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/128230
IILet's get track days and road racing booming in the right environment," Trials Kudos Thank you for th e great coverage o n the AMA /NA TC Obs erv ed Tr i al s series. Shan Moore d id a n excellent j o b, and his photo s w er e great. But the sto ry o n the youth national tri als had th e name of Open Cl ass Ch am pion Pat rick Sm age from Elkho rn , Wis co nsi n , spelled wron g ( Issue #3 4 , Inside Line). If he keeps wi nning, I' m sure yo u will get it right in th e futur e. Also, the Bike of th e Sta rs featuri ng J esse Well en st ein 's b ik e stated that it w a s a Gas Gas TXTPro 2 8 0 wh en actually it is a 300. Craig 6em hardt Chlcago,IL Ke ep It Sa fe I am a m otorc yclist of ov er 3 3 yea rs, with road racing spanni ng three season s in th e ea rly 1980s. Li k e m an y m otorcy c li st s who ha ve ripened to 50 years of age , I ha ve ow ned. ridden an d e njoye d a pl et h ora of motorcycles - some Br itish , m ostl y Japanese and a si ng ula r Italian - and loved them all. I hav e been gui lt y of us in g public hi gh w ays in a p p ro priately ove r the years, and I intend to reform in th is resp ect (a bit late you m ight say, but better late than never ) and sp eak out aga ins t a trend that en d ang ers o u r future as m ot orc ycl ist s and puts our freedom at risk as we inv ite further re striction and leg i sla tion in an increasingly tigh ten ing noose. I am referrin g, of co urse, to what is blat antl y re ck less drivi ng and ex ces si ve spee di ng o n pub l i c h i g h w ay s. T od ay ' s " nake d " a nd sports b ik es h av e t he c a p a b i li t i es to annihil ate spee d limits in a few sho rt seco nds - I ow n a ZRX 1200R currentl y and see it as m i d to l ow i n th e sp e c tru m of m ach inery I' m t alk in g about. I li ve in Orange Co unty, Cal ifornia , and enjoy the Santiago Canyon back roads to Coo k 's Corn er close by , with Ortega Hig hway not too far away . Well, wh at need s to be confronted here is that public roads are publi c they are not racetra cks . Racetracks are where we nee d to go to de velop and exe rcise our speed ski ll s - and that's where they need to sta y . With Califo rni a Speedwa y and WiI ยท l o w S p rings within driv ing /rid ing range and similar situations th roughout t he co u nt ry f o r m o s t other reg io ns, there is no need or excuse for using pu blic roads in stead . M a g a zi n e s p laya l eading r ole here, too - the m o ral c od es we mold are ours - m ag azines and weekl ies do set an exampl e, and others follo w. Some publi cati on s mo re t han ot hers do disp lay reckless driving on pu blic roads and m ak e m en ti on of su ch in the arti cles. Cycle News is one of the more restrained in this, I agree. By all m ean s show us wh eel i es . stop pies, 5 0-foot dar k ies, k nees do wn , sparks flying, close formation riding , burnouts , top -spe ed runs , st unt s, et c. But empha size th e rig ht ti me and pla ce. Let' s ge t tra ck da ys and road racing boom ing in th e righ t e n vi r o n m ent. L et ' s ge t tho usa n d s tra in ed at scho o l s ( th ere are ma ny availa ble and books fo r stu d y , too Keith Code is a well -k nown , accorn plish ed leade r in both areas, and rea l ly n o o ne is short of a locat ion or school through ou t this country .) B y encouraging oth erw ise. we all lo se . Mo to rcycles and r a cin g ar e a mo ng t he m o s t fun , e njo y a b le . exciti ng . th ri lling and rewarding ac tiv iti es th at anyone could do in life - and the people doin g it among th e finest you' ll meet and know . Let 's get sorted o ut in o ur beha v ior in th e p ublic eye and in setting a good exa mp le as l aw -ab i din g on pub l i c r o a d s a n d sk il led technicians o n the rac e track . Mixin g these is a lo sing ga me with no real wi nne rs. Motorcycle p ublications can lead t he w ay , save some lives. imp ro ve the sport and extend the freedom of motorcycli ng to our chi ldren unencumbered by restr ictio ns and legisl a tion we'll bring upon them and o urselves . Brian J. Doherty Tustfn. CA Team Tactics I am tota lly appalled by the reports of profess ional motoc ross racers inten tionally throwing races to help th eir teammates wi n races and /or cha mpi o nships . Thi s is c h eat in g , an d the AMA sho uld not allow it. T hree acco u nts o f t h is c hea t ing we re men tio ne d b y Da ve y Coo m bs on h is webs it e an d one m o re th at I would like to add. One occurred bac k in 197 7 wh en B ob Hannah , Br o c Gl ov er a nd Tea m Ya m a ha a ll co n sp ired to ch eat D ann y laPorte o ut of th e 12 5 c c N at i on a l title . In 2 0 0 1, w h e n Ri c k y C ar m i c h a e l stepped down to the 125cc c lass to try to claim the sol e record of 125 cc w ins, Mi ke B ro w n had t he ra c e w in a nd intentio nally slowed to let Carmic hael w i n . Add t o t hat the two instances th is seaso n of KTM riders slowing to aid their teammat es get champi onsh ip po ints. In each of thes e c ases I fee l that the team that made th e call to cheat should be fined heavily. The fine has to be b ig enough to make a d iffer en ce in th e ir see mi n g l y unlim ited budg ets - p e rh aps S 100 ,000 . Th e team ma n a g er should b e bann ed f ro m AM A com pet ition . T h is sport needs individua ls w ith in teg ri t y, not "team players" who promote ch eat ing j ust fo r a coup le of po ints. The rider who s lo wed t o all ow an oth er to pass shou ld be given zero po in ts for t hat m ot o and suspended for t he following rac e. If you d on 't wa nt to rid e to your full pote ntial , get off the track and let eve ryone by. The rider who ad van ces du e to this cheating should be docked two finish ing pos it ions . He rec ei ves the lightest pen alt y because he has little co ntro l o ver another's a c ti on s. S till , he sh oul d n o t b en efit from b eing an acc omplice. If t hese p en alti es w er e e ve nly ad mi niste re d fr om th e b eginn ing , D ann y LaPorte wou ld ha ve the 125cc title he ea rn ed, M ark Barnett w ou ld be t i ed w ith Ricky Car michael fo r 125cc wi ns, and Mike Brown would lo se the title he earned b ut doesn 't deserv e because he d id not race fai rly. Most im po rt ant of all . Steve Bon i fac e m ay have had th e opportu nity to race at Millvill e. If yo u do n't think slowing to allow an oth er rid er to gain points is cheating , th en yo u need to think again. It was cheating wh en th e Chicago Wh it e ( Black) Sox threw th e World Ser ies in 19 19, "Let Broc bye (sic)" was cheating in 19 7 7 , an d it's cheating tod ay . The players involved in the Bla ck Sox scandal were a r rested fo r their ac tions. If you just think, "i t's pa rt of team tactics" an d it doesn 't hurt anyone else , yo u are wrong . A sk Barn ett and La Porte if it is fair. I had picked Br ett Metc alf e as one of my rid er s in Mo t oXDream ' s fantasy MX lea g ue, a n d I lost fo ur po in ts because of " tea m tact ics. " What if th e N evad a cas i nos o ffe red wag ering on every rac e like th ey do for the U.S. Open ? Som eone could lose a lot of m on ey becau se of this . What ab out th e privateers who do n't have teammates to lie down for th em to get a couple of extra po ints . In supe rcross that co uld earn them a .new Nissan pickup . T hese types of tactics m ay not "steal poin ts from a co m pe ti to r," but it does give t hem an u nfai r ad va ntage i n additio na l points tha t were not fa irly earne d. So me of these thin g s a re petty , and ot hers are qu it e seri o us. T hey a ll ill ustrat e how what appear to b e i n n o c e n t tact i cs between tea m m embers actually affect everyone in the sport. On e of the keys to mo toc ross' growth ri ght now is ou ts ide sponsor ship . I don't know of man y compa nies that are will in g to shell out thou sands of dollars to a rider who is go ing t o le t h is b u d d y pass h im . Sponsors don 't wa nt their name asso ciated w it h a sport whose outcome is fix ed . Except m ay be wrestl ing . N o , sponsors want rider s w ho represent the ir produ ct in a good and honest l ight. This means a rider shou ld alwa ys try their best, and the fi nishing order sho uld be determined solely by . each rid er 's skill . Integ rity is v it al to the well being of th is spo rt . In m y opi nion nobody on the KTM team has much integrity . I' m sur e S teve Bo niface sa i d sev er a l thi ngs to pr eci p it ate his ordea l. If the rumo rs ar e t rue then he wa s pe na lized for having a strong c om pe t iti ve spirit. Th at is wrong . I don 't know the sp ec ifics , bu t doesn 't KTM hav e a contractua l obligati o n to pro vide him cu e I ... with safe equipment to com pete on? A ren't they im pe di ng his livelihood? How much purse money did he lose by not co m peting? How much point fund m o n e y will h e a n d the other KTM riders lose at t he end of the year? Larry Bro ok s sho uld be fired fo r ben c h i n g B o n i fa c e . He sh o u l d be banned from AMA co m petiti o n for his t actic s wh ich requir e rid ers to cheat. Brooks has re sp o nde d p ublicly that he benched Bonifa c e beca use he said he was going to take every point possib le from Hu ghes and Lan gsto n . Personally, I a dm ire Bonifa ce for th at ethic as long as he doe s it fai rly. He sho uld tr y to race fas te r than every o ne else bu t no t intenti o na lly t ak e anyone o ut or l et ride rs by. Brooks has l o st s igh t o f wha t th e w ord " team " mean s. If he think s any mem bers of that t eam are more im po rt ant tha n any of th e others , he is wrong. Th at is not t eamwork . That is show ing extreme favoritism . If Ryan Hu g he s t r ul y f e e l s that chea ti ng is a part of any racing sp ort and tha t he deser ves the position s he ga ined by team tactics then someone else sh ould rep resent the USA in th e upcom ing M ot o cro ss de s N ations. I want a rid er wh o earns every position he gets credit for. We nee d som eone w ho re pr ese nts the Uni t ed Sta t es motocro ss co m munity with ho no r and integrity . Perhaps I don 't have all th e fa cts about KTM and Bo n i f ac e. But I do know th at the team tactics of letting a no the r r i d er pass is c heat i n g. It affects everyone in t hi s sp ort a nd gives AMA Motocro ss a bad rep uta tion. It should not be allowed. If Du k e Fin ch doesn 't t hink he c an d o any thing about it , he should co nsi der the pen alties tha t I have outline d ab ove. If not , the AMA should find so m eone who ca n do something about it. And b y th e wa y , th e se tac t i cs do t a ke points, rec ord s and t itle s aw ay fro m o t he r r ide r s . T h ey a lso t ak e a lo t away fro m th e sport of motocross . DavId Gunn via the Intemet n e VII" S S EPTEM BER 3 . 2003 5