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/128342
" ...the cocky Iittle guy is actually as fast as he says he is. " Saltzman Thanks Anyone who knows of AMA District 37 desert-racing even ts in the Ca lifornia desert over the last 30 years has hear d the name Bill Saltzman. He reac hed and obtained a coveted numbe r-tw o rank ing in the Open Expert class, and achieve d similar results - simultaneously, mind you - in other categories , all in the same years. There have bee n an overwhelming number of kind and loving responses recei ved upon notice of Bill's untime ly death . On be half of Bill's brother jon, and the rest of the Saltzman family, thank you for your love, devotion and support. The re was never a kinder, more devoted individual in AMA desert-raci ng history. Bill Fuentes Glendora , CA Changing Tune I guess I am probably not the only o ne who was shut up afte r Steel City and Mike Alessi's co nvincing re de mption of his deb ut. I hate to say it, but the cocky litt le guy is act ually as fast as he says he is. Nick Cast illo Newbury Park, CA Barnett's The Best In a recent op inion po ll, you asked if ja mes Stewart was the fastest 125cc race r of all time . The answer is simp ly no . Unfortunately, the question isn't as simple as who has the most AMA wins, so Ricky Carmichael isn't the fastes t of all time, either. The competition you face de termines how great or fast you are, and the best 12Scc mot orcrosser of all t ime is Mark Barnett . Now, don 't get me wrong: Anyo ne who has a pro lice nse is incredible, but james and Ricky just didn't face the leve l of competitors that Mark did. Reme mber johnny O ' Mara, je ff Ward and Ron Lechien? Barnett raced them all, in their pr ime, and bea t them. Also remem ber that if it was n't fo r a mechanical issue, Mark Barnett would have bee n the first rider in history to have a pe rfect seaso n. But again, Mark's perfect season wo uld have been against stiffer competition than Ricky and james are facing. Michael Wea ver via the Internet Upset Over MX des Nations AMA Pro Racing nee ds to change their name to MA Pro Racing Inc. - ther e is not hing Ame rican about t his. Did its miss ion stat em en t change rec e nt ly? First , the Daytona 200 - now the MXoN. No , wa it, how about Cost Effective Pro Racing Inc.? W hat's next, the Springfield 1/8 mile - on XRSOs....? Ride rs are willing to race at the MXoN , but the distributo rs aren' t? I'd like to know which distributo rs are unw ill ing to support Team USA so I can boycott their products. G. Coahran via t he Inte rnet Ditto It is truly a sad day when th e AMA and none of the motocross- bike manufact urers can't field a team fo r the Motocross of Nations in Europe. The AMA and all the man ufacturers shou ld hang their heads in shame ! Especially since each have their largest market for motocross bikes in this co untry yet cannot se nd four riders and bikes to a World Championsh ip? This sen ds the wrong message to our fellow race rs and fans in Europ e at a cr itical time when most Europ eans have mixed feelings regarding the U.S. involvement in conflicts overseas. I just raced over the re this summer with our Europ ean frie nds. We need the good PRo Each one of us shou ld w rite the AMA and the manufacturer of our bike, pur chased in the USA, to ex press our disgust and disappointment. Glenn McGovern New Orleans, LA Daisy Barnes Anybody who has ever th rown a leg over a motorcycle has lost a frie nd. Mrs. Daisy Barnes has died at 89 years old . Daisy was fi rst introd uced to motorcycles by a young man named George Barnes, and it was the beginning of two lifelong love affairs. George was a member of the Detroit Motor cycle Club, w hich arranged loca l races as early as the mid-1930s. Daisy and Geo rge enc o uraged many young pe o ple, includ ing myse lf, to ex plore the wor ld of motorcycles. She L etters 10 the editor should be sent 10 Voices, ~ycl e N e~s, PO Box 5084, Cosio ~esa , CA92628·5084; faxed to 714-751-66 Of emclled 10 ed,lor@cycienews.com. Publrshed 85 letters do not necess arilyrellect the positionof Cycle News, Inc. letters should nol exceed 200 d words, and allare subject 10 editing. Anonymous letters will not be consi ered for publication. Allleiters should contain the writer na me, address and daytime phone number... E 's ditor. last rod e he r ow n bike at 80 years of age, and at about 84 rode on the back of my 1973 Kawasaki H2 750 triple - complete with expansio n cham bers and a on -off switch fo r a throttle - for about 60 miles, (getti ng off and saying "nev e r again on that bike"), and was still willi ng (read "eager") to ride on th e back of several more bikes befo re she died. I know th is ride with George will last eternally. Daniel Sporer Brighton, MI getting injure d (sure, motorcycle racing is dange ro us, but why make things mor e dange ro us?) and we have ride rs w ho go out of the ir way to take other ride rs out, and that ain't racing! (Althoug h Steve White lock is trying to stop that, too) . Now the AMA is ge tting rid of Superb ikes at Daytona ? Didn't they do something with the 250cc road-race class as we ll? About a decade ago, I did a stu dy comparing injuries in professional mo torcy cle racing with NCAA Division On e football Another Opinion injuries, and it showed not o nly w hat type Let' s hear it fo r the AMA, the o rganization that is supposed to support American motorcycle racing. Look what the AMA has done for us: They killed the Ope n (SOOcc) Motoc ro ss class, th ey killed works bikes by implementing the pro duction -bike rule (which is probably one of the reaso ns we now have $6000- plus motocross bikes), yet most facto ry bikes have suspen sions that cost more than a production bike, so they don't to tally enforce the ir ow n rules. They have a 12Scc East/West class that is sup posed to be for learn ing, but national champs seem to come back there (I think you shou ld be able to race any class yo u want, but that is o ne of the things th at was stated when the 125cc class split up). The y used to say tha t if you race one coast and you wa nt to race the other coas t, you had to race the 250cc class, but they messed that up. They have allowed four-s troke motorcycles to have aro und tw ice the displacement of two-stroke bikes, thus helping to kill two- stroke motorcycles . If you're going to allow bigger displacement for four-strokes, that's fine, but w ith the way th ings are now, make the 450s run in the Open class and restrict the displacement of the bikes in the 125 and 250cc classes to somethi ng smalle r. Afte r all, the Yamaha started out as a 400. And at a time when noise is a big proble m, we have four-strokes that make as much noise as several two -str o kes (although Steve Whitelock is trying to do so meth ing abo ut this). Then we have da ngerous supercross tracks whe re ride rs seem to always be of mot orcycle-related injuries occurred, www.cyclenews.com but that motor cycle racing was safer than foo tball. The AMA wo uldn't allow me to re lease th is info to the safety-apparel manufactu re rs beca use they were afraid that spo nsors wou ld pull out of racing if it got out that racers got injure d - as ifspo nsors had no idea that racers get hurt. T he AMA needs to worry about the sport and the mem bershi p more than just the money. Th e AMA do esn't eve n ask the mem bers wha t they want. They didn't eve n ask op inions on the resty ling of the AMA logo, wh ich many don 't seem to li ke. Do n't get me wrong, I love the AMA and I am a lif membe r, but e right now it seems as if the foxes are guard ing the hen house! It' s time to get back to basics and to imp roving motorcycling - and that's not done by killing classes . Just my opinion. Dan Cameron via the Internet Everyone Has An Idea Afte r watch ing the AMA Superbi ke race from Road Atlanta and seeing it almost ruined by lappe rs, I may have come up with a poss ible solution that will keep both sides happy. W hy not have the wh ite-flag lap be the last lap for everyone wh o is a lap down by the previous lap. Th en, on the final lap, the lappe rs will all be off line, because their race w ill be over and there will be no need to get in the way for the leaders . Robert Mason via the Internet CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 22 , 2004 5