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/128105
"...itwas Ago's defection to the radica lly faster Yamaha 6 P bikes that drove the nail into M Y's coffin." Sticking Up For KTM KTM deserves to be congratulated for heir efforts wi th the KTM Chall eng e instea d of bei ng criticized by unhappy parents like Mark Ko lb (Voices, Issue 17 ) and the Sm iths (V oices, Issue 19 ) . No good deed goes unpunished applies here, as KTM is now getting the short end of the stick afte r putting out considerable eff o rt to m ak e these ra ces possible. After enjoying seei ng th ese future stars b la st in g around the SX tracks for years , thanks to KTM, I don't find it unreasonable KTM would want " a little extra publ icity " by ha ving K en Griffey 's so n participate. Rega rd ing devoted raci ng famil ies , Jeff Wa rd de fin itely qualifies in th is department after winn ing at le ast on e Supercross ma in for so m e t hi n g llk e sev en o r eight years in a row . I do not mean to m in imize the d isappo intment the fam ili es ex pe rie nc ed b y not mak in g the prog r a m , b u t in st ea d I a m r ecom mendin g th ese f a milie s contr ibu t e su gg e st i o ns t o KTM on im proving t he KTM C hallenge inst ead of insisting th eir man ag ement is fu ll of &%$# . My suggestion to KT M is t o run two qualifiers in th e afternoon aft er p ractice to determ in e wh o ma k es the eve n ing p ro g ram wh ile reserv ing one or tw o p rov isiona l po sitio ns for fa mi lies in the ind ustry or other pr ofessio na l sports. SFX an d th e A MA sh o ul d gl adly cooperate with any request fro m KTM to improv e t he p ro g ram, g iven th e inv estm ent KTM h as made w ith the KTM Chall eng e. Michael RJgdon Y1a the InffNnet Doubting Alan? Fo r abou t 60- percent more than the cost of a 1000cc Yamaha FZI , enthusiasts ca n opt for the 750cc MV Brutale and get to see the ir hideous rad i at or hose s - hoses th at Yam aha somehow manages to h id e on it' s naked bike. E uropean E d i t o r A lan Cath cart assures us in his B ruta le te st (Iss u e #19, May 8 ) tha t this is okay because owners - for th eir extra 60 percent will be riding "Italy's real two- wheeled Ferrari, in spite of Ducati 's pretention to the title." Say what, A lan? Ferrar i and Ducati race, w in or lo se, every year. It is who they ar e. And MV? Th e in st ant th ey had to rac e anything faster tha n prewar d esign ed Briti sh sin g les , th ey fold ed up l ik e a c hea p sui tc ase . If memory serv es, it was A go 's def ection to th e radica lly fas ter Yam aha GP bikes that drov e th e n a il int o MV's coffin. Pretentions, ind eed. Ducati b etter start buying Cathcart more expensiv e meals. Bruce Armstrong Santo Barbara. CA Snubbing Snyder? I am very disappointed in you r almost t o t al la ck of co ve rage of what w ill surely be one of the biggest motorcy cle news sto ries of the year. I couldn 't wait to get th e i s s u e with all th e d etails and photographs of Jennifer Snyder 's first profess ional vi ctory. In stead , we g et a c o u p l e of pa ra g raphs at the bottom of th e second page . I understand deadlines, but at least yo u could have used a file photo , and maybe printed a c oup le more quotes fro m J enn ifer. M y fam ily of ra c ing f a n ati c s wou ld l ik e t o congratu la te Jennifer Snyder on her victory , and I hope we are present fo r th e next on e. Terry Man:um Y1a the In~met D id you see th e cove ra ge in last we ek 's issu e?... Editor More Ideas With the recent ta lk about the AMA road-ra cing format, I'd like to th row ou t a c o u p l e of i d eas . F irst , wh a t about a co m bo ro und at Mospo rt Park with the Canad ian series? It seems to wo rk we ll at Lagun a Seca w ith t h e AMA and World Superbike Seri es. I'm sur e the re are a lot of Canad ian fans who would lo ve to see Miguel DuHamel and th e other Canadian s in th e series rac e on ho me soil , and it would g iv e the AMA anothe r q ua lity venue for racing . Sec ond , what a bo ut running the 7 50cc Supe rsp ort race in the Su per bike race , as "race two ," The class seems a bit red und ant , and many of them run th e Superb ik e race an yway . A coup le of ru le ch anges m ight go a long w ith thi s . One - r iders are requ ired to run 75 0s so there 's no stepp ing up w ith a 600. Two - l et them run sli c k rac ing t ires. All the othe r bike rules would ap ply , thereby k eeping the costs down, bu t it wou ld all ow private bikes to run for a real c h a m pi o n shi p and not j u st trundle aro und in 16th, hoping everyone of th e factory b ikes breaks. This m ight also require tightening up th e qualify ing rul es, but I th in k it's worth looking at. Lastly , I' d like to giv e credi t t o everyo ne invol ve d in getti ng t h at Ai r F en c e i n place at Sears Point. Mo re is needed , b ut as we saw in th e 600cc race, it wo rks a n d i t ma ke s the r a c ing b ett e r in eve ry way . ~wart Shepler Columbus, OH Doubtin g Baileyl would like to take issue with David B a il ey and h is contin uous remar ks abo ut the superio ri ty of Honda during the Su perc ross broad c asts . I re adily ad m it that I am not a Honda fan and w ish that ESPN and /or ABC would rep la c e Dav id w i t h so m e o ne who c ou ld be mo re objective. I don't beli ev e that the NASCAR W inston Cup an no uncers exhib it this blatant partia lity . Kawasaki has in vest ed in Ri c k y Carm icha el since he was a young k id . I h op e t h at Ricky w ill st and b y Kawasaki now that he has become a cha m pi o n . As f or Da v id 's suggest i on th at Ri c k y i s go ing to Honda becau se Honda offers a superior produc t and team , Ric k y has alread y enjoy ed a st ell a r c a r ee r e xclus i v e ly w i t h Kawasak i. He has now re ached the p innacle o ur sport ha s to offer. Wh at more ca n Tea m Honda offer h im in terms of b ik es? I ho pe Rick y co nsi d ers how other supe r st ars ha ve suffered at Honda of late. RobertMoms Y1a the In~met Like d The Coverage Ho w about th at televised coverage of round two of the AMA S uperbike Series? I watche d th e coverage of the 25 0 and 50 0cc Gr and Prix races an d thoug h t m y se ns es c o u l d n' t ta k e mu ch m o re until Sears Point started . Between th e on -b ike fo otage , th e u se o f t el e m et r y a n d th e g ro u nd sho ts , I fo und m ys el f j ust scream in g w it h excite ment. The co lor co m me ntary was also the best ava ilable. Yes I'm still go ing to ca tch every Grand Prix an d Worl d Superb ike ra ce, but now I can 't m iss AMA Superbik e eith er . It's action -packed . A lso, c ongratu lations to A nthony Gobert . Robert Covtngton Anahetm Httfs, CA TheTT I just had the opport uni ty to read M ichael Sc ott's commentary on the 200 I TT cancellation and felt com pell ed to respond in some way - as a support er of the TT m ore tha n on ce in th is section of m y fav or it e motorcycle newspaper, and also as a fellow co m miserator w ho has had th e unfortunate experience of lo sing a friend to a ra cing accident on the Isle of Man. Scott admits that th e TT, and any publ ic -roads race for that m atter, is " f o r an y body who has th e c o u rag e and co m mitment to gamble th eir sk ill against the pitiless public roa ds," and I thin k hi s respe ct is higher than m ost in his pro fess ion for those who co m - e U e I e p ete o n these dangerous c i rc u i t s . Scott ce rt a inly has exper ienced the lo ss a ra c et rack fa ta lity steals from se em ingly im p enetra bl e enth usi asm fo r a very dangerou s sp ort. His intu ition about racer menta lit y is un can n il y precise and refreshing , and I read his work with relish eac h week. Ho w ev er , his q uest ioning of t h e conti n u an c e of th e TT mi g ht h inge upon the pred icta ble m ora l outrage of t h e read er in ferri n g the obvious l y imminent death of some furt her co mpetit or o n d angerous wall -rim med ci rc ui t s r a th er tha n f o c u s in g o n t he more visceral appeal of public -roa d s racing - the co urage of these gentlem en . Wh y isn't it possibl e to co ntinue to hon or the co ura ge of thos e who acce pt th e c o nseq uences of publi c roads ra cing and remember th e lo sses of the ir fe llow co m pe tito rs proudly , paying most dignifi ed respect to J oey Dun lop o r Mar k Fa rmer or Phil Mellor - all among my m ost revered purveyors of t wo -wh eeled bravado - and any of the othe r unfort unate di gni ta ries of TT misfortune? T hese gu ys knew the deal. Their fa milies did too, and they still remember and suffer - as do their fan s. But ending the whole gig is not g o ing to he lp heal th o se wo und s, it will only tu rn a suprem e motorcycle festiva l int o a forlorn mem ory . Hungry ra cers still li ne up fo r the chance to pi t their mettle against the Roads let them ma ke that c hoi ce . You gu ys p rep ar ing for the 2002 TT know the deal, ri g ht? In short , th e co n ti n ui n g and undoubtedl y lon g -w inded rhetori c that ask s for th e shruggi ng of sho ulders and qu est ioning of th e real need for the TT is premature . An arg uably tired cl ich e m ay be app rop riat e here: Let those wh o ride decid e. Th e fans will co me, and they will sm ile... a nd cry . But I'm c o nv ince d that's w h at makes li fe so prec ious . Keep it coming. RJc/( Matheny Sraysoll.. SA n Ie vv S APR IL 23. 2001 5