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/128210
IIWith the FIM structurel Chad Reed could actually win the championship with his Wins. 11 Marriage And Moto? Has anyone besides me noticed that once motocross racers get married their careers always go downhill? Jeremy McGrath, Ricky Carmichael, Ezra Lusk, David Bailey, the list goes on and on. Is it lack of concentration, fear of getting hurt, or anyone of a host of other reasons? Take your pick. The reverse case can also be made for Bob Hannah, Broc Glover, Mark Barnett, Rick Johnson before he got married, Carmichael before he got married, and McGrath before he got married. Like it or not, you can't argue with the facts, race wins and championships before vs. lack of race wins and championships after. Young and up-and-coming riders take note! Lewis Greer Springfteld. MO Just a reminder: Our readers' views do not necessarily mirror the views of Cycle News and its staff... Editor Carlsbad Woes It is ironic that supercross is consuming itself by fielding three to four professional riders and a bunch of backmarkers due to the resulting injuries of do-or-die, high-flying tracks, while we basically lose Carlsbad Raceway due to insurance problems inherent from the high-flying, high-hospital bill, high-lawsuit crowd. steveWa~rs EscondIdo, CA Huh? .. Editor AMA Points Okay, one last time on this subject. As we know from last year - and the best World Superbike finish we can remember - the FIM point system works. You get rewarded for winning. Just three races into this season's AMA Superbike season, and one toplevel rider is basically out of it even if he wins every remaining race. Here are the way the points stack up with both AMA and FIM point structures after three rounds: Rider FIM AMA Mladin 100 60 DuHamel 92 52 87 Ben Bostrom 46 . Yates Eric Bostrom 86 85 46 44 yet met a diet that he couldn't ignore. I can't imagine how you confused Roberts Gobert 80 24 37 9 these two! Second and more importantly, Now you can see the ran kings stay almost the same, but the big difference is, when using the AMA system Gobert is, 76 points behind, so even if he wins every race left at four points a pop, he still falls 20 points short of closing the gap - which does not even get him third place. Using the FIM system, he is only 10 wins out of the FIM points with 14 rounds to go. When this came up last year, the AMA claimed the point for pole and point for most laps led came into the equation, and you could get up to six points for a win over your rival if you got the other two points as well. But the chances of somebody winning every race, every pole and leading the most laps are just about a big fat zero. However, somebody with Gobert's talent could conceivably put together 10 wins. I am not on the Gobert bandwagon, but it is a good example because of his talent level. The factories and the race teams spend a lot of money in this series, and for a season to be shot this early on is not good. Look at Colin Edwards last year. He never gave up and was rewarded in the end (except by Honda which is a different story in itself) ! Come on, AMA, wake up - you don't need to pay points down to 30th place! Revamp the points and make the season more exciting so DNFs won't necessarily wreck your whole season. And while we are at it, supercross should use the same points structure since it is only one moto/race and not the double format as in the outdoors. With the FIM structure, Chad Reed could actually win the championship with his wins. Gregory Colyer VIa the Intemet Tire Wars Error while we do have Japanese race tires available to contracted AMA Dunlop Superbike riders this year, the bulk of our race tires by far, still come from Dunlop UK. Given the very high level of AMA Superbike racing, our Japanese cohorts have agreed to support us in 2003 and beyond, with technical assistance, with tires and with personnel visits, but it will take them some time to learn the intricacies of the tracks here. Thus, we anticipate that this will be primarily a learning year for them, and only in the future will we see consistent use of Dunlop Japan's products alongside Dunlop UK's products in AMA racing. JIm Allen Butre/o, NY Picking On Kurtis? What on earth is wrong with the AMA? How blatantly obvious that their 10-second penalty on Kurtis Roberts was a personal attack. Everyone knows that the young KR is vocal about the AMA and how they can't use the same rule twice the same way, and in most respects he is right. What he may lack in discretion, he makes up with truth and facts. Kurtis should not have been penalized for cutting the chicane after a vicious tank-slapper that left him with no brakes. Thankfully, the morons who call Fontana a motorcycle race track left a way through the chicane, and Kurtis used it to save a nasty crash. He re-entered the track after making sure he could safely do so, and without gaining an advantage (he let Yates by). So the monkeys saw an opportunity to screw Kurtis out of a brilliant ride (after Saturday's spun Dunlop caused a huge vibration). I will never even try to understand how the AMA thinks. It has no real management or future plans to make road racing the premier entertainment venue that it could be. They are I just had a chance to read your sidebar "Tire Wars" in the April 9 issue. In just content to make money at the back gate and screw Kurtis because general, the article was on the money, but there are a couple of things I'd like to correct. First, Dave Watkins, the head of they still harbor resentment toward Big KR and how he also spoke out about their ineptness. Grow up and leave Kurtis alone. Motorcycle Race Tire Development in the UK was correctly named early in the article but later referred to as "Atkins." Mr. Atkins is the famous "all Brian Hudnell Via the Intemet protein diet" guy - Watkins has never Since 13 others were also docked 10 seconds for track-cutting violations cue I e over the course of the two Superbike Nationals, we're not sure your conspiracy theory holds up ... Editor Doohan Is The Man I enjoyed the Motorcycles And Baseball article, although it - like most comparisons of this type - threw in a slight bias against Mick Doohan. And again, as usual, it was in relation to Wayne Rainey. But let's look back. It was 1992. Rainey was two-time defending World Champion and at his peak. Kevin Schwantz was hot. Guess what? For the first half of the season, Doohan was whipping their - and everyone else's - asses. Unfortunately, Mick's horrific leg injury occurred. Despite missing several GPs and coming back at maybe 50 percent, Doohan still nearly won the title. Only a decision by "rider safety advocate" Rainey to run the final GP instead of boycotting a plainly dangerous track allowed him to edge Doohan for the crown. Also, don't overestimate Doohan's Honda. When Rainey was on top, the Yamaha was the better racebike. The Honda, while more powerful, had a nasty habit of trying to kill its rider at every corner exit - just ask Wayne Gardner. Had Schwantz been on one, the only numbers he would have put up would have been the number of broken bones. The NSR did not become a great bike until about 1996. Valentino Rossi may one day eclipse Doohan's numbers, but for now the record says Doohan (not Rainey or anyone else) is the man. RoberfWahl Greenwood. SC Reminder number two: Our reader's views do not necessarily mirror the views of Cycle News and its staff... Editor n e _ S • APRIL 23, 2003 5