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/128244
IIWel1 d on e, Ben and thanks to everyone Who made this series ho ppen." l rights. riding. racing. American M otorc yclis t Association The AMA Logo You r magazine is great , but you know that. How abo ut a poll about the new AMA lo go ? I perso nally thi nk it sucks, but I co uld be wrong. K eep up the great work . NIck Mlag en ovfch vfa the Internet The Logo II I j u st reviewe d y o ur release of the new logo of th e A M A . If th is i s i t s attem pt at repositioning itse lf, then it is on par with its management and di rection of the compa ny . No matter how hard it tries, th e AMA j ust c an't seem to hit th e target. Th e logo is not ex cit ing . It is cli che and it reeks o f " m e to o " -is m. Tak e another stab at it , because it sucks . Alex Assan ff AlIso VIeJ CA o, The Logo III Giv e u s th e o l d AMA l og o ba ck please. Or is thi s j ust another Int ern et hoax? Don West vfa the Inte rnet Not One Race Th ere is n o qu e sti oni n g B e n Bostrom 's talent , o r pr owess in raci ng any ty pe of motor cycle, but I feel that f o r h im to b e c ro wned t h e AM A 's Superm ot o Cha m pion i s just plai n w rong. Thi s i s throu g h n o fau lt o f B e n ' s, bu t fro m th e A MA . Wh y o n Earth did th e y hav e the c ha m p ion ship decided at just o ne round? Jeff Ward . J erem y McGrath , et al, reall y waste d th eir time by running the o t he r round s. Th ey co u l d hav e just done as m an y as were need ed to quali f y f or th e f ina l and th en w ent h ome and waited , H opefully, next year all th e rounds w ill co un t toward the t i t l e and we will have a " rea l" champion. Well d on e , Ben , a n d thanks to everyone wh o made this ser ies happen . A n d to t he AMA, please , get yo ur head o ut once an d for all and get something righ t for a change, Sad to say, I am a member - but not by choice . Apparent l y , I have to be bec ause I want to race. Oh , well. M ark :Jones Downey, CA Sandbagging? I have just returned to the m otocro ss sce ne aft er a 14 - y ea r layoff. This su m me r I at tende d Lorretta Ly n n ' s and not ic ed th at a lo t of ex- Pros were run ni ng the Vet c lasses. I do n't und er sta n d how you c o u l d h a v e at o ne tim e car ri ed an AMA Pro c a r d and now you 'r e back running th e Ama teu r ran k s, I noti ced some rid ers ran th e Pro -Sp ort clas s, which see m s fin e, bu t runnin g the Vet cl asses seemed a little unfair. I c an' t under stand wh y so meo ne w ho w a s a Pro Nationa l Ch ampi o n would get any enjoyment out of beating a b unc h of am ateurs. I th ink it h u rts a mateur raci ng i f t h e AMA d o e sn 't d o so methi ng a bo ut it by eit her m aking rid ers w ho o nce had a Pro ca rd run j ust th e Pro -Sport c lass o r have A Vet and B Vet classes at th e N a ti o n a ls . I j u s t h o p e T i g er Woods doesn't dec id e to go back and pl ay a ma teu r gol f bec au se he c an' t mak e it in the Pros any mo re. Chad Bo ldIng Nashvflle, TN Don't Split ' Em I just checke d th e latest new s on th e rap id ly approa ching supe rcross sea so n . Whil e I am very ex c ited that m ost of th e rac es will be sho w n the next day, once again I am miffed as to w hy E SP N pl ans to sp li t u p t he c o v e ra g e of the 125 s a nd 2 50s. I guess tha t the ra c ing act ion will be cut agai n, as eac h sho w w ill ha ve to introduce us to the same hosts, the same track m ap and someti mes even th e sam e riders. Wh y does ESPN do this? How c an two one-hou r shows ge nerate an y more of a profit for ESPN than on e two -hour show? Both sho ws alm o st al ways show the sam e ads , u sually in t he sa me order. T here is really no more ad time by sp litti ng up the classes. T he 125s fit nicely into a o ne- hour sho w , bu t t he 250 rac in g act io n gets c ut seve rely . T he 25 0s have 17 m or e la ps of ra c ing pe r n ight, most of which we never ge t to see. The 250 show usuall y cuts 90 perce nt of the semis and 100 perc ent of th e last -ch an c e q ualifiers. If I were a te am m ana ger of a sma ller team or a hard work ing pri va t eer , I would be upset , as that is the time when my riders would have th e best chance of representing our sponsors in action and on the interview pod ium. Wh en w e sti ll had t he two - hour shows , we got to see all the heats, semis and eve n t he majority of t he LCQs of both classes. Now we do n't. Com e o n , ESPN. If yo u can show m ul tiple hours of spelli ng d og s ho w s , give us two su pe rcross . An d someday , soo n , live co verage of every At the awa rds banquet , we (Ke ith , his fa mily, m y famil y and I) were very d isappointed th at Keith d id not get even a mention of his cha m pio ns hi p . I got up from my table an d found who I thought was an AMA rep resent ative and in fo rmed h im of the e rror. H e p roceeded t o t ak e the information to the emcee , Greg White . Greg Wh ite gave the correcti o n at least two sec onds , blowing his na me b y sayi ng, " K eith J ohnson , ah Jones" and n ot ev en mentioning the c lass. No w we are all aware that not all class cham pions c an be nam ed an d given in divid ual awa rds at th is sing le e ve nt. Ho wever , the p rogram g ave t ime to individua ls who we re not in attendance. Likewise, extra tim e wa s g ive n to the Wo men J unior Cha mpio ns and th e A T V seg m e n ts of o ur sport . Wh ile I ca n apprecia te the fac t tha t the A MA is try ing to promot e and gr ow th e W om e n Ju n io r a nd A TV participation , it is simply irresponsi b l e t o d ed i cat e a d i sproportionate am oun t t o th es e seg men ts and not r e c o gn ize th e " C l a s s Ch ampions " w ho were in a tte nda nce at th e " A wards Banquet. " In faili ng to ack nowl edge indi vi d u al s like Keith J on es, the AMA is fa il ing to support those wh o do th e most to prom ote and support th e sport of m ot o rc ycl in g com pe ti ti o n or o the rwise . Keith has been an avid off-ro ader . racer, club m ember (Vie wF inde rs MC, AMA District 37 ) race pr omoter and o rga ni ze r ( Vi ew F i n de rs MC , A M A D i str i ct 37 ) for 15 ye ar s. He donates week s th rou gh out the year to o ff- ro ad raci ng , th e ViewF inde rs MC , Distr ict 37 and th e AM A in general. M y hope in w riting th is lett er is that yo u m ig ht fi nd a wa y to rectify th is erro r and perhaps not make the same m i s t ak e aga in in th e f ut ure : Th e future of o ur sport dep end s on peop le like Keith J on es. Terry W, Evans bee s and hours of hop efu ll y ro und . Byron Miller Rosevflle, CA DearAMA O n N o vember 21 , 2 0 0 3 , I atte nde d th e AMA Sp orts Awards B anquet. With m e was our Super Sen ior 50 + A class cham pion Keith J ones, his w ife, fat h er , mot he r, br oth er , n i e c e , nephew, m y son a nd my wi fe . W e sig ned up and went to thi s even t to watch o u r rider receiv e his reco gn i tion for his ac hievement in winni ng a Na tional # 1 pl at e. T o acco m pli sh th i s, K e ith Jones drove a tota l of 6850 m il es to at te nd th e six ro u n ds of th e A M A FMF Nationa l Har e f, Hou nd Series. Th e result s are eq ually im pressive co nsid ering th e vas t talent pool of riders who ra c ed in these events. Keith go t fiv e seco nds an d o ne sixth -pla c e fini sh . Attending all the local events, Grand Prixs, end uros, hare and hounds and d esert sc ra m bles, Ke ith 's resu lt s for Di stri ct 37 : 2 7 races, 21 w in s, fi v e seco nds and o ne third . All th ese finishes wer e in the 50 + A 250 class. c ue' e n vfa th e Internet e vv s D EC EM BER 10, 2003 5