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/128106
"... if you looked close enough at the bottom right- ha nd corner of the screen, Mat had moll." Doubting The Palm Bad TV I can't believe that Shaun Palmer gets a T r o y Lee /factory Honda ride for b eing a crossover rider from snow board ing and mountain biking. There are a lot of true privateers who are m o re d ese r v in g of factory support th an a 30 -somethi ng -year- ol d sk i er w ho 's be st ra c in g accom p lish ment w as b a rel y q ualifying for a Sup er c r o s s . W ill we see Ton y H aw k o r ma yb e Th e Rock a t a coup le of Nation al s th is year ri ding a facto r y Honda? I'll b e ro o tin g for the true privateers wh o wou ld put a fac tory bik e to better use than Palmer. Hats off to Paul Carruthers and Henny Ray Abrams for their excellent work coveri ng the Sears Point AMA Superbike race. I did not know the results until receiving my Cycle New s in the mail. The race was cover ed on Speed vision and I should have known the results , how ever , I was una ble to wa tc h th e race in its entire ty. Evide ntly , some netwo rk wiz from Sp eed vision came up with the idea of usi ng so me cutti ng-edge t ech no logy known as "on-board" ca meras, and lots of 'em! Ne ar the start of the race I w a s fightin g o ff m o t i on sick ness ca use d by wha t fel t like 30 cameras sw itching ba c k and forth , bac k and forth. " O oo hh hh , th ese camera shots are ki ck ass! NASCAR uses ยท'em and we will too!" Ha yd en to Gobert to Mladin , back to Ha yd en - h e' s le a di ng! Wa it! Go ba ck to M lad i n , and then w e c a n watch Hayden lead! Back to Gobert - Rob RIchards San MafEoo, CA Kudos To TV M en My congratul ations t o A rt E c kman , D av id Ba ily , Davey Coombs , ESPN2 and a ll t he ot h er fo l ks who have made the 200 1 Supercross broad casts such an exciting wee k ly eve nt. While I'm not w ild about sp litting the 125s into a d ifferent time, it was great to see more 12 5cc action. The hel met cam j ust ke eps getting better and the brief ride wi th Sebastien Tortelli as Las Veg as w as al m o st li ke being there. Let's have more of th at ! While on th e sub je ct of TV , I must t ak e issue wi th the FIM's contention that one moto makes for better T V. Most enterta inment from the sitcom t o the N FL to live theater has tw o act s. If the bu siness goal of TV is to have v iew ers ' eye s glued to the set , even through commercials , th e end of the first act (or moto in th i s case) provides the necessary " c li ff hanger " to keep the vi ewer w ith the program. And the second act, or moto, is wh en the protagon ist gets challenged o r g ets a second chance, thus making the whole experience more enterta ining and ultimately satisfying. One last thought on the 12 5/2 5 0 c c fo u r - st ro ke controversy. While d rag racing is a very d ifferent sport, there is a cl ass where the co n testants c om pe te even ly bu t on d ifferent mach inery, albeit wi th gu idelines. T h e y have the choice of e i ther a supe rc h a rg e d , alcohol- b u rnin g engine, or an inj ected n itrom et hane burning en gi ne . Ma yb e there shou ld b e some w e ight or p o wer ru le s in regard t o the t wo-stroke/four-s troke situati o n . I woul d love to see dyn o horsepower and torque curves com p a rin g Ernesto Fonseca's bike and Just in Bu ck elew' s bike . Dan Rodlauer Via the InfrNnet de fic i t and a li tt l e nausea , I fell asleep . Wh y are the GPs covered so well whi le AMA is covered by that kid fr om y o ur high school AV depart m en t ? Remember h im? Inquiring m inds would like to know! JlmmyRoyd Lake M ary, R. Welcome, Gra nt O n the Mo nday after the Glen Helen National Mo to c ro ss, th e loc al p ap er quoted Gra nt La ngston as say ing : "I ca n't bel ieve as a foreig ner tha t they were cheering for m e." Welco me , Gra n t , to A merica n motocross . W ith all th e h yp e o f Supercross and it s " st erile" environ ment, yo u have no w seen wh ere the heart and roots of our sp ort is. We at the o ut doors are the on es wh o bu y th e bik es, gear, magazines, new spa pers , and li v e and breathe motocros s. W e apprecia te yo ur talent and understand wh at it t akes to get where you are in this spo rt . curr ent report card and re sume. Mu ch to o u r ex cit ement , we recei ved a letter tw o and a half weeks late r letting us k now that our son had been p icked for ro u nd o n e. We are not ce lebrit ies and m y so n is not the fastest kid on the track . J udgi ng from how man y ki d s r ac e at o u r l o c al track s , I' m su r e they m u st h ave received hundreds if not thousands of app li cat ions . U n f ort un at el y , n o t eve ryon e c a n b e p ick ed , and while two ki ds ar e in questi on , 23 8 are not. I p ersona lly would like to thank K T M for the outstand ing p rog ram the y put on for our future Supercross st ar s. My son and famil y will forever have th e m emo r y of a great da y at th e rac es. Monlka 6aumer Long Beach, CA. TheTT Team KTMIRed Bull's Grant Langston we can watch Gobert watch Mladin watch Hayden! Isn 't th is great? Why d idn 't we think of thi s before? A fter a f ew l a p s of " gu es s wh at b ike y o u're on ," I regain ed en o u gh c o m p o su r e t o co nc e ntrate o n the tu be . Now, wh at I though t was a c om merci al for " Su per Speed Racer Cycl e 20 00 " - a ne w Nintendo Ga m e - was actua lly Mla d in ' s on- board, fr iggin ' everythi ng computer! Befo re m y ve ry eyes , my 36 -in ch Sony had be en transformed int o the p ix el defic ien t video monitor used to record 7 - 1 1s getting knocked off on Cops . In f act, i f y o u l o o k ed close enough at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, Ma t ha d ma il. F ig ht ing a severe concentration At the outdoor races , we can hang over the fence , t ast e the roost in our m outh s and k no w that wh e re you come fro m doesn 't matter. Wha t matte r s i s th at your g iv ing it your best an d doing somethi ng with a p assio n that we American fan s sha re. Jim Hunmr Via the Inmmet In Defense Of KTM am writing in re sp onse to some of the nega t i ve le tters t h at have been w ritt en on behalf o f K T M ' s Jun i o r Sup e rcross Challenge . We ent ered our eig ht -year -o ld so n just as instructed to do in Cy cl e New s. We contacted our local dealer and sent in an application al o ng wi th m y son 's cue. e Regarding M icha el S cott's " In t h e Paddock " c ol u m n ( Is sue # 19 , Ma y 16), with great in sight he states , "No re al motor c y c lis t c an fail to be touched b y all aspec t s of the sh eer li bert ari an hooliganism of it all , which i s what attracted many of us to motorcycles in the first p lace. " Then , with equal p erceptivity , he tells how he ha tes th e c ras h es but loves the freedom offered to anyo ne p repared to t a k e the risk a nd relies on th e vi cti ms to underst and wh at they are letting themselves in for. But then , he goes on to say th e los s of t he TT has for y ears been unthinkable; now it has happened for one year. At least maybe it's time to think the un thin k ab le.. . What? T he fo ot-a nd -mouth pr oblem may just p os si bly b e reaso n enough t o t empo rarily cancel this hugely em i nent eve nt, but it w ill never be time t o th ink the unthink able. Ken Newton Ne whall. CA n e vv s MAY 30. 2 0 01 5