Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Gentlemen, please shut your pie holes, television sucks..." Hates Us ho 's F.alta is it? For the lame eporting at the AHRMA/AMA days est at Sears Po int. Your reporter ust have been seeing stars (o r had is head up their asses ) . Having big lu tc h problems with t h e Maico , I le cted to watch moto two (Plus-40 xp ert) inste ad of rid e in it. It was an o no r to race against men li k e Lack y , Moates , Falta , Gro ss i , and the est. But it was not until th e fo urt h lap f a sc h ed u l ed three -lap ra ce t h at hey were vy ing fo r the lea d. It w as D all a s Ny b lo d, from u y allu p , Washington . wh o wa s ou t ront and fly ing on his 197 4 YZ25 0. I ealize that we are nobody's cornpa red to these guys , bu t let's g iv e r edi t t o Da ll a s for his rig hteous fforts. A lso, I wa s v er y disa p pointed to see no m enti on of the horrific get-off that left m y fri end J im Row wi th two broken vert eb rae , and a la rge medica l bill. J im won hi s first moto in the Open Age Expert class and is a cl ass act himself . Nlel G/ertsen VIa the Internet both our cove r an d in our coverage of th e Sprin gfield Ed itor m ... Love s Us Just wanted to say thanks for helping me move th is past weekend . It took about 10 random back issues to wrap up all the breakabl e stuff and I got to sort of re- c ap th e past f ew months of action in th e process. It m ad e a pr ett y dull t ask a lot eas ier to stomach. I was carefu l to ke ep m y reading to qu ick sca ns on ly . Idl en ess r e s u l t i ng fr om b e comin g eng ros sed in ye ar ol d motocross arti cl e s wa s g u a rantee d t o P - O th e spouse . Love you r work . Chris Doyte VIa the Internet Hate s Us Can yo u send me a URL of a purist motocross o nline si t e? Yo u D ill a ta ntes (sic) are ab out as timely a nd info rm ative as Reader 's Dig est. TerryG. VIa the Intern et Try imaningratewhocantspell.com ... Editor Loves Us Hates Us Gentlem en , pl ea se sh u t yo ur pi e holes , tel ev ision suck s com pa red to the legendary Cycle News. With its godlike staff of edi tors a nd graphic artists publish ing a plethora of weekly articles, te levision - at it's very best p al es in co mparison to , dare I say , the Ho ly Grail of all motorcycle mags. GeotrM ardnko W hen Trav el c raft was attend ing the Grand Prix races , some of the best and most exc iting races we attended were in th e sidecar class . After six World Superbike races so far this year, th ank s so much for the small picture , and even smaller write up, of the sidecar round in the Don ington Pa rk events . Yo u should be ashamed of yourselves for such lousy cove rage of su ch an exciting ser ies. Macedon ia, OH Hates Us I j ust want to co nvey to yo u my dis appointment in the fac t th at yo u di d not see fit to ma ke the story about the Hayden boys you r cover arti cle . To m y knowledge, never before have th ree brothe rs competed in the same Grand National m ain event. It certainl y seem s that this would be a story equal to a ny other cover st ory yo u might do. D irt t rack is every bit as exc iting as moto cr os s o r r oad rac ing . Those of us who follow d irt track racing , and particularl y t ho se of us who attended th e TT at Spring - L- A &8 Williams VIctorville, CA battle between Grant Langston and Bobby Bonds. In the article, Langston was quoted as saying : " W e came down the h ill - I charged down the hill, and I could see that he was tired , and I k ind of out -braked him . We j um p ed the t a bleto p, he j u m p ed to the right and I jumped to the left, and as we landed , w e touched . I mean, he was so tired , 'c a use he j ust like fell ov er. I nev er mean to put anybod y down , it was just an u n fo r t u na te cra sh , and I. ho ee b.e's alright. But that's how rac ing goes ." Gr an t , n ic e ex p lanati on , but yo u r words don't ma tc h w hat we all sa w on the TV sc ree n . You d id out-motor Bo bby down the hill and did land in front o f h im after t he tabl et o p . B ut that is where your version of the story and reali ty end ed. The rac e footage clearly showed you looking to your left to gauge whe re Bobb y would ride and it also showed you del iberate ly riding to your left, in front of Bobby, to tak e awa y his line. Suddenl y , you slowed (chop ped the th ro t tl e or hit th e br a kes?) g iv ing B obb y the side/back of your KTM as the only pl a c e to go. And by the way , your lame atte m p t t o mak e it look like incidental contact by lo oking fo rwa rd as he ran into you from beh ind w as ri diculous. T he re is no room in this sport for that t yp e o f dirt y rid ing. If Bobb y brake -checked yo u or blocked your line in a corner, so be it . Although I would ag ree with you that corner anti cs like brake- checks and block passing aren 't racing , they are pretty common th ese da ys tha nks to Supercros s and o ne- li ned tracks . But those are also generally low-speed maneu vers , so the probability of getting hurt is low for eit her ri der. Pulling in front of a rid e r a n d " p a rk in g h im " on a downhill straight at h igh sp eed is, in your wo rds" ...just bein g stupid : Is it wo rth it to injure yourself or others in the name of pay back? I thought you were a class act and wo uld be good fo r motocross here in the Un ited St ates. Please prove me right by not having another obvious and monumental lapse in judgm ent. David stevens Leawooq,KS Another TV Letter ---' - - - - - -- - ------ Another small sidecar photo for your viewing pleasure. Afte r attend ing t h e Superbike fie ld o n Monday , Ma y 28 , kn ow what an inc re d ib le rac e it was . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nat iona I at Sears Point Rac ewa y and then watch ing the Speedv ision Please give th es e boys some c re d it tel ecast of th e event, I was certain an d some good press. you r Letters to the Editor page wo ul d :Jackie feingold be fi lled with accolades regarding the Danville, IL in sig ht fu l and refreshing coverage of Cycle News had coverage from t he H angto w n M o tocross N ati o n al th at the eve nt. Are we talking about the same Hay Im agi ne m y d ism ay w he n I rea d desc ri bed th e inte nse se c ond moto d en broth ers who w ere featu red on Picking On Someone Else, Finally cue I e Jimmy F loyd's letter co mplai ning about the on-bike cameras and realtime ac q uisition. Luck il y , M r. Flo yd is a F lorid ian whose vote will likely be throw n o ut fo r a preg na nt chad. Mr. F loyd complimented Speedvisio n's c overage of Grand Prix raci ng yo u know, the on e with the "Limey T al ki n g He ad s" yell in g like the y ' r e promoting a British tr ac to r pull ... "It' s Ahhhba y int o the spoo n curve at a hundred -th irty m il es an hour: I c an' t believe the gu y pr efers that to wh at Sp eedvision did at Sears Po int. T he AMA coverage ha s at least twice the on -track camera pos itions. How man y times have you b e en watching a GP and suddenly the rider that was in third place is no lo nger in the ra ce? A minute later a ca me ra fin ds the rider sitting on a tire wall with no c o v e r a g e of the c rash or breakdown . " O h , A hhh bay m ust h ave had a prang , bad lu ck for his title chances ." Duh! How about the same type of British over - hyp e in World Superbik e coverage? How many times must we hear C o l in E d w a r d s refe r r e d to as t he Texas T ornado? How about whe n World Supe rbike and GP cov erag e ha s a camera at track level showing the bikes wh izzing past, but the audio portion comes from a different part of th e track? At least th e AMA coverag e has the passing exhaust note comm ensurate with the bike actually going by . Floyd 's admission that he has Attention -Deficit Disorder is the probable reas on for his need to be spoon fed info rm at io n by imbecili c br o ad casters. Perh a p s he shou ld gi ve up w a tc h i n g Speedv i sion and sl i p a motorcy c le r o a d r a c e disk i n his computer. It wou Id be a lo t less aggravation for h im and w hen his attention beg ins to wan de r, he co uld check to see if he's go t ma il ? Rene LaPrevotte Novato, CA n e _ s J UN E 20 .2001 5

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