Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128083
mon ey, bad race tracks. Where have we heard this before? He and others have also comme nted abo u t the AMA. Lets face it, the AMA either has to make some big changes or so me ot he r organization needs to step up and run a di rt track series. Bad race tracks were a facto r at several nationa l events this year. Toby Jorgensen's death could have bee n preven ted if the AMA had do ne its job. Are they not responsible for m aking sure these tracks a re safe ? If, for wh at ever reason, the racing su rface a t Dallas wa s that bad , why di dn' t the AMA at some point cancel the event? Maybe if that was d one once in a . hi le, p romo ters would take a hin t. I, for one, would not be upset if I atten ded a race tha t had dangerous co nditions and the race was called off. Now I rea d th at th e AMA wa n ts to have a "s pec" racing tire for d irt track and only one com pa ny will be allowed to supply tires, What kind of idiot move is that? And w hile we're on the su bject of tires, they ar e having to shorte n a lot of main events because of tire wear. Th is is w it h the 750s now runnin g . O kay , let' s get a Su perTracker se ries going with even large r d isplacem ent an d m ore horsepow er . Am I m issing somethi ng her e? This new se ries was su pposed to be for two reasons: O ne, so th at m o re manufa cturers wo uld get involved, an d two , t o m a ke it mo re affordable . I h a ven 't see n a ny facto ry-s ponsored SuperTrackers out th ere ye t, and I se rio us ly d oubt th at it is inexp e nsive to build one . Before all of this go t go ing, th e AMA asked for suggestions from fans. I wrote to th em w ith the idea of going back to novice, amateur and expert classes, and four -s troke singles . The n o vi ce cla ss wo uld be in 25Os ama teurs on 600s and , experts on 600s to w hatever . Is bi gger and faster rea lly w hat we need in th is sport ? I kno w it ' s th e w ay everythi ng else goes in this country, but let's be reaso na ble. I just wond er how many d ir t track fans woul d not show u p because V tw ins we re n' t racing. I say bu ild the sport back to wha t it s ho u ld be. Tha t is, qua li ty ri d ers o n com petit ive eq u ip men t and sa fe ra ce tra cks . Bud Nolting Olathe, KS ,Word s of Doughty Sco tt Rousseau ' s recen t "In The Tapes" ch ronicle d h is p ligh t to fi nd o riginal parts for his 1980 Honda CR250. Unfo r- tunately, his story is no t uncommon in the world of vintage m o to rcycl es . In general terms, his d ilem ma is symptomatic of just a bou t a nything tha t has become collectible /restorable, whether it be ca rs, airplanes or refrigerators, for that matter . Withou t soundi ng li ke every economics p ro fesso r you ever shot spit wads a t, it all boils d o w n to simple sup ply and demand principles. Once th e supplies are dep leted , t he demand needs to grow to the point that it becomes economically feasible for the o r ig i n a l equipmen t ma n ufacturer (O EM ) to r erun th e pa rts, or for an afterma rke t co mpa ny to s te p in and replica te them. In between these two poin ts is the "lu ll period " w hen no thing is available. Unfo rt u na tely, Scott's ' 80 CR was a one-year mod el and has yet to generate the level of d emand for either tw o sce narios to occu r - at least in terms of side panels. Pipes, seat covers, fenders, air filter s and othe r items are readily available from our com pany (Vintage Iron), and so will side pa nels... eve ntually . First, the demand must justify the initi al investment for th e molds, th e stock, the packagin g, etc. Ma nu facturin g q u ality products a t a ffo rdable p r ices in a ny m a rket is tou gh . In a small niche market it just doesn't pencil for a large co rpora tion, a nd th e small g uys lik e us h ave to have imm ediate sales to keep the cas h flow m oving. Is this the fa ult of the OE M, o r a change in p oli cy ? N eit her really . It is more of a sign of the times and the na tural ma turat ion of th e co m p a n ie s involv ed . Fo r exa m p le, you can bu y virtu ally any pa rt yo u need for a 1924 Ford Mod el T, but don't expect to walk into yo u r loca l Ford d eal er and d o so . It ' s aftermark et pa rts o nly. The Ford Mot o r Company sto p ped manufacturing and ware ho us in g th ese parts lo ng before I was a glint in my fat her' s eye. Honda is now in th e same m od e Ford was in 50 or 60 ye a rs ago. If the sa les revenues of certain parts d on ' t justify their space in th e wareho us es , co mpu te rs a n d p art s s h e lv e s a r o u n d th e wo rld, they nee d to m ake room for th e parts th at will . It is just good business practice , w hich d oesn 't alw ays squ are w i th th e p a s si o n s o f u s co ll ec to rs / res torers. A ll empa thy a side, th ere is so methi ng a ll of th e OEMs coul d d o for us o ld -b ike lo vers. Stop the d estruct ion a nd / o r trashing of th e obsole te parts tha t d ealers no longe r want to carry and no lon ger wa nt to wa reho use. Maybe a collective (Yama ha, H onda, Kawasaki, Enjoy It: One reader thinks the AMA Nationa l MX Se ries is good enough as is. Suzu ki) cleari ng ho u se of so rts si m ilar to the clothing ou tlet stores could be initia te d. I realiz e that this enters some legal gray a reas w ith th e d eal er networks , but fr om a co rpora te p oint o f view, it seems to m a ke m ore sense to have the parts and th e bikes in circu lation than it d oes to hav e them wasting away in ga rages and ju nkya rds. It is also im porta n t that th e OEMs not give th e brand-fait hful owners the impres sion tha t the y ca re less a bout th e ir ow n (albei t old) products than the enthusiasts do . Now if we could just resto re Scott's fait h in the too th fairy ... Rick Doughty Yorba Linda, CA Doughty owns Vintage Iron International, a shop recognized arou nd the wor ld for its quality vintage M X bike restorations and distinct lack of 1980 CR side panels... Editor Godspeed, Dave Da ve Jo hn so n , lon gtime d esert racer, died of natural ca u s es o n November 21st. Dav e wa s a lifetime m ember of th e Viewfi nders MC and a cu rrent mem ber of the Dirt Digg ers Me. Dave d ied wh ile markin g the cou rse for the Dirt Digger s Win ter Hare. Hi s life ended far too soo n. It is of so me consola tion that he d ied doing w hat he loved to do, wo rki ng on a safe and fu n race fo r u s a ll. Da ve' s family lost a fin e so n, father and husband. We d esert ra cers have lost a fine competito r, a nd m ost im p o rta n tly, a first-class human being. Steve Freeman Ria lto, CA Enjoy it To all of yo u p eople w ho sit back and hav e not a thing in th e world better to d o than to waste good space in a grea t m ag, I read yo u r id eas o n how a M X national s houl d be run. If you think that yo u could d o better , run a trac k yourself a nd see h ow fa r yo u ge t. You ca n ' t, beca use you get too tied up in yelling at your 6-year-ol d becau se he ca n' t ride like little Billy-boy. Sto p crying a bo u t 45-m inute-plustwo-la p m ot os, a nd enjoy the greatest sport in th e wo rld . Shane Fenwick Chatsworth, GA Letters to the editor shou ld be sen t to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084, faxed to 714/751 -6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cyclenews.com. Published lett ers do not necessarily reflect the position of C ycle News, Inc. Letters s h o u ld not exceed 200 words and all are sub ject to editing. Anonymous letters will not be con sid ered for publication. All letters s h o u l d contain the writer' s name, address and da ytime phon e number.. . Editor.