Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"Colin Edwards is awesome. What a straight shooter and a class act. " leiters to theeditor should be sent to Voices, Cycle News, POBox5084 , Costo Mew, CA92628-5084; faxed 1 714-75 1-6685 or emoiled 1 editor@cydenews.com. Published 0 0 lett rs do notnecessarilyreflect theposition of CycleNews, Inc. lett rs should not exceed 200 e e words, and ell ore subject to editing . Anonymous lefters will notbe considered for publication. Ali leners should conta in th writer's nome, address and daytime phone number... E e ditor. Likes Some, Not All That was a great interview with David Vuillemin (Issue # 7, February 2S). The thing that made this interview was that Steve Cox actually asked some very pointed questions, and that was really neat to read . What a great line with respect to Carmichael vs. McGrath/athlete vs. rider. Awesome! Also the issue about the points penalty was good. And I love the talk about the money, too . Stufflike t hat is what is nice to see , as was his response and candor with respect to Emig's pay vs. his. As soon as that U.S. Open happened with the $ 100,000 prize, that was the ticket. It seems a litt le odd to me that the bonus at year 's end can go from $2S,OOO to $ 100,000 in one year! Sheesh... I guess the execs that promoted that we nt to Enron, eh? I'm as much a supporter of Ben and Eric as anyone, but those questions only got out what has bee n said many times. This was a prime opportunity to take what amounts to identical twins two years apart and reallyget them sparring before the season! Where we re the quest ions about Anthony Gobert's retu rn, GP aspirations/predictions (you know both of them wo uld be the re if they got the nod!), thoughts o n the other riders besides Mat Mladin and some ideas as to where the series needs to go to grow. Not the greatest, but hey, at least I'llknow not to order the pasta or the grapefruit juice. I really enjoyed and "needed" the AHA article to clarify things on the classes and found the World Supersport article insightful as well. I'm really excited for Triumph. Finally, the last art icle was t he best. Colin Edwards is awesome . What a straight shooter and a class act. He's even funny when he swallows his chew by accident (Sacramento Sportbike Night, 1998. He got the "spit bottle" mixed up with the Corona bottle . Not good . Ask him.). I picked Colin to win the GP title this year. That's my gut feeling. I would like to see Alex Barros win it, to be honest, but I feel it's either Colin or Max Biaggi. Thanks again for a great magazine. Michael James via the fnternet Injuries And SX As an avid motocross/supercross fan, exrace r and father of tw o young motocross racers, I have to question what is going on with all the injuries in just our sixth week of the 2004 season. In reading this week's issue of Cycle News, I noticed that we lost Larry Ward (collarbone) , Tim Weigand (broken thumb), Mike Craig (broken arm in five places), Sean Hamblin (bruised lung, ste rnum, bicep, dislocated jaw), Tim Ferry (sprained wrist), Justin Buckelew (bro ken leg), Ernesto Fonseca (torn ACL), Brian Gray (broken arm), Jason Tho mas (torn ACL), Bobby Kiniry (broken foot) , Josh Hansen (broke n hand), Ryan Morais (pulled gro in and bruised heel) and Jeff Gibson (abdominal pain and spra ined wrist). Add these guys to the already long list of injured riders , and you have to question whether the track designs are the cause of these injuries or could it be the riders' lack of proper training and techn ique on how to attack the obstacles?T here has to be a com mo n denomina- tor leading to these injuries. When I attended Anaheim I this year, I co uld not be lieve how slow the riders where actually going. It looked as though t he riders where racing with a hesitation you wou ld see in a novice rider (with the exception of Chad Reed). Ryan Hughes may have hit the nail on the head during an interview for the San Diego Union Tribune. Whe n asked about the accidenta l deat h of Jason Ciarletta, Hughes said, "In some low -speed accidents, you just stick like a dart ; in a high-speed accident, you roll and bounce ." Jimmy Buttons recalls his accident at Qua lcomm Stadium in 2000 when he was temporarily paralyzed in a low-speed accide nt while practicing. "I was doing about 4 mph," said Butt on. "It was freaky. I we nt over and got tangled in the bike." Andrew Short mentioned in a recent issue of Cycle News about his riding t he 12S, ''I'm doing a lot of the jumps in seco nd gear, which is crazy." Could it be that the tracks are built with so many obstacles that it slows the racing down to provide longer lap times? I would like to see some of the o bstacles removed or flattened to bring the speed up and increase the number of laps to provide faster, longer racing. Someone needs to sit down and analyze the data and t he AMA record s about each of the injuriesat the events and determi ne what the common de nominator is to our problem . I bet that the supercross series produces far more injuries than the outdoor Nationals. Bring back the racing from the 1980s and early '90s whe n racers raced, the bikes actually shifted into fourth gear, and the riders made it through the season without injury. Duane Raha via th e Internet Maely Remembered Thanks I has been a few months now since the passing of Ken Maely, and no one will miss him quite as much as I will. He was a one of a kind in the sport , and he did live and breathe mot orcycles. We all love to ride, but only a few rare men dream of a better way - and then make it happen. I knew Ken fro m 1950, litera llyfro m the crib, through all of his ups and downs and with his love of the people he met t hroughout his wonderfu l life. He had a way of making everyone he met feel special in their own way, and that is why he was so loved throughout the motorcycle racing family. I knew his passing wo uld come someday, even though he thought he would live forever. It's a great loss for us all, but remem ber, he's racing in that dirt track in the sky. Thank you for all the great letters you wrote about your Ken Maely experiences. He is a hard man to forget. My eyes are wet as I write this now because we were close. Thanks to you all. Bob Ma ely San Mateo, CA 80b Moely is Ken Moely's oldest son... Editor Dear ESPN Just as the riders study Bubba Stewart and Chad Reed to learn, I suggest you study a Canadian motocross race on Speed Channel and learn how to cover racing on televisio n. Lynette Wosick via t he Int ernet A Winner My family lives in a town north of San Francisco, so naturally we went to the San Francisco Supercross. It was outrageo us as usual, and we go every year. But the real excitement came the night before at an autograph session at Marin Cycle Works' grand opening in Co rte Madera - just o. north of San Francisc Stephane Roncada and Michael Byrne were there to sign autographs and to raffle off a James Stewart lookalike KX125. Well, believe it or not, we won it. O r I should say my son Rick wo n it. And he's stillfloating on air. I have to say a million thanks to Stephane Roncada for picking my son's name . And for jean-Paul and Alex at Marin Cycle Wor ks. My so n Rick is an avid motocrosser who races a Yamaha 80, and with him spro uting up, this couldn't have come at a better time . O nce again, thanks to all of t hose who took care of us. Rick met his heroes and won t he bike of his dr eams. Thanks again, Marin Cycle Works. Motocross is great . Norman Kram er Petaluma. CA The Show Blues Often people write to the ed itor because they get reallyticked off over what they feel is some thing regarded as stupid or illogica l, and such is the case here . I just attended the Cleveland leg of the Inte rnational Motorcycle Shows. I was especially overwhelmed with the new crop of 1000cc sportbikes for the upcoming year. What fun it was comparing them all at o nce in the same place. As I sat on t he new Kawasaki ZX I0 and www.cy clenews.co m as I sat on t he new Yamaha RI, I imagined being blindfolded and given the difficult task of sitting on these bikes among some of the 600cc bikes and trying to decipher which was which. The apex of racing design is getting quite similar across the board. As I sat on the venera ble Suzuki GSX-RI000, dare I say it felt a bit "sport touring." Did I leave anything out? Oh , yes, it seems I have forgotten to mentio n myexperience of "sitting" on the new Ho nda CBRIOOORR. I cannot relate this experien ce because some dumb cluck at "Big Red" decide d to put the new beauty on a revolving pedestal , like it was cooking on a rotisserie . It was nice to look at, but there's somethi ng in "the touch." I asked a Ho nda official why one was not on the floor for the masses to evaluate . After all, Yamaha had the new RI on the floor in both colors, and Kawasaki had the new ZX lOon the floo r in all three colors. The spokesperson told me that the new C BR was still considered a prototype, and the street versio n was not ready (it looked ready to me). He also sarcastically said if I come back next year, one would be on the floor. Just what the doctor ordered, a "Chris Rock Honda rep." There are two words of advice I wish to give Honda - "logic dictates." If you are introducing a cutting-edge new model at the largest motorcycle show of the year, be prepared and have one on the floor for demonstration pur poses . Enthusiasts sometimes travel a great distance to get to the show and pay enough to get in for the benefit of a "total experience." This was clearly a violation of everyone's motorcycle senses. In more colloquial terms, Honda , "Don't even come through the door if you can't put it on the floor." George Kovach Youngstown, OH Dye Thanks O n behalf of all of us who treasure the heritage of American motorcycle sport, thanks fo r highlighting the cont ributions of Edison Dye ("The Man Who Made American Motocross"). Uke you, we know what Edison means to motocross in this country. We recognized him in 2002 by induct ing him into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame, and his emotional reaction to that honor, similar to that depicted in the photo accompanyingthe Cycle News photo, is someth ing I'll always reme mber. Edison Dye certain ly w ill have a place in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum's upcoming motocross exhibit, schedu led to open early next year. Mark Mederski Pickerington, OH Medersld is the executive director of the Motorcycle Holl of Fome Museum... Editor C Y C LE NEWS • MAR 3, 2004 CH 5

• Cover