Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Racing's exciting; parades generally aren't." Lett ers to the edi tor should be sent to Voices. Cycle New s. Godspeed, Re bel On August I I , Frank " Reb el" Hubbard of Spring Va ll ey , Ca liforni a , pa ssed aw ay at the ag e of 83 . Hubbard wa s a d istinguish ed Chief Petty Officer wi th th e Navy Sea Bees in th e Pa c ifi c T h eate r o f World W ar II , a retired m ember of Iron wo rk ers Lo cal 229, the propriet or of Spring Valley W e ld ing , and a pr o ud a n d a cti ve member o f th e Civilian Conservati on Co rps during t he Great D e pre ssi on and again in his retirem ent. A life-long avid motorcyclist, Reb el pu rsu ed many asp ects of o ur sport. Working in va rious c ountri es througho ut h i s c a re e r , he att ended many Wo r l d C hampionsh i p G r an d Prix rac es an d was a freq uent vis itor to the Isle of Ma n. Here at ho m e, Rebel enjoyed all types of ri di ng . His " cow tra ili ng" ex ploits in Baj a led him to be o ne of the ea rliest to reach La Paz on tw o wheels . As a road racer he was ver y successfu l with n umerou s tro phies to h is c redit, a nd he he ld the track rec ord at Wi llow Sp rin g s fo r a time during the 19 50 s. Always willi ng t o h e lp a fellow r i d e r , Re be l was w ell kno w n a nd loved by m an y in th e Sa n Die go area . I per son all y owe hi m great thanks for fos tering m y passion for m ot o rcy cl es in the mid -' 80 s. He opened his home, hi s shop a nd his vast knowledge to m e, w hich was a g rea t co mfo rt to a 2 2 - y e ar - old sai lor statio ne d 3600 miles fro m home. His riding lesso ns, m ain t en an c e ti ps an d repair adv ic e instilled t echni q ues tha t I val ue an d use t o this day on th e street , trac k and d irt. His conviction that " it ain't the gun , it's th e gun ne r" is something I subscribe to and will always remind me of th e d ay a 66 -yea r-ol d man wi th p o or eyes ight a nd th e beg i nni ng stages of emphysema swu ng a leg over a 23-yea r-o ld BMW and "ran off an d h id" fr o m m e and m y 85 Inter c epto r on a c anyon ro ad th at I knew quite well! F or a l l h is ac co mp lis hments , ex ce ptio na l ridi ng sk ill , une quall ed m ot or c ycl e kn owledg e and incredible m e ch an i c al a b il i ties , Rebe l w a s unpret entio us, p o li t e and u ns el fish . Kn ow in g him m ad e m e a better rider and, mo re impo rta ntly, a bet ter p er so n . He wa s a c ons ummate gentl e ma n and a sh in in g example o f th is co unt ry 's "Greatest Generati on ." Th an k y o u , Reb .. . for t ell in g m e ab ou t B arry Sh een e and Ago and Du n l op an d D e a n a n d Mike " the Bik e," and th e Isle of Man - for intro du c in g m e to a nd t each in g m e the m ech ani c al adva nc es of yo ur Mat chless and M anx N o rt on and A JS and Du e s an d , espe c ially , you r B l a c k Sh adow , fo r yo ur fatherly ad vice, fo r b ei ng a m en tor, f o r being a friend. M ik e H ail woo d w a s your m o t o r cycling hero . Yo u are m ine. I mi ss you dearl y . We all do. God spee d , Rebel. Bob Atk /ns Rockland. MA Indian Just wondering if there is any update on' Indian getting a fi nan cia l t ransfu sio n to stay alive? Ev ery day it k eeps the doors closed , it 's another nail in th e coffin, as the old trib e wi ll be fi nd i n g n ew jobs, leav ing less p eop l e b ehin d to p ick up w h at ' s l eft. Th is app lies to retra in in g th e p erson o n the fl oor as well as new management cl ue less on wh ere th e o ld former st aff left th e proc esses. On e would thi nk that w ith t h e 2004 m odels ready to go, a deal er net work, and the bu g s wo rked o ut of th e sy st em, so meo ne wou ld step in for pretty much a " sure thing " on an esta blis hed marqu e. RoySe/del Temecula, CA There is no new news on th e Indian situation ... Edit or Congrats To Oliver And Co. A ge nui ne and hearty congratulations to you and yo ur te am , Rich O liver, on ca p ping off a tru ly rem ark ab le career wi th ye t another perfect season . Your pr ofessi ona lism and ded ic at ion to the spo rt shou ld ser ve as ins piratio n t o th e le g i o n s o f upcomi n g k ids a nd yo ung rac ers w ho need posit iv e ro le mode ls in a ti me w here, sad to say , they are hard to find. A lth ou gh I' m sad to see th e p uri ty of 25 0cc GP raci ng slip in to th e histo ry b o o k s, you c an b e pro ud of th e fac t that it has provided some of the most exc iting wheel -to-whee l action on th e track with m any of the biggest na mes in r a c i n g. In t ha t y ou 'v e beco me icon ic . I'll certa inly m iss th e unmi st a k abl e sce n t o f t w o- str o k e exhaust wafting through the pa ddock as the fina l call for the race b la res ove r th e P.A. syste m . Th at era h as now come to a close as we set o ur Sights on th e future of the sport in th e hop e th at fine tradition wi ll be ca rried forward in a new inc arn ati on. We here at Ferodo and Br ak eT ech ca n u na bas hed ly say it has be en a great pl easu re and an honor to have worked wi th you ov er the past few years . Kn owin g you and yo u r deter mination , I ca n o n l y imag in e th e growth and suc c ess of th e Myst ery Sc hoo l t o bec ome a c ornersto ne fo r serio us and upcoming ra cers looking to hon e their cra ft. In th at, we wis h you all the best. Jejf6ehrs via the /ntemet Sacto And Snyder Th e last Sac ramento Mile was on e of th e best -ru n F - US A pro du c t ion s at Sacramento in the last sev era l years. Go o d announcers , a ti g ht progra m , high -quality co mpetition , and a well - set t rac k th at di d n ' t n ee d a l ot of fussing through th e p rogram . It was hot in Sacto , and they o nly had a few sp ots ge t d usty . Co ngrat u lations to Cl ear Channe l for a good job. It wa s good to see Jenn ifer Snyder win the Silve r Cup co nsolation fina l for the singles. She did a heck of a job , and I' d bet that fighting throug h that o ne fo r th e win w ill ma ke her m o re confident as she co m es back . She held her own through th e turns and really gai ned on th e back straight - lik e she had boos t on the Bl ast. She was as aggressive as she needed to be. I sure w ish th ey 'd get off th e ol d girl-in -a -g uy' s-game rou ti ne . That was the one p lace the announc ers fe ll down . Somehow , she lost five pounds fro m whe n she went ac ross th e stripe at "I 10 pound s wri ngi ng wet! " to the ba c k st raig ht th at same l a p w here she was " l OS pounds w rin g in g wet!" Plu s, if it's such a b ig d ea l (a nd t o som e ext ent it is , so that yo ungste rs ca n see that th ere's room for g irls in the nat iona l ran k s) , why don 't th ey po in t o ut that Mich ell e Di Sal vo is out there on a tw in , wo rking har d? Nich ole Ch eza was ru nn ing in the sing les class, too. Nev er a word. Finall y , I' m as mu ch of a n unre co nstructe d adolescen t as th e next guy, bu t as much as m y bl oo d is red and I li k e pretty g irls a wh ol e lot , th e um brella / t roph y girls are co m p lete ly unn ec essary. It' s a d um b part of the traditio n , and at least they had th e good sense to st an d i n th e ba ck ground durin g Jenni fer's tr oph y ce le br ati on . John B/shop Cazadero, CA Loves Barber, Wants Girls, SuperMoto I know y o u hav e recei ve d p le nty of l ett ers rav ing a bo u t w h a t a g rea t tra c k th e n ew B a r b e r M o t o r sp ort s Park is, but there is o ne th ing I wo uld lik e to see. W ell m ayb e t w o , b ut I think da nci ng. naked la di es is o ut of the que stio n . Wh at are th e cha nces of seei ng a Su perMoto rac e in co nj unc ti on wi th th e Supe rb ike rac es n ext yea r? William Bright via the Internet Superbike Rule s? I th in k what m ak es NASCAR so succ e ssfu l a re t he rul es t ha t level t he p la ying field . Th e se r ules i n t urn make the racing extreme ly close and bette r fo r eve ry one. I wish th e AMA wou ld do the same th in g in Sup erb ik e - level th e p l ay in g fi eld . Here are a few ideas . Bec au se of t he d ifferent e n g i ne configu ra tio ns . hors epower should be li m ited so that p riv at eers can easily afford the same horsepow er as th e f act ory g uys . A lso . the rider and bike togeth er should ha ve a mini mum w eigh t - mea sure d after th e cu e. e P.O . Bo x 5084. Co sta M esa. CA 926285084. faxed to 7 141751-6685 or e-mai led to ed itor© cyclenews.com . Published letters do not necessarily reflec t the posi ti on of Cy cl e N ew s. Inc. Letters shou ld not excee d 200 wo rd s. and all are subje ct to editing. Anonymous lette rs will not be considered for pu blicati on . All letters shou ld contain the w riter's name. addre ss and dayt ime pho ne number ... Editor. < 0 -n ft) en ra ce . T h e we ig h t sho u l d be ea sily attained by the who le grid. Lastl y , ti re m an ufa ctu rers must be able to sup ply t h e sa me t i re to a ll t h e riders . N o m o re special t i re s to a se l ec t fe w. Im ag ine w ha t t hese rules wo uld do. N o w J o e Sc h mo e o n th e fifth r o w co uld wi n it. It woul d g iv e the fa ns a lot more rid ers to root for and m ak e the racing mu ch m o re ex citing a nd p ossi bl y safe r, as backmarke rs wo uld be less of an iss ue. I'm tired of the w hin ing fac to ries and th eir rid er s. George Marshall Santa Rosa, CA Where's The Passing? I ca n rem em ber enj oying the ori g ina l " S u p er b ik e r s" ev ents o n TV yea rs ago, and I currentl y ow n a KTM Du ke II, so I've been excited to read abo ut t h e i ncreased le v e l s of i n tere st i n Su permoto / Supermo tard rac ing late l y . U n f o rtun at el y , b a se d o n rac e rep o rt s I' ve read rec en tl y in Cycle New s, the racin g has been too sim ilar to cu rre nt Fo rm ula I eve nts - ap pa rently wh oev er is lead ing the pack o ut of th e first turn wil l w in , unless the y crash. At least FI req uires p it sto ps, wh ic h occasio nally c a u se s a lea d change. Th ere have been a lot of lett ers to the editor bem o an ing the lack of tw o w h eele d rac i ng on T V i n fa vor of N A S C A R co ve ra ge , b ut the b e e r sw illi ng c reti ns w ho a t ten d t hose eve nts at least get to see a lo t of le ad c hanges. If th e c urren t Supe rmoto track desi gns m ak e pa ssi ng for the lead a rare oc currence, I'm afra id the fans will los e interest. I mean , I ' d l i ke to se e K evin Schwa ntz rac ing agai n as m u ch as th e next guy, bu t if qualifying fou rt h m eans he has no chance of a pod ium fin ish, I doubt th at I' ll k eep wa tc hi ng. Just m y tw o c ents, b ut raci ng's exciting; parades gene rally are n't. DIck Ask Lakewood. CO neuv s O CTOBER B , 2 0 03 5

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