Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"There will certainly be a new World Cham pion." Letters to the editor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa. CA 92628- Te d esco Thanks No KTM Com ing t hro ugh the A mateu r ra nks and atte nding a few AMA Superc ro ss races as a fa m ily, we always notic ed the Yama ha of Troy race team . You guys ex hibit the best in our sport. To become a member of your fin e race team is a dream come tr ue and a goa l I' d had for my son. T ha nk yo u, Phil , for yo ur trem end ou s leadership and ded ic at ion . I j ust atte nded t he I nt er nationa l Moto rcyc le Sho w i n Sa n Fran cisc o (San Mateo, act uall y) and was look ing forward to drooling o ver th e new KTM Duk e. But what th e hell , KTM? I c an 't believe on e of th e maj or players in t h e motorcy c le indus try skips a show li k e this . Come o n, K TM , ste p up t o t he p la te fo r yo u r l o ya l custo mers an d fa ns. Dave Tedesco Albuq uerque, NM Ted esco is th e fa ther of supercrosser/rnotocrosser Ivan Tedesco... Editor Supermoto Gripe I am di sappointed to see no m ention of newcomer Vertemati in the write up of the Irwindale Supermoto round . Th ey had the Supermoto eq uivalent of Max B iaggi rac in g wi th the pres ence of Gera ld D e l epin e from B el g iu m. Pu ch o B agni s is al so a very strong co nte nde r in th e series as well as up- and -c om in g 17 -y ear- o ld J eff Harrin g t on . No mentio n o f a ny of th ese gu y s is pr ett y disa p poi nti ng as a sma ll, grass roots team tak es on the m ighty gia nts of AMA. D elepin e ' s q ua li fying l ap (o n a bike th at he had never eve n ridden) was the th ir d fas test of the day. T h is is good press a n d should not go unnoticed. Did the rep orter for this eve nt even go to the rac e? Dave Verrecchla via ftle Internet Two-Strokes? Hey , MotoGP offic ials, how about let ting two -strokes have 650cc capac i t y ? T h at wo uld allow a l ot of sma ll co m pa nies and team s to co mpete . David Bell Oakland, CA Too Loud? Recently at o u r lo c al rid in g area, a rider wa s enj o ying his new Kawasak i K X 2 5 0 F , and I was am azed at how loud th e b ik e w a s . It w a s r e a lly o bnox io us. It' s hard to believe w ith all o u r l a n d - l o ss iss ues and th e black eye dirt bi k es hav e for bein g too loud tha t the m anufactur er s co uld be this ir res pons ib le a nd pro du c e a 2 0 0 4 m od el bik e that is this lo ud . Sure i t' s design ed as a c1osedco u rse bik e, but how m any play ride rs a re go ing to purchas e t hese t o t ra il r id e w ith? Pro ba bl y m ore than w il l actua lly race them . K a wasak i /S uzuki sh ou ld b e asha med of themsel ves fo r being so sho rtsi ghted about the bigg est enemy d irt bik es have - noise . M ark Peterse n Reno, NY Bob GuIder Sffnson Beach, CA ISDE Kudos Th anks fo r send ing K it Palmer down south - it 's stuff like what he's send ing back is wh y I bu y Cycle News. Dan Knous via ftle Internet Off-road editor Kit Palm er has been in Brazil for the ISD£. Hi s work can be seen in this issue and also on cy cl enew s.com .... Ed itor ISDE Kudos " Please pass on to K it - th e ISD E cov erage so f ar has b een g reat! I very m uc h like the co mmenta ry and the pi c t ures . T h a n k yo u, guys, for the effo rt, and keep up the good work . I w i l l b e c hec k i n g in a l l w e ek for updates. I bet you guys really had to tw ist Kit's arm to get him to go this ye a r. .. pal m trees , oc e an bea ch es , bikinis (and I woke up to sn ow thi s m o rn in g ) Peter Reynolds BoIse, Idaho Kit has a solid m on th of h ard labor co m i ng his way upon his return .. . Ed itor Long Letter, Big Rossi Fan Valentin o Rossi and Honda hav e con firmed th e end of thei r fou r -year re la t ionsh ip . So why break up som ething th at ha s worked so w ell ? Man y will sa y it ha s wo rked t oo well and as a r e sult m ad e M o t oGP p r edi ct abl e . Sinc e its inception, the RC211 V has bee n th e best b ik e in t he p ad do c k. Fo r two y ears , t he V -five has co m p let ely dem o li shed th e c omp etit ion . Bu t so has it s num ber- on e ri der. Valent ino Rossi , arg ua bly th e best m o to r cycle racer eve r , h a s b e en pi l ot ing most of the V- f iv e wins . T wenty -t wo times in a row the Italian r i d er and J a p an ese ma chin e h av e been o n the podium , wi th the Japan ese mac hin e being h ig her up o n the podium more tim es tha n its rider. No one do ubt s that Rossi is o ne of th e gr eate st ev er, but th ere are some 5084, faxed to questions a b o ut w hether he is th e best of them . It seems t hat in order to be come th e best , yo u need to p ass through seve ral hu rdl es (that te nds to cha nge as ti me cha nges) , and then , maybe then , not so m any peo pl e w ill question your ab ility and t al ent. T he cha llenges that need to be accom pli shed ra nge from wi n ning m u lt ip le cha mpio ns hips to w in ni ng mul t ipl e rac es to visiti ng the podium multiple times t o wi n ni ng multi pl e differen t clas s c ha m p ions h i p s (o n d iffer ent bike s). Here is wh ere it gets stic k y . In or de r to be consi de red th e best , yo u mu st win the cha m p io nship multip le times , but al so o n multipl e mach in es. Howev er , th e machine on which yo u w in c a nnot be th e best mach in e at th e tim e. At least one (or two) of your cha m pions h ips mu st be atta in ed o n an inferi o r m achin e. Hen c e , Edd ie Lawson is c on sidered by some c ircl es as th e g reat est eve r, because in 1988 he mana ged to w in th e 500c c cham p ionship o n th e Yam aha in a year th e Yam aha was co ns ide red to be a dog. Are these unfair ru les? Mayb e , but no one sai d being the bes t ever woul d be easy . A t t he end of th e 2 001 se aso n, th er e we re rumors th at Val e w oul d not renew w ith Hon da bec au se Hon da wan ted h im t o run the number -on e pla te in MotoG P. Th e It ali an , w ho is fam ous for his p layfulness and t al ent, had m ad e th e number 46 synony m ous with h im se l f. In addition , h is appar e l a n d memora bilia empire depend o n this number. Obviously, Ho nda and Ross i wo rked that ou t, as 2002 and 2003 saw the Wor ld Cha m pion rac e hi s belov ed number 46. T h is year, however , th e tw o we re not able to wo rk o ut th eir d ifferenc es. Ma ny said i t w a s t he m on e y , a n un p rec ed ented $ 9 .5 m ill ion for o ne year fro m Yamaha . Other s said it was due to th e clauses in th e Italia n's co n tract th at dicta te d wh at he co u ld and co uld not do , offic ially and in p rivate. I beli e ve th e i ssu e r evol ved m or e aro und t he latter. If the issue reall y re volve d aro und money, Hon da co uld very eas ily m atch any m onetar y fig ur e fl oating ar ound. So we c an di s ca rd tha t rum or. I beli ev e HRC d id not app rec ia te Rossi's ind ec isiven ess and his qu estion ing of th e co ntract bei ng offered. Hond a feels that w hile Rossi is a great ri der, his dominat ion wo ul d no t have been so w ithout Hon da . Vale, on t he oth er hand , feels th at it's th e ri der an d no t t he ma c hi n e t hat wi ns a c ha mpionsh ip. Next year w il l prove that. In 2004 , Honda will on ly fi eld six machines, instead of the sev en Hon das this year. All six w ill be HRC-spec m achin es. T his is d iffere nt fro m 2003 and any other year. Usuall y , there are o nly two or th ree full HRC- spe c bikes c u e I e n 71 41751-6685 or e-mailed to editor@ cyclenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the position of Cycle News, Inc. Letters should not exceed 200 words, and all are subject to editing. Anonymous letters will not be consideredfor publication. All letters should contain the writer's name, address and daytime phone number... Editor. < 0 _. n CD en on the gri d. The remai ning m ac hines are w ha t ar e c all ed custom er bikes . HRC has said that at the beginn ing of 20 0 4 , all si x Honda -mounted rid ers will ha ve th e same bike; dev elopm ent of the bik e will be given to wh ichever team (a nd rider ) is doin g best. Th is was o ne o f the pro bl ems Ros si had w i t h Hond a . Th e c ur re n t Wor ld Cha m pion felt tha t hi s st atus at HRC sho uld be number o ne by vi rtue of his titl e. A t t his m om en t , t here is li t tle d oubt that Ross i will ride for Yamaha . This is a hug e ta sk even for Rossi. What d o es this d o t o th e c h a m p ionship? It is go in g t o mak e it even st rong er , t hat 's cert a in. In t erm s of Rossi's futur e, Rossi and Yamaha are not going to be ab le to be rea dy for the lik e s of Gib ern a u , B i a g gi and Hayden next year. It is go ing to tak e th e n e w d u o at leas t a few r a c e s before they c an bea t th e Hond a gang . T her e wi ll c ertainly be a ne w World Cha mpion . Rossi will not be ab le to wi n the cham pionship on the Yama ha o n h i s first y ear. Th er e will be too m any goo d ride rs (and future cham pion s) o n th e Hondas . Val entin o Ro ssi was f ac ed wi th a toug h deci sion. Co ntinue wi nning on a super i or m a ch i n e and r e mai n un ab le to celebrat e the way you lik e it. Or switch bi k es and h av e m ore free do m t o be yo ur self. On o ne hand, yo u have a g uara ntee d c ha m pi o ns hip. Or prove to th e rest of th e wo rl d that you are the best eve r by wi nni ng on somethi ng clea rly inferio r, agai nst a b un ch of good r id er s o n superior bikes . You wis hed it , and now you ha ve it. Rossi is going to sw it ch to an inferi or mach ine a nd prove to all he is th e best ever. IVan Alonso via ftle Internet Believe it or not, this letter was edited for length... Edit or e vv S • NOVEMBER 19. 2003 5

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