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/128107
"Huh? OkaYI Who is numbe r three?11 he Numbers Game Hey , who is wearin g number one this ear?" "Nobody." " Oh , okay , who is number t wo? " " Nobody ." " Hu h ? Okay , who is num ber ree? " Okay , so Ri c k y Car mi chae l is umber on e, bu t he' s wea ring num er four - so the num bers rea lly don't ean any th ing, right? Every year we loo k forward to the ationa l Motocross opene r at Glen elen . The Supercross series is over nd we can 't wait fo r some good o ld as h io ne d motoc ross o n t he tra ck s very body ca n ri de throughout t he ear . Part of t h e e xci te m ent has Iw ays been to see the ri ders wearing hei r newly ea rned number fro m th e re vious year: " Who se number w hat h is ye ar? etc ." It l e t s y ou know wh o f inishe d h er e l ast y ear and a lso se pa rates his year from la st year (like a fr esh tart, so to speak ) . It mak es me sad hat th e trad it ion of "battling fo r th e umber-one plate ," ha s been flush ed own th e to ilet so o ur sport c an be o re lik e N A SC AR . I gu es s th is i s uppo sed t o make the rid er s m ore ecogn izable to th e casual fan , o r bet er for T .V, or wha te ver. I'm not su re w ho thin ks th is is a ood idea, bu t no on e I have t alk ed to g rees w ith it. Motocross is nothing ike sto ck c ar rac ing; o ur tracks are onst an tl y changing , lap after lap change is good, remember). Ea ch yea r there are up and c om ng rid ers wh o all deserv e a shot at a op 10, to p f i v e, o r if th e y a re xtremely t alented, th e rig ht to wea r he number -one pla te . Let' s say Ryn o Ryan Hu ghes] fini shes sec on d on the ew Ho n d a - in 20 02 h e wo n't b e b l e t o run numb er t w o b e c au s e erem y McGrat h has retired fro m th e ut doo rs. (No hate ma il please ; I' m a cGrath fan ) . So wh at , h e wi ll b e umber 120 forever? Will a N ati on al ham p ionship mean as m uch if every ear th e riders wear th e same nurn ers - ye ar after ye ar aft er yea r after ear? Yaw n ... Hopefully, this letter w ill help co nin c e th e "po wer s th at be " to d ump he permanent number th eory and go ack to the old sy st em . It ' s nic e and res h, lap after l ap, yea r after year. Also , since the 250 c c cla ss no w as 250s, 400s , 426s and 520s, why not ca ll it the Open class and g iv e LaRoc co the number-one pl at e. I bet Honda wou ldn't mind. BIll Bouman San Qemente, CA Good TV, Ba d TV In response to Jimmy Floyd 's recent lett er, "Bad TV " - jf wa tching moto rcy cl e ra cing from an o nboa rd ca m - era , w it h no co m mentary and exc el lent audio for the first la p of a race gets poor Mr. Floyd sick and sleepy , let h im watch baseball or golf so as not t o ruin a Speedvision prod uct that is vast ly superior to that of an y other network. I fi nd it hard to beli eve that anyone could f all as leep d uring one of t he bes t rac es, and b est covered races, I've seen. First, and m ost im po rt antly , I beg Speedv ision not t o listen to the com pla ints of o ne bu t ra ther continue to sat isfy the legio ns of tru e bikers and race fans w ith your excellent coverage of all form s of motorcycle racing . Second , I sug gest that J immy Floyd lay off th e beer w hile cr uising around o n his trike prior to wa t chi ng what I feel sho ul d be Em my awa rd -w innin g c o v e r a g e o f A MA Sup e rb i k e. M r. Fl oyd must rid e a trik e (i f indeed he rides at all) , as the lean an gles of a m oto rc ycle wo uld undoubtedl y antagoni ze hi s weak st om ach. I r a ce b i ke s , and asid e from Sp eedvision ' s multi- camera op en ing la p as seen at Sear s Point, no thing I ha ve seen on TV has ever come cl ose to reproducing the thrill and intensity of being on the track . It was so dead on t ha t at t he track t he f o llo w in g weekend it was perhaps th e most d isc usse d top i c . The qu ic k cam era an gl e cha ng es ma y ha ve be en t o o fast for the "concentration a lly d efi ci ent " Mr. Floyd (if Bush c a n ma k e up word s, so ca n I), but it was trul y fanta stic fo r the rest of us ! A lthough I agree th e graphics need w o rk , th e i n f o r m a t i o n fr om Mat M l adin ' s b ik e w as unbel ievabl e. M y h at i s off t o Sp e ed visi on an d Yoshim ura Suzuki for provid in g suc h m e anin g fu l d at a . I i mag ine eve ry rac e r in Cali forn ia i s lo ok in g f o r a copy of t hat t ape so as to compare shift and brakin g poi nts. A nd don 't coun t on ever see in g t ha t le vel of da ta fro m the World Su perb ike co verage , as I do ub t an y of th os e te am s wou ld all ow it. Compa re this to th e ESPN coverag e o f D a y t on a . ES PN wa s tape de layed vs. Speedv isio n airing li ve. In the ESPN covera ge, th ey cont inually fo llowed rid er s in the back of th e fi eld whil e I beli ev e the y m i ssed alm ost eve ry single p ass fo r a lead ch ange. T he ESPN aud io had probl ems, th e c a m e ra a ng le s wer e bad, and th e co m mentary was ele mentary at best . A nd at th e latter st age s of th e ra c e, th ey br o k e awa y fo r so m an y c o m merci als that th ere was actuall y more ti me spe nt in co m mercial br ea ks than c overing the rac e. Again , thanks Sp eedv ision for the ex c e ll ent c ove ra ge of all f orm s of motorcycle raci ng. Keep up the good w ork a n d keep u p t ry ing th e new ideas t ha t make you r coverage th e best. A s fo r Mr. Floyd , I re quest that he ei ther res pec tfull y fall asleep befo re th e c overag e begins or t a k e Dram am in e be cause non e of us want his co m pla ints t o ruin the best c overage and the best m otorcycle support ing networ k ou t the re . :JetrLongbottom San Pedro, CA Good TV, Bad TV II As a race fan , I hav e to res po nd to last week 's letter praising th e TV co v erage of th e recen t A MA Su p erbike race at Sears Point. I thought th e co vera ge was inex cusably aw ful. A s th e huge pack rac es into the first turns , all jockeying fo r posi t io n , we g et a shot fro m the lead b ike , so we have no idea wh at' s goi ng o n - especi ally since t he r i der wi th th e ca mer a i s misidentifi ed , and th e announcers are " sp e e c h l e ss." It m i g ht as w ell b e fo otage from qua li fying . T here 's a re ason tha t th e GPs and W orld Superbike rac es feature those bor ing o ld tra c k side shots - so you c an see what's going on in the race . The most eg regio us coverage happened late in the rac e - after breaking for a commercial , with Nicky Hayden and Anthony Gobert d icing neck and ne ck , we return to see a long on -bike sequence, fe at uring telemetry of the fo urth- p lace bik e ( wow! ), wi t h na ry a m ention of what's going on up front, until we fin ally co me back and , gu ess wh at , we j ust m issed Gobert passi ng Hayd en for t he lea d . Call me o ld fa sh i on ed , but w hat I fi n d exc iting isn 't the telemetry o r camera angles, it's th e ra cing . If yo u notice wh en yo u watch a football game, the y save the slo-rno shot of the great block fo r the rep lay - w hen it' s liv e th ey show th e guy sco ri ng the tou chdown . Sp eedvi s io n i s m y f av o r it e chan nel, and they 've go t a great series to co ve r, so ple ase don 't try to turn the NFL in to t he XFL. (In case you m issed it , the X F L got ca nce lle d d u e t o l a c k o f interest.) Glenn M organ Oak Pari(, CA More On TV Robert M orri s sh o u ld l ay o ff Dav id Bailey. Fo r m y m on ey , Bail ey is the finest, most profess ional co m menta to r in m otors ports. Wi thout h im we co ul d l ook for wa r d t o m or e co m m en t s lik e " he' s righ t o n h i s b a c k ru b be r ," or " t h e re ' s steam co m i ng from his mac hine, gee D avid do yo u thi nk he h as w ate r in his transm i s sion?" And wh at th e hell is w rong w ith show ing a little loya lty to your fo rmer employe r? I am not a fan of th e way Ho nda tr eats it s riders, but fro m 19 82 t o 19 9 6 the Hon d a dynasty pretty m uc h own ed motocross in A merica. N o o t h e r manufacturer h a s co me close to tha t level of domi nance. A s far as Rick y Carmichael sign in g wi th Honda , tha t's a de cis ion he must eye I .. make fo r h imself . K awasaki has the o l de s t, l e a st - c ha n ge d design in motocross. I think that holds true for the ir Superbikes as w ell. Sooner o r lat er, the technolog y will be a factor in his performance, unless Kawasaki makes soine cha nges. Whatever dec isi on Ric ky makes, it w ill probably be wh at ev er he fee ls is bes t for h is rac in g p rogram , rega rd less of what a TV c om ment ator might say. Sam Kistfer VIa the Intem et No Red, Ricky Ricky Carmi ch a el , pl ease d o n 't go red! Moto cro ss is m o re th an j ust who c a n s he l l o u t th e b i gg e st c o i n. Rem ember th e people who helped to bring yo u this far - th ey ar e a larg e part of your success . I realize th is is a bu sin ess an d the manufactu re rs are in it to sell moto rcycles . Howeve r , Ho nda sho uld be asha med o f itself . They are un ab le to groom a rider of th eir o w n so th ey have to reso rt t o st ealin g others. I rea lize yo u sh ou ld be we ll com pensated fo r y o u r ac c o m pl ish m ents and ma rket value , but that will com e. You a r e o n t op o f t h e wo rld a nd e ve ry t h in g i s w o r k in g for y o u ; t h e te a m, the b ike, your m echan ic , th e m an ag em en t .. . d on 't brea k t ha t ch emist ry . A lso, I wa nt t o point o ut some of t he p a st c ha m p io ns w h o co uld not win a title on a Honda afte r Honda bought them : Lus k , Windham, LaRo cco , Pichon , Tortelli, and ev en th e great Bob Hannah. Th e g lory da ys of Honda are over. N ow it' s j ust a rest ing g round for past c h a m p i o n s . T he grea t Jeff Ward stayed true to a team and look where he is today , the m ost successful post m ot oc r o s s r acer ever. Rem e m b er gre en means go and red mean s stop! Chris Sanchlrlco foothill Ranch, CA n .. _ os • JUN E 6 ,200 1 5