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/128102
"I really hope that the off-road racing industry will eventually create a coast-to-coast chcrnplonshlp." Ancors Away I m us t start off by saying I agre e with Chris Jonnum almo st 10 0 pe rce n t (Fi n a l Moto , Issu e # 16 , Ap ril 25 ) although I'm not sure a bout using th e sa me size bike for each race . I fe e l that this type of series wo uld attract a lo t of attent ion from th e media as well as the pr omoters and man ufa cture rs . With thi s m uch exposure, I think ANCO RS (you defi nitely have to work on t h e n am e ) would hav e the poten t ia l to b e c om e the b ig gest eve nt a round . As for rig ht now, th e WORCS series is the closest t h ing we h a ve to a coast- to-coast ch a m pio nship. I th ink the GNCC is a gr e a t ser ies a nd I woul d like t o b e ab le to serio usly c ompete for t h is c h a m p io n s h ip. Un fo rt u n a t el y , too many of the races coincide with the west-coast-series e ve nts . Th e ide a of having the p romoters c ho ose o ne to two races from each s eri es should e a sily acco mmoda te e ve ryo ne ' s ra c e s ch edule. O v eral l, it's a great ide a and I re a lly hope that th e off-roa d ra c ing industry will even tu ally c re ate a coast -to -coast ch am pionshlp. Well, those were jus t so me of m y th oughts. I rea lly enj o yed re ad ing yo ur col um n. Destry Abbott VIa the Intemet Abbott is th e AMA Nation al Hare & Houn d Champion ... Editor More On ANCORS I just wanted to drop a qu ick note to tell you I think the ANCOR Se ries is a great idea. I would like to get he c ha nce to see some of those GNCC guys com pete, but they never come out here . The "Desert Mountain Enduro" is th e only ch a nce we really ge t. I think most of those wood s guys are afra id o f c actus or some th ing , A tru e National Series m ight be more attrac tive to bigger s ponsors, too. Keep talk ing it up , maybe someth ing will stick. Thanks for the great paper and on-line service. I've been a steady reader for maybe 30 years now . WIlliam B. Klslch VIa the Intemet In Response To Barrick I'm responding to Mr. Ron Barrick's letter (Iss ue #15, April 18), If Barrick is the Road Race Manager, he had better lea m to get thing s straight, or clea r. In h is second pa rag raph , Ba rric k states: "Not only c a n riders in th os e se ries sw itc h b ikes , but they can do so for a ny rea son, without permission, an d still main ta in the ir grid po s ition.· In his th ird pa ra gr aph , Barr ick states: "The AMA rule wor ks like th is : When a race is restarted following a red flag , riders can request p e rmis sion fro m the Chief St eward or Race Manager to use a back -up b ike . That permission is typicall y granted if th e ride r ha d seriously crashed their bike o r had a mecha nic a l failure that could not be rea so na bly repaired during the inte rva l betwe en the red flag and the restart. Pe r m is s io n is not give n because a ride r is not happy with the first bik e for a ny re a son . Riders th a t are restarting on a back-up bike a re placed at the back of the grid , so there is a price to pay for swit ching.· My question s a re: Can a r id er switc h bikes for an y reason , or a spe cifi c reason? Do t hey ne ed perm ission or no perm iss io n? Do th e y still ma inta in th e ir grid po s ition or do they go to th e ba c k of the grid? Mr. Bar rick's a ns we r says , "ye s" to all. Al s o, in hi s s e c ond pa ragrap h , Barrick states : "Wh ile I do not know this to be a fac t, severa l p eo ple ha ve told me th at th e t o p lev el of fou rwheel sport - Formula One - als o has rules that pe rmit switching ca rs. · As far a s switching a utos during a race, the answer is: A car team/owner may get permission to s wit c h t o a back-up car if a driver damages the prim ary ca r beyond reasonable re pa ir be for e the ra ce starts. After th e race sta rts , the te a m/owner cannot change ca rs for any reason! After the green flag drops , race car switching stops! Also , during a red -flag stop, you cannot even work on your race car. Even if you have it in the garage ma king repairs when the red flag goes ou t, you hav e to sto p work until the ra ce restarts. A driver ma y be a relief driver for another driver during a race. In ca r racing, you ca n switch drivers, but not ca rs. Mr. Barrick, plea se wat ch a n F- I , NASCAR , Indy Ug ts, CART or an IRL race - you could leam someth ing . James E. Dent Son Jose, CA stated that the di fference between first and seco nd pl a c e in t he AMA system is fou r points and in World Su p e rb ik e and Grand Prix it is five . T ha t is correc t but, sin c e onl y on e round of the AMA Superbi ke , World Superbi ke and GP series had been run a s of last week, it wa s particularly e asy to compare other differences in the point-awa rding systems by look ing at the Cycle Ne w s Le a d e rb o a rd section . Although the difference between first and second in the two s yste m s is small , the AMA awards s ignific a ntly more po ints for other top 10 positions th a n Wo rld S up erbike or GP. Th a t is what race fans are co m p la ini ng about. This points issue is trivial c o mpared to what other c h a ll e n g es motorcy clists a re presently fa cing . However , the response of the AMA or one of its officia ls is typical how the y ha nd le criticis m o r sugge st ions . AMA officia ls: We ha ve bra ins , so pl ease listen t o u s . Yo u se em t o a lway s be defe nsive. If you stop worrying so m uc h a bo ut yo ur image a nd listen yo u m ight learn someth ing use ful. May be I w ill co ns ide r j o in ing agai n whe n yo u stop foc us ing o n m aking yo u rs elve s look good and start fo cu s ing on h elp ing motorc y clists a nd th e s po rt of motorcycling , AntonIo F. earaa VIa the Intemet And Another Why does th e AMA c o n ti n ue to assu me m ot o rc ycl is ts cannot t hink clea rly or effectively? I a m re fe rring firstly to th e ir continuing attempts to skew the fa cts reg a rd ing th e Rog e r Edmondson case. S econdly , in Ro n Barr ic k 's resp ons e t o c omp la ints regarding th e AMA po ints system , he wa s ra cing at LACR in Pa lmda le on a LE M 50 an d h a d won h is la st s ix ra c e s a t th at time. He was also on th e hon or roll at h is school , a nd still is. We attende d the opening ro und at Anaheim and heard over the p ublic a dd ress sy stem th at Ken Griffey 's so n wanted to ride in on e of the e ve nts . I la t e r sa w that he d id. No w , in this m onth 's Dirt Rider mag azi ne, I see J e ff Ward' s s on was able to ride in it. KTM told m e that it was a to tally ra ndo m p ic k. I t hink KTM is full of &%$# . I g u es s if you r da d is no t a majo r lea gue baseba ll pla ye r or a form e r Supercross Ch am pion , yo u rea lly d on 't have a c h a nce . S in c e th en , I ha ve seen Bruc e Pe nha ll an d his son in a Hon da a dvertisement, so I guess he 's next. I'm just ve nting a litt le a s a father whose s on reall y wanted to ride in one of the events . M ark Kolb Teh achapt Ca Laughing All The Way To The Bank Win One, M ike For those that think the VTX 1800 is Honda 's "big m ist ak e ," you can send y o u r c o n d o le n c e s to the bank , b e cause that's where they (Ho nd a) will be - laughing. The VTX 1800 is going to do for the cruiser market what the Honda V65 Magna and Yama ha V-Max d id in th e ea rly to mid '80 s. Honda ha s created a winner, a nd th e y know it. SomFants Lakeville, MN I had to sm ile when re ad ing a recent "Lo o k ing Back " colum n. Ten ye a rs ago , Mike laRocco finished second on Saturday and third on Sunday in the Pontiac Supercross. However, having sai d that, La Ro c c o is the o nly rider who deserves any respect o ut of the current bunc h. Ma ybe th e AMA should incr ease the length of th e main e ve nts to 25 la ps nex t year. Hope you win one, Mike. Phffl p AJamangos l Coto de Caza, CA Not Pleased RossI's Reprimand T his is jus t a short lett er in re ga rd to t he KTM Sport Challenges that are held a t the Supercross races. About three ye ar s ago, I started a pp lying to KTM to try and assure a s pot for my son who , at the time, was sev en ye a rs o ld, in th e KTM sh ow . I applied for Las Vegas , Los Ang e les an d Sa n Diego , I d id th is for two years without earning a s pot. My son I c an 't believe that the FIM woul d re prima nd Valentino Rossi for g iving Ma x Biaggi the s ign that he thinks Biagg i is number o ne . Th is is the same sign that I give Harle y riders when I me et or pass them - because they are number one in m y e yes. Jerry McDonald Corpus Chrlstf. TX cue I e n e _ S • MAY 2 , 200 1 5