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/128238
"Godspeed, Shoe Man." Lette rs to the editor should be sent t o Voices , Cycl e News. P.O. Box 5084 . Cost a Columbus Supermoto I had t o wri te a big th ank -you note to t h e f o l k s a t A . D . F a r row Ha r l e y Da vidson for br ing in g the Co lumbus Supermot o Champ ion ship to Ohio . It was a gre at venue and a fant asti c da y o f racing. After wat ch ing thi s new and excit ing fo rm of ra cing co m p etitio n , I think I kn ow how the fa ns felt at that first sup ercr oss . I see th is spo rt g ro wi ng by leaps and bounds just li k e supe rc ro ss has . Thanks ag ain, A .D . Far row , you have a fan for life. Ray M erkle Wilm ington, OH Ken Maely It' s hard t o put int o wo rds m y feelings about th e lo ss of Ken Ma ely . A friend and I (bo th of us are loca l dirt tra ckers ) had the good fo rt une a co uple of years ag o to fl y out to California and visit the Maely Ranch . Once we were th ere , K en tr eated u s as if we w er e famil y and allowed us t o r ide his tra ck . I was fl oored to fi nd somebod y out there who still c ared en o ug h to g r o om a di r t oval pro perly, and I sh ow ed my ap preciation by t urning l ap after la p o n a ren t ed speedw ay b ik e (thanks to B ill Cody ) and Ken 's own XR IOO. We als o w e re in v it ed by Ken t o come out the followin g da y to w at ch Nicky Ha yd en and th e Honda g uy s work on the ir CR450 . For us it was a dream c o m e t ru e , and it wa s w ith heavy hearts that w e pulled o ut of that steep drivewa y fo r the last time on a Thur sday aft ern oon . It's hard to t h in k ab out Ken Ma ely with o ut dwelli ng on his inc redible contribution to Ameri c an m otorcy cl e racin g, but it's even harder to imagi ne what will bec ome of it now th at he's gone . I k now of no oth er pla c e w here o ne c a n pay $25 and ri de a ll day o n a nicely groomed sh ort tr ack and just walk up a hill t o ge t a sho e fix ed . I will cherish my m em ories of Ken and his tra ck fo r as long as I' m here, and I 'l l k e ep m y fi n ge rs c r oss ed th at someone co mes along and preserv es th e sport th e way he did. Fred BrostlJelt via ftl e Inte m et Ken M a ely II W ords cannot ex p re ss t h e fee lin gs that refl ect th e loss th at the spo rt has su ff e re d w i th the pa s sing of Ken Maely. Godspeed , Shoe Man. steve Sza/us via ftle Intem et No Brown ie Fan I c an't believ e th e act ions a seasoned vet eran lik e Mike Brown has resorted t o . On Saturday night at th e U .S . Open in Las Vegas during th e 125 cc Pro main ev ent, up and co me r Andrew Short co m es into a co rn er too hot and rubs Br o wn. Br own resp onded by sla m m ing into Short at the exit of th e next c orn er , pushing him off the tr ack. I know th at rub bin ' is ra c ing, but intenti onall y pushing another rid er off the tra ck is un calle d for. In his inter- vie w afte r t he rac e , Br o w n sai d: " If yo u can 't stand the heat , stay o ut of the kitchen." I g uess M ike B ro wn was feeli ng a litt l e too m u c h heat from Andrew Short to keep his cool. Mike, I 0 ,000 p eople know wh o the real winner was that night. Jamie Na nce Montrose, CO Dirt Track I had to wri te to voice my ag reement with Tom Fleming (Vo ic es, Issu e #42, Oc tober 22) ab out the Formula USA Pro Dirt Tra ck Series . I, too, have stopped going to th e D el Mar M il e and for t h e past tw o y ea rs hav e att ende d the Del M ar Sho rt T rack race instead. W h e n th e AMA Pro D i rt Tra ck S e ries sp l it off in t o tw o d iffer ent series, I was bummed . I wa s totall y l ost wh en I attended the F ormula USA Del Mar Mil e th e fi rst year of th e spli t serie s. I didn 't kn ow what cla ss wa s rac ing or wh at ch am pionship th e ra ce was fo r. I ha ve read that Mike Kidd has said h e s t a r te d t h e s e c ond ( o ff s hoo t) ser ies bec aus e he loves d irt track racing and w ante d t o take dirt tr ack to a no t he r leve l. Spl itt ing th e se ries (AM A and Fo rm ula USA) has taken d irt track ra ci ng to another leve l, but it i s o ne that is wa y bel ow wh ere it was before the split. I attended the Sacramen to Mile in Sep tember th is year and was so disap poi nted , I wanted to write and ask fo r my m oney back . I d id not kn ow that it might be the last Sa cto Mi l e wh en I went up th ere. I heard ove r th e l oudsp eaker that the Sacto Fai r Grounds wanted to c ate r t o th e horse ra cin g p romoters (w ho migh t ex pand th e ir r a ci ng seas on ) , and i t s u re sho wed. My girlfriend and I purchased two ti ckets ( t he m o s t e x p e n s i v e) f or rese rv ed seating , and wh en w e sat d own I could not beli ev e that th er e wa s a hug e white tent ( used for the horse racing fans, I assume) that was left erec te d that bl ocked th e vi ew of th e enti re first turn . My d isappointment gre w when I d is c o vered the ma in eve n t of th e n ight was to be the singl e -cyl ind er bikes. In th e watered-down twins rac e ( 12 bikes in the f in a l) , th ere w ere on ly a co up le of the top named ra eers t h e re that I d rove hund reds of miles to see. It wi ll be the last Sacto M ile for m e eve n if th ey are able to run the re next year. Wha t h a s beco me of th e o nc eg rea t AMA Di rt Tra ck Pro Ser ies i s exact ly w hat eve ryo ne feare d wou ld become of Supercross if it had split into tw o series - tw o wa te re d- dow n versio ns that th e pr os would have to choose bet w een . Th e f an s we re th e big loser s when thi s happen ed . I beg th e AMA and M ike K idd to co me to some ag reement and put the once -great Pro Ser ies back together. The fa ns deserve it, and it j ust might save both series and Profession al Dirt T rack Racing itself. Randy Ressell Santa Ana. CA Wattsy As m uch as Shane Watts gets hu rt, yo u' d think he rode for Suzuki!! Get well soon , Shane!! Shawn McAtee Newport Beach. CA Likes Des Just a note that as a 53-yea r -o ld and l i f e-l o n g e n t h u si a st, I re all y enjoy what D esiree co nt rib utes. K eep up the g reat job you are all doing . Mesa, CA 92628 5084, faxed to 714/75 1-6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cyclen ews.com. Published lett ers do not necessarily reflec t the position of Cycle News , Inc. Lette rs should not exceed 200 words . and all are subject to editing . Anonymous lett ers will not be consider ed for publ ication. All lette rs should contain the writer 's name , address and dayti me phone number .. . Editor. GP ra cer John Hop k in s ' gi rlfrie n d, Desiree Crossman, wri tes a co l u m n for Cycle News online at www. cyclenews.com.... Ed itor Daytona Schedule Just read th e go od news ab out the cha nge in sch edu le of th e d irt trac k ra ces at Daytona next y ea r. In o rde r to ac commodat e the " Xtrem e Gene ratio n ," t hey ' ve d u m pe d th e o l d est fo rm of ra cin g at Daytona to the mid dle of the wee k when half th e people can 't make it. Way to cater to th e piss -ass rac ers and th ei r fans. G uess you 'll c an c el the flat t rac k altogether nex t year, cla iming " attend anc e was way dow n beca use nob ody went." steve Szalus vfa ftle Intemet Two-Strokes! You r respon se to rea der Randy No ri an ( Vo i c es, Is su e #42) was sing le side d . Aprilia USA sp oke wi th staff at th e AMA as we ll as wrote letters expressing o ur intent t o compete w ith o u r two-stroke RSV250 GP bikes in t he pr oposed Fo rm u la Extreme class for 2004. Aprilia Racing in Italy headed by Jan Witteve en had i n v e s t e d res ources to pr odu cing upgrade kits f or Aprilia rac ers to co nvert t hei r April ia race bikes t o the new rules allowi ng 330cc. There we re four rac ers pla nning t o c o m p et e an d two m ore teams ex p res sed interest in purchasing bikes out of Europe for use in the new class. We were led to be lieve b y AMA staff that the F ormula Xt reme class w ou ld be as proposed incl udi ng two -stro k e GP bik es. Th e April ia rac er s and th ose of us work ing on thi s proj ect we re stunned whe n th e final ru les were ann ounce d . Tanner Shul!z Aprllla USA, Inc. vfa ftle Intem et Ray Weber vfa ftl e Intemet eye I e < 0. _ n CD en ne'UVSi O CTO BER 29 , 2003 5