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/128234
"50 the true wi nner of the Endurance se rie s..." MX des Nations Wh y isn ' t th e M ot oc ro ss des N at io ns team Rick y Carmich ael. Kevin W indham an d Bubba Stew art ? I wo uld ha v e thou g ht there would have b een som e r e a l co m p l aining after th e num er ou s c o m me n ts and wh in in g l ast y ear. Who do we reall y want to send to ensure th e 2004 tr o ph y? I ha ve an ad d it ional co m men t on t eam ta cti c s. A s a 30-yea r s u b scriber. I was surprised to see such a long complaint by Da vid Gunn, going ba ck all the wa y to 1977 . T eam t actics hav e always been a st andard part of all forms of m ot or racing as lo ng as th ere ha s been raci ng . There is no r eas o n t o be ap pa lle d by it unless you 're new to rac in g . Bruce Allison Hu n tin g ton Beach, CA of the Glen Helen end ur ance series. Bierman Racing/Spec t rum Motorsport s entered th e end urance series i n March ( 2 0 0 3 ) . Ha v ing a Ho n d a CR250 av ai lable. we chose to race it . Having no Pro cl ass for thi s event. we ente red th e 25 0c c Expert class. and we won 25 points. We fin ished th e si x -hour GP (after runni ng out o f g as o n t he l ast la p ) j ust a few m in utes beh in d th e 3 0 0cc Open class m achin e of KTM. It was a good . cl ean r ace all d ay . Ou r hats wer e off to KTM - they won 25 points. In the 12 -h our GP . we ex er c is ed th e ru les and chose to ru n th e tw o bikes all owed in t he E xpert class . We washed th e bike . changed the spark plug . install ed a cl ean air filter and a new c ha in . put on new Ma xxis tires A ft er a week of rese arc h and dev el o p ment. Baj a Des igns ac c omplish ed the al most im possi ble and in st a lled awesome lights for us . On Thursda y night. Septem ber 4 . we installed the l arg e IM S t a nk . the GPR st abi li zer . T AG ba rs . ASV lev e r s. and Sp id er grips. On F rida y . September 5 (i n a p ick up) we made it to th e t rac k at 5 p.rn. and installed th e IMS Pro ser ies peg s and X-ring chai n . Then . for t he first ti me. we rode the bi k e. W e spent 15 minutes o n it. p arked it and wa it ed for th e rac e to sta rt. Our 2004 Honda CR450 ra n flaw l essl y f or t h e e n t i r e 24 h o urs. For spa res we had a front and rea r wheel . extra ai r filter s. and oil - attrition is a p art o f this ra c e. W ith several profes- ( and nothing else) an d st arted on the same Honda CR250 . After 5 1/ 2 hours . wi t h KTM pull ing awa y from us. on thei r now di ff erent bi k e - a 525c c - we dec id ed to pull from th e im po und o ur 2 0 02 Honda CRF4 5 0 . After do in g so . we started ch iselin g aw ay at th e two- lap lead of KTM . They won 25 point s. we won 25 po in ts. A t that po int. we made the deci sio n to enter the 2 4-h o ur GP on a new 2 004 CRF450 . The rac e was set for September 6 -7 with double points av ail able . Ha ving m an y deposits o n th e mu ch -anti c ipated. third -gen er a tion CRF450. we wer e not able t o pull a b ike from th e sho w roo m im m ed iat ely . want in g t o su p p l y o ur cus tomers fi rst. T hu s we had to wa it for a third shipm ent be f ore p rep ar in g a CRF450 f or th e gruel ing 24 -hour rac e. T he first and most important priority was to get li gh ti ng fo r th e eve n t. sion al m echanics . KTM had to rebuild t hei r ma ch in e b efore th e rac e wa s half over. allowing us t o pull away. We beat KTM by over 10 laps. S o the tr u e winn e r o f th e Endu ranc e series (if th er e was indeed an o ve r a ll t itl e ) w ould be B ierman Rac in g /S p ectrum M oto r sp orts. Ho w KTM m anaged to ha ve the magazines print t ha t th ey won th e t itl e is ju st wrong . We beat th em fair and squa re. with a stock bik e o ut of our p ic k -up truck . Ho n da is t he true c ha mpi o n . W e kn ow it. and KT M knows it! Mike Bierma n We 've b een throu gh thi s b efore: Windh am and Stew art d id not w ant to participate... Editor Spinal Inj uries L as t Novem ber. wh il e r acing in th e SCORE Baj a 1000 . m y so n. J erome Law . su f f ered a spinal cord i nj u ry (SCI). He is par al y zed fro m the che st down. Th e so be ri ng f act tha t I came to learn so on after is th at th er e is no cure for this form of p araly sis. A s was harshl y told to m e b y o ne o f Jerome' s d octors . if yo ur g oal is to recov er fr om SC I. " y o u are on your own ." Motorcycle rid er s. espec iall y ra c ers. do not hav e t o a c c ep t this defeatist attitude . Th ere is always hope; and with eff ort . hope can become real ity. I want to he ar from p eo p l e who have a similar attitude or are open to one . W e want to f o rm a supp or t grou p that will ac ti v e ly suppor t re search and other effo rt s for recov ery . and one that w ill activ ely support each other. M ot orcyclists ar e a uniqu e br eed with a special sp irit. and th ey should ac cept t he c h a lle nge of fi ndi ng a means fo r SCI rec o v e r y . Th ey ca n he lp th emselv es and other inj ured riders return to th e sport they love. If you are interested. please co ntact me at: 10 A lta Mira. San Lu is Obispo . CA 93401 ; dl aw @amb law .c om ; 805 /54 1-4906 o r Jerome Law at 805/801 -2252. Or to learn m ore about research see www .llnksforcure .com/scicuremain.htm. Dennis D. l a w San luis Obispo, CA Giving Respect To give respect t o o u r sp onsors . I would li ke to set stra ight th e outcome sin ce when?! C o m e o n . It's about ti me that th e four- st roke ha s rec eived som e well-deserved atten t ion latel y . I g rew up at Indian D un es. ri di ng an XR -75. and w as co ns iste nt ly spanked b y th e f aste r. uh , two -st okes racin g agai ns t m e (t o say " w it h" m e wou ld be incorrect! ) . They we re VZ. RM. CR and KX80s at that t ime. if I remember co rrect ly . Addi t ionally . I remem ber w hen I had an XR-350R (the one with th os e lou sy d ua l ca rbs) and w as span k ed by two -sto k e 125 . Once again . I wa s pretty m uc h no ma tch - displa cemen t via ttle Intern et notw ithstandin g . Two-S troke Rebutta l J am so h appy that fo u r-st okes. etter tak ing a lick ing for so long. have (in a lly receiv ed the ir day in the. err. I' ll ta ke a sho t in the dar k and guess t hat Curt was born in t he 1980s. A s far as his fi rst paragraph goes reg ard i n g th e " t ec h n o l o g y that has be en thro wn at the fo u r - sto ke" and th e two - strok e be ing " t h e underdog " cue I e dirt an d a re ab le to co m pe te. if not beat. the nemesis-tw o-strokes! A lex Sokolov Souttl Pa sa dena, CA n e 'ftI' s O CTO BER 1 . 2003 5