Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Good idea I cou ld no t ag ree wit h yo u more. I was at the World Superbike race this year and it was very di sappointing to ha ve suc h a small gro u p of American regulars to pull for (the 600cc race bet ween the two R6 fellas just abou t made up for it, thou gh ). To me this is a no-brai ner . The World Superbike and AMA rounds sh ou ld be com bined - period . And, yes , of course, the powers that be should give Harl ey the okay to ru n their bikes (it seems mo st of us feel an unconditional love for Russell. We mu st - we still clamber around h im ev en though h e seemed to coas t through this past seaso n). Kenny Carter vi a th e In tern et Gimme a break The AMA and Harl ey-David son joined at the hip ? Gim me a br eak . I reme m ber the good old days when all brands were competing agains t each other in Grand National Dirt Track racing . Triumph, BSA, Norton, Harley, etc. w er e racing ag ain st each oth er and it was grea t. H owe v er, w hen all th e En g li sh br ands bit the dust , who was the re to sell th e sea ts? Honda, Yam ah a ? No, it w a s H arle y-Da v id s on t ha t kep t the greatest mo to rcy cle spo rt a live unti l H onda fina ll y b ui lt so me t h in g t hat would compete. I'll never forget Dick O'Brien's quote when asked by Dave Despain wha t he thou ght about Hon da spending $4 milli on o n th ei r pro g ram just to b e at Harley. His response was, "So d id we." Then after a hesita tion, he sa id, " It jus t took us 50 years to do it." The n Ho nda pulled out. All of the other brands already have bikes built to fit this new class. All they ha ve to do is work o n making them race-ready. Harl ey will have to com e up with an a ll-new bike jus t to ra ce d irt track if they're not allowed to u se th e old push-rod motor s . But th e bottom lin e is w ho will put th e butts in the sea ts? Ho nd a? Ducati? I don't think so. Th e Gen-Xers don ' t und erstand if it doesn't go 200 mph or d o the qu artermile in und er nine seco nds . Whatev er happen s, I hope Ha rleyDavidson is never given a reason to pull ou t of dirt track racing . I can' t remember ever taking a gro up of HOG members to see the VRs race. Jim Baile y Fort Way ne, IN Bail ey is the ow ner of Jim Bailey 's Fort Wayne Harley-Davidson... Editor World MX ) wa n ted to thank Cycle News fo r a ll the Gr and Pri x Motocro ss results a nd race cov erage from thi s year. It seems as thou gh Cycle News is the on ly ma gaz in e th a t ha s co ns is te n t coverage of th e Grand s Pri x (even though a few other publications ma y have the occa s io na l a rticle). I a m a bi g m oto cro s s fan. so I try to attend a lot of th e AMA Nationals, which I en joy, but it's ve ry difficult for me to a tten d any wor ld round s. So it's great to be able to read abo u t them . I think i t's aweso m e th at Mik e Brown, Jeff Dem ent and Ryan Hugh es are raci ng over there with such good results. Nex t yea r we may have a rider fr om th e U n it e d St a tes wi n ning a World C ha mp ions hi p . I also really e n jo y ed yo u r in t e rv ie w s w ith Mike Brown a nd Ryan Hughes - now how abo u t one with Dem ent? Thanks aga in, Cycle News. Jim Kimball jim.ki m ba ll@do nnel ly.com He's alive! [usta letter of thanks to Cycle News. I had tried to find a friend of mine for six yea rs, and I finall y found him by placing an advertisement in Cycle News . He di dn' t see th e first ad, so I thought he was dead. Yesterday, he called me from Florid a after seeing my ad. Than ks for hooking u p Jay "Pee Wee " Gleason wit h Bobby "Wild ' n Cool " Cole. Bobby Cole Rancho Santa Margarita, CA We suck ! The WERA Grand ationa l Finals con sis t of riders and cha mp io ns h ip s th at be gin on Thursday and g o through Sunda y . Many Expert a n d No vi ce Cha m p ions hips are deci ded on Thursday. T hese c ha m pi o n s h ip s includ e classes in Superbik e, ·Production, For mu la , Clu b ma n, Twins a nd Vin tag e . All were neglect ed in your incomplete cov erage of th e WERA Gra nd Nati on al Fina ls. Th es e cl a s s e s take jus t as mu ch work, time, money , d edicati on , heart a nd sou l as a ny o the r class run on Frid ay, Saturda y a nd Sunday. I feel th a t the other racer s who won or placed in a championship ro u nd a nd did n ' t even get pub lished in t he r esu lt s sec tion would give you a resoun ding: Yo u guys suck! You g uys pu blis h a bo u t 1/ 20 th of the reg ular-sea son WERA results, but I seem to see a r t icl es a n d /o r res u lts abo u t every little d irt bik e e vent from Podunk to Eas t Jesu s . Thi s wa s a Na tional Champion ship even t. A cu lm ina tio n of a full yea r's effo rt for eve ry racer. And yo u could n' t even recognize the a fore men tion ed cl as ses with the results. Oh , if I forgot to mention it, You guys suck! Aaron Stevenson via th e Internet As you may have already guessed , Steven son won a title at the WERA Grand Natio nal Final at Road A tlanta - in the V intage 5 Sup erbike class. Congrats, Aa ron, I guess you don't suck... Editor The numbers game This could concern everybody. As Larry N ive n once sai d, "Go vernments ne ver see m to know w he n to s to p ..." T he AMA con tinues to do gr eat things for people of an al terna tive lifestyle, namely motorcycle en thusiasts, but permanent numbers ta ke away not only a rider' s ide ntity , but also belittle the hard wo rk they ha ve put int o earning thei r number . I'm sure tha t I am not alone when I say th at eve ry year I look forward to seeing who has moved to #10 as much as wh o has moved to #1, or #91 for that matter. Besid es, if it starts here, where will it en d? Who wi ll be next? People of all disciplines beware. Ther e are en tire teams, friends and families behind these numbers, and they have all ea rned the right to their nu mbers. Remember the artist formerly known as Prince? Davi d Kil b urg clu tchbasket@hotmail.com The Headman case Looking at the photos of the Wen- do ver, Neva da , AMA National Hare and Hound race, it appears to be more a case o f inad vertent e n ta ng le me n t with the ou tside bik e in the arc getting stoo d up, resultin g in a very common exa mp le of the old cliche , "Tha t's racing." There is no wa v that Du st in Head man or any one else would a ttem p t to take another rid er ou t, as sta ted in post - race interv iews. It was just a bad choice of words. It was a n unfortuna te circu ms tance for Ty Davis, judging from the ang le of a pproach th at both b ike rs w er e on . I wo uld guess that neith er rider was ab le to see the other, with limit ed peripheral vision u ntil the last second. Dustin is a pretty damn fast / good rid er, and since I have been lapped by him more times than I care to mention, I cannot recall a sing le instance w her e he d idn't polit ely come up behind and yell, "Hey, ge t the &%$# ou t of the w ay!" Jus t joking. If Honda wants to kn ow who is wi nnin g on so me of those CRSOOs the y keep selling year after yea r, they might want to take notice of Du stin Headman. Ken James jamsxr@allw es t.net EI dia de la Madre I know you are all sick of all the lett ers, p ro an d co n , a b o u t t h e Glen H el en ro und of the AM A National Motocross Series. May I pro pose a fix? Start the en tire series o ne week earlier. Th is wo u ld cure th e EI d ia de la Madre issue. It wou ld a lso give th e tu ners a n extra week to work out th e bugs from the last race (Supercross), The fans wo uld b e h a p p y , the ot her track ow ne rs wou ld be h app y , a n d th e m oth ers would be hap py. Rick Hill Fullert on, CA As it stands right now, the final round of the AMA EA Sports Supercross Series will end on May 6 ill Las Vegas. Nevada. The AMA Nat ional M otocross Series is slated to begin olle week later in Glen H elen 011 M all 14. Changing the schedule IIOW would be impossible. For the most part, for the nex t several mon ths the races run on consecutive weekends... Editor Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/ 751-6685 or e-mai led to editor@ cycle news.co m. Published lett ers d o not necessa rily reflect the position of Cycle N ews, Inc. Letters sho u ld n ot exceed 200 words and all are subject to editing. An onymous letters will not b e consi dered for pu blication. All letters shoul d co ntai n the wri te r's na me, address and daytime ph one number.. . Editor. ,...: ~ ~ Q) ..c E ~ o Z 5

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