenance or rid ing style. Coming from a somewhat rough town and school sys tem, I couldn' t figure ou t at first why everyone was being so nice to one another . In time I started traveling to ou t-ofsta te races, and the cama raderie was the sa me there as it was at my home races. Still, to this day, I haven't found a level of coope ra tion and good w ill like I h a ve am ong the off-road racing fraternity. On e time when I was a cash-poo r college s tu d en t, I drove two hours to a race, u n k now in g ly wit h an ex p ired AMA card, and only had enough money to pay for my en try fee. All of my racer friend s pit ched in an d we came up with the $29 that I needed to renew mv membershi p. It wasn't a fortune, bu t it still meant a lot to me. I kind of feel like I ow e off-roa d racing and its parti cipants so me thi ng in re tu rn b ecau se o f h ow re w a rdi ng it has been to me over th e yea rs. Just for the heck of it, I called the AMA to see if a Lloyd Williams from Bradl ey, Illin ois, was a co m pe ti tioncard-hold ing AMA member, wh o might a lso be a racer. Th e lady there chec ked h er co m p u te r and cou ld n ' t co me up w it h a match, so I am offering to bu y Mr. Willi ams a $29 membership to the AMA as an offer of goo d will. Then , if he so desires, he can also reap the off-road ra cin g re w ard s t h at m y fr ien d s, Ty Davi s and m yself have received. The offer is good until September of 2000 - because that's wh en the mem ber ship fee goe s up $10. Looking Back 30 YEARS AGO.•. NOVEMBER 4, 1969 ou r - tim e Wor ld Sp eed way Cha m pi on Barry Briggs and re igning Worl d Speed w a y C h amp io n Iv a n Mauger pa id a visit to the So ut hern California . spee dway circuit to do bat tle wit h the Am erican ride rs in Sant a Barbara . The Euros do minated the even t, as Mauger took the Scratch ma in, Ma uger and Briggs bea t Rick Woods and DeWayne Kee ter in matc h race action. Ame rican ride r John Fishburn ma naged to win the Ha nd icap main from the tapes, wh ile Briggs came from the 120 yard line to just miss out on the victory himself... It was no easier for the Americans on the Inter-Am MX Series , as the top European factory stars clai med the first e igh t places at the s top in Larue, Ohio... Mike Patrick (Yam) caugh t and passed J.N . Roberts (Hus) to win the 80-mi le Billy Goat Hare .& Hound in Lucerne Valley, California. We profiled former Ho nda na tional sales man ager Jack McCorm ack, who discussed his plans for his new company, American Eagle . F 20 Y A SAG ... ER O OCTOBER 31 1979 , 10 YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 25, 1989 e w ly cro w ne d A MA Gra nd Na tional Cha mpion Steve Eklund was o u r man on th e cover of thi s Issu e #42. CN repo rter Gary Van Voorhis spent a w eek wi th Ek lund, ga ini ng in si gh t in to th e ma n w ho stop ped Jay Sp rings tee n' s bid fo r a four th s t rai g h t AMA Grand National Charnpionsh ip.. . Mi ke Be ll (Yam) won the battle at the final round of the Tra nsUSA MX Series, bu t Kent How erton (Suz) wo n the wa r, Bell swe p t both motos of the final rou nd at Sears Poin t Inte rnational Racewa y in Sonoma, California, bu t Howert on clinched the series champions hip via 3-4 sco res for third overall ... Don Sa nf or d (Mal) posted a perfect score to win the Mile High National Enduro in Clo u dcroft, New Mex ico . Dick Bu rl eson (Hus) was second, a nd Drew Sm ith (Suz ) wa s thi rd ... Bru ce Og iliv ie (Yam ) domina ted the So Cal M.C:s California Citv Gra nd Pri x in the Mojave Desert. ' e ff Ward m ade hi s tory tw ic e b y fi nish ing third in the first moto at the final rou nd o f t h e A MA Nati onal Cha m pions hip 500cc M X Se ries at th e Unad illa Valley Spo r ts Center in New York. The fin ish a llowed h im to clinc h the 500cc Nati onal MX title, thus making him the firs t rid er in history to win all four m ajor AMA Natio na l MX titles (125cc, 250cc, 500cc and 250cc Supe rcross) , At 28 years of age, Wa rd also became the oldest rider eve r to win an AMA Nati onal MX title. Jean-Michel Bayle (Ho n) scored the overall win in the class... Mi ke Kied rowsk i (Ho n) wrapped the AMA National Champio nship 125cc MX g: crown af ter finis hing second overa ll to Damon Brad- ~ s haw (Yam ) on the same d ay at Unad illa... We in ter- ,..: viewed fo rmer World SOOcc Road Racing Champ ion N Wa yn e Ga rdner, who was getting prepa re d for an ~ attempt a t regaining the title that he won in 1987... -§ Ameri can speedway racer Sh awn Mo ra n (GM) won 0 the British Leagu e Riders Championship in England . eN 71 N J

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