Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Socially inept? We were d isap poin ted in a few of the social h ig hl ig hts p r o v id ed in Scott Rou sseau ' s Northern Michigan trail ride ar ticle. No w don't think we don't like to have a good time, it 's jus t that everyth ing has its place. As this is being written , we are sitting in a public land -u se meetin g w here your article wo u ld not h el p s u p po r t o u r s po rt , b ut wo uld instead take it away . Everyone sho uld ride safe and have a good time afterwards, bu t please take a more ac t ive e d itoria l a pp ro a ch to putting ou r best foot forwa rd for our spo rt. . If Scott Rou sseau wants to go for a trail ride sometime, giv e u s a ca ll. He will need to pack eno ugh for thr ee days and 500 miles. Big fun. Wayne Kopp a Grayling, MI I tried to extend your invitat ion to Scott, but I can see him now from my office window, riding arou nd the parking lot - drunk and hollering like Scott Parker... Editor The French genius W h a t a st roke o f ge n ius! Wha t JeanMiche l Bayle and Mikael Pichon could not do despite their su ccess her e in the St a tes, David Vuill emin h as a lread y don e without eve n racing her e for a full season. He has endeared himself to the American motocro ss public. By ap pea ring in CycleNews as a gu est colum n ist, he ha s acco m p lished a pree mptive s tri ke a n d a llow ed th e motocros s public an insight into his perso na lity. He has sho w n that it is not a "Them vs. Us" contest, but rather a kid trying his best to g rab a piece o f th e motocro ss bra ss ring . Th is is eit he r a marketin g stro ke of gen ius on the part of Yamaha, or the kid is for real. I tend to beli eve the la tter. Good luck in Y2K, David. Bria n McNamara McNam2387@aol.com Go to Baja, young man I a m writing in res ponse to th e letters abo u t motocr oss. If you wan t n at u ra l terra in a n d lon g er r a ces, go s e e a n enduro or the Baja 1000. I am sick and tired of hearing people complain about m o to cros s . O ur performa nce a t t he M ot ocro s s d e s Nations was indeed poo r, but does Mr. Pratt thi nk he could have done a ny better? Na tu ra l ter rain m otoc ro ss trac ks were d esigned in an age of dirt bikes that simply cou ldn ' t take the ab use of a decen t track like Anaheim . Whoever says there aren't any battles going on in Supercross tru ly does no t watch Supercross. My advice to you, Mr. Pratt, is to complain to yourself - because none of us want to hear it. To Cycle News, your paper is the best. Jeff Emig is a winner and he deserves to be salute d. Ryan Sm ith Dover Plains, NY Not too young I wou ld lik e to say so meth ing to Mr. Timmi e Lequ e ("Voices," Issue #47 , December 1) . First of all, for as long as I ca n remember, th e AMA ha s ha d its professional licens es available for those over the age of 16 - not 18 - who have a p ro ven record of s p eed, contro l a nd sa fety in racing in the lower leve ls. In other wo rds , in order for you to get your AMA Pro license you mu st sho w proof of past race results, you must have ridd en in a number of loca l p rofessio na l races wi th good results, you mus t be 16 yea rs old, and I believe yo u eve n need referen ces from trac k owne rs or sa nctioning bod ies. I ha ve neve r met Toby Jorgensen. To b e p erfe ctl y h o n e s t, I a m a mot ocross kind of guy a n d I haven't even been to a dirt track race in about six years . I w ill tell yo u, however, that as a ra cer Tob y Jorgen se n w ou ldn 't hav e been hap p y doing any thi ng else. Ra cer s ra ce . Tha t's w ha t th ey d o . It' s tragic tha t h e d ie d , bu t he di d die w hile livin g. You cou ld live to be 120 ye ars old, but w hat's the point if yo u aren' t d oing what you love to d o? The auto racin g com munity lost 3' racer in Ca lifo rn ia a few weeks ago n a m ed Gr eg Moore . H e w a s a no the r you ng man who d ied doing so me thi ng that he loved . Wo u ld I ra the r th at To by an d Greg still b e her e? Of course I woul d , bu t w he n Toby s tra p ped on his boot s a n d h e l m e t a nd s ta r te d up h is m a chin e , h e kn e w h e was ta k in g a chance. They all k now. I serio usly do ubt tha t Toby's mother or father co u ld ha ve stopped him from racing eve n if th ey wanted to. If they did sto p him, he'd have been miserabl e. The bo ttom line, Mr . Lequ e, is that it could jus t have easily been Scott Pa rker, Chris Ca rr, Jay Sp ringsteen or anyone else racing that day - bu t it wasn't. Why wou ld it ha ve been better to be anyone of them w ho d ied ? It has not h- ing to do with age and eve rything to do wi th th e passion for racing . Grow up, and maybe try to take a cha nce fro m time to time - then maybe you'll live before you die. Not many people get to rea lly do that. Best regards to the [o rgenscns. Steve Cox Chino, CA Friends of Toby [ write th is le tte r with strong sadness in my h eart. [ was a long time, ve ry close friend of Tob y Jor gensen, and his fam ily. I was present thro u ghou t the last eig h t years of Tob y' s racin g career, from th e '80s all th e way through h is GNC debut. I can honestly say tha t Mr . Tim Leque is sad ly mi staken with his co m me n ts about Tob y no t being experienced. He comes from a strong racin g ba ck ground, a nd w as h ead ed to th e top of any di vi sion in mot orcycl e racin g that he chose . H is fath er, Kim, and uncle, Alex, we re legends in their tim e and sho u ld Toby not ha ve been chea ted ou t of his you ng life, he most d efin it el y wo u ld h a ve become a legen d also. Toby wo n cou nt less A ma te ur na tio na l titles, distric t titles, hi -point series titles, an d many mo re that on ly proved his excellence as a race r. Someti mes, just for fu n , Toby wo u l d go m o to cr o ssing wi th so me of th e top names, and end up leaving them in the dust. Toby was not on ly a good rider, b u t h e was a lso a r ising s tar in dir t track racing. When Toby's fat her and family read Leq ue's lett er in Cycle News, it brough t tears to th eir eyes, an d ac he to thei r hea rt s. You only made their pai n and gui lt worse with yo u r stateme nts th at Toby "wasn't rea dy" and th at " his father knew better." It is sa d to see th a t p e opl e like Leque ca n't jus t lea v e well e noug h alone . I am willing to bet th at if Toby were s till alive to day, yo ur' le tte r would've b een worded with amazemen t. Th a t th is yo u ng "b oy ," as you put it, was tearing u p th e circuit. Toby was a man, fully ready to be where he was and it wasn't his or his father's fa ult that h is life was cut short. You jus t never rea lly knew th e real Toby Jorgensen, and for tha t I have to say that you r e a ll y missed ou t on the opportunity to meet an awesome ma n both on and off the track . Nicole Pahel Manteca, CA Godspeed, Dave Recen tly, we lost one of the most signifi cant members of the off-road community - Dave Johnson, president of the Dirt Diggers Motorcycle Club in Distric t 37. [ have met and wo rked with thousands of OHV ent husias ts, and he was without a doubt the best individual I have ever had the ho nor of working w ith . He was the consu mma te race p romoter w ho always set an example for professional ism and cooperation. Dave will be d ear ly missed . God bless and ma y his d esert be dust free with plenty of traction. Dav id Kotlarski Ridgecrest, CA Kotlarski is an off-highway park ranger in California... Editor The Brothers Bostrom My wife an d I recently visited Las Vegas wher e I was picking up a Du cati 748 from the loca l Du cati s ho p w hen w e turned to see the racing du o standing in the showroom. They were fresh off their Pikes Peak race and were headed ba ck home to Los Angeles. Af ter we finally talked ou rse lves into dis turbin g th em for an autograph, we fou nd the two to be mu ch more pleasant than you r ave rage celebrity . Th ey continued makin g sm all talk with u s even aft er sig ning a co nvenient iss ue of Cycle News tha t I had saved. I have club raced on and off for yea rs and have at tended every possible race fro m La guna Seca to Sears Poin t, to Vegas an d Dayton a . In all my run-in s w ith racers, I have never met one who d isplayed such honesty and frien dliness wi th a s p ec tato r. We b oth see th e Bostroms in a new lig ht , and a d mire them with the u tmost respect. We wis h the best for Ben in World Superbike and the same for Eric at Kawasaki. Co dy and Susan Go we r via the Internet Letters to the ed itor shoul d be sent to Voices, Cy cl e News, P. O . Box 5084, Costa M esa, CA 92628 -5084, faxed to 714/751-6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cycl enews.corn. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Le tters should no t exceed 200 words and all are subject to editing. Anonymous letters w ill not be considered fo r publication. All letters should con tain the writer's n a m e, address and dayti me pho ne numb er.. . Editor.

• Cover