Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"I hope he keeps it up throughout the year and can Win the 6NCC tffte. Way to go, Mike." Doln' The Numbers (For Miguel) It was interesting to read the "Has Daytona Become Too Dangerous" article (Issue #13, April 3) and the different ways people think about it and their possible solutions. The thing that I found most interesting was that Miguel DuHamel thought it necessary to defend himself on how fast the V-twins are. The whole story was about hearing opinions on Daytona maybe becoming too dangerous for the speed of our bikes. Why did Miguel go on about the fours having more corner speed, so on and so on? Miguel also mentioned that "the twins were a joke not that long ago, they were blowing up left and right." Miguel turned the story into an argument between twins and fours and what seemed to be a debate about the fairness of the current rules, so I decided to run a few stats for him. The firsfWorld Superbike Championship was run in 1988. In 14 years, an inline four has won it once in the hands of who I believe was the best rider on the racetrack, hands down. V-fours have won it three times and V-twins have won it 10 times, and unless something drastic happens that will be 11 times at the end of this season. Reliability was obviously not the big joke he mentioned. In 2002, the average deficit between winner and first inline four over the first six races to date has been 30 seconds. All races have been won by V-twins. The average position of the best inline four has been seventh. The average Superpole time deficit has been 1.1 seconds and the average position has been seventh. Then, I hear the argument that the best riders are on the twins. Maybe so, but there's a reason people lean towards what they believe is the most competitive configuration on the racetrack. That is because they know there is little hope of winning a World Superbike Championship on an inline four. Looking at the stats of World Superbike and overlaying them with the stats of AMA Superbike, one would then have to wonder if the best riders are on the twins in the USA. Oh, and running down the lines of Miguel's comment that Suzuki couldn't do it, he obviously hasn't seen who won the last three championships. Miguel, the next time you're out driving around, keep an eye open as to how many GSX-Rs and TLRs you see compared to RC51 s. Our championship is suffering badly with only nine factory bikes this year, from what I believe is a problem with the rules. It is far too complicated to go into it here, but I do believe there are a large number of non-factory-supported riders who could get much closer to the factory guys given the opportunity to have a competitive bike. This would make for full grids of riders who could race within one to two seconds of the leaders. I also believe that people would love to be able to buy on Monday what really wins on Sunday - not the exotic road bikes that we race currently. These last few thoughts are just my beliefs and don't necessarily mean they are right. MatMladln VIa the InffHnet For those of you who have been sleeping, Mladin is the three-time and defending AMA Superbike National Champion... Editor Lundgren's Friend I would like to thank cyclenews.com for your great service with posting a quick response about the death of road racer Ricky Lundgren at California Speedway on April 5 and the follow-up explanation on April 6 about what happened in the accident. Your information helped over a 100 people begin to understand what happened in the death of Lundgren. Words cannot explain how cyclenews. com helped so many friends and family try to come to peace with what happened on the racetrack. We searched everywhere on-line and cyclenews.com was the only website with any information about this real news concerning his death shame on the AMA and the other motorcycle Web sites for not covering such important news to people's lives. Thank you to Cycle News for being there when one of your racers needed you most to let family, friends and fans know what was going on. I hope you continue your role to report on the motorcycle world and make sure the AMA, race directors and racetracks are professional, to secure the safety of our riders. I am shocked that the lack of safety fence can happen at this level of competition, where a bike can slide across the track, hit the grass, flip up into the air over a barrier and hit a racer going the opposite direction through another corner. Please help make sure this never happens again - even though it will not bring back my best friend. Mark SChefde VIa the InffHnet Defending Picotte I'd like to reiterate Chris Gramm's comments regarding HMC and Mitch Hansen's asinine move to fire Pascal Picotte from the squad. Loyalty and talent - that's what Picotte has pumped into an unnamed American motorcycle manufacturer's unhomologated racing effort for the past five years. Needless to say, I was very happy to see that Picotte had been picked up by another team for the Fontana round and nearly fell out of my seat to see him finish fifth. You would have never known this since all Dave Despain and Dave Sadowski could talk about was Nicky Haden's fourhour lead and the huge adversity that the HMC team and Doug Chandler had to overcome to get where they were (no offense to Chandler). HMC's pain was self-inflicted. Nice work, Hansen. I'd say you ephed up - and I'll say it repeatedly, as loyalty and talent hand your HMC team their ass on a weekly basis. And they'll be doing it on your old equipment. JlmmyRoyd Lake Moly, R. Defending Lorna Linda So Kurtis Roberts fell down, went to Loma Linda University Medical Center, and says the doctors "weren't up there with the best at all." I know the parents of a one-year-old boy who recently had open-heart surgery there that would be happy to dispute that statement. In fact, my father had open-heart surgery there in 1977, and was thankful to them for saving his life - right up to his death in 1995. There are countless others who sing its praises. Why not just tell us the real problem, Kurtis? The real problem is that you were not hustled into a private room, that you had to wait until more seriously injured patients were attended to, and you were not treated like the big star you fancy yourself to be. Welcome to the real world, Kurtis. It could have been worse. You could have been sent to San Bernardino County Hospital, where the wait for non-life-threatening injuries is 12 to 14 hours. steve Bauer VIa the Intemet More On Lorna Linda I would like to comment about our experience at the California Speedcue I • way infield medical center and Loma Linda Hospital. As you know, I have some experience with infield centers. The infield medical staff at Fontana was very professional, caring, and helping with both Josh [Hayes) and myself. The people there did an awesome job. The hospital they sent us to was also great. The trauma center was first-class and they had a registered nurse with Josh the entire time he was in the emergency room, making sure he was doing as well as possible. This was impressive. The doctors were very informative as to what was going on and wanted to make certain that we understood. It was quite different than what has happened in the past. I would like to say thanks to all the medical people at Fontana and Loma Linda Medical Center. 6fnaNadeau VIa the Internet Nadeau is the manager of Josh Hayes, who suffered severe hand injuries in a qualifying crash at California Speedway in Fontana, California, during the recent AMA Superbike National held there... Editor Lafferty Kudos Congratulations to Mike Lafferty on a well-deserved win at the Big Buck GNCC. He's already proven that he is a great National Enduro Champion and an excellent ambassador to the sport of off-road racing. I have seen Mike start out at local ECEA races and turn into a true champion. He works very hard and it is a deserving win. I hope he keeps it up throughout the year and can win the GNCC title. Way to go, Mike. Mark Willis Bellmawr, NJ n e _ S • APRIL 24, 2002 5

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