Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Pascal's one of the nice guys in racing. " u.s. vs. Them hanks fo r prin t in g m y so m ew ha t riti ca l letter a bo ut Gordon Rit ch ie 's sserti on tha t th e British Superb ik e eries is m ore talent- laden th an the MA Series. How ev er, th e disa dva nag e of a written disa greem ent with a ublication (eve n one as good as o urs) is that yo u get th e last word . I d isagree th at if a few team s test ires, swing arm piv ot -p oints, and off ets at Laguna Seca that it somehow imparts the same "t ra ck k nowledge " s banging bars and looking for passi n g poi nts d uring a r eal r ac e a t Brand s. By the wa y , how m an y times does th e British series ra ce at Bra nd s Hatch duri ng th eir season? Also th e ed itor's res pon se th at the arne " also-tans" at B ran ds span k ed he st a rs of t h e AMA at La gun a i gn ore s the fact t ha t our own Mat ladin w as o n th e World Superbik e po le b y an asto un d ing half-se c ond , h en mos t World S uperbik e fr ont o ws are se p arat ed b y a few hun red th s o f a second . T he fa ct that lad in faded in race one ha s nothing a do with th e AMA star's rid ing abili y , but the fac t tha t he didn't rec eive he same World Superbike -s pe c tire he Wo rl d Sup erbik e heroes got. I k no w th is, as I was on e of the FIM " T ire Monitors" at Lagun a, an d no tire turned o n the track at Lagun a Sec a withou t our initia ls on t he sid ewa ll. Whe n M lad in pi tted after W o r ld Superbike ra ce one, he threw one of his tantrums an d refu sed t o go out in race two if he wasn 't gi ven the same grade of tires as th e World Su perbike r eg u la rs ( he w asn ' t , so he d idn ' t ) . D on 't be li ev e th e S uzuki c o m p a ny line that he cho se not t o risk his lead in th e AMA series by pot enti all y injuri ng h im sel f i n a p o in tl e s s W o rl d Su p erbi k e rac e . Ml ad in wou ld like n oth ing m ore th an t o spa nk ri d e r s ge tti ng more pr ess than he is on the wo rld stage . It ma y not seem li k e it , but I' m not tryi ng to demean the Briti sh Superb ike Ser ies. I j ust don 't agree w ith Rit ch ie th at th eir riders are superi o r t o Yates , Mladin , Rob erts, th e Bostroms and the rest of th e AMA guys. An y th ou ght to rev iv ing t h e "T rans-A tl antic Series " anyone? Rene LaPrevotte Novato, CA Cheating? I have two questi ons for Cy cle New s: 1) Why wou ld yo u eve n pr int such a ridicul ous "V oi c es" arti cle by an o bvio u sly uninform ed Da vid Gunn ? 2) Wh y wou ld you le t him ran t on fo r w a y ove r yo u r p o st ed l im it of 200 w o rds? I am 4 1 years o ld and hav e been a Cycle News subs cri ber for m or e yea rs now than I ca n rem ember. I know yo u li ke to get as m an y di ff erin g opi nions as po ssib le into th e pages , but th is guy really takes th e cake . Peopl e li k e Mike Gunn sho uld sti ck to WW F and then he c an run aro und ca lli ng every one a cheat. I bet a guy like him got bea t up o n a regu lar basi s whe n he was in sc hoo l. For yo ur informat io n , M ik e, th ere a re f e d e r al l aw s aga i ns t throwi ng spo rti ng eve nts like the famous Bl ack Sox incident. Motoc ross is a "t eam " sp ort that is hi ghli gh ted by individual ef fo rt. M ay be yo u suc k ed at "tea m " sports and yo ur parents never t augh t yo u wh at it is to be a " team player. " Ma ybe yo u sh ould m o v e t o Fran c e with Boniface sinc e that is a co untry of non -"team play er s." Ju st for th e record , Ryan Hughes i s a o ne- in-a -m ill io n rac er w ho rid es w it h his hea rt . This co u nt ry i s very lucky to have a tal ented "t eam rid er " like Ryn o t o r e p r e s e n t us at th e Mot ocross Des Nations . Mark Davenport Temecula, CA I ap plaud his high falu tin ideals , bu t in the real wo rld it's so meti mes the po int o f bet t er valo r t o let so m eo ne el se go ahead of yo u - especiall y if it will bring the honor of a cham p io n sh ip t o your t eam . A llowing a te am m ember to pas s fo r th e cham p io ns hip win is j ust lik e pass ing to an o pen player beyond the three -po int lin e instead of hogging it and try in g to go fo r th e glo ry dunk " Wo w , B ob , look at that aw es ome dun k b y Ra shee d Walla c e! T h at' s s u r e t o m ak e t he hi ghlight r e el to night! Too bad th e team was down by th ree and they lost. " D on' t wo rry, Rasheed , it wa sn 't a dumb m ov e, accord ing to Mr. Gunn it wa s professional and the right thi ng to do! Pam Falclonl via the Internet an Superb ik e fina le, Pascal came to Sh annonville with a 17 -point lead in th e cham p io nsh ip ov er former AMA standou t Steve Cr ev ier. Agai n , he b roke th e tra ck record , and agai n he t oo k po le ( increasing his lead to 2 0 points) . Wh at tran spired in the rac e can o nly be desc rib ed as unbelievable . Cr ev ier to ok th e early lead wit h Pas ca l tra iling i n a close second . Near the end of th e sec ond lap, Pasca l tu ck ed th e fr on t and crashed into th e gra ss. By the time he remounted, he was in la st pl ac e (24 t h ) with 12 l a p s t o go. Crevie r must have br eat hed a sig h of rel ief , thinking the c ham pionship wa s his. It sho uld have bee n , but un lik e m o st r iders w ho m ight have pa ck ed it in , Pasca l p ut his head down, gra bbed som e throttle and , whil e set ti ng th e faste st l ap s of th e race, p ass ed al l b ut five r id ers bef ore th e ch ec ke re d fl ag w av ed . It was o ne of the m o st s pectac u l a r comebacks I've ev er see n and good enoug h to g ive him th e cham p io nship b y fiv e po ints . It was a n ab solut e demo ns trat io n of pur e h e art a nd c our age. Ru n n ing o n pure d es ire, he was un aware t hat t he c ham p io nsh ip was hi s until a co rn er wo rker in fo rm ed hi m at th e end of the coo l- down lap. Pascal' s o ne of the nic e guy s in rac ing . He' s a lway s ac c essi ble aro und h is h aul er , signi ng autogra p hs and ta lking to th e fans. He dese rv es these lo ng -o ve rdue championshi ps . Maybe no w so mebody will g i ve this N o rth " A m erican " an AMA rid e o n a co mpe ti tive bi k e bef ore h e' s too old to rac e . Gi o v ann i Bu ssei , Mat Mladin , D am on Bu ckm ast er , Marty Craggill and all of the Gobert s are g reat race r s, but we Am eri can fans w a nt t o see and chee r o n th e best our hemi s p he re ha s to o ffer, a n d Pasca l Pic otte is o ne of th ose. Go Pascali In resp ons e to Dav id Gunn' s disserta ti on o n .. . urn "c he a t i n g" i n last week 's " Vo ic es," I would like to tell him tha t positioning rid ers wh ere th ey will d o th e most good is pa rt of th e sport. It's actua ll y part o f an y sport. C ha m p i on sh ips are w on by t h e smartest rid er. N ot th e fast est , or the co ol est , or the nic est (altho ug h some champions also sh ine in th ese cate gories ) . Th e smart rid er s an d t hei r t eam s wo rk t og eth er throu gh out th e Pasca l Picotte? Isn 't he that Cana dian road racer wh ic h rode his ass off for Harley -Davidson i n th e late 1990s and put the u nc ompetitiv e VR 1000 on the podium at Pik es Peak in 1999? Isn 't he the guy wh o rod e hard o n an uncompet iti ve bike for Duc ati Austin last y ear , on ly t o be d u mpe d f or some Australia n rider ( h ey , Du ca t i Austin , h ow's that A nth o ny Gobert thing working out?) ? Isn 't he the guy wh o c o uldn 't find a rid e for thi s season and had t o st art his ow n t eam in Can ad a in o rde r to race there? And isn' t he th e new ly cro wned Canadian 600 c c Series a nd Ca na d ia n Super - se aso n t o d o o ne th in g : W i n th e cham pio nship. We all k now fast er rid ers wh o have m ade short- te rm decisions tha t have lost cha m pio ns hips in th e lon g term. Ride rs wh o want to w in each m ot a at all c o st s (a nd may cras h doin g so) are g reat to watch bu t someti mes end up l o si n g their team th e u ltim at e glory in the end. A c cord ing t o Gu nn , ra ce rs must always rac e as fas t as th ey c an , go as hard as possib le, and to heck w it h th e po ints rac e. bik e Ch amp ion ? Yea h, he's that and mo re. Pasc al ca me in to th e fi na l ro und of th e Hindl e 600 Sp ort Bike final at Sha nno nv ille Mot or sports Park having alrea dy clin ch ed th e cham p io nsh ip at Le Circ uit Mont-Tremblant two week s earlie r. So h e d i d n 't e ve n hav e t o c o m pete i n t h e fi n al, but he d i d br e a k in g t he track r ec o rd, t a k in g pol e, and lead ing the rac e from st art to fi nish. Th en, in th e Parts Ca na da Canad i - Cheating II? c ue . e n Toutes mes {elicitations pour votre cham pionnat! Bonn e chance avec L a se iso n prochain e. J'espere que vous a ret ournerez L se rie AMA t 'e n n ee prochein e. Darren Wilson Hannawa Falls, NY e uv s S EPTEM BER 1 0 . 2003 5

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