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/128332
lettersto the editorshould be sent 10Voices, CycleNews, PO Box 5084 , CosioMeso, CA92628·5084; foxed 10714·751-6685 Of emoiled to editor@cydenews.com. Published letters do not necessarily reRect the posifion of CycleNews, Inc. lettersshould notexceed 200 words, and all ore subject 10 editing . Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication. All letters should contoin the writer's nome, address and daytime phone number... Editor. Can't We All Be Happy Why isn't anybo dy happy? Ch ip Cla rk's wh ining is better resea rched and more detailed t han Mr. Ballinger 's! But they bot h need to get over it. Be thankful for what you have, sirs. By the way, Mr. Hoffman, I am not a huge speedway fan, but a crossed -up , roost-th rowing speedway bike is pleas ing to the eye. Ma tt Bedford Fenton, M ' There's More Than Two Brad , my II-year-o ld , was requi red to do a re port on a "famous Americ an hero" for school. He chose Jere my McGra th, but his teacher told him "motoc ross is not a sport ," so she told him he co uld not do his report on McGrath! My jaw was on the grou nd (Brad e nded up doing it on Lance Armst ro ng and got an '~") . My reason for w riting t his is beca use of wha t T. Hoffman wrote (Voices, Issue #26) . How will we have "famous Ame rican her oes" if we do n't show the world who th ey are, no matter wh at sport they race? Not everyo ne in the worl d knows abo ut every sport, and not everyone likes the same sports, but why deprive those w ho make a living at the sport they love th e chance to show the worl d? Thanks, T. Hoffma n, for telling my I I-year-old that speedway is no t inte resting and tha t his uncle races (and is very competitive and successful at it - it's his on ly income! ) a sport tha t has only two fans. Maybe you shoul d go to Europe and watc h one of the GP races - yo u might just be imp ressed . Be cause of Cycle News' publishing Greg's story, our family (and many friends) got to ex perien ce what we are not able to see because of th e location. Thanks, CN , for t hat! Carrie Hancock via t he Internet Hancoc k is lhe siSle r of 1997 Wo rld Speedwa y Champion Greg Hancock... Edilor A New Champion Over this Fourth of July something very Ame rican happened . Fifte e n-ye ar-old Ryan Young Products/Sherco USA-sponsored Louise Fors ley from Massachusetts be came the new AMNNATC Youth 4 "He chose Jeremy McGrath, but his teacher told him 'motocross is not a sport' so she told him he could not do his report on McGrath!" National Champion in O bse rved Trials, winning the Open class line. She won on two of the three days and look third o n Sunday, earning her the outright title over all of the boys. She was also chosen to re prese nt the United States in this year's Trials de Nat ions, September I 1-12. Louise Forsley is a fantast ic trials rider ; she 's very polite , prac tices real hard and is always willing to learn more. She is a great role model for all young ladies . I would like to nominate Louise Forsley for Youth Sports Athlete of the Year. Craig Gern hardt Chicago,IL A Trial Fan Many t hanks for the wo nderful cove rage of the Wo rld Trials event in Duluth. Wiltz Wagner via the Internet Zemke Kudos I just wanted to te ll all the staff at Cycle News t hank you for putting my good friend Jake Zemke on t he cove r. Jake is a true first-class guy on and off the track. He has always been one of the nicest guys I've known. My on ly regret is that I was not at the race to see him win his first AMA Superbike race. Sorry, dude. Tim PUg via the Internet The Death Of ' Two-Strokes? Nearly everyone says th e death of tw o st rokes is imminent. Maybe . If it does co me abou t, it will be a sad, sad day we should all lament beca use t he tw o -stroke e ngine is a marvel of simplicity, weight and powe r. The on ly re aso n anyone even races a four-stroke is because the AMA and all the other sanction ing bod ies let th e four-strokes have double the displacement in the same class. Raci ng fourstrokes is like going back to the Stone Age, eve n wit h all th e te chno logical advances . Put any two-st roke against any fourstroke of similar displacement and it's no contest. A 2S0 vs. a 250F? Get rea l! Some say two-strokes are being killed off by environmentalists, emiss ions and technological advances. Bullshit!Two-strokes are dying off be cause no one is pro testing the decisions of the promoters to allow fourstrokes twice the ccs in the same class. I JUL 14,2004 • C Y CLE N EWS Y think everyone who loves two-stro kes should write, call, march, do whatever it takes to keep two-strokes around as long as possible . In the meantime, put 125 stickers on you r 250 , punch yo ur 2S0 out to a 300 or 3S0, and put those cherrypickin' bastards in their prope r place. Ran dy Olson Yucaipa, CA The Year Of The Privateers I really enjoyed Scott Rousseau 's article about Steve Eklund - it brought back happy memories. Back in t he early I970s , both Steve and I were Distr ict 36 novices, racing 250cc dirt track . We both qu alified for the novice main event at the old Frem ont IT track. I got a bad start; he didn't. Luckily for me a num ber of ride rs went do wn, and I got by eve ryo ne except Steve. He had a bit of a lead , but I reeled him in; I co uldn't get by him, though. We ended up havmg a race -long du e l. He was the bett e r rider, but I had t he faster bike (he o n a mo dified Os sa Pioneer, and I was riding an O ssa IT Special). He made a mistake co ming out of the infield on the last lap, and I was able to get under him and beat him to the finish line by less than the length of th e fron t wheel. It was my first race win! He went on to a profes sional career; I went to work. I was always a big fan of his and rooted for him at every race . His tragic passing was a loss fo r all of us. Long live the privateers. Bill Murphy San to Clara, CA China Bound I th ink mo st Ame ricans still con sider China to be a backward natio n wit h a billion peopl e working in rice fields. We don 't se e much coverage about th e de velopment and mod ernization of China, but just a few references in Cycle News has made me much more aware . A rece nt article mentioned the annual production of mo to rcycles to be approximately one million units ; another article referred to Piaggio's arra nge me nt with Ch ina's Zongshen Group for scooter production ; and in yo ur June 23rd issue , HarleyDavidson announced its "memo of unde rstandi ng" with Zo ngshen . It is described as a one -way street with Harley manu facturing he re and selling bikes the re , in spite of stiff tariffs - but it is 40th Anniversary reasonable to assum e that it will be a two-way st reet eventually, pe rhaps starting with some parts product ion, then bikes for Chinese consumption, and finally bikes fo r export around the wo rld including here in the USA. Especially if the bikes do not compete with the cru iser/touring line of products Harley currently manu factures here. The CEO of Zongshen is quoted as saying, " In China, th ere are hundreds of motorcycle manufact ure rs..." When you look arou nd t he rest of the world, the total number of mo to rcycle manufacturers pales in com pariso n. Yet we hea r virtu ally no th ing abo ut th e mo torcycles man ufacture d in China. I am suggesting that it would be a gre at sto ry for Cycle News to cover. Send your mos t energetic report er to Ch ina with a laptop and a came ra - and bring your readers up to speed on the Chinese mot orcy cle industry and its prod ucts . Tony Polidoro Venice, FL No Fan Of ESPN I'm sick and tired of ESPN2 and its inability to broadcast the Motocross Nationals w hen it is scheduled . It's bad enough we have to wai t a week (during w hich I avoid go ing o n-line or coming in contact with people who might let ou t wh o wo n because it is much more exciting to watch the race when you do n't know the re sults.) Afte r waiting all week and planning my wee kend activities around the sche duled broadcast time , I sit dow n in fron t of the TV and see... a show o n fishing, w hich is more boring tha n actu ally fishing, followed by drag racing. Pleas e! O th er time s it schedu les t he races after a "live" broadcast, w hich you know w ill last longer than the allott ed time , and then we're stuck with a poorly ed ited , shortened ve rsion of t he race . I don 't know what's go ing on ove r there, but they need to get their act together. I'm not asking for miracles, just for them to follow through with their plans . I know I'm not alone, as everyone I mention this to feels the same way. Come on , ESPN, show us motocross fans a little respect. After all, who's paying your salaries? Thanks for letting me vent off some steam. At least we can still count on Cycle News be ing there. Jim Mugli a Jacksonville, FL